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Starting on my 79 262c

nel621

Active member
Joined
Apr 19, 2009
Although my 79 Bertone looked ok from 25 feet away it was in need of some attention. I decided to take the plunge and get started on this car. My intent is to keep it running, so no major parts will come off, like engine or drive train. Also I'm not looking to win Pebble Beach. I just want a really nice paint job that will last. All the rust areas I will leave to the pros. I 'm going to remove all the trim and wet sand all if not most of the car. I figure I'd do most of the grunt work. I also hope to have this done before the end of the summer. So I removed most of the exterior trim. Bumpers will come of later. I started on the passenger side today with the wet sanding. The vinyl top will come off last with glass. Note as I sanded the car turned purple!:wtf: I can't decide whether wet sand to primer or just chemical remove ALL of the paint. Also for you guys with coupes, the trim molding above thew door ( shadow moulding) is held by 2 clips on this car. IIRC I thought the 80 and 81 cars did not have the riveted clips and Volvo used doubled side tape for this. Someone please confirm so that I can remove this source of potential rust.Also the long vertical black strip trim on the doors, it doesn't want to move. I drilled out the rivet and tried to tap it back off but no luck. Any tricks here? Hopefully the pics work.
http://s253.photobucket.com/user/nel6211/slideshow/79 Bertone rust areas
 
So does this black piece just get 'tapped" off? I need to remove it to get to the bubbles underneath.
<a href="http://s253.photobucket.com/user/nel6211/media/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/blacktrim_zpsa4ca652c.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh77/nel6211/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/blacktrim_zpsa4ca652c.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo blacktrim_zpsa4ca652c.jpg"/></a>
Also these are the 2 clips I need to know if they were on the later coupes, 80 and 81 The hold the shadow trim..
<a href="http://s253.photobucket.com/user/nel6211/media/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/cliptoholdtrim_zps4ccfbf33.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh77/nel6211/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/cliptoholdtrim_zps4ccfbf33.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo cliptoholdtrim_zps4ccfbf33.jpg"/></a>
<a href="http://s253.photobucket.com/user/nel6211/media/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/anotherclip2rivets_zpsba7c00e0.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/hh77/nel6211/79%20Bertone%20rust%20areas/anotherclip2rivets_zpsba7c00e0.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo anotherclip2rivets_zpsba7c00e0.jpg"/></a>
 
Finally got around to taking the top off. No surprises rust in the usual places. Rear side windows out, front and rear windshield will come out at a later date. Next step will be either paint remover or paint thinner to remove the glue. One good thing about a 7 day heat wave is that it made removing the chrome trim around the front and back windows came out very easy.



 
Slow and steady. The body shop said they would remove the vinyl top but I knew they would just cut it up and peal it off. I carefully removed it in one piece. Its' condition was a strong 8.5- 9.0. I figure it will make for a good template for a new one, especially to follow the seam pattern and then maybe someone will be interested in buying it.;-) I also wonder why Volvo made such large holes for the plugs that hold the crown emblems. They couldn't come up with a smaller plug?
 
I'm into about the third week of paint prep on the V8 245 at the moment and did not find very much rust at all. Maybe a square inch scattered over half a dozen places around the car. Boy, is there a lot of surface area on a wagon! Biggest issue I have had is filling the holes in the roof for the rack plus the damage the rack itself did to the paint vibrating against the car.

Windshield and rear glass out today and then starting tape. That stuff doesn't age well, even the pro painter green/orange/blue stuff, so it has got to get to the paint shop quickly.

That rust free '81 Bertone here in Georgia might be quicker and it only has 28k miles.
 
Small steps. The weather is getting better so time to get busy.Just a little filler on the door for low spots and some 2K primer on the door and fender. The other fender is done and maybe tomorrow I can work on the driver door. Leaving the rust problems for the end. Question. I have the backs of fenders painted with POR15. Would you also use the 3M undercoating too?


 
Time for an update. Got a little work done on Sunday, had to get some help to make it go faster. Took care of some rust issues. The only rust left is a small section on each butt cheek and the long panel under the taillights that holds the rubber trim. I think I'l go to the metal shop near by and have them cut me a piece of metal 48 x 1 and have them bend it so it has a 1/8 in. lip to match the original.
So went from this


To this, ain 't pretty but ain't rusty either


Then this got done


to this


More cowl work

The other A pillar needed some attention too

Next will be the butt cheeks and finally the taillight section, maybe next week?

This section I will try for one long panel
 
As promised here is an update on the 79 Coupe. I can't believe it's been 5 years. Time waits for no one. I've enlisted the help of a friend to help me get this thing over the finish line. I wasn't going to take the front cowl and headlight supports out because I want to just get this car done. Then I thought I would not be happy if I left the parts in place and didn't address them correctly. So the upper and lower radiator supports came out. Paint remover took care of the old paint. I had a quart of POR 15 laying around so the back parts got the POR treatment while the tops got a two coats of etching primer. The headlight supports were sanded down front and back and primed. They did not get POR because the backs of the supports are seen from the engine side, so they will get the same color paint as the rest of the car.
I needed to rest the fenders on something so I took some scrap wood and made a couple of fender stands. Works for me. The rear right 1/4 panel needed a small patch panel. This I made from a scrap fender I have laying around. Made a nice patch panel but my welding skills suck. The front section welded just fine but I burned through in back half. I will cut it out and start over.
Today my friend showed up with his paint gun and we got more stuff done. We finished the body repair around the front window. The doors came off, again, and the metal was cleaned and prepped for primer. Any surface rust or hints of rust were treated. The weather was threatening rain most of the afternoon but we got lucky and only a some sprinkles. The roof, 1/4 panels, hood, door jams and one fender were primed. Starting to look like car again. A few more weekends and maybe it will all be done. Fingers crossed. Now for the visual.
Well no pics. Photosuckit is not cooperating. Going try something else.
 
I have more pics on my phone but I'm having a hard time loading them onto my computer. Not too savvy. More pics tomorrow.
 
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