1963 Singer Vogue, seeing doors in my sleep!!!

Right where am I now. The bulkhead has been stripped of its components cleaned up and hydrate 80 applied where necessary. I also found another few rust holes which needed patching. I really felt down when I found these bits as I thought I had finished welding the shell. Here are a few pictures.




















Next I moved onto the bulkhead inside the shell. I thought I had forgotten to take pictures but I found them. It was a mess with some heavily pitted metal. I removed the wiring loom, pedals and anything else to gain access.







My son came on Saturday to give me a hand and he cleaned up the bulkhead inside the shell as I was nursing some back pain. It was a horrible job and he was absolutely filthy afterwards. I forgot to take pictures after the clean up but here it is with a liberal coating of hydrate 80.






As usual I jump around from one area to another. I found some pin holes and a bit of rot around the headlight recesses and to be honest I was really tempted to bodge them with body filler but thought better of it. The pin holes were filled with weld, my son was holding copper behind the holes to stop the metal burning away. The rot was cut out and a new piece of metal let in. It will need a smear if filler but it’s turned out fine.








Jumping somewhere else again, I cleaned up the area around the windscreen fits derusting and treating with hydrate 80. I should be on commission for the amount of hydrate 80 I use and the constant mentions.





Now I am looking for some advice (Mark), before I apply the second coat of primer, do I need to key the first coat and with what. The next question is what are you guys using for the underside of the floor, stone chip or something else. Please feel free to advise as I don’t really have a clue.

One last thing, I ordered by mistake the wrong size of belts for my power file. I ordered 330mm x 10mm which are of no use to me. If anyone wants them let me know, if more than one person wants them I will run a hat. Here is a picture of the belts.


That’s it for now, apologies if I have duplicated any pictures. I find it difficult to find the correct ones from thumbnails. Please feel free to comment etc. All the best, Norman

Hi Norman.

I assume it's epoxy primer?
If so I normally sand it back with somthing like 320 grit on the outer bodywork. If its awkward areas or areas that don't get a lot of wind/rain/wear like engine bays or inside door shuts then grey scotchbrite is good (the red is too fine).

If its the inside of the car then just a good degrease with panel wipe will do as it will stick well enough for those areas.

I buy 100mm x 10 metre rolls of the grey for about £30 as it's far cheaper than buying pads.

Underneath I like to go over the epoxy with stonechip in wheelarches and areas of high wear, otherwise you are often better off just glossing over the epoxy, it waterproofs it well and is easy to touch in with a brush if you get any stonechips (which suprisingly you don't).

I like tetrosyl stonechip - but make sure it's not the bitumen based stuff. Its this stuff and you will need a schutz gun to apply it.

I like to epoxy again over the stonechip and gloss on top of that - even in wheelarches. Dirt falls off the gloss well (and it looks good) and its suprisingly hard wearing.

You made me double check the grades as had always thought Grey finer than Red - Phew - it is ! Red is Very Fine - Grey is Ultra fine.

Keep at it Norman, switch things around and think of it as a bonus that you have found the rust now rather then while you're painting or even worse after.
It will end one day!

I've always managed to get my sound deadening from e.bay or Facebook marketplace. Lots of people using it to convert vans and typically have sheets left over, so is much cheaper.
Used some dodo and dead mat, can't say there is any difference between them really.
Extreme budget version is lead alternative flashing from DIY shops, similar, but I don't think it's quite as good.

Looks good Norman, is tne seam sealer Tiger seal? (or similar brand).

If so I tend to lay a smaller bead and run a finger over it (with a nitrile glove on) and wipe off the excess on my finger with a bit of thinners.

It takes time, but I found the way to neat seam sealing is a line of masking tape on either side of the seam.

I can offer tips on filler.

This Filler is amazing stuff, you can sand it 10 mins after applying. It's not cheap but it's fantastic stuff.

This filler is even better (for the finishing layer) again it's the best filler I have ever used.

For deeper filling I like This filler as it never sinks and normally has no pinholes either.

100% agree on the Evercoat products, great stuff.  Don't know about the U Pol, but if blackpopracing says it's good then I would take that to the bank.