Richard's Corvair

The Restoration of my 1960 Corvair

Anti-Rust and Gas Tank Fabrication

Hood sanded

Hood with base anti-rust

Underside of hood sandblasted

Underside of hood with anti-rust

Touching up edges of trunk lid

Sandblasting rusty door edges

Door sandblasted

Protecting sandblasted edges of doors

Painting undercoating inside doors

Sand blasting headlights

Headlight assembly

Original Hinges

Hinges with anti-rust primer

Sintiplast rust converter

First color choice

Straightening tunnel

Painting the tunnel

Straightening small parts

Rusty gasoline sending unit

inside of fuel pump

Lower half of gas tank

Upper half of gas tank

Starting the gas tank

Welding the gas tank

Shaping the gas tank

New gas tank tacked together for a trial fit

Month 10

I’ve sandblasted the edges and interior of the doors, hood and trunk lid, painting those parts with a red paint that is supposed to convert rust to an inert substance. The outside it is ready for standard finishing. The black I’m painting in the doors over the red anti-rust is a sound absorbing and waterproofing product that is flowing into all the corners. I decided to sandblast the vents on the hood to get rid of the rust and protect it with the anti-rust paint. In retrospect, this was not a good idea. This paint is not what I thought it was and it cannot hold an automotive topcoat.

I’ve now disassembled the headlights to sand blast them and paint them. I’ll have to weld small sections where they have rusted through. I have new sealed beam halogen bulbs and parking light sockets to put in when they are finished.

To make sure the rust-stopping got as far as possible I dug out the impact screwdriver I bought in 1962 when I was working on my 54 Studebaker. That got the hinges off. I had to repair one hinge since the pin was broken off. After sandblasting them I painted them with the anti-rust base paint.
I’ve also chosen the final paint color. The original, although probably faded from 47 years of weathering is on the left. This Metallic Pearl Turquoise Glamour was used by General Motors in the 90’s. I will use a polyurethane base with a clear-coat. I’ll find a matching pearl or metallic pearl white for the roof.

The tunnel and a few other underbelly parts still needed straightening and painting so I sandblasted them and went back over the shrouds and other parts that I had sandblasted and given to the body shop to straighten and paint. Their straightening left a lot to be desired so I went over each piece and corrected it, sanded lightly and repainted. At the same time I retouched the assembly scratches on the suspension. That is a piece of half inch angle iron welded to a piece of pipe for a handle. An excellent base to hammer against in the channel on the edge.

The gasoline sending unit has a lot of rust inside. I will combine what is decent of the original 1960 unit with one from a 61 or later, maintaining the float and tubes of the 60. The fuel pump is rotten, but I will replace it with an electric pump.

It is finally time to fabricate the gas tank. We cut the damaged bottom section from the tank and put it back to it’s apparent original form. From there it is used as a mold for the new lower half, forming the channels and welding the ends, then welding the new lower half to the upper. The upper half required a little sandblasting. In the last picture the new lower half is tacked in place on the top for trial fitting to the car. Now I’ll look for epoxy paint for the inside.

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