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Mechanica Design Doing weird science to restore and hotrod a Volvo 1800ES with readily available tools

My Volvo 1800ES had this bizarre hole punched through the firewall with a freaking awl, nobody really knows why but best...
10/12/2026

My Volvo 1800ES had this bizarre hole punched through the firewall with a freaking awl, nobody really knows why but best guess is dealer wanted to install AC, or some other dealer thing , like the Awl punched hole into the wheel well for antenna .

Anyways that hole is now GONE, along with the antenna hole, side hole and front rust pinholes .

I’m now putting together a video on different techniques for patching different kinds of holes .

I’m testing out colors and getting some gun practice , but damn this SPI clear is ridiculously easy to paint . I’m NOT A...
10/07/2026

I’m testing out colors and getting some gun practice , but damn this SPI clear is ridiculously easy to paint . I’m NOT A PRO, it’s been a while since I’ve shot a car , but I’ve never had a clear this easy to paint , it just atomizes perfectly , Black Widow , 27 lbs, 6” distance , and you can lay this on way thicker than i would have expected . I had a couple goofs on the hood , and yes it does have dust , but this is just practice , and it lays down like glass .

Colors here are Porsche Gemini Blue and Aston Martin Almond Green, last pic is a render of what I want the final to look like .

Aston Martin Almond Green vs. Porsche Gemini Blue. Note these ARE NOT CLEAR YET!!! Both will look dull . But have the ho...
10/05/2026

Aston Martin Almond Green vs. Porsche Gemini Blue. Note these ARE NOT CLEAR YET!!! Both will look dull . But have the hood and my test tub a coat . I ran out of green during the drop coat so not a perfect finish

I do believe I’ve got this pretty close . Originally this started out as a huge section smashed in with a pick hammer , ...
10/04/2026

I do believe I’ve got this pretty close . Originally this started out as a huge section smashed in with a pick hammer , I peeled about 10mm of filler off this panel .

I’m pretty my sequence of attacking this was wrong , but think it did work out through shear Slav stubbornness .

First chipped the filler off , then with dykem , got it mostly locally flat .

Then bought the profile gauge and realized the left side had a good 5mm crown.

Used the profile gauge as a diagnostic to identify where all the stretched areas were , and hit those with the shrinking disk . First time I used one of these discs. It’s easy to over do it .

Then with a combination of shrinking disk and hammer / dolly got the left side pretty much matching the curvature of the right .

Is this coach building level quality? Absolutely not , but it’s a massively better than when I started .

I did get this area where someone did a cave and pave *locally* flat , but it felt a little weird with my hand , so went...
10/03/2026

I did get this area where someone did a cave and pave *locally* flat , but it felt a little weird with my hand , so went out and got a profile gauge . And thus I found this area was in fact stretched and bowed outward by maybe 2-3mm . There is a bulge right where they mashed it with the pick hammer .

So I got a shrinking disk . I’ve never used one before . I did get a backing pad and the low profile nut , so I can put the whole disk flat on the surface .

IDK, this shrinking disc seems a little sketchy but we’ll try it . I know Wray Schelien is a big fan of them and watches his vids on them

Unfortunately not everyone is perfect 😕
09/30/2026

Unfortunately not everyone is perfect 😕

Dealing with a real Earl Schieb “cave and pave” butcher job here . Not really sure how to approach it , maybe hammer off...
09/29/2026

Dealing with a real Earl Schieb “cave and pave” butcher job here . Not really sure how to approach it , maybe hammer off dolly first . The center section has a reinforcing piece , so no access . I did buy a glue puller that I’ll try to use as a pull dolly and hammer around perimeter

Going to be shooting Gravitex inside the wheel wells . Schutz gun is great when you have lots of access , but my car is ...
09/29/2026

Going to be shooting Gravitex inside the wheel wells . Schutz gun is great when you have lots of access , but my car is only couple feet odd the ground so need to shoot upside down . So characterized an HVLP gun with a big tip, collected a lot of data and figure out what setting best matches the Schutz gun. Stay tuned for the next video where I go into details on these guns , paint viscosity and what settings actually change droplet formation .

Headlight buckets have gone from a Ziebart tar encrusted horror to actually clean . Guess I’ll have to sandblast and pai...
09/26/2026

Headlight buckets have gone from a Ziebart tar encrusted horror to actually clean . Guess I’ll have to sandblast and paint them now . Not sure what to do about wiring .

Inside and outside of my Volvo 1800 antenna delete after a bit of planishing. Was a massive pain as minimal inside acces...
09/25/2026

Inside and outside of my Volvo 1800 antenna delete after a bit of planishing. Was a massive pain as minimal inside access so had to make a beating bar to knock it from the inside .

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