Day 188

It has been very slow progress over the last few months.  I did have my break for my new job and then the weather has been fairly chilly which, honestly, does not make it fun to go out to the garage.

BUT, it has warmed up a bit and after I got my automotive juices flowing again by rebuilding 3 fuel pumps and getting the pan tuned up, I had the urge to do some work!  The pan needed some work because it had been sitting so long and the gas started to turn, which makes it run poorly.  Some timing adjustments, setting the dwell, and disassembly, cleaning, and re-installing the carb did the trick!

Today I resumed block sanding on the body.  This is the last part of the car that needs to be sanded before final paint.  There were four areas that I had re-primed that needed to be blocked with 220 so I did that and then moved onto my intermediate grit, 400, on the rest of the car.  I was able to get the roof, driver's side, and interior trunk done.  Hopefully tomorrow I can knock out the rest of the car in 400, get the bottom prepped with maroon scotch brite pads and then I'll just have the final sand of 600 grit left.

It feels good to be getting to this point but also strange, because until the weather warms up I can't do a whole lot!  I have some small projects here and there I can work on, look forward to those!

Parts order!

All the parts and pieces are sanded ready for final paint. All that remains is the body.

I was also able to place a large parts order for some of the interior items. I still need the seat covers and headliner but should have most of the rest!

Hope to have the body sanded within the next few weeks.

Carpet and floor mats
Seat padding
Random odds and ends

Day 187

Well that was quite the break, now wasn't it!

I was away for training for a new job, so that ate up about two months.  And with that two months the nice weather went with it.  Final paint will have to wait until spring, which gives me time to get the body and the two front fenders final sanded.

I did just that today, getting the driver's side fender completely prepped and the passenger side half way done.  Daylight and patience were quickly fading.

I moved the final sanded pieces back into the parts room and unfortunately dinged the front fender I just finished!  A small scratch about a 1/16" deep.  A little spot putty and some sanding took care of it.  Still ticked off at myself for doing it.

Next step will be to finish the passenger side front fender and onto the body for final sanding.

Once all of that is complete a thorough cleaning of the garage re-do the paint booth for final paint.

I'm also thinking I am going to start working on getting some of the interior items.  They don't expire and it would be nice to see some progress on the car in the form of a stocked room with parts ready to put on a car!  Motivation...

Day 186

Some small progress today.  I finished the passenger side door.  It blocked a little bit better than the driver's door so that was nice.  I think the extra curing time helped.

Over the past week I also restored some original date stamped coils that are period correct for my car.  I have 3 of them and hope to sell at least 1 or 2 to recoup my cost.  They turned out great!

Front fenders are next for sanding and then onto the body.

Day 185

Well some more progress on the car the past couple days.  It was windy and wet yesterday so although I didn't sand, I did get some stuff done.  I media blasted, primed, and painted my 3 ignition coils in semi-gloss black.  They turned out nicely.  I got some decals ordered for the sides of the coils, so they will look original.  I also tested them and it looks like they are still good!

Today I was able to get the few remaining smaller parts block sanded to 600 grit.  I also finished the driver's side door which took quite a long time.  I have the passenger side door, the two front fenders, and the whole body remaining.

Work schedule the next couple weeks isn't conducive to getting things done every day in a row but should leave enough time here and there to get the remaining parts done for final paint.

I still have quite a bit of work to do before that is ready, I need to take down the entire booth, give the garage a thorough cleaning and then put up new plastic.  I was trying to beat the cooler weather but may end up just buying some reducer for cooler temperatures.  It hasn't gotten that cold in Las Vegas yet :)

Day 184

Caroline has been home and I have taken the past two days off from sanding/paint work.

In fact, the next step is more filler primer on a few parts so that's all about waking up early, minding the weather, and having a free schedule.

I did get a few cool parts delivered.  The first was a set of 3 ignition coils that were date stamped right around when my original engine was manufactured.  They need to be cleaned, blasted, painted, and overall restored but I'm hoping 1 out of the 3 is good!

I also got my small pieces of chrome work back and they looked pretty good too!  I assembled the door handles, T handle for the decklid, and driver's side rear view mirror.  I'm very happy with the results.

The only one issue was a nick in the trim piece that goes on the glove box.  It is on the upward side so it is visible and I'm waiting to hear back from the chromer if he can fix it.  I'm happy with the results, so I'm thinking I may go with him for the bumpers as well.

Now I just need to finish it all so I can start putting these nicely restored parts on the car!

Day 183

Hey, guess what...more sanding!

Today I got the roof and inside blocked to 220.  Most of it turned out pretty good.  Some minor spots on the dash but nothing another coat of primer can't take care of.

Here's a little walk around to show progress on my blocking.  The areas that are blue/green were once low spots which I have used filler to bring up.  When I prime over top of them hopefully they won't require any extra work.

I also received the replacement door panel and pocket from Colorado.  They are in EXCELLENT shape and perfect replacements for my originals.

That will be a project for another day but will require me to remove the old vinyl, cut a new cardboard backing board, dye the old/replacement vinyl, mount, and then enjoy!

I even did another upgrade on my shoes so they're good for a few more miles.

This is the 2nd/3rd time taping :)