More progress today. The NOS grille for the passenger side came in by UPS today. We knew that the front upper fascia had to be removed to get the grille inserts out, and also so that we could remove the filler panel for painting, so MPR took it off yesterday.
Lots of fasteners and screws hold that filler panel in place.
I knew the lower fascia had some old cracks on the driver's side that had been repaired with metal strips and rivets in the past. MPR is going to remove those as needed and use some of the newer epoxy bonding materials available now to build that area back up and we'll throw some color on it, then clear the whole lower fascia before putting it back on.
Passenger side looks fine - but was the metal strip brace factory or added when the other side got repaired?
Tried to get a photo of the part number and date code of the upper fascia, but may have to wait until we take out the Grille to get a better shot. Look at the 1-12 number sequence - was that a date code of sorts? Circle which month it was made in?
MPR got the driver's side patch in. Here is the inner patch tack welded in place
And coated with rust inhibiting coating from above and beneath before top patch gets welded in.
Top patch in place, ready to weld
And working on the filler and prepping for primer
Found this connector disconnected from the temp sending unit at the rear of the driver side head.
This one was added at some point, and the wire disappears in to the wire loom behind the alternator. Gauge on dash works. Wonder why they did it this way? Would probably like to reuse the original. Are they readily available? I can try plugging it back in and disconnecting the other - see if gauge still works? And where is a good place to get the foil tubing from the heat shroud to the elbow on the breather snorkel?
Are the two white fuse holders behind the alternator original or added?
More later.
BJ