[gtospieg]

Sweet...

[kingbuzzo]

lookin good for summer...

[roger1]

Thanks Will and happy holidays to you.
Yeah, obviously I wasn't thrilled with having to repaint a few things but I didn't beat myself up about it.
Yes, I do have a few things I can give an update on.

I got the fender done and it came out well.



Before starting on the hood and trunk lid, I decided to buy some new sanding blocks. I bought a set of polycarbonate blocks from Linear Blocking Tools.



I also bought this block sander called a Curve Caster:



I re-blocked the entire hood and trunk lid out again and then sprayed more epoxy primer and blocked.
Close to being ready for base and clear but one more sanding to do with 400 grit.



The hood was a challenge from the start for me. Both the damage it had and all the complicated curves. I probably didn't have the right technique either so I've really studied more on it this time. I like the new sanding blocks I bought and think they've helped me some this time too.
The trunk lid wasn't a problem. Like the fender, I just missed a low spot.

I hadn't tested the wiper motor out yet and did that the other day. It didn't go well. It's a reproduction and made by The Parts Place. It seemed to run correctly at first but then made a strange sound and locked up. I guess I should have known better and not bought a reproduction when I could have bought a rebuilt original instead. I never did evaluate the original that came on my car. I just wanted one that was shiny and new.
I decided to bench test my original and it seemed to work OK so I cleaned it up the best I could. Cleaned up pretty well but I may have removed some of the plating from the washer assembly cover and the steel end of the wiper motor. Maybe a good coat of wax might keep those from rusting.



Snapped a photo of the driver side seat installed in the car. Since the seats will come back out for the convertible top install, I'm not going to install the new seat base aprons and backs yet.

[dataway]

Wiper motor looks great, I'd use that in a heartbeat. Still using my original, seems to work fine in normal operation but makes a horrible loud clicking when I press the washer function.

[Dave1969]

Roger was it a bear to remove the trunk hinges? I am getting ready to start the process of painting the body soon. Sorry I never started a thread but I’m not as organized as you but here are a couple of pictures.

[roger1]

Hi Dave. Good to hear from you.

It was a bit of a pain to grind off the ends of the pins to get the hinges off the body but not all that bad. As I remember, I used a carbide burr bit in my die grinder.
I used shortened door hinge pins for replacements. They are the correct diameter

Frame, engine and underbody all look fantastic! SPI epoxy?
Sorry I forgot to let you know about my front coil spring choice. I hope you saw my postings about what pair I went with.

Never too late to start a build thread! I'd sure like to see all what you've done and share what plans you have for it. Are you keeping it the original color?

[Dave1969]

Thanks for the info. I did the frame and underside with POR15. I am keeping the car blue but just a shade darker with pearl in it. Yes I seen your work with the coil springs I will have to see how my car sits before making a decision to do any changes. I’ll post more soon.

[Skidmark]

So nice to see your car back on the road. The interior turned out awesome. Same for the fit and finish of the panels.

[roger1]

6 weeks since my last update. Things have been moving slowly for me but I'm now ready to move on with things.
I spent an inordinate amount of time blocking the hood out to make sure I was going to be satisfied with the reflections this time. I also made a few adjustments to my paint procedures to see if I could reduce the amount of urethane wave I was getting.







Very happy with them both now! I did seem to get less urethane wave too and am pretty confident that after they are color sanded and polished, no wave will be seen.

I talked to the guy at the interior shop last week to discuss when he thought he might be able to install the convertible top. He's working on just one job he wants to get out of the way first and he thought that would take about another week. . He told me to call him at the end of this week and he should then be able to give me the day to drive it on over to his shop.
So this week I am going to get the car insured, registration done at the DMV and put the license plates on.

I got the next door neighbor to come over and help me install the hood and trunk lid back on the car and then I installed the rest of the seats. Even though the seats will come back out at the interior shop, in the car is the best way to transport them there.

[dataway]

Very nice! Love that pearly white.

[proximity_alrt]

Wow, those seats really came out nice. I see so many that have been done that have weird fitment issues. Your attention to detail is spectacular. It really ties together nicely with the red as well.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by dataway

Very nice! Love that pearly white.

Thanks John!

Originally Posted by proximity_alrt

Wow, those seats really came out nice. I see so many that have been done that have weird fitment issues. Your attention to detail is spectacular. It really ties together nicely with the red as well.

Thanks. My interior guy is just fantastic. He's semi-retired and I'm very lucky that he still does work for me. I got some warnings on the forum when I mentioned that he was going to use new seat foam for the buckets but I was never worried.
Parchment interior with black dash and carpet was just a great option. It goes with practically every color car too. Hands down my favorite.

Btw, I got a new helper in my shop:



About 9 months old now. Got her at a rescue and she is definitely a handful with all that puppy energy.

[dataway]

Looks an awful lot like a Terrier / Border Collie mix. Very cute little girl.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by dataway

Looks an awful lot like a Terrier / Border Collie mix. Very cute little girl.

That's exactly what we have been thinking! Maybe a Scottish Terrier.
She's a good girl too. Loves people and other dogs. Even introduced her to children and she did well. So much energy though and she's a thief too!

[dataway]

I've had Border Collies most of my life ... she's got the focused eyes.

[MUSLCAH]

To get that “Fat “ looking clear smooth....your first cut of the clearcoat should be 600 grit...then work your way up through the grits.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

To get that “Fat “ looking clear smooth....your first cut of the clearcoat should be 600 grit...then work your way up through the grits.

That's what a lot of the guys on the SPI forum say too. Starting with 600 scares me a bit though since I only put on 4 coats of clear. I reduced the clear 5% more in order to get it to lay a little more slick too. The instructions with these polycarbonate blocking tools from Linear say to start out with 800. I did a test with these blocks starting with 1000 using guide coat and it seemed to work well too.

Originally Posted by dataway

I've had Border Collies most of my life ... she's got the focused eyes.

Looking online at personality descriptions, I'd say she kind of fits a Border Collie a lot more than a Scottish Terrier. Could be another type of Terrier though but it must be a type with shorter legs. Maybe a Westie. Anyway, she seems to have the makings of turning out to be a great dog for us but right now her energy it sometimes is a bit exhausting.

[roger1]

A few things done since my last post.

I installed the original wiper motor on the car but could not get it to work properly. So I decided to buy a rebuilt original by Cardone that my local O'Reillys carried to give that a try. I did a bench test on it with success and then installed it on the car and it works just as is should. Installed my original washer pump on the Cardone motor and it works just fine too.



Installed the stainless cover at the bottom of the windshield and then the wipers.
I had bought a complete wiper arm and blade kit from Ames. My original driver side wiper arm was damaged and that's why I decided to go that route.
The new arms from Ames are absolutely fine but the blade holders and rubber blades themselves are both horrible quality.



I ordered a set of front floor mats from Lloyd's Mats and they fit nice and I think they look great.





I've now got insurance on the car through Grundy. No problem getting it for the agreed value I wanted even though the car isn't quite finished yet.
Also went down to the DMV and got my 1969 Texas license plates approved for usage and registered the car as an antique vehicle which is good for 5 years.





I took the car out for it's first test drive. Drove it around my neighborhood for about 10 to 15 minutes. It drove pretty well considering it only has an eyeball front end alignment. The brakes feel great and the engine seems pretty responsive. I haven't even looked at adjusting the fuel trim settings yet though. The transmission shifts from gear to gear pretty hard. Maybe a bit too firm for my taste. I may have to see if that can be adjusted. The throttle valve cable might need to be fine tuned too. Seems like I'm waiting for it to shift sometimes.

I have an appointment to get the front end aligned tomorrow so I hope that goes OK. Also, I'm hoping to get the car down to the interior shop this week to get the convertible top installed. That could happen tomorrow as well. Last time we talked, he told me he was just about ready for me to bring it down.

[dataway]

Absolutely beautiful.

Let us know how the alignment goes ... I'm going to be in that spot shortely.

How long before we get time slips from the drag strip

[Shiny]

That is exceptional. Two notches above wow.