Yes, most of the car is finally one color! A few days after the D-Day celebration, I celebrated P-Day, and that is indeed worth celebrating!
I’ve not been able to post for a week as my Internet service crashed last Thursday and didn’t return until today. Online tech support couldn’t figure it out and the local technician couldn’t come out until today.
The problem was initiated by a robocall that bypassed my answering machine and tried to leave a message at the phone company, and that locked up the automated system. Then when online tech support tried to fix the mess, they corrupted the troubleshooting program. Fortunately, the tech that came out had just finished fixing the same problem for two of my neighbors, so I was back online in a few minutes.
The weather cooperated nicely the last several days and I was able to paint the fenders, doors, hood, and front gravel pan. The trunk lid a rear gravel pan are left to paint, but I hadn't properly mounted the trunk lid and had to wait for that before painting.
I'm satisfied with everything except the hood and I had been worried about it since day one. The underside surface was pitted, and it needed several patches to strengthen the supporting structure. It looked like crap after painting, but I wasn’t about to take too much time to make that part look nice, since the pad will cover many of the worst areas.
The top surface had also been damaged extensively by hail some years ago and I did a poor job of leveling all the tiny dents. Some can be removed by color sanding but I’m quite sure it will require more filling, leveling and repainting to look acceptable for even a daily driver. At least I will be able to finish the doors and fenders and then mount much of the exterior trim. If necessary I will locate a better hood to restore.
Anyone who has assembled a ‘56 grille knows what a pain it is to adjust all the parts to achieve a good fit, but I managed to accomplish much of that today, and it came out okay, if not perfect.
The paint will have to cure for another day before I can begin color sanding and it will be nice to get that part of the job done. I think I have enough sandpaper, but I’ll need to order a new buffer pad before I can finish final polishing.
I can’t wait to get back to the interior again!
Looks good Gary, a significant milestone, I think you are on the downhill side of the mountain now. Your shop looks too clean but you need that with painting, it must be hard to work without tripping and falling over stuff and loosing tools like I do.
ReplyDeleteOh boy, have I got you fooled! The shop may look clean in the picture, but I had to neaten-up that side when I was painting. Sad to say, the other sides is cluttered as usual, and I'm always losing tools and stumbling over something I neglected to return to its storage place.
ReplyDeleteI do agree that seeing fresh paint and shiny parts going together does raise my enthusiasm level!