Month: October 2009

I used some C-clamps and bits of scrap iron to straighten out a bent spot on the seat back.  I also did a bit of grinding and cutting to remove some sloppy welds where somebody had once tried to fix a failed joint on the seat base. After I get a chance to sandblast the seat, I can re-weld it properly.

It’s been really cold for the last week or so. High temperatures in the 50s. I think the 2009 painting season is over.

I started block-sanding a rear door, and like the front door I did a few days earlier, it will need additional primer-surfacer and more sanding. But that will probably not happen until next spring.  To give myself something to do, I took the coil I bought at Hershey, bead-blasted it, and painted it satin black with a can of Krylon. Mounted on the firewall, it looks much prettier than the generic modern coil that I had been using.

Hopefully over the winter I will be able to get the seats upholstered. To get started on this process, I dragged the front seat down from the attic, removed some tack strips and tattered remains of upholstery, and gave it a quick cleaning with the power washer. Before it can be upholstered, I will need to fix up an old botched repair where a weld had once broken, sandblast it, and paint it. I’ll also have to order an interior kit, which is rather expensive and takes several weeks to produce. So I doubt any actual upholstering will get done before the end of the year.

I went to Hershey Thursday, and bought a bunch of bits and pieces. One them was an original coil, which cost $10. I Installed it, and it worked fine. At some point I will need to bead-blast and repaint it. I also got a used fiberglass rear fender, which I may use if I despair of ever getting the original fenders fixed up.

I removed one of the front doors and started block-sanding it. It had needed some body filler, and the sanding revealed several high and low spots. It will eventually need some more coats of filler-surfacer, and more sanding. A lot of sanding, repainting, and re-sanding lies ahead.

I finished bead-blasting the trim strips, and primed them. The trim strip that goes between the gas tank and windshield was a bit pitted, so I gave it acouple of coats of filler. In the next few days I should be able to sand it and install it, along with the welting that goes between it and the gas tank.

I also blasted, primed, and painted the steering column and its mounting bracket. Once the paint was dry, I re-assembled the control rods that run through it. Before doing that, I used my welder to fix up the spots on the control rods that rub against the click-stops on the steering column. Now the rods work with a nice click-stop action, like they did when the car was new. Finally, I installed the steering column and hooked up the controls. Now all the engine controls (timing, throtle, choke, etc.) are properly hooked up.

In a coffee can of random bits that was in the car when I bought it, I found the instrument panel light.  It turned out to be in very good condition, except that an insulating washer had crumbled away, causing it to short out.  I made a replacement washer from a bit of circuit board material, and after that the light worked fine, so I installed it over the instrument panel.

It is starting to get cool, so there is no way I will be able to get the entire car painted this fall.  I still need to do a lot of blocking and sanding over the entire body, which I can do over the winter.  During the rest of October I should be able to bead-blast all the hood panels, do a couple of little repairs to them, and get them primed and coated with filler-surfacer (just like the rest of the body).