Continued progress

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).