Month: December 2009

Exactly a week after I ordered the interior kit, the UPS guy dropped off two giant boxes, with the kit inside. They managed to make it in about three working days!  I spent some time going through all the pieces to make sure everything was in order.  It is well made, and the mohair fabric is very nice.  I am still not sure what to do about the front seat spring.  Next week I will talk to the vendor to see how much it might cost to have one custom-made based on my original spring.

I was never really satisfied with the color of the special high-temperature paint that I had used a couple of years ago to paint the exhaust manifold. It was supposed to to look like unpainted cast iron, but it had more of a flat tan color. Last fall at a swap meed I bought a can of a different brand of exhaust paint, which seemed to have a more suitable color. Last weekend I took off the exhaust manifold, bead-blasted off the old paint, and re-painted it. The new paint was a lot better, looking almost exactly like the raw iron.

I also used my Dremel tool to slightly open up the cracks in the steering wheel, so that the epoxy putty would bond better.  I mixed up a bit of the epoxy and filled a few of the cracks.  Once the epoxy dries I will see now good it looks.  The putty was rather messy and sticky, and I’ll have to do some some sanding after all the cracks are filled.

I put the seat cushion frame together, and did some final work on it with the router, rounding the edges, etc. It looks fabulous. I also got a reproduction seat base spring. It is well-made, but it is a bit lower and shallower than the original, and I am not 100% sure if it will work well and if the seat upholstery will fit properly over it. But the only practical alternative is to have a reproduction spring custom-made, which would surely be expensive.

I ordered the upholstery kit in green mohair, just like the original (and frightfully expensive). It should arrive in 3 weeks or so, and then I will see how everything goes together.

While I am waiting for the upholstery, I might start trying to repair the cracks in the steering wheel with epoxy putty. But with the Christmas season upon us, I won’t be spending a lot of time on the car…