Month: October 2011

I sprayed the outside of the hood pieces with urethane surfacer and wet-sanded them. It took quite a while to sand around all the louvers! I did it outside, since it was a messy job. Then I sprayed an epoxy sealer coat on the inside, followed by a couple of coats of semi-gloss maroon paint. Once the mess from the snowstorm is cleaned up, I’ll paint the outside, and the hood will be just about done.

Over the last week or so, I finished bead-blasting the hood pieces (actually used garnet on the top pieces, since they had some rust). I spray epoxy primer on the top pieces, and then a thin coat of sprayable polyester filler. I sanded down the filler (a dusty job!) and test-fitted the top pieces to the car. Finally I primered the side pieces. They have no significant rust or dings, so they don’t need any filler.
In the next day or two I’ll spray the outside of all four pieces with urethane surfacer and wet-sand them. Then they will be ready for the finish coat.

Over the weekend I repaired some damaged spots on the rolled bottom edge of the hood side pieces, where they had rubbed against the hold-down clamps. To do this I cut away the damaged areas, cut some matching bits from a piece of 1/4″ brake line tubing, and welded them in place. Then I used Easy-Off oven cleaner to remove some baked-on oil/dirt crud from the inside surface of the hood pieces. As a bonus, this removed most of the paint. For some type of paint, Easy-Off is an excellent paint stripper, because you can just wash it off with water. Finally, I bead blasted one of the four hood pieces.

Over the next few days I need to bead-blast the rest of the hood, do a couple of small repairs on the top pieces, and get them all primered.

I went to Hershey on Thursday and got lots of nice goodies.  I left the house at 4, and got there by 7.  I walked around for about 10 hours before heading home. The best acquisition was a set of specially-made reproduction running board trim strips.  And they were a gift!  I also got a new headlight bar, which was less expensive than I expected.  I spent years pondering how the existing bar got bent into such a funny shape, and how I could successfully straighten it out again.  Now I don’t have to worry about that any more.  I also found a nice front splash shield, for a very reasonable price.  The existing one is quite beat up, with lots of dents and several cracks that had been crudely welded up.  A very unusual find was a pair of inner rear fender skirts.  These are usually the first part of a fender to rust out, but the ones I got had been carefully removed from their fenders and were in excellent shape.  Finally, I got a slightly used set of repro engine pans for about 1/4 the price of a new set.  These last three items were not on my shopping list, but when I saw them, I knew I had to get them.  I was very close to buying yet another front fender, but I resisted the temptation.  I have enough already.

The running boards are mostly done. I finished welding a couple of little cracks, then started bead-blasting them. (Actually I used garnet instead of glass beads, which cuts faster through rust.) The blasting took a while, but the garnet worked well. Then I applied a primer coat and a topcoat of semi-gloss black enamel (Valspar Tractor and Implement brand). I did not use fancy auto paint, because all the exposed parts will be covered by the rubber mat or trim strips. I added some special enamel hardener to the topcoat, which worked well. the primer took a couple of days to dry, and the topcoat reached the same level of dryness in about 6 hours. The boards are ready to be bolted into place, but it might be easier to install the rubber mat and trim strips first. I’m planning to re-use the rubber mats that were on the boards when I got the car. The were virtually new, and all I had to do was remove the sticky adhesive from the back (with Goo-Gone) and give them a good cleaning.
Meanwhile I’ve started work on the hood. I got the side pieces down from the attic and removed some rivets that held some long-gone rubber bumpers in place.  Over the weekend I’ll clean off the dirt and crud, and start bead-blasting them.