Month: June 2013

I painted the headlight bar and front bumper braces with epoxy primer and acrylic urethane topcoat, just like I did for the rear bumper braces almost three years ago.  I also painted the special studs that attach the braces to the frame. Once it was all dry, I bolted the bumper braces in place. Now in theory I can install the front bumper, but it is pretty rusty and ugly-looking.

I think I will give my “temporary” front fenders a quickie paint job, so the next step is to build some sort of jig to hold the fenders while working on them.

I have finally finished painting my 1972 Triumph Spitfire.  That job has occupied most of my free time for the last year or so.  So now I can get back to working on the Ford.  The next task will be painting the headlight bar and front bumper braces.  I had bead-blasted the headlight bar about a year ago, and the bumper braces about three years ago, so I went over them one more time to clean off a bit of light rust that had accumulated since then.  I also got rid of a slight bend in the headlight bar.  I had to do it carefully, since the bar has a complex curved shape, and it is built up from solid forged ends and a tubular center piece.

Once those are painted, I plan to buff the stainless steel radiator shell, and paint the colored inserts on the top and bottom of the shell.