Got the wheel lip moldings packaged up securely and sent to my buddy in Texas for straightening, polishing and plating. I fixed a crack in my front grill and did a little rust repair on my rear bumper sight shield reinforcement with some two part epoxy. On the body shop front, the guys assured me they were making slow progress on the roof and would have some good pictures for me in a few days.
Early the next week, I got a call from Nick saying he was having a hell of a time with the roof oil canning as they tried to block it. He said he talked with another body man with several more years experience than he had and the guy suggested we get a tube of 3M expanding foam to shoot along the roof reinforcements to lend a bit more support to the roof, so I OKed that solution and he ordered a tube from out supplier.
Well the following week, the 3M foam arrived and they attempted to shoot it onto the reinforcements, but the material has started to set up in the tube and was useless, so another tube was ordered. Then principal body man got sick and so there no progress to report. As for me, I shot the repaired rear bumper sight shield support with rubberized undercoating so it will be ready to reattach once I get the sight shield stripped.
THEN THE PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN BEGAN and things got really stalled. We had a storm come thru in mid April with severe high winds that blew down a tree next to the body shop that pulled down the pole, transformer and their power lines. Luckily it fell along the side of the shop and not across the building so there was no damage to the structure... WHEW!!
I couldn't do much on my side of the project because the dealership had cut back their hours to only working 4 days a week, and sadly Saturday is not one of them! So I kinda piddled around the house doing honey do's until things got back to normal.
The shop was finally repaired and operational about mid May and the guys got right to it. The replacement foam arrived and they got it applied to the braces...
and were finally able to get the roof blocked out. With the roof out of the way,
they then turned their attention to setting the panel gaps. The front clips is now off the car
and the weight bags applied to the doors to mimic the assembled door weight.
They are starting on the passenger door since that side is the most accessible.
Eager to see the progress made this coming week!!
As far as me, I've gone to the dealership and reinstalled the rear sight shield reinforcement to the rubber bumper sight shield, so now all the sight shields are ready to be worked and shot bright argent.
I've also worked on the wheels for my '64 Fairlane 500 Ranch Wagon getting ready to have the centers painted to match the body color of the vehicle. Blasted them and painted the rim section with POR15
and now have them ready to send to the body shop along with the wagon hood for the finishing body work and Skylight Blue paint.
Feels good to be able to tinker once again!
Until next installment....
ZEBRA 3 OUT
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