Been about a month since I last updated so I thought I'd bring everyone up to speed on the latest Tomato progress.....
Right after my last post, my wife and I left for a 7 day Caribbean cruise which meant I was away from home for about a week and a half, so upon my return I stopped at the bodyshop to check the status on my car and I found they had started spraying some red!
They had shot the headlight buckets....
the underside of the hood, decklid and header panel....
the return edges of the front fenders....
the trunk gutter....
the cowl area....
the door jambs....
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and the doors....
When I left he was getting ready to mask off the back of the front fenders to coat the backsides with a heavy coat of bedliner as well as addressing the overspray onto the black areas of the cowl. He said he would be hanging the fenders and start laying out the stripe so he could shoot the stripe the weekend after next.... BUT, there was an issue with his order of completion!!
The doors and front fenders should have been hung and adjusted for the gaps, then the stripe area on the body and into the jamb areas shot BLACK, then the stripe laid out with 1/4" fine line, THEN the fenders and doors removed, any remaining areas necessary shot black and the fine line stripe outline extended into the jambs/door returns to the first hard (90 degree) edge they encounter. The white for the stripe could then be sprayed onto the jamb/door areas then masked off and at that point, shoot remaining areas red.
When I pointed out ONCE AGAIN that I wanted the stripe to extend into the jamb/door returns to a hard edge, he said once the car was reassembled and painting finished, he could then go into the jamb area and reshoot the stripe areas to the hard edge. When I asked how he would work the stripe around the leading edge of the door and the front fender, she said he could do a soft edge (my terminology) on the door and fender like the factory did. When I said the leading edge of the door would be visible when the door was opened he said no one would probably notice. Someone anal like I am would!!
When I posted my update on my Facebook profile later that afternoon, I made a statement that I needed to decide to pull the car before they shot the stripe and final colors or live with their compromise. The shop owner saw my comment and texted me that I need to find another shop to finish the car! The shop WAS AWARE all along that I did NOT want a soft edge on my stripe like what came from the factory and we had talked about it countless times, but for some reason they chose to ignore my wishes.
A few days later I received another text showing that they had the doors, fenders and decklid remounted on the car and all my parts and remaining body parts wrapped for protection and everything was ready for pickup that Saturday.....
We got there about a half hour before the rollback was scheduled to arrive and got the car positioned for the rollback to hook and pull unto the deck as well as securing the doors closed and strapping the hood down in position protected my several moving blankets.
The rollback arrived and we got the Torino pulled onto the deck without incident and away we went back to the dealership. Once there, I ran inside and opened the overhead door into the shop area so he could drop the Tomato inside since it was starting to mist rain. Rolled her off and away he went.
Since I was going to have to drive the Torino up the ramp to the second floor, I decided to put the driver's seat back in.... (forgot how nice they look!)
I was afraid to drive her up the ramp sitting on a bucket.... I could imagine the bucket kicking over as we went up the ramp and then trying to control the car as I scramble around the interior trying to see where the hell I was traversing the ramp!
With the seat installed, I hit the key.... no power. Looked thru the opening of the core support at the passenger side and saw that Bill had removed the positive lead off the battery for safety, so I reached thru opening and reattached the battery. Hit the key again and she spun over, hit and ran for a second and died. Did this several times and then figured I was out of gas. Looked and saw that my 5 gallon gas can was not in the car so I texted the bodyshop and Bill said he had forgotten to get it out of his outdoor shed, so we ran back over to grab it.
On the way I realized why the car wouldn't run.... I had the carb cover on!! So I drop my son off at the house and then get the gas can and return to the dealership. I ran upstairs and grabbed the air cleaner, unstrapped the hood, pivoted it up on the passenger side edge and while supporting the hood with my head, removed the carb cover and set the air cleaner in place.
Viola, the 460 roared to life! I went to the ramp doors and got them blocked open and then went back to pull the car around. Since I wasn't sure how much gas was in my little 2 gallon fuel tank I had hung on the car, I figured I better fill it up while I could because it wouldn't be easy to do if the car died on the ramp. (I have Buzzards luck after all!!)
With the tank full, the battery connected and the driver seat installed, I was ready to tackle the ramp! I opened the shop door, she fired right up and pulled out and around to the alley and started up the ramp. Since it had been misting the rain for a bit the street was wet and now so were the tires, so as I started up the ramp the tires started slipping on the metal traction grating of the ramp so I eased off the throttle a bit to allow her to grip as well as keeping her from ass ending into the ramp wall!
As we neared the top of the ramp, the engine started to stumble and about 12" before the rear tires cleared the top of the ramp, SHE DIED! I though maybe coming up the ramp had caused the fuel to collect on the down side of the tank and the fuel line had been sucking air, so I let her set for a minute so the fuel could level out and tried her again... NOTHING. Tried even pouring a bit of fuel into the carb just to see if she would hit but nada.... so I resolved myself to let her set there on the ramp until I could borrow a come along from work on Monday to pull her the rest of the way up the ramp onto the level floor so then she would be easier to push back to the work area. I chocked the rear tires with a 4x4 and a section of RR track I had and called it a day.
On Monday I stopped at the dealership on my way home with the come along to yank her ass off the ramp and when I got there the mechanics were just cleaning up for the day so my buddy Jim, the shop manager had the three guy as well as himself go upstairs with me and see if they could push it the rest of the way. I knew it would be close but they were finally able to wrestle it the rest of the way off the ramp and pushed over to my side of the second floor to clear the ramp area should they need to bring a car up or down the ramp.
So Saturday I set about trying figure out why she didn't want to run. I borrowed my buddies spark plug light and verified the plugs were getting fire and they were, so I then pulled the plugs and found they were all fouled out.... a lot of idling and just puttering around I guess. So I cleaned them all and reinstalled them and POW, she was back to her old self!!
Got her back to my area so I can do a few things I need to do as well as getting her cleaned up a bit as I look for a new place to tackle the paint!
Now that I have her back in my possession, I'll try and get her cleaned up like she was when she left for the second shop as well as doing a couple other projects I need to do while she's home.
MORE TO COME
ZEBRA 3 OUT
