May 2023 update

 Well I've been a bit lacking keeping the project blog up to date but there was progress made this month (May '23)...

The last week of April, they finished the roof installation at the dealership so that following Saturday, I pulled the Tomato out of the paint booth where she had been hiding during all that work and I got her ready to go at it again. While evaluating my course of action, I thought I'd see how easily the foil backed foam insulation I had applied to the floor would come up so I could insure there was not water and crap trapped underneath from pressure washing everything a few weeks before, plus it was looking worse for the wear of being unprotected for several years.

I was right and also surprised how much bodyshop crud had gotten under the insulation and collected in several areas. I also discovered the SUPER CLEAN jug hadn't sealed completely and leaked out onto the passenger side front footwell. Looks like it had lifted the Eastwood Chassis Black but could really tell if it had also attacked the POR-15...

The weekend of the 6th, I started working on my first TO DO LIST...

Finished pulling the foam insulation off the driver's side of the floor...

cleaned the passenger side footwell where the SUPER CLEAN had leaked out (and it actually lifted the Eastwood Chassis Black and the POR-15!)...

so now all the old insulation has been removed...

drilled the pilot hold for the cable entry...

removed all the lines/hoses from the radiator, transmission and power steering coolers and then pulled the core support assembly back off the car.

DAMN, I don't remember that thing being that heavy...... but I did initially remove everything piece by piece back in the day.... when I was a bit younger!!

So the first TO DO LIST was put to bed!

The following weekend of the 20th, I posted the second TO DO LIST on the C pillar and got busy...

I cleaned up the firewall and front frame and suspension (as best I could from top side). Used the foaming cleaner a friend who details our company trucks gave me and MAN did it do a great job! Sprayed it on and then let it soak for a few minutes then hit it with a hogs hair brush to scrub it and get down into the areas simply wiping with a rag wouldn't get into and WOW what a difference...

I also started to second coat the dash but wasn't happy with the way the grain on the repaired areas was turning out, so I decided to stop on that until I could figure out how to replicate the grain the factory has embossed onto the surface.

So the weekend of the 27th, I cleaned all the crap off the interior of the car. My pictures didn't turn out to well, so hopefully these few will illustrate how well she cleaned up...

This week I'll revise my TO DO LIST and then next weekend, I'll climb into the trunk (THAT should be fun!!) and get that area all cleaned up. Once all the interior surfaces have been cleaned I'll then scuff all the areas, reapply the seam sealer and POR-15 as necessary and reshoot all the inside surfaces of the car with Eastwood Satin Chassis Black.

She's really cleaning up a LOT easier than I thought she would. Once I get all the interior of the car wrapped up, I'll put her back in the air and attack the underside.

DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL.....

ZEBRA 3 OUT

March 27, 2023 UPDATE

Well the city FINALLY completed the alley repairs but then they started replacing the roof on the dealership, so the project has been on and off for a while....

The alley was finished the end of March, so I was able to pull her downstairs on Saturday to the wash bay to power wash the body. As I pulled out of the alley onto the side street, I decided to do a quick test of the posi to make sure it was working properly....

a couple nice uniform marks showed that all was well!

Pulled her into the wash bay and proceeded to remove the driver's seat and the wiring harnesses then sealed the carb and my mini fuel tank to keep the water out. I then mixed the SUPER CLEAN concentrate in the foam gun per the directions and proceeded to foam the undercarriage, trunk interior and engine compartment. Let the foam soak for about another 15-20 minutes and then attached the undercarriage power washer and began washing off the foam and as much crud as possible.

Once I had finished the underside, I installed the spray wand and started washing the foam off the top side, interior, trunk and engine compartment. Once I had finished washing her all down, I drug out the shop vac and proceeded to suck up all the standing water in the trunk, interior and body cavities that wouldn't drain and then called it a day to let things dry up a bit more.

On Sunday, I vacuumed up the remaining water that had collected in the interior and then shot the electrical connections that were still on the car with WD-40 as well as the mating connectors on the harnesses and reinstalled the wiring.... BUT not without incident! The fusible link ring terminal broke off, so I had to strip back the jacket to temporarily expose the strands so I could wrap them around the solenoid hot post.

Once everything was back in place, she roared to life.....

and as I started to back her out of the wash bay, she started missing and smoking and then finally died. I knew immediately what that was... the plugs had fouled out... AHGAIN! I pulled all eight, cleaned them good and reinstalled them, but before firing her back up, I decided I better check the fuel. The mini tank was almost empty, so I filled her up so she wouldn't die on me going back up the ramp.

Hit the key and she lit right off smoothly, so I finished pulling her up to the main door so I could take her back upstairs. Shut her off while I ran back and opened the double ramp doors and got them propped open so they wouldn't blow closed and then ran back to the car. Opened the main door, hit the key and she groaned over slowly. DAMN.... the battery was low. I don't have the alternator hooked up yet so she runs off just the battery power. The battery has been installed about a year without being charged, so I closed all the doors and drug the battery charger over and put about a half hour 40 amp charge into it.

When I unhooked the charger and hit the key, she fired right up, so I shut her back off and went and reopened the doors. When the main door was high enough to drive under, I halted the door and hit the key. The Tomato jumped to life and as I pulled out onto the street for the quick trip to the alley, I gave her a quick jab of the gas and she sprung up the street so quickly I almost missed the turn into the alley! (Gonna be fun getting used to those 3:89 gears!) Rolled thru the turn and hugged the left side of the alley for the right turn onto the ramp. Once she started up the ramp, I kept throttling the gas to keep her moving because the tire were wet from the water standing in the alley. As we crested the top of the ramp, I eased off the gas and pulled her to a stop on the second floor. I shut her off and went back downstairs to secure all the doors.

Went back up and backed her into the center paint booth to protect her from falling debris from the roof replacement.

Next order of business will be to climb back under the car and use a bit of elbow grease to get the chassis and suspension cleaned back up before heading to the engine compartment and getting that area cleaned and back in order as well.

Stay tuned....

MORE TO COME

ZEBRA 3 OUT