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