Blowin' the doors off....

Well was a short day today working on the Tomato. The tasks of the day were getting the holes pulled for the door power feed harnesses and get the doors removes. When I purchased the power window assemblies from Jeff Munn, I had him to also send the the leading edges of both doors so I could locate everything as shipped from the factory. This also allowed me to know the exact sizes of the holes I needed to put in the doors and hinge posts so the harness bellows would seal correctly. The factory openings measured roughly 1 7/8" in diameter and I knew that would be a tough job cutting those with a hole saw so I checked at work and found the Greenlee punch for 1 1/2" conduit was 1 15/16"... close enough.

I used my step drill to cut the 1/2" pilot hole for the draw stud and with the help of my buddy Jim maneuvering the punch into position to clear the side impact bar in the door, it was a simple matter of pumping the hydraulics to pull the punch thru the thin material of the door skin and voila.... nice smoothly cut round holes in the leading edge of the doors in less than an hour......

Next step was to remove the doors so we could access the necessary location on the hinge post of the body to pull the opening cabin of the car....







With the harness holes in place we laid the first door on the sawhorses so I could begin the task of cleaning, prepping and painting the insides of the doors as well as getting the interior side prepped for paint.....

Until next time...........

ZEBRA 3 OUT

She's BAAAAAAAACK!!!

The day I've been waiting for finally arrived and the boys at F3 finally got Phase 1 of the Tomato restoration completed and returned to me. They did such a fabulous job repairing the inner structure that it's a shame it has to be hidden away again. Here is a before and after shot of the repaired inner structure...





The Sikkens epoxy primer was applied to the doors and body to give them a level of protection as well as a solid base for the coming bodywork...

 

and they returned the Tomato to the dealership....

 

so I could modify a couple things that need to be done and get the Torino up in the air to sandblast and POR15 the chassis and firewall and return it back to them for final bodywork and paint.

 

The guys also got the front frame reinforcement bars added while there!

 

Now it's time to crawl under her and blast and paint the undercarriage....

 

LET THE FUN BEGIN

 

Until next installment...

 

ZEBRA 3 OUT

SCUFFED

Got a text from the guys at F3 today asking if I was ready to bring the Tomato home this Saturday! YIKES, I'm not ready.... so I told them we would shoot from next Saturday, Feb 16th, so I could go this weekend and get the area at the dealership ready to receive it's old friend back to the fold.

I swung by on my way home from work and they have her about 75% ready to prime. A few more welds to dress out, a bit more prepping of the body and she should be wearing her first coat of epoxy primer on Friday!!

Here are a few shot to document her progress since the last installment.....





She has come a LONG way since I dropped her off around the end of April! Not quite are far along as we had hopped but she is being done right and you can't rush quality. Hope on Friday to have some primered shots!

The plan is for me to stop again next Tuesday for a final inspection to confirm everything on the Stage 1 list has been completed prior to bringing her home temporarily for chassis and engine compartment detailing before taking her back to the boys at F3 for Stage 2..... FINAL BODY WORK AND COLOR!

Stay tuned....

ZEBRA 3 OUT

HUNG

Swung by the F3 shop and the quarter panel and roof skin are almost completely attached!!

They will finish dressing the welds and start prepping the body for primer and should have the two stage epoxy sprayed on her flanks by this time next week!

Stay tuned.....

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Inner structure REPAIRED....

The boys at F3 were busy on the Tomato this week! They sent me pics of the COMPLETED INNER STRUCTURE REPAIRS today and they look FANTASTIC! I'll swing by tomorrow after work for a first hand opportunity to drool over their craftsmanship....

They will probably already have the quarter and roof skin attached by the time I get there as well as the inner driver side rear bulkhead and be dressing the welds and prepping the body for the first coat of epoxy primer! Won't be long until the ball will be back in MY court!!

Tune in tomorrow for more......

ZEBRA 3 OUT

A little bit closer.....

Stopped by the F3 shop on Tuesday and the sheet metal is about 90% complete. A few more tweeks/repairs to be made to the inner structure and then it will be on to hanging the quarter and roof skins, then prepping for the epoxy primer. Sikkens have already delivered the primer materials, so by the end of next week (01/18/13) she should be once more have something on her naked body. Here are a few shots of the structure and the quarter panel in place to check fit......

Will take a few more shots of the final structure repairs prior to exterior panel attachment. Really getting excited about getting the ole girl back so I can get my hands dirty again while the guys at F3 massage the hood, fenders, deck lid.

Stay tuned......

ZEBRA 3 OUT