Details 94....

Well success today in finishing up the driver side fender...

as well as blasting a section of fender material to be used for patching purposes.

Discovered a bit of cancer starting in the lower rear corner of the fender

so it will need to be cut out and patched like the passenger side fender.

Got the hood back up on the panel stand and removed the Gorilla tape I used to try and keep the sand out of the hood structure....

The tape survived the blasting with flying colors and was still sticking VERY well, so I must endorse the Gorilla tape for all your heavy duty taping projects! LOL

 

The air was extremely damp today, so I was unable to use the angle head grinder for very long before it would stop working, so I finished cleaning up the sand from the blast room so I would have a clean environment to work in next weekend. I'll put a desiccant filter on the angle head and see if that helps with it's operation so I can finish removing the paint from the underside of the hood and then begin the task of cleaning and treating the raw sheet metal with Ospho to protect it until it's time for paint.... NOT MUCH LONGER NOW (fingers crossed!!)

I also stopped at AutoZone on my way in to the dealership this morning and picked up a couple heater hoses so I could make a bypass hose for the heater circuit until it's time to reinstall the HVAC system back into the Tomato...

Need to trim and splice them together and she'll be good to go......

Don't touch that dial!

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Details 93...

In spite of the bitterly cold temperature upstairs at the dealership (I could see my breath), I almost finished the driver side fender... As usual with my luck, got to the 5 yard line and then had to punt! LOL got all but the lower corner of the fender stripped before running out of sand...

so next weekend will begin with sucking and sifting the sand one more time!

Once the driver side fender and the material for the patch panel for the passenger side fender is finished , I'll begin the process of addressing any rusted areas using Eastwood's Rust Converter, followed by a coat of POR-15, then a coat of Eastwood Chassis Black. Any areas prone to collecting debris will receive a coat of Eastwood Rubberized Undercoating.

Once the fender backsides are done, I'll move on to applying a coating of Ospho to the bare sheet metal areas as protection from surface rust as well as a metal prep for first coat of primer. Then I can begin to reassemble the body in preparation for turning the Tomato over to the bodyshop.

Since Far From Factory has closed, I'll see what kind of home facilities Adam has to confim they are adequate for the final bodywork and paint. If they are found lacking, then the arduous task of finding a suitable facility to wrap up the next phase of the project will commence....

Wish me luck! Until next time....

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Details 92...

Well more progress today... got the power antenna shield mounted onto the plastic fender liner...

cleaned the coolant overflow bottle (need to find something to bleach the plastic back to it's natural color)...

and got the undercoating of the back of the driver fender (had to use a putty knife and a scotch brite pad)...

and got the backside completely blasted and started on the outside of the fender. Got the hood return...

fender top...

nose section back to and around the wheel opening.

Will get the rest of that knocked out next weekend and then I'll treat all the naked sheet metal with Ospho to protect it until it's time to shoot the primer.... not much longer now!!!!

More to come.....

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Details 91....

Well Saturday wasn't as productive as I had hoped. I got all the sand vacuumed up and sifted into three 5 gallon containers ready for use and thought I'd change the desiccant filter on the blast gun before getting underway.

I pulled the old filter off and installed the new one onto the gun and set it on the fender awaiting getting the blast hopper filled and the fun underway. As I filled the hopper and moved it into position to begin, I inadvertently knocked/pulled the gun off the fender and busted the brand new filter! I checked the old one and it looked to have a bit of life left in it (the desiccant beads hadn't fully changed colors yet) so I bit the bullet and reinstalled it.

Well it wasn't long until I was fighting the moist air situation of the media not picking up as it should, but I endured and got the majority of the backside of the fender blasted.

Whoever was working the undercoating the day my fender was coated put a nice heavy coat on the area behind the wheel well because the media wasn't cutting it like it did on the nose of the fender... not sure if it was that much heavier or the sand not being fed to the gun as it should, so I'll make a run to Harbor Freight and pick up three or four of the inline filters and hit it again once the flow is back up to speed and see how it does. After 40+ years and still adhering that well, I may just leave it alone.
Also need to reposition the lights a bit so I can see better into the fender back side as I'm blasting because I see a few areas that still need addressed....

Until next time......

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Details 90....

Well Saturday went extremely well! Took a scotch-brite wheel to knock down the jacking instruction decal then proceeded to finish blasting the underside of the deck lid...

then propped it up on the panel stand...

and spent about an hour vacuuming the sand out of the inner structure! LOL, I think I got about 99% of it.

Set it out of the blast booth, filled the hopper and moved the driver side fender into the booth and started on the back side first. It's actually fun and therapeutic when everything works as it should! Just had to bump the hopper a few times as the media level got low to loosen the sand up a bit so it would cascade to the bottom. Got about 75% of the backside finished before running out of sand...

Knocking off the undercoating takes a bit of time and material, but it slowly yields to the sand! LOL

Next weekend will begin with vacuuming and sifting the media (one last time hopefully) and hitting the fender backside until clean and then flipping her over and doing the outside!

Don't touch that dial!

ZEBRA 3 OUT

Details 89...

More progress this weekend.... vacuumed up the sand, sifted and reloaded the hopper and got the underside of the deck lid blasted. Kinda a short day because had to get home and cleaned up for the company Christmas party.

Need to get all the remnants of the jacking instructions removed and hit a few areas inside the bracing before treating the hidden areas with Eastwood Rust Converter, applying some POR-15 to the inner seam areas and the applying new seam sealer.

Will get the decal and inner structure taken care of next weekend and the get started blasting the driver side fender....

Until next episode....

ZEBREA 3 OUT