Back at Panel Bashing

For the last few days I have been working on the doors: The weather for the most part has been cooperating and nothing is better than working in the garage on a warm summer night especially when there are no thundershowers to contend with. I have finished removing all the paint from the right hand door and placed a skim coat of filler to smooth out the contour. In my wisdom (based on an assessment of the existing left hand door skin) I determined to make one good door out of two and sacrifice a damaged door with a good skin to be a donor. The process worked well and I think in the long run will be much more time efficient than trying to repair the existing skin. I also determined to revisit an existing patch panel and through my assessment determined my first attempt is not acceptable so I started over again using the discarded door skin for the purpose. It worked great.

I am trying to get the car totally in primer by July 3rd. I am going to keep my head down and push for this milestone prior to my vacation. I know I will need a break from all the toxic activities related to the body work. When I get back in late July I am going to go back to the mechanical work.

Automotive Project Jealousy

Last weekend I was working in my driveway when I heard someone "feathering" the throttle of a high performance car to get it to idle appropriately. I looked up and saw my neighbor Jim driving his 1968 Camaro around the block. The paint was all stripped with some filler applied. It looks like he is getting ready to take it in for paint. Jim has been working steadily on the car over the last year and a half and it looks like he now has a "runner".

I experienced a full range of emotions as I looked toward the street and saw him motoring by. I will admit I "internally" shared the experience with him and how great it must feel to take the car out of the garage and onto the street under it's own power. At the same time I felt extreme jealousy and disappointment in myself for not being in the same position myself. (we both started our projects at around the same time) The blame game started to get played and from there things got progressively worst emotionally as I crashed into a state of self loathing. It took me a full 2 days to recover-not good. The experience opened my eyes as to what is happening in my life and what I found out was very illuminating to say the least.

!957 Tub Comes Home

Last week I made arrangements to have the 1957 body delivered to my driveway. The tub was sitting beside a quonset in a farmers field and really needed to be brought home. Other than cleaning out some grass and mud and putting a car cover on no additional work has been done. It was a tremendous relief to finally arrange the transfer. Cost $50.

I was surprised how "solid" the tub is. A considerable amount of body work has been done already. I just need to neutralize the rust and get the tub cleaned up. Critical path has been set up. I just need to turn up and do the work.

Back In The Garage

I have been distracted by a 3rd party home reno project so no TR3 time for the past few weeks. Yesterday I returned to the garage to put away wood working tools and clean up so I can get started again on the reassembly. I am eager to get the body work completed so I can prime the rear of the tub and move on the the rear left fender reassembly. I have to be satisfied with incremental steps taken on a day to day basis. I really want to be driving this car in the summer...

Taking Stock and Cleaning Up

After a few days away from my TR3 project I ventured back out to the garage t0 clean up and put my tools etc away. I need to do this every so often in order to start fresh in an organized way. I also temporarily reattached the reworked body panels to the car to get them out of the way. It was satisfying to see the blue primered panels in place which resulted in a tinge of "job satisfaction" being experienced. Lot of work left...

I also thought about the 1957 car yesterday and what I should do with it. I am considering some options..;.

Rear Tire Cover/Paint Removal/Parts Sorting

Tonight I spent a couple of hours removing paint from the rear tire cover (which is a bit bent and dented from years of work) and the area on the right left around the rear wheel well area. I wasn't in the mood to do patch panel work so taking my 3M disk and removing some paint that was left over from the chemical strip was a good way to spend the evening. Somewhat menial work but necessary and in many ways satisfying as the layers of paint appear and disappear down to bare metal. The car certainly couldn't take another layer of paint so it is "necessary" work from a project completion perspective.

The paint removal was not without it's challenges: I had to remove 4 of the hold down attachment points for the flap on the side curtains so I could remove the paint which were fairly well stuck and hard to get at the nuts but with patience and perseverance I triumphed (no pun intended). I also went through one of my big plastic parts tubs sorting out what parts I have accumulated and what parts the previous owner had taken care of.... More work to be done there.....

so 3 hours spent today....2 body work and 1 sorting....a good productive day...

Rework on Back Splash Plan

Yesterday I went into the garage and reworked the patch panels I had started to fabricate for the rear of the car. In fact I started all over again on the left hand side. Instinctually I knew I could do better so instead of excepting a compromise I revisited the work. By chance I glanced over at a piece of the old fender that was sitting on the floor that I thought would work well instead and it did. The panel I am working on is curved and the fender piece fit almost perfectly...The work flowed well generally but I got very tired in the afternoon and left after about 2-1/2 hours of productivity. Good country and western music on CKUA which added to the experience. -It would have been good to spend a few more hours metal bashing but a good incremental improvement...An 8 out of 10 day all round.