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Progress
is Made - December 11
As I mentioned before, I began the task of removing
trim and sanding. As you can see here by the image, I've got the
right front fender off and the nose disassembled. Working the fenders
will be
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easier this way, and soon I'll remove the inner fender
panels and restore the engine compartment and front suspension.
We had a freak rainstorm, which reminded me that I ought
to spare the sanding to bare metal until I can get her
on four wheels and inside my shop. I picked up all my
painting supplies for the wheels and primered them today.
Tomorrow I'll sand and paint them. My rack
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Strip Down Started
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worked out ok, but the pressure of the gun caused the
wheels to move too much and made extra work for me. Note
to self: create a better wheel holding rack. As all of
my automotive experience has been
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Wheels Primered
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mechanical in nature, save for minor fabrication work,
all this body and paint
work is uncharted territory for me. Sure, I've painted
plenty of parts with a rattle can, but not with an air
gun and professional paints. I've been dying to learn
some new skills, and I figure that my own car was the
best place to start. If I mess up, it's my problem, alone.
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December
12
I started messing around with welding
up trim holes. Again, this is a new venture for me.
I was thinking about getting an old fender to practice
on, but I decided to just jump in and go for it. I managed
to weld up two holes in the hood where the hood ornament
used to live. I chose there as my starting point, because
the hood is dented in that location, and I figured if
I was going to warp metal it might as well be in an
area that needed straightening anyway. My first try
was unsuccessful, as I hadn't heated up the hood enough
and basically tried to melt the rod onto the hood. The
welds hadn't fused to the hood, so when I ground on
them they broke off. I took a deep breath and heated
the metal surrounding the hole until it was becoming
a puddle and started building up a pile of molten metal
around the hole, moving it around until it closed up.
I repeated the process on the other hole. Success! I
now had two filled holes. Only a million more to go.
I also painted the wheels today, I
think they look pretty good for a
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first time job. Wheels are tricky to paint, as
there are strange seams, angles and curves. I
see already how I can improve my next set. Good,
I'm learning.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot! I
won an insane intake manifold on Ebay. It's a
vintage Edelbrock that's set up for 8 Stromberg
97s. This may end up being overkill, but who cares?
It's going to look and sound boss, man.
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8 Hungry Mouths to Feed
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December 13
Well, the tires are mounted and she is a roller again.
Wow, the fresh wheels and tires give her a whole new look.
Unfortunately, the pictures
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New Pair of Shoes
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just
don't do her justice. Seeing your ideas come together
really serves as a motovator. If that little bit
of work made this big of a difference, then stand
back, I've got some more to do!
I moved her into the shop, and
removed the windscreen and rear window. I'm very
impressed that there is literally no rust in the
channels, in fact there is shiny paint. |
Either they made good window rubber back then, or I'm
lucky to have found such a solid old car.
A friend of mine who is photographing
me for an art project about people who've recently moved
to Los Angeles came round to shoot me. I rolled out the
tanks and welded up two more holes for her, perhaps she'll
contribute to my images here. This time the holes filled
quick. I think my skills have already improved.
Fortunately for my income, my next project
is arriving this weekend, so my progress will be slowed
on the Dodge for a while. You can check out that project here.
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