Fourth Report of Work Done - East Bridgewater Stop

Another work day, more done to the car. Not a lot of pics today as the work was more of the same stuff already photographed.

First the good news. After stripping the undercoating from the left rear wheel well, I found there was no rust whatsoever. It's looking pretty good now with all the wheel wells done:





There was also some work done in the trunk floor. The repair on the left side where a rag was left was really done very poorly. This will all have to be cutout and done again. The heavy bed liner also caused some areas to rust after the stuff was sprayed on-it just trapped too much moisture and dirt and grime. Fortunately, they are mainly some pin holes and easily fixed. Check this seam in the rear of the trunk floor. This is one of the first places to rust in cars in New England, but again this is in great-actually perfect-shape.




Now some bad news. I was trying to clear away all the adhesive that was used to glue in the rear window. I don't know what was used, but the window almost pushed out as the stuff did not adhere to the glass. It did a great job of adhering to the body however, and was tough to get out. I was hoping to show a small drain hole for the rear window, but instead I found some rust with a very large hole. The same was true of the right side. This is troublesome as this whole quarter was replaced and there should not be such an amount of rust on this panel already.







I don't want to sound critical of previous bodywork, but I want to point out some lessons learned that may help you. You really can't just go to any body shop and hope for a restoration style job. A shop that knows how to restore a car would have never sprayed all that bed liner in the trunk. The quarter would not have been hung with bad door hinges. The fender would not have a shim to adjust it. And the area I just found along the rear window drain holes would not be in this shape. Again, please don't take this as criticizing other shops. They did what they thought was right. But in five years or so those rear drain holes would be a much bigger problem. I also want you to learn something when it comes to car shows. I can't tell you how many times people do not know why their cars did not do better. I've often had people come to me at the shows and ask what I did to make my car better than theirs-they sincerely wanted to know, not angry about it. They were shocked when I pointed out some areas that needed work on their cars, but now that they were shown it jumped out at them (and I was there at one point myself, wondering why I didn't win). I'll give you a common example. People have their door jambs painted but all the bolts for the window tracks or door handle etc. are still on the car and also get painted. This is just not correct. But then when they attempt to remove the bolt to clean the paint off it, the paint cracks and chips around it. I would tell them the bolt should not be painted, but also tell them to cut around it with an Exacto knife to prevent chipping. Before you commit yourself to getting the car painted, go to shows and ask questions. lots of questions.

A minute to address the body gaps. The door/quarter gap is okay, but I would like it to be better. Maybe some hammer and dolly work would get it better, maybe not. However, it is not so far off that it would be noticed. Just not exact to my standards.

Tomorrow I hope to post an update on the parts needed for the car. Jeff Bristow has committed a complete wiring harness for the car, so I am excited about how that will look. I have also contacted Snake Oyl about reconditioning the seat belts. I haven't heard back from them yet, but I am missing one buckle piece for the belts. If anyone can get it to me I sure would appreciate it. I also received some checks and PayPal deposits and will publish those names as well.

I also dropped off some body panels to Distinctive Auto Body. They are going to block, seal, and edge them and get them back to me. The car is now ready to be media blasted under the hood, in the wheel wells, and the trunk floor. I made arrangements for South Shore Vo-Tech students to fabricate and repair the trunk floor and do the rocker panels. Distinctive Auto will transport it to the school and back for us.

The front suspension is also ready to be blasted. Only parts of it were rebuilt, so we will do the other parts as well. As soon as the car leaves my garage we will start detailing the engine, rear end, and suspension. I am still very hopeful this car will be done for the ISCA World of Wheels show the first week of January.

Please look at the list of parts I hope to post tomorrow. Even if you have just one thing to donate, we will take it. If you have a high dollar part, let us know your best price. I hope you all realize now this is really going to be completed, and as correct as can be done. If you donated once, then try again-don't you give to charities every year? And if you have any children or grandchildren, do it for them. We still need a lot of help. Thanks for everything so far.

Editor's note: In addition to the progress reports here, Tom Benive is posting a restoration log at http://theamcforum.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=6258 featuring Hanna. Besides having a lot of pictures, Tom is doing a wonderful job of providing a step by step description of what is happening along with sharing a lot of very good tips. This update is a small sample of what Tom is sharing.