Well I  spent some time re-doing a few areas that needed some help in the body department. I re-primed and sanded those repairs then spent the better part of a day just re-taping and papering the beast. Finally I got some sealer on the car. Normally you would go wet to wet from sealer to paint but since this is going to be two tone I will have to let the sealer dry a couple of days then scuff it with 800 grit and proceed to mask off for the color.

With the nose back on it was time to get the car back into the spray booth. I have about 5 different areas that I have to rework the body before I will be ready for color so basically a couple of weeks away at this point. But I am getting there.

More tape and paper. This time to prevent overspray into the nose through the grill openings. I installed the headlight doors for the final time with some temporary props . The nose will go on for final paint then back off to install the headlight door  opener equipment. I applied some masking foam to the fenders before hanging the nose.

Well the knick knacks seem to never end. I had to paint up a bunch of tech screws to secure the panels that fit on the underside of the nose to the fenders. People wonder why projects like this take so long when you have to fiddle with so much unseen little nonsense like this.  Also I had to paint the panels. I used some black SEM metal etch primer and SEM trim paint to cover these aluminum panels. I hope the rest of the car comes out as good as the mirrors. Pretty happy with them.

Also since I modified the windshield bed I had to layout and drill for my windshield trim clips. Best done now before it is painted in case I slip with the drill which I never do. lol

Well doesn't look like a lot but I tackled getting paint on the last pieces that needed the inards done. The headlight doors and the inside of the nose got some color and clear this weekend. I also painted my mirrors so as not to waste the paint I had mixed up. Next I will be dragging the car back into the booth to work on about 5 or six different areas of body work that are not quite right. So final color still a couple of weeks away. Just as well. Here in North Carolina it got down to 30 degrees overnight this weekend. I need it to be a bit warmer than that.

Some small bits here. I had bought new seals a couple of years ago and went to install one of the door jamb seals. Long story short it fit like crap and was molded badly. Probably not news to you guys who do restorations. What is the point of making stuff that fits like crap. Again probably preaching to the choir. So I refurbished the original pieces that came with the car. The one on the right is the original piece.

I painted the underside of my gas fill cover with some SEM black trim paint. This stuff is great in that it has a metal etch component and practically no build up. It wears really great also so I figured that in this area I would need something that could take a bit of a beating. If it does scar touch up is easy because it is in a aerosol can.

I installed the cover for the last time in the car sealing it to the base with silicone.

Finally this weekend I put the front fenders back on for the last time. It is finally starting to look like a car.

 I am a more than a little miffed right now. Before I went through all the effort to mold my own grill for the fender scoops I had scoured E-Bay and Google searching for aftermarket ABS plastic grill that matched my needs. All searches ended in me finding grills that were dimensionally twice as big as I needed. Hence the big effort to mold my own piece.  I was doing some work on the nose and I was looking at the lower grill that I had made with some square stainless mesh and thought," You know. That larger honeycomb that I found might be just the ticket to match the lower grill with the scoops". Brilliant right? So I go back to E-Bay to find the stuff and......You guessed it. The size honeycomb I needed for the scoops is the first thing that pops up. brickwall

Moving on. Before I could put the fenders back on the car I had to create a back stop for the grill screens for those fender scoops. I took some pre-painted black aluminum and bent an "L" flange and fitted it up in the scoop about 1/2" in. I will be eventually affixing the screen in with a thin bead of black silicone that will be easily cut out if I need to remove the screens. The "L" flange is held in place with 3m double faced trim tape. If both surfaces are non-pourus and cleaned with Acetone this stuff doesn't let go. If you use it you better be sure your piece is where you want it before you stick it  down. Getting it back off is almost impossible.

Finally the last picture shows the painted grill in place.