John S's Journal

I got some more color sprayed today. I had the slam panel to attend to and it was spot-primed and ready after sanding it with some 400 grit. The original emissions sticker, negative earth sticker and the commission number were carefully masked off as I wanted to retain those in the condition that they were in when I took possession of the car. Got it sprayed with a couple coats and also went over some spots in the engine bay that needed some more attention.

I still need to remove the bonnet as it needs to be cleaned and prepped for paint as do the fender channels. I have a strut kit from Rick that I need to install so I’m thinking that I might do that while the bonnet is still on and in position. Once it’s on then I can move on to the underside prep and paint. I need more paint and so a trip to the paint supply house tomorrow for another pint and injection into 4 more spray cans plus I need to get some clear that will work with the paint. My wife returns tomorrow evening so if I can get the engine bay spray painting mostly finished tomorrow then I will have achieved my main weekend goal.

I decided to tackle the heater box since the weather has cooled a bit and there is a nice breeze. A great view looking East at the Three Sisters with a sublime sunset light show is my distraction from the mundane task of sanding the heater box components. Other than some surface rust and a little light pitting, it’s in really good shape. The core looks good, motor spins up freely, and the diverted moves freely as well. Picked up some etch primer and some semi-gloss black paint that Pete Shannon recommended so once all the tedious stuff is done, I can get it all painted up and ready to reassemble. I’m going to come up with a couple of bungs to use so that I can put some compressed air in and check for leaks but there doesn’t appear to be any signs of leakage at first glance. Fingers crossed.