Matt Drayer's Journal

I'm not sure I'm happy with where we're at right now. I know I should be happy -- a lot has been accomplished so far. The dashboard is off, and the engine bay, interior, and trunk spaces are all coated with primer which has been drying/curing for a few days.

I made the mistake of staying up late consuming a bunch of "Project Car Do's and Don'ts" and "Proper Car Restoration in 500 Steps" type articles and videos last week, which only made me anxious versus guiding me. I mean, I know I'm generally on the right track, but now I know what I really should be doing.

A few of the articles I read described typical project failure stories -- you know the kind -- project car is bought with a dream of restoring to like-new-or-better, supplies/parts are acquired, Life Happens and everything gets put away, 15 years later the project is sold off to the next hopeful.

I'm worried that's going to be me someday...

I should have done some body sealer/filler work in the engine bay before priming to really smooth things out, but I really wanted to get that primer on. There are some bare spots I missed, and some interesting spots where the primer still isn't dry, and I can't figure out why -- maybe the metal wasn't clean enough, or maybe I didn't mix the primer well enough. Maybe there's still time to do a bit of fixing before applying the topcoat.

I couldn't get all of the old soundproofing material off of the transmission tunnel, so I just primed over it. It's fine...maybe it'll even be better this way, after the interior is painted, and a new layer of soundproofing goes on, plus carpet. All of my project clothes are covered in primer at this point.

I should have ordered a firewall grommet kit when I did the big Moss order, but I'm experiencing a bit of new tools+parts fatigue at the moment. It's not the money it's just the constant acquisition of things that is wearing me down. I know there's still more stuff to pick up -- a lot of "do it now, because it's easiest to address now" situations, so...it's fine, I guess.

I feel like the engine has been sitting on the stand in a disassembled state for too long. It doesn't look rusty or corroded, and I have all of the necessary parts to put it back together again. I'm worried about "priming the pump" for some reason. I'm also worried that with the timing chain off and the distributor removed for so long that the cam is now out of alignment. I know there's a defined procedure for restoring the timing, but I'm still not ready to take this on, so it's just there in the back of my head nagging at me. I need to finish the prep work. Don't scatter around too much. One thing at a time.

I can't put the front suspension back together again because the one thing that was backordered from Moss was the Full Suspension Kit item, which has all of the necessary bushings, pins, etc. that I need to reassemble. I have no idea when it will be shipped to me. It doesn't really matter because I am still working on the body, but everyone says to reassemble the suspension/steering before doing almost everything else, so this may become a blocker.

I just want to get this machine running again. There are so many pieces to reassemble. The temperature this weekend is going to be like 5F -- going to be difficult in our little barely-heated garage. There are so many pieces...it's a real-world jigsaw puzzle. Will it all go back together? What if a piece is missing? What if I put it back together wrong? What if, what if, what if...

Breathe. It will all be fine. Just keep swimming.

Breathe...


<br/>Marblehead MG Episode 9