I've been in denial about a sore throat I picked up a few days ago
and it finally blew up on me on Sunday so I wound up staying home from work
today...I don't want to make it worse so I have to stay inside but there's only
so much to do indoors when you feel like this. I'm a closeted Type A personality
so I can't help but analyze and devise a plan to keep this situation from
derailing the goal of finishing a car while watching the hours tick by today.
I
have spent far too much time trying to figure out how to get this project going
and accomplish as much as possible. I find that knowing where I am is key
to knowing just how far I can go...so in that vein, I put together a listing of
the body parts and what they require. I found out that I'm pretty close
to 'paint' on most of them but I cannot celebrate until they're all at 'paint'
because it will happen at one time.
A
few things are needed for the passenger doors but they're otherwise
complete-the fact that the windows roll up and down easily is a big plus.
It means it should be relatively easy to pull them apart, fix some minor
skin issues, paint and re-assemble. I'm planning on using a little more
seam sealer inside the doors to control the amount of damage they endure should
the car get wet although I'm going to do my best to keep it dry. It's
going to go on a long road trip at some point so I need to be prepared.
The
hatch on both cars is solid and I have NOS parts for the lock, striker plates,
receivers and the push button, as well as the lens and seal. I also have
two NOS license plate lights (not sure how that happened).
I'll
probably wind up using the hood from the white car since the one on the red car
has a couple strong creases that would prove difficult/expensive to remove -
kind of a bummer since the hood from the white car is a super rare N hood that
I'll have to drill holes in for the hood trim. I have two nice hood trims
and a NOS black trim rubber (super hard to find). Two sets of hinges and
NOS/near NOS hood lock/catch complete the front end.
I
have two fuel tanks (the one that came with the red car is roached) and the
spare tire bucket is good (two of them).
"A"
pillar/dash from the red car is better than the white car so I'm hoping to
replace the rockers, fix the rotted rear seat corner and pull the front clip from
white car on the red car's body. This is tentative-based on the condition
of the rest of the body (especially after I get the rear fenders off the
car)-but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I spotted a bit of rust at the
base of the "A" pillar on the driver's side but I'm hoping it's
minimal. If not, that'll have to be brought over from the white body.
Fortunately,
the rear cargo area panels are present and in decent shape so I should be able
to clean them up, fix some of the glue situations and re-use them. The
back seat has the original rubber backing that's not torn or damaged (at least
upon initial inspection).
Most
of what I'm missing in parts is readily available, with the exception of the
driver's side Z arm rest, and a couple of other parts that I expect to
materialize at some point.
I
now have most of the interior panels-save for the left side door-but I don't
have the carpet, headliner or seat upholstery yet. I also need to procure
the window rubber and trim pieces.
I
should know a lot more after next weekend. I'm expecting to be fully
recovered from this illness and have some assistance in taking the car apart in
a slow, methodical manner to fully assess my situation and devise a more
focused plan of attack.
A
lot is going to depend on what the pan looks like when I get the body off of
it. I'm hoping I can use the front beam with a little refreshing-it looks
like the original beam and appears to be undamaged from the few front end
collisions but I'll know more when it's apart.
This
wasn't planned and it's far from ideal (I could have accomplished something
very similar for less than half of what I spent if I'd known the real condition
of the car) but I'm going to do everything I can to keep it from ruining my
goal of finishing a restoration...most of which will likely wind up on the
bones of Ferris.
Yeah,
I'm coming around and trying to be positive about the result...but that doesn't
mean that I've forgiven anyone for what happened.
Background
Tune: "Life is an Illusion" by Minerve
No comments:
Post a Comment