Well, the weekend has passed, and it was a pleasantly productive one. So let’s get y’all up to speed on what was accomplished shall we?
After giving the newest freshly painted parts a day or two to dry, I was ready to start some reassembly of the back end of the car. But first, I prepped and masked the outsides of the reverse lights and gave them a much needed shot of paint:
Knowing that the end goal was ultimately to ger the painted center piece installed, I figured I’d better start from the ground up first.
Literally.
After blowing the layer of body filler dust off the back bumper, I man handled it up onto the stand. Man that b**ch is heavy! I had forgotten just how much these things weigh...
The goal was to get the bumperettes removed, something that I’ve never liked on our cars. As expected, the bolts were rusted solid, so rather than fight them, the grinder came out and made short work of them.
The bumper just after the bumperettes went “bye-bye”:
Also as expected, there was a slight difference in the finish on the chrome underneath where they sat, but not terrible...
...but this was also before I tried anything to see if it would polish up. The removal of the bumperettes left two small holes behind in the impact strip, but I can live with those for the time being. I may even have the proper impact strip without holes in it in my shed, but it’s currently inaccessible till the 4’ snowdrift that’s between me and it melts. I certainly like the leftover holes much better than the bumperettes.
The unwanted offending pieces...
With those pesky things gone, I turned my attention to cleaning out the void between the bumper and impact bar on the backside of the assembly. I could see some dirt clumps and rusty bits through some holes back there, so I pulled those out and blew air inside to get the remainder.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that I’d just become a landlord evicting an unwanted tenant...!!!
The little b*st*rd must have been stealing insulation from my compressor enclosure, and building himself a nice nest in the bumper while it was stored on the floor.
I’m sure he’s gone as I found him some months earlier already deceased. Probably of starvation as I don’t keep anything food related in the garage.
Anyways, with that nonsense dealt with, it was time to install it. Once it was mounted up, I took a little lacquer thinner on a microfibre towel, and removed the white painted stripe inside the impact strip. Just a little detail, but I like how it looks better that way. I also took some Mother’s Mag and Aluminum Polish to the entire bumper, but especially where the bumperettes had sat. I think it came up amazingly:
After working well into the wee hours of the morning, fussing and fretting over every little detail, I had cleaned all the old overspray from the wiring, replaced all the bulbs, reinstalled all the clips, installed the center piece and stay down license plate door, adjusted the taillights and installed the quarter extensions, and even removed and cleaned up the fuel tank sending unit connection and ground.
After it was all together, it looked something like this.
🙂
Trunk closed:
Trunk open:
Here’s a quick look at the insides of the quarter extensions now that they’re installed:
The next morning, I had to have the big door open to manoeuvre some stuff around, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to snap a couple more quick pics.
By George, it’s starting to look like a car again!!
The driver’s side of the bumper is a tad low, I’ll have to make a little adjustment and get it moved up. But overall for a first bolt up, I think it looks pretty good!
When Mike came by later that morning, I got him started on finally replacing some of that rust damaged metal in the driver’s side wheel well. It didn’t go as quickly as I thought it would, so there’s gonna be some time to be spent in there. I’ll likely be giving him a hand and working on it during the week as well so we can get it done and move on.
While he was tackling that, I busied myself with a myriad of small jobs, I found a way to support the front of the plastic bumper filler panel directly underneath the rear license plate. I found matching areas on both sides of the filler panel that under lapped the reverse light openings, drilled two small holes for push in Christmas tree clips, and snapped them in. It worked like a charm, no more floppy filler panel when I go to fuel up!
🙂
I also did a very thorough job of vacuuming out the trunk, as I’m pretty much entirely done in there now. To fill out the rest of the day yesterday, I spent the remainder stripping all the old paint off the rear bumper filler panels. These are the ones that go between the quarter panels and the rear bumper itself. I’ll get into what an absolute PITA these are in the next update.
One last pic as I wrap things up for now...
Till next time guys, thanks for tuning in!
D.
