Went & did some tire kicking

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Among all the small thing I did today I sanded the flat panels of the filler panel so I could put some high build on them to help fill in the low spots from the chips & marks in the original paint. Should be ready to go brown after a good block sanding.

 

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Got in a gambling mood & pulled the trigger on another OPGI dash so Jr. can get a new new dash. We have a '86-'88 sourced one that was ment for mine but he wants to keep the original style. It was a kick in the nuts to see they didn't give as good of a percentage off as last year (10% vs. 5% this year) & oversize shipping went up about 50%. Lets see if it shows in eight months like the other one did.

 

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After trying out a can of SEM 15033 Saddle Tan that didn't match I ordered a can of their 15173 Camel that is a better/very close match to the hue of Jr.'s dash & door panels. The 15033 looks like it'll be OK to refresh the cloth of the seat covers. Now for some of the hard plastic parts can be colored to match. I do wonder if the OE faded floor mats could be refreshed with the SEM or PPG color.

 

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Well as plans for painting one part didn't work out so instead I recolored an interior part. With the plate filler panel having to wait until other peoples plans don't take up its needed time I grabbed the used plastic floor hump cover to make it match the interior. I did go against my personal rule of using brand X to prep brand Y paint I used my PPG stuff to spray the SEM. The 15173 Camel does look good & looks to be the main go to color for the small parts for now. Don't mind the dark spots as it's from the broken camera lense on my phone.

 

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Got onto the filler panel & bulb access covers today just to find out I'm short on supplies. Did get the covers ready & sealed so they both are ready for color. Since they are aluminum ('79 & '80, '78 used different plastic ones thar don't interchange) & only was painted on the visible surface I etched & primed the whole panel. Then with the filler, it seems like the primer is "dusting" as it sprayed (cans, don't want to clean a gun for primer-lazy). They are fresh Upol cans I just bought, humidity is good. Guess get some more tomorrow.

 

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Had some stuff need delt with in the Monroeville area so I made a trip to the U Pull It to see what I could grab for Jr's car just to see things are thrashed or raped with the 3 G's there. Did get the rear seat belts out of the '80 G.P. but found out after I got home I could use another passenger shoulder belt as we never noticed the cut/chew in it. Jr. is OK if we need to use the black set I got off of UC645 for a just in case for my car. Would be nice to find a good set of Firestone made shoulder belts so they like the originals. But I personally would like to find a complete set of '85-'88 tan for a bench as I like the later plastic buckles over the earlier metal ones. Then I finally found my spare head rest to find a good condition pair as his one is slowly turning to dust. Even found a pair of blue later vinyl covers in the box so I can replace his as the sun didn't do them any good. Sooner or later I gotta get a list of needs/wants for Jr.'s ride.

 

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We had a transmission lesson today as I'm tired of moving his 4 speed everytime I had to move things from the one corner. Attached it to the spare bellhousing & onto the engine stand. Was suppose to been doing gaskets & seals but I forgot I didn't get them all yet. Instead it as on how to adjust shifter linkage of an ITM shifter & differences between it & thr Hurst Comp Plus. Now Jr. will know how to get the adjustment done as needed. Then showed him the "lift & shift" for reverse since my Hurst he has been practicing on doesn't. One thing I did notice is the shifter gate is looser than a lot of the girls I've came across in college. I'll need to look into the rebuild kits for factory installed Hurst shifters would work on an ITM as they both look the same.

 

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In the middle of clearing the filler & bulb access panels via spray bomb as the compressor died mid color coat. Just had enough pressure to finish but not as good as I would like it. Bulb panels will need redone as I got some spots in the contour that has what I'll call lift cracks. Next lesson for Jr. will be wet sanding on the filler. Glad I have Upol 1 spray can clear cause it's close to what production shops use. I've sold lots of it to several shops that use it as a go to for spot work.

 

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It's done for tonight. Tomorrow will be the "it's good or not" day after everything drys overnight assuming it doesn't get too cold (50's). No action pics but here's some before the final round of clear. Some spots are from my broken camera lens.

 

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I just looked at the pics on the laptop & just noticed how much overspray fog was still hagging around when I took the ones of the filler panel.