I keep putting off the body work.
Each night, I take a little baggie of bondo dust and put it under my pillow, hoping that the bodyshop fairy would have came in the night, and finished it up for me.
Every morning, I turn over my pillow, only to find the stinkin baggie of dust right where I put it.
I'm starting to think that there might not be such a thing as a stinkin' bodyshop fairy.:no:
Next thing I know, somebody's gonna tell me that the Easter Bunny isn't real either.
So, with all the body work still looming in front of me, I do what I do best...
I put it off.
If building a car could be about the stuff I did today however, I would be done. It's the little quirky stuff that I like to do. The creation of something from nothing.
Earlier this week, I stopped into a sign shop and bought a piece of black perforated mesh to cover the lens on the cyclone center piece. Today I installed that first.
I also got some more of the white LED strip product that will allow me to put 6 strips of white LEDS directly behind the perf. But I was tired of messing with that,so that'll have to be another day. For now the lens is there, and sealed.
If you have a Fairmont you know what you're up against. Despite the fact that it's a Mustang baby daddy, The things that make it a "Fairmont" are exclusive to themselves.
Take the door panels for example.
If you have a warped, raggedy ass looking door panel,you better have some NOS pieces stashed in the attic, or you better get out your jig saw.
Since I didn't have a set stashed in the attic,..... I drug out my saws.
Fortunately, I still had one stock door panel to serve as a template. I skinned the thing of its upholstery down to the backer board, and transferred the measurements over to a piece of hardboard.
The OEM backer board actually has a pattern painted it that resembles the pleats that the door panel was covered in. Why they did that I cant imagine,...but it served it's purpose.
I made two of them.
Next, I grabbed the door bar that I had partially made a years ago. (Yeah,.... a year ago). I wanted to add a second bar to better match up to the dash. I got some little scrap bends, and made it work. It did take the better part of the day though.
Kinda looks like I stole it off of a Harley don't it?
It still needs the stands that will support the arm rest. The center will get the same mesh and trim that that dash has, and will be capped on the end where it will meet the dash bar.
On my last update, what to do for a trim plate to cover the slot the shifter handle sticks through was discussed. I found an oval grommet from Seal-it that would work, but I wanted to try something first.
The rubber gasket is the problem. Very thin butyl rubber is what you need so it'll be flexible enough to stay closed around the shifter. Where to find that stuff was the dilemma.
Fortunately for me,...I only needed to open a few old boxes.
Ol dude here takes on for the team.
Once I had my material, I glued to to the back of my coverplate and let that thing sit in the sun for the whole day.
Then I installed it.
Now you're probably saying to yourself "That looks like an electrical switch plate for a house, and you'd be right. I saw this thing sitting in the specialty switch plate display yesterday, and thought...
"I wonder if I can make that work?"
Damn Skippy.
The Seals it grommet was $60.00 plus shipping. I'd have a 70.00 grommet serving as a shifter coverplate. The thing is made out of aluminum, and the center has the all important butyl rubber.
It has like 6 holes predrilled and I'd have to rivet the thing in place.
But,....I cant go for that. Not yet at least.
For now, I got a coverplate that conceals it's mounting hardware, with a butyl center gasket that costs a whole whopping 4 bucks.... yea me.