Today, back in the saddle. Man what a week.
Did Mankind create shops to escape from their spouses?
I was lucky today. I got to try out my fancy DRILLMASTER mini-grinder, and the wonderful spring weather was popping at over 60 degrees so I got to leave the garage door open. It's a good thing too, because there was dust everywhere, falling like toxic snow. Mmmmmmmmmm
The DRILLMASTER (may you quiver in fear)
$10 at Harbor Freight with coupon
A tip from Hal: remove the poor quality grease from the gearbox and repack with good stuff.
The DRILLMASTER has tons of power. In fact the grinding wheel was too powerful, melting steel like butter. I had better luck with a 120 grit "flap disk", although it still took off a ton of material. I had to be very careful with my grinding. All in all it seems like a decent tool, but who knows how long it will last.
Ready for rustproofing and Bondo
Well, I've done about all I can do until my POR-15 arrives in the mail. Usually I get it locally at
Dan's Classic Auto Parts, but much to my regret they are completely out. I can't wait a couple weeks, so I'm forced to get it online. Oh well it's cheaper at least, through Amazon.
Time to start taking Bug's ass apart.
I feel like a wave of ants on an elk carcass, time lapse as it's devoured to bone.
What the? The rear bumper bolts come off without trouble?!?!!!
Just a couple of tiny screws hold this assembly onto the base.
Label your connections for easier assembly.
(2) 8mm nuts hold the taillight base to the fender. You have to get them from underneath.
Ma looks on, jealous from the attention.
This taillight rubber gasket has survived from 1972...
Imagine a modern product in this predicament. My word.
Off come the license light and rain gutter.
My kid's old homework, rescued from the recycling makes this immortal mask.
Finally, with nothing left to disassemble but the fenders, I fire up the trusty DRILLMASTER (may you cower at its awesome might) and tackle the rear apron. Of course, like the rest of Bug's ancient body work, the Bondo was applied heavily instead of hammering out the dents. Lazy. Thick layers of Bondo almost always crack or lose chunks in time, not a good idea.
Cars do take a beating out in their environment, so the wear of the ages is inevitable, but you sure want to give them a fighting chance...especially if the car is meant to be driven.
Like the front, I get it pretty darn close after an hour of resonant pounding, echoing like a kettle drum inside the rear fender and probably pissing off the neighborhood. I am the town smithy, deal with it.
And that is that. Enough work for one day? No, I also pounded out that engine lid dent but forgot to take a pic.
Back at it tomorrow. Since the front is on jack stands, I will have to wait for the POR-15 before I can pull the rear fenders.
A plea to the fenders: PLEASE come off like butter. (say some prayers to Nordhoff for me).
No comments:
Post a Comment