I have been working 2 days trying to get the trunk squared away. Liz helped me today with me inside and her outside lining it up while I tightened it down. First had to unweld the hinges and lower them a 1/4 inch wo they would fit square on the lid. I have learned a lot of things not to do. Got them in and couldn't get the alignment I wanted so removed one again and reset it. It appears good now so we were able to get the torsion rods in to spring it open and got the alignment pretty good. I'm pretty picky so its probably real good. Liz kept asking if I going to take the trunk back off to paint it which is a yes, so why does it have to be perfect. That's because, like all the panels, they have to be set perfect during the mock up in case they, or an adjacent panel, needs adjustment with a grinder or filler to make it fit right. Hard to do after the paint is applied.
So all the panels have been fitted at this point. You can see the quarter panel extensions are on an fitted also. This means we can move on and proceed with the paint preparation. However, that requires weather to be at least 70 degrees and we are 50 - 60s now. There is going to be two days above 70 this coming week but the first one I have to dry my neighbor Chuck to Charlston for a procedure on his back that he needs a driver for and the other day I golf. So we are over a week before we hit 70 again.
Also, we are still waiting for weather to get the epoxy primer on the fenders and the hood.
Those will get done when we get the good weather, then the paint prep will start which involves sanding the epoxy a bit and painting the entire car except for the hood and passengers fender with gray high-build primer. Then a black guide coat is applied. Next the guidecoat is sanded off. If it can be sanded completely off without hitting the epoxy then you are done. Sanding is done with a long 18" block by hand. You use the long block to ensure the block goes over the small scratches and dents and not into them. When this process is done the car will be smooth as glass with no visible bumps.
Then we are ready for Lee to come down and get busy with the real paint work appling the sealer, color and clear. The sealer is needed because the car needs to be all one color before the Blue color is applied and when I'm done with the primer step above the hood and one fender will be black and the rest of the car will be gray.
The paint prep will probably take a couple weeks.
In the meantime while I have been waiting for weather I have been working on preparing the wiring harness and control panels for the car. Here's a pic of the harness. Its ready to install. It is a standard 68 Chevelle harness with alterations made to support the more modern features this car has that didn't exist in 1968. For example, the fuel injection system, digital dashboard, modern radio and amplifier, security system, automatic headlights, dome light delay, etc.
Ok that's all for now. I'm taking a little break after wrestling with this trunk and am going to get my Chevelle and go for a drive.
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