Apr. '05 - Finished!

4/29/05

She's done!

As done as a project like this ever is, anyway. Back on the road and terrorizing the streets, with people ogling at every stoplight. The paint color seemed to lighten up as it cured...now I'm very happy with how the color came out. The gapping on the doors could have been better, or I could have been more patient and built the edges back up more. If I waited until everything was absolutely perfect, I'd never be driving the thing. As it happens, as my luck would demand, got a big old ding in the paint before we even got it out of the garage. As Rena was bringing one of the seats over so I could re-install them, she bumped the fender. OUCH! Oh, well If it was a high-dollar pro paint job I could get upset.

I did some color-sanding on the car over the last week with 1500 and 2000 grit sandpaper to knock the orange peel down a little bit. Still have more I could do to get it perfectly smooth, but I'll mess with that later. Had to get it put back together this last weekend.

A shot after some buffing:

As the saying goes, a friend will help you move, and good friends will help you move a body. I had some good friends come over and help re-install the body. You can see the pieces of foam float thingy I used to fill in gaps where engine compartment air can come through. Made it a pain to lower things back down.

And dropping it down into place:

5/02/05

I didn't get any shots of re-installing the lights, windshield (what a PITA!) and other trim, and I still have a few more items to put in. You ain't missin' much there. My front tires were showing a bit of inside wear...I didn't have the toe measurement quite right after getting the replacement rack in after the donor rack cracked, so back on the alignment rack she went.

An engine bay shot...for those joining us late, it's a 351 Windsor stroked out to 395 cubic inches. If I can ever get the Holley 650 double-pumper dialed in just right, it should make over 400 hp. That's with iron Windsor Sr. heads (2.02 in 1.6 ex) and a .519/.523 lift cam and an Edelbrock RPM intake. It shouldn't be too difficult to pull 500 horsies out of it with a more aggressive cam, but I can barely get any traction now.

And a front view...

Front 3/4 view...you can tell in this shot I still need to work on lining the doors up a bit, and even up the ride height front to back. The fun never ends!

And the interior, with nearly-useless Alpine deck and Dell 20mb Digital DJ.

And another shot of Nellie's shapely rear...

(Click the photo for a high-res version)

Mikey says, "Are we going for a ride or what?!" I'm gonna have to have the seats recovered in a lighter color!