Vinnie

On the radio back from my garage I heard about the passing of ZZ Top's bassist Dusty Hill today, very sad news. Been my favorite band for over 30 years, seem 'm live 3 times and got the ZZ hangin' off my Mustang's keys. I do believe they hold the record for the band with longest original members, that timer has now stopped... Sad.

So how were these things put together in the factory? Were the pads put in last? How did they set the correct length for the bumper to fit?

When you use phosphoric acid that is not a problem as it only eats rust and not good metal. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

Truth be told, at the time I didn't know there was some kind of insulation between the skins. I only saw the glue at places where the skins touch and figured that can be put back. Something I had not mentioned I believe is that my dipped hood is a standard hood, the kind that is not reproduced. This kind is more open than the ram hood and it may be easier to get insulation in it. But while we're at it, what exactly is this insulation for if both skins are also held together with glue?

There was none left in the hood I got before dipping. And when dipping, you should assume nothing else but metal will survive.

Currently I am in the process of preparing my car to be dipped. Preparing really means stripping and welding in patches where necessary. You may end up reaching most hidden spots but I doubt all of them. To reach that 100% score I decided to aim for dipping it 3 times: 1 - Strip bath 2 - Rust removal bath (where it gets a protective layer) 3 - Base coating bath using Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) I had a standard hood dipped that way and I was very pleased with how it came back. It now sits in storage, totally rust free wearing a base coat waiting until the rest of my car is ready for it :-) Good luck with your project! Vincent.

Well done mister! A car to be proud of :-)

Hey folks, I'm taking apart the front bumper assembly. Right now my car looks more like a train... It looks like the beam that the bumper attaches to is just pushed in the "box" and held in place with rubber pads. Is this the case? If the above is true, are those pads available? Thanks, Vincent.

I make a living organizing 1's and 0's for medical staff.

Good luck and enjoy! Looking forward to read about your adventures as I am restoring 73 Grande myself :-) Cheers, Vincent.

This weekend I started working on my cowl as I'm waiting on floor and RH quarter sheetmetal... First this PITA needed to be removed. Too many spot welds in hard to reach places: Done: Plenty of holes in the upper cowl corner. Some due to spotweld removal and some due to rust: After cutting the top cowl I thought I'd find 1 hole that was visible from inside but instead there were a lot more: I used a trick I saw on Kindig Customs the other day. I used duct tape to get the shape of the bulge to transfer onto metal. And I used a part of my old LH quarter to make the patch :-) Transfered onto metal: Made the patch: Made the hole, slightly too large on the sides as you can see in the pic after this one: And we're ready to start welding, just dunno when yet, as this is after all... the slowest resto ever:

I found my gap on the other side too small (nearly touched the lid) and ended up making a 4-5" cut in the top of the quarter, close to the lid and after welding I have a much better gap.

Cool, I'm looking at the same kit for my car. Did you block off the cowl vent as they want you to do? Outside air only comes in through the side windows then, right? Any thoughts on this matter? Cheers, Vincent.

Hey all, Last night after removing the windshield and cleaning up I noticed a screw in the top edge of the window: On the other side there's just the hole where a screw presumably has been... Any clues why there is a screw here? Is it factory? Maybe to hold down the vinyl on the roof? Cheers, Vincent.

Meanwhile... AC/heaterbox is gone and not coming back. Thinking of getting the classic auto air setup but I'm wondering if it's cool that outside air then only comes in through the side windows since it blocks off the entry through the cowl... Anybody with experience in this matter feel free to tell me about how you dealt with this. Last night I also removed the windshield. It already had a crack so no need to be very careful as it's going to the trash (eventually) together with the heater I think. Now my car looks burned... Can't wait to have the engine bay sprayed anything BUT black.... Possibly saddle bronze as well.