Mr.Mk1

Boot lid and front valence done as well, we’ve reached nudity milestone! 

Picked up paint & supplies today too.

Since my back is already screaming, might as well do some more. I knew this side wouldn’t take long as all the shit paint flicked off and left nice primer layers exposed

one side down!

lots of bog on the door, most of it wasn’t necessary..worked in my favour as I could plow into it and took off that shit EnameI at the same time but I smeared it around every other panel. ironed out a few lumps especially around the handle.

There was only one place doing a suitable rebuild kit for my brake distribution block and they can’t ship to NZ at the moment. 
You can get a whole new setup for about $300 delivered.

I pulled it all apart to clean and be nosey and it’s only really o-rings and some cup seals so I took it to CBC and they were hesitant but managed to match them all!

Assembled it last night and gave it a half assed polish, painted the brackets and caps. Looks lots better for something that nobody will notice.

Wasn’t happy with the VHT job I did quickly on the dash top so went and got some nice stuff (Concept @ RJP) and resprayed it. Fried up on the front edge but luckily that’s covered by the pad. Had to then install the new vents!

Made a start on sanding off that fucking enamel black, 60, 80 and strip discs to finish should see a result. 
It’s been a month since the repair cert guy came over, sent an email to see where he’s at so I’m still like

Marketplace comes through with the goods again, brand new 15x8s for a steal. I was planning on running steels or something more mongrel up front but couldn’t pass these up! Couple of tiny rust spots but what bloody Cragars don’t!

looking glass acquired!

ouch, but kinda need one

This showed up in 7 days! 

And spotted this MF

Still kicking rocks around waiting for a reply from repair certifier, & bank gave us coin so getting a new shed but don’t know when..so can’t get too involved in anything. It’s a nitemare for an overactive guy. 

In the interim I spent way too much on some badges and dash vents, removed cleaned and lubed the door mechanisms, cleaned up and painted some badges..

Here’s a tip. Polish the shown face of the part, paint it and then use a fine rag on a ruler straight away to wipe off the paint where you want chrome again. 

My lovely Mrs scored me this awesome pink Johnny Lightning Coronet and it was the best surprise I’ve had for ages!

Well that was easy.

The fucking main hinge is metal-on-metal in these things! 

Now both bushed.

Drilled out the flogged end and pushed these in, trimmed off the excess + lubed up and it’s feeling lush. Dealt to some pitting along the bottom of the door while it was off the car and any crust from door jamb joins. 

I’ve met with the local repair certifier and he’s meeting me at home in a week for a peruse..awesome to get the ball rolling. I can then sent it into town for another inspection and an NZ VIN plate too. (I don’t think the order matters but the repair guy now has all my paperwork)

haven’t much to report really, still in limbo.

my decals finally showed up from EBay but theres only a RH one and multiple smaller ones.. reading back, the description does actually say 1, but it’s kinda dumb as they are sided and the seller didn’t offer the other hand. Now I have a mint sample to have some made locally though!

Door Hinge pin kit and 4x bonnet bumper pads have come in to Mrs work from Rockauto so I can eliminate the sloppy drivers door and align it nicely.. it’s alway a prick to shut and getting old/embarrassing quick.

Better add a pic..

Better

Lots of dumb little shit done but not much photo worthy.

I was doing more with the dash and washing the vents and discovered these wee knobs we polishable pot metal so I’ve given them a wee spruce up to brighten up..something.

This morning I whipped the paint and surface rust off the roof and will get it into epoxy tomorrow.

shaft! You damn right.

Hit it with Hammerite, and razor’d off the boot lid..Fuck it’s mint.

Got some paint on A pillar trims and kick panels too

Ive started un-greening the interior in anticipation for a black and charcoal re-trim.

Im not super sold on the colour and it’s very hard to capture in a photograph..it’s not as shit as it looks (metallic grey). It can all easily be changed later as all parts are removable with dash installed, but most importantly it’s not green. Did the steering column surrounds etc too.

also painted the strip along the top underside in silver so it brightens up the area. The dash pad (not attached) will be wrapped in black vinyl. Polished the switches and interior lamp bezel, cleaned the radio knobs, installed the new vac block for the heater controls and greased the slides. Blasted the glovebox hinge and internal structure of lid and hit with black zinc + satin black.

Have whipped out the last of the rust in the top of the drivers guard..under it is the bracing that would have trapped and been filled with crap all year round.

I picked up some correctly sized bolts and nyloc’s for my spring shackles yesterday..I just chucked some engineering shop stock bolts in at the time but failed to check the ID of the new bushes! 

Dealt to this wee spot in the floor. Looks ugly but ground up well.

passengers door card re-made and glued. BEFORE.

I’ve welded up the trim holes down the sides too

Then I went to heat-gun the old paint cause around repairs it would peel up. The black was enamel and it clogged up Sandpaper and strip discs like mad.

well it turns out I can just scrape it off!

About 90 minutes and a cramped hand later:

Was highly satisfying!

Vast majority uncovered on this old bitch this evening was really cherry! No bogged up dents or weirdness and lovely straight panels (apart from area on top of guard P.O bogged up 2 holes). It’s happiest scraping back to an old brown primer but that comes off too if you put in some more effort and you get original green and light brown primer

She came home on Tuesday night, rapt to have it back even though it strains my available space! Falcons outside again but at least it’s summer.

Gutted the offset of the meats means I’d be perilously close to guard rub at standard height when it’s re-assembled. Plenty of space inboard.

Shelving that for a later date, much more important fish to fry!

In desperation for a quick thing to do, I spotted the rear trim in need of attention.

Previous beanbag hadn’t removed it when he bombed it enamel black and there was mis-masked bits all around the edge. I hit them with some paint stripper on a modelling brush (using wire wool was a go-to but it polished the alloy this time)

then masked it up and sprayed the satin black indents.

I realised I had no unmasked before shots, so imagine most of it faded like above.

In structural repair cert news, my brother was putting another car though and had a bust up with his usual guy who’s attitude went to shit along with his ethics,professionalism and interest in the hobby.
So that ships sailed before he even looked at Dodge. it’s coming home on Tuesday where I’ll try my luck with the local guys after Xmas.

If they can’t get on board without having previously inspected it prior to repair (we have hundreds and hundreds of reference photos before/during/after) then I’ll just finish it the way I want it and drive it regardless.. life is short and the world is fucked.

I have a windscreen on order but it sounded like February before it would arrive dang it.. that’s all that would be missing if I were to throw it back together for muscle car madness (my deadline from the start) but with this covid passport atrocity I won’t be able to attend anyway.

In shinier news, Here’s a fellow bee my Mrs saw at Kaikoura hop!

Here’s what a weeks wages before tax looks like. At least I’ll never have to touch it again I guess

Rubbish update: I plucked the exhaust out of the garden and gave it a quick flick of paint. The can was naffed so i pierced it and brushed it on.. It’s purely to keep them uniform. I’d love to do headers one day so wasn’t mad keen to detail these manifolds. The pipe work is practically new, like I’d be surprised if it had 100km. Can read the part numbers stamped into it. Mufflers I think are on their second life but I have some spares.

since last time: Attached the bee to the rear garnish

Sprayed the inner ridge of the grilles and touched up the wee slats between the ridge and the edge with black again

 

attached NOS bee to hood

Not much else really, still waiting in the queue for repair cert.