Yeah she sure isn't helping the situation. Way too many people having issues with the unemployment system here as well. I'm hoping they can get this mess straightened out soon for all the small businesses here.

Michigan's weather cant seem to figure out what it wants to do. We have had a few snowy days this April, a big hail storm rolled through the area and it's been unseasonably cold. I need it to at least be in the 60s and not raining to comfortably work outside on the car. I still need to wrap up my soft top frame modifications and a nice warm day to install the vinyl top. Which reminds me, I need to order the cork or rubber strips for the top soon.

I see you have been making some great progress, keep it up!

going to make the most of it. I have a feeling it will be extended until june sometime, but I foresee more businesses being able to open up slowly over the next few weeks. My furlough is supposedly going until June 20th when they will reassess the situation. Unfortunately unless businesses open back up our sales will suffer and we will be on furlough longer. I'm job hunting during the downtime as well since I was before all this happened as well. We'll see what happens.

Oooh dang, that sounds good! Salmon is on my list of upcoming smoker meals. All that pork I did yesterday turned out fantastic.

 

Hang in there Chuck. Try to re-focus on your new priorities, including being able to relax (from your pics you seem to have relaxing under control)

I'm hopping from home projects to Vette reassembly (rinse and repeat)

Keep us updated.

 

During my career I had to reinvent myself twice Chuck due to a variety of reasons. You absolutely have many talents and now would be a fantastic time to consider which of those talents you may well want to pursue. How about those target rifles I saw in the past, you loved those I remember. And that exceptionally fun to look at and drive 68 convertible you have there, sure would be a gas to have a blog sharing what you are doing to it and the whole story. Maybe if possible dip into some of the spare parts you might have lying around and see if they can find new homes. And now we can add the smoker to the mix. Why the opportunities may be endless if you give it some time to gel. Let me know if there is anything I can do to assist.
Best regards,
David

 

Speaking of relaxing...our lovely governor was kind enough to open up the golf courses again, so I have hit the driving range twice this week to limber back up. And my work golf league starts up on Wednesday, so that will be a nice distraction, though we will have to walk the course. It finally seems like the weather is breaking into nicer days finally.

The rifle side work is continuing, hasn't quite made it to a full time career. He talked about the potential of hiring on around June, but the money is much lower than I am currently at. I am trying to get into our local power company as a groundsman/lineman apprentice. The money is much higher than I currently make which would be nice. And I am definitely going through my backlog of parts and trying to move some of them to new homes. Also figuring out the logistics of organizing dad's garage so we can do the same thing with his parts collection.

 

I've been busy this weekend spring cleaning the garage. Tossed some old stuff that I haven't touched in the 7 years we've been in the house. Lots more yet to toss. I'm also planning on cutting out the work bench that was here when we moved in so that I can install the welding table I bought over the winter. I need to get the current bench cleared off first which has proven to be a bit of a problem because it has become my catch all area for all the crap in my garage lol.

I also started to work on the new rear support bars for my roll cage. I have one mostly shaped to fit. I have some adjustments to make, but it's coming along nicely. I need to bolt in the existing hoop and the mount pads for the rear bars so that they are firmly in place so that I can finalize the rear supports and get them tacked in. Hopefully I can get that work done this week along with finishing up the soft top frame modifications I was working on. Although tomorrow has apparently turned into plumber Chuck day, as my sister has managed to break both of her showers and a sink at her house and needs me to replace all that stuff. I have a few packages of chicken and some nice big Idaho potatoes headed into the smoker after I get home from playing plumber tomorrow.

 

Small update on the roll bar. One rear support is mostly fitted up. I'm getting real close with it. Tomorrow I should begin working on the other side.

 

Here's how the roll bar looks out of the car. I had some issues with the welder today so I didn't get much done other than some crappy tack welds. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to square away the issues I am having with the welder.

 

Worked on the roll cage again today. I was also able to figure out the issue with the welder so I welded the legs onto the roll bar. Apparently I screwed up the tacks on one of the legs and didn't double check so that will need to be ground off and redone. But hey, that's just more practice.

I also figured out the hardware needed to put together the soft top. I have a couple pieces to paint and need to pick up tack strips for the top and then I will be ready to install the new vinyl top on a warm day.

Here's the soft top frame stowed away with the roll bar in place.

 

Yesterday I was able to cut off the misplaced leg, clean it all up and rewelded it into the correct position. The next job is to wire brush all the mill scale off my new bars so everything is smooth and repaint the whole roll bar black again.

New weather stripping for the soft top is on the way from Paragon next week so that I can install it on the frame which has to be done before i can install the new vinyl. I am torn between ordering the tack strip kit for the top or using a newer style rubber that won't retain moisture in the future. The problem there is I don't know the size tack strips i would need.

 

Looking good Chuck! Yup, we will make mistakes, and we need the practice! Made some myself this week. LOL. Slow and steady.

 

Yup, that's life working on the vette lol.

Today was another cold one in Michigan. Looks like it should warm up again here by late next week hopefully. I did manage to wire brush the roll bar, so that it ready for a warmer day to spray paint. I'm debating using a sandable primer first and making it look really nice.

The cold weather didn't scare me away from putting my smoker to good use though. Had 2 full chickens and a pan of veggies smoking away all afternoon. Turned out really good and we will use the leftover chicken in different meals this week. I also have a pork shoulder roast marinating overnight tonight and have plans to smoke a pan of baked beans along with that tomorrow.

Tonight's meal.


I used the cold weather as an opportunity to clean and organize my toolbox a bit. I also mixed up my can of VPA and cleaned my mixing board to hopefully get a little needed body work done tomorrow. And then took some time to just chill in the vette listening to music in the garage. Sometimes that's needed when the wife is watching terrible shows on tv lol.

 

Work continues on the toy. I've been working on cleaning up the soft top frame before I install a new vinyl top on it. The front header bar was fairly dented in one spot and a few minor dents. Sanded it all down, some bondo and more sanding and it will be ready for a fresh coat of paint after I sandblast the bottom side.









More to come later on this project.

And for those following my cooking exploits...some brisket and short ribs from the smoker today. About 10 hours in the smoker with cherry wood chips. Still waiting on the briskets rest, but the short ribs were fantastic.

 

Looking better



Should have the top frame reassembled tomorrow.

 

Dude you're KILLING me with all the good looking food! I got a locker with soda and pretzels. You gonna make me spend my money on a smoker instead of Vette parts - and I NEED Vette parts! Come'on! LOL. Glad you put a few car pictures inbetween meals! LOL. Fiberglass work is fantastic and the paint looks great!

 

Sorry for making you think about a smoker Andy! Lol.

The top frame is complete again and I am working on fitting the hard top and the soft top to the car. What a pain.



I also made a trip down to ACI in Ohio for a new door lock pillar to save having to do major fiberglass surgery on my existing one. I probably should have called ahead to verify they had one in stock. They didn't have any in their system, but checked the mold and we lucked out that they had made one and never took it out after they made it. I have some more trimming and fitting to do, but I'm much better off on my door pillar repair now.

 

Including me...you are the 3rd person with a convertible who has had to repair or replace the passenger door pillar.
That new piece looks great.

 

Nothing like having a handy father in law. I bought a roll of rubber tack strip material for the convertible top refurb, but the 3rd bow is very deep and I had about a half inch I had to make up. So we took some nice pine scrap material he had laying around, ran it through the table saw to get 2 appropriately sized strips, threw them in the lake for a couple hours and then clamped them into the bow while running a heat gun to help them bend easier. Everything is clamped up and drying out over night and we will glue them in tomorrow along with the rubber tack strip. Who knows, maybe next week I will try and see what damage I can do installing the vinyl.



But, until then...

 

Here it's the final result of the 3rd bow material.



The rubber tack strip is pretty much even with the top of the metal bow.


I need to get a pneumatic stapler and I should be good to go on installing the vinyl.

 

Making forward progress...







I'm hoping to wrap up the install tomorrow.

 

You are moving along on the soft top!