gleninsandiego

Great questions.

I will answer the last one first

There are 3 ways for me.
1. I have literally taken thousands of pictures as I have taken the car apart so I can know how to put it back together.
2. I have a copy of an Assembly Manual from the factory, called an AIM
This is a must have book and they are cheap
3. If I can't figure it out between the first two, or I am lazy, I ask here on the forum. Someone like Alan comes up with the answer with pictures.

As far as the wiring goes, I still have not decided what to do.

Thanks
Glenn

gleninsandiego

Speaking of pictures, I took my lap top to Richard's shop today (Monday, my day off) as I was going to start trying to remember how the trim on the T bar area went back together.

When I got there it was obvious Richard had finished the buffing of the car body itself. He had plastic covering the body to keep it from getting too dirty.




Today he was painting the underside of the hood and t tops in black.
Here are the parts after he shot them with sealer






While he was doing that I was trying to figure out why my new reproduction corners were not fitting right

The old ones fit great, but the new ones were not. We ended up putting tape on the windshield frame and then trying to figure out what was rubbing. It turned out some areas on the reproduction piece were off, so we ground those down and then it fit much better









With that fixed, then I kept looking at disassembly pictures to try and figure out what screws went where. And finally, I am trying to figure out what caulk to use to seal everything up. I have some of the 3 M strip putty, but it is very small in diameter and the two rear pieces looked like they were packed with it, not to mention what the front looked like up disassembly.

gleninsandiego

Richard is heading down the home stretch as far as his work is concerned.
He color sanded and buffed the rear valence and the hood.
Rear valence is on, rear bumpers are on but I was so busy trying to figure out the front hood hinges and support rod to take pictures
We put those on and then the hood, which was no easy feat because it is such a tight fit. However it still needs shims under the hinges but the radiator support is keeping us from sliding them in easy. Richard is going to mess with it some more tomorrow, but here is where we are tonight

doorgunner

Caution: Sun glass Zone

gleninsandiego

The main car body is done. It will be headed home tomorrow, Thursday, at 9 am. I couldn't be more excited

Today the doors went on, the hood got shimmed properly and the front bumper came back from chrome and is getting adjusted on the pictures below.









There are still some more pieces for Richard to finish but for now I am scrambling to make room in the garage.

doorgunner

Tail lights and the chrome letters will look great!

OldCarBum

I may have to tow my 73 down and let Richard do his magic when I'm ready.
Beautiful workmanship.

gleninsandiego

Well my friends, today was a milestone day. The car made it home safe and sound. I took pictures, but the white is so bright my camera can't handle it. Lol

Here are a few of the delivery shots, with a couple of shots from the first delivery for comparison.



















The initial delivery to my house was February 20, 2017 an it went to Richards on May 15, 2017. Today is May 17, 2018, so it has been away for a year and two days. What a great feeling to have both body and chassis home.

doorgunner

What a change! Now you can begin installing all those boxes of parts....

gleninsandiego

I spent the evening just moving and sorting parts around
But I have already emptied 3 of the big black and yellow boxes with parts going on.

Good stuff

OldCarBum

Did you sleep out in the garage last night, or were you able to walk away and say good night?

gleninsandiego

Ha Ha Ha

My wife came in at one point and commented that she would probably be spending a lot more time in the garage reading a book if she want to see me in the future.

It is taking a tremendous amount of self disciple not to start putting parts on the car. As mentioned, last night I spent sorting and staging parts. This weekend I am going to clean the car interior and chassis of the remaining dust from the body shop.

Then parts can start going on.
But where to start?

Body trim or the guts of the doors?
Good problem to have.

Glenn

OldCarBum

You're a couple of years ahead of me.
Right now I'm happy to drive mine before I start my resto/mod.

gleninsandiego

[QUOTE=OldCarBum;1597225850]You're a couple of years ahead of me.
Right now I'm happy to drive mine before I start my resto/mod.

Beautiful car.
You are the wise one to enjoy it now

Sabre34

Good looking ‘73! Of course I’m a little biased!

Sabre34

Big day, getting closer!

gleninsandiego

Today two things happened.
First of all I found myself just staring at the curves and the reflections off of the car.
Second my OCD kicked in and I ended up spending 8 hours wiping down every surface of the car before I start putting any parts on.





I never get tired of looking at these cars and the more I look at it the more I appreciate the quality job Richard did
While he delivered it clean, I told him I would do the final cleaning. There was some remnant dust from the color sanding and buffing in places, especially in the interior.








So out came the shop vac, water spay bottle and rags and viola...




That motivated me to head to the engine compartment. My wife was laughing when she saw me here.



Finally, I spend the rest of the afternoon under the car wiping down the underside, frame and the suspension.

A few places on the front springs have a slight over spray on them that needs to be dealt with, but for the most part everything came out great. I am amazed that some of the new washers and bolts are starting to rust, so I need to touch those up in the days to come

A long day but what a great feeling to have the entire car cleaned up. This will probably the the last time it is this clean because it is going to be a driver. It reminds me of a manx style fiberglass dune buggy I built with my kids. When it was done it was so clean you could eat off of it, but after one trip to the desert...well that was the end of that.

doorgunner

I think I will stick with the word "outstanding"!

gleninsandiego

Doorgunner, YOU are the outstanding one. An inspiration

Thanks for the encouragement.

Glenn in San Diego

gleninsandiego

The past few days I have been putting the trim back on the upper bird cage which shows when the T tops are off. What a messy messy job because it seems with each piece I put too much caulk and ended up having to pull the piece, remove caulk and then start over. Once that 3M caulk gets on stuff it won't let go.

Here is what 50 year old caulk looks like




Now the rear trim is all clean


Here is the nasty caulk. I couldn't post the picture right side up which is fitting because it turned my day upside down



The bottom weatherstrip pieces get riveted in first. I installed them like they came from the factory, but it looks like they just slapped them on and did not fit them precisely



Now here is where things get ugly. I put to much caulk in and as much as I beat on it and pulled on it
it would not seat properly.





So I had to pull them off and dig out the caulk. It got on everything I was using to dig it out
And on me and my clothes. Here it is after everything is cleaned up



You would think I would have learned my lesson, but NOOOOOO.
Here is what not to do



I kept torquing on the front screw of the upper corner piece, hoping it would squeeze out
the excess caulk. The head of the screw broke off instead



Now I had to pull off the corner pieces and make yet another huge mess
I then filled part of the T Bar with non sticky caulk and then placed insulation foam across
the top and back trying to simulate what I saw when I pulled it off in the first place







Then out comes the 3M sticky caulk on the leading edge of the T Bar cover




The cover fits over part of the upper corner pieces and once again I put too much
caulk on that area. What kind of fool am I? Once again had to pull off the cover and
remove caulk. Here is after the mess is cleaned up







The screws of the T Bar cover are tighten down and there are two rivets in the back
that were installed to connect it to the back trim




After all that, it appears to all fit together





Now this essentially took me all afternoon to do this.
As usual, I could probably do it in half the time if I was to do it all again
But I kept thinking the it probably only took the factory worker minutes to do this
and who knows if the cars were moving while he was doing it.