MrPbody

If you were wondering why this is taking me so long, well (among other things)……… today we broke an all time record for most days in July over 100* at 15. the all time over 100 record for the full year is 19 days. ya…. it's been hot.
I did get most of the dash put together today. I'll be running it this way for a wile, but will eventually have a custom dash pad made of the same vinyl I used on the console.



stay cool,
Russ

mcb55-210

Russ, we had an unusual July. I believe we only had two days in the 90's. We were actually able to run half the month without the air conditioner turned on.

I just hope that doesn't mean another below-average temp winter!

Great progress on the car. Slow progress is still progress!

Mike

MrPbody

I'm just glad we don't have the humidity here. average July afternoon levels here are around 28%. also glad the temp drops to low 60s at night. we don't even have AC, so we open the windows at night and save the cool air for the day ahead. gotta love that new house insulation.

mcb55-210

Oh, did I fail to mention the humidity??? This morning, it was 64 and already humid. Air conditioning is not an option here, but a necessity.

Took the '62 to town this morning (of 800 people) and stopped at a few garage sales. My boys have a tendency to borrow my ladders and battery charger, so thought I'd see if I could find some to give them. Came back empty handed, but got quite a few compliments. Got home, cleaned it up, and getting ready to head to my hometown. My son is marrying his long-time girlfriend (who happens to be the daughter of one of my car buddies).
Along with the Corvette, there will be a Model A hot rod, a '32 3 window, a 36 Ford coupe, and a '34 Ford coupe. Those are all cars belonging to the brides uncles, all buddies of mine. Yes, I'll be the only Chevy!

Gotta shower and hit the road. Will try to post some pictures of the wedding cars tomorrow.

Mike

MrPbody

There was this chunk of brand new inner wheel well laying out back, left over from the 64 Vette project (this side up) and it had been waiting for a home long enough……..



so I decided to build a cold air intake box out of it. I only had an hour or so of shop time today, but I did get the main box parts cut out. not shown is a fiberglass piece that will be glassed on to the top.
A K&N filter will be plumbed inside, and screen covered holes drilled in the core support and side panel to provide the cool/fresh air supply.

Zoomin

That's ingenuity right there.

MrPbody

I've had this bug to put some front end parts back on the car lately, so today I shot the nose and lower facia parts so I can do that (had to remain disassembled to paint). it also gives me a good opportunity to show a teaser shot of the color for Jeff, who recommended it.
I'm using the same brand of base coat on this car that I always use (Montana, by Chem-Spec) but I've switched brands of clear for this car, after the fiasco with the 62. BOY howdie do I like this stuff. this is SPI universal clear and it's awesome. sprays out very easily and seems almost impossible to run. just what I need . nice and shiny also (note reflection out open shop door in the end of the part).
I've got a busy week ahead of me, so may not get much done on the car then, but I'm chippin' away at it as time allows.


Russ

62Jeff

Looks great Russ!

Did you experience challenges with the blending? I know you were concerned with tiger stripes.

MrPbody

Actually I was just now out looking at it. these smaller parts are more forgiving of mottling and tiger stripe issues, but they actually look very good in that regard, so I have my fingers crossed for the larger parts. of note also is that this SPI clear has become even nicer now that it's gassed off a bit more (~4 hours since shot). if the whole car comes out this nice I won't even need to color sand it at all. just buff and done.
Cautiously optimistic on my painting skills (or lack of), but if this sample is any indication, this is gona be one beautiful car. Ya done me good on the color choice. I love it! .

Russ

62Jeff

I'm pleased to hear that your earlier concerns may prove to be unfounded so far.

This thrills me to hear. Just think, when you get your 59 done and park it next to your 62 it's going to look similar to one of my garages:

MrPbody

I'm still a bit concerned about the difficulty of spraying this well. just less so than before. The main reason the color is so stunning is that it's really silver (one of the hardest colors to spray correctly) with a green tint, and therefore very reflective. your photo above is a great example of the effect as it almost looks gold, but in reality we're just seeing reflections and tricks of lighting where it happens to be parked. of the 7 colors that make up the blend, green is the smallest percentage of contents, by weight, by a wide margin.

med silver= 395
green= 3.5
white= 19.5
transparent yellow= 21.8
bluish green= 34.6
md yellow= 34.9
jet black= 157
binder additive= 197.5

I sure wish you'd fix that leaning post in the garage. it looks like it could fall on a car at any moment

Russ

mcb55-210

That is an awesome color, really gonna look good on that car.

Mike

Kerrmudgeon

Take it for a drive to the Aston Martin dealer when you're finished.


Looks awesome Russ.

MrPbody

Ya think the AM dealer would price it out as an 09 Aston Martin if I offered to trade it in?

Russ

Kerrmudgeon

I'd like to see the look on their face when you SHOW them your trade in....

when are you shooting the rest of the car? :

MrPbody

Patience grasshopper. patience. There's a ways to go before any big parts will get sprayed. one of the big issues is the rust-out on the fin edges that I was unaware of when I purchased the car. I have some used ones to graft on, but that takes time. there's also a bit of bodywork I want to re-do on the right-rear corner from a very old hack repair job. my buddy Mick keeps telling me to just smooth it out a bit, but I want to remove the 1/2" bondo gobs and do it right, so that will take time as well. then there's the 1/2 dozen or so very small areas of rust and assorted door dings etc.
I did take a bit of time this morning and cleaned up the grill and nose trim, then remounted them onto the nose piece which I painted day before yesterday. tomorrow or the next day I might get time to put the nose back on the car. in fact I'll go grab you a shot of the assembled nose here in a minute. it looks

Russ

here ya go. I even bolted it on the car for ya.

Kerrmudgeon

Thanks for the pic Russ. I guess the humidity In Ore. has to be on the low side to shoot it properly anyway right? It's been a really wet summer out east for us.

I forget....do you have one of those fancy shmansy climate controlled spray booth?

MrPbody

Why yes….. yes I do Robbie. in fact it's sitting in it in the photo above.

Humidity here averages around 25% this time of year, so that's not a big issue for painting.
I lived in Fla (Tampa/St Pete area) back in the early 70s. I wouldn't trade 10 Floridas for one Oregon.

Russ

MrPbody

Finished up the fresh air intake system this morning, with the exception of the aluminum tube that connects it to the MAF sensor. I had ordered a piece of tubing for that, but even after cutting it three times it was still too short……. I ordered a new piece today.
I guess the photos are self explanatory, but if you can't make it out I opened up a "door" in the core support by cutting 3 sides and pulling the flap back into the filter box. this allows cold outside air in, but also provides a baffle as a deflector for any water etc. the 3" hole in the fender side panel allows additional outside air in, and also makes it less likely for the grill inlet to create too much pressure in the box at highway speeds.

Russ

MrPbody

Let the bodywork party begin

I may enlist some help on replacing the fin tips (due to rust). my buddy Mick has a TON more experience with complex patch panels than I do, and I do regard him as an expert on the subject, so…. a tough decision for me however as I normally like to do everything myself. we'll see.
if you look carefully, you can see the rust through along the fin edge. left side is upper and lower. right side of car is 90% upper only.