Week #123

With the inner fender shields restored and ready to be installed I needed to install the antenna connector, bezel and lock nut as they are behind the passenger side shield and I don't want to remove the shield once I have coated it and it's surrounding area with fresh undercoat.  I had ordered the antenna "kit" several months ago and had to dig it out from the pile.  While assembling the parts to the car I couldn't help but notice just how flat the bezel was on the bottom and just how curved the mounting surface on the fender was.  It was of such a difference that I was sure that I had been sent the wrong bezel.  I wasn't real happy with the quality of the plating on the locknut anyway so I ordered just a new bezel and lock nut from a different source.  I couldn't believe it when I opened the package to find the exact same bezel.  Now I was puzzled.  There was no way I was going to crank down on this assembly against the top of my fender... it was just too much of a difference.  I asked a couple of friends with similar cars and in both cases the original bezels were indeed flat and were tightened against a curved surface.  Once friend even said he could see a gap under a tightened down original!  I didn't get a picture of the original he was looking at but it couldn't have been as drastic a gap as mine.  After studying mine for a bit I came to the conclusion the bodyman had done some slight filler work at the outside edge of the antenna hole and causing a slightly exaggerated dip between the two sides of the hole.  It is ever so slight but unfortunately it has made what was already a poor fit of a part... even worse.  I am NOT going to tighten it down as is.  I am going to find something to make a thin, hard washer (curved on the bottom, flat on the top) to mount the bezel against.  Something thin and black might even look right.

A dissapointing oversight by the body man was seam sealer between the fender and the inner fenders.  This is where you would see it kind of ooze out a little bit.  I have already had a couple people ask about it when they were over to see the car.  It didn't help that not only was there no oozing sealer but there was an actual gap at the front most area.  I had to try to correct this somehow.  My plan was to back out all the bolts along the inner fender and separate the panels enough to squeeze some sealer between them.  I would then tighten panel back together counting on the sealer to do the oozing thing.  I would then apply some B5 paint by hand and, vola, factory looking installation.

Backing out the bolts separated the panels somewhat but not quite enough to get sealer between them without making a total mess.  I had to insert a few screwdriver wedges from below to give myself enough room.  The surfaces that could be scratched by doing this below were all going to receive a new coat of undercoating as soon as all this sealer stuff was completed so I wasn't too concerned.  Anyhoo, the wedges created enough room to get the applicator tip of a can of pressurized caulking  just below the edges of the inner fender metal.  I had initially run a bead from the hood hinge to the very front but it got kind of globby so I was forced to wipe a long run of it off.  After tightening down the bolts I did get my oozing effect.  Although not the most factory looking ooze, I think once it is painted it will not be as noticeable as the open gap that was there before.  Ooze is not an exact science.

I took a few minutes to install the back of the hood engine call out plate and "HEMI" overlay.  It looks great and kind of gives the car a bit more identity.

I know it's a waste of rare restoration time but I just couldn't help myself.  I grabbed up a '70 Road Runner HotWheel and painted it B5!  I just drilled out the peened over thingys on the bottom and separated everything.  Cleaned all the paint off with the crushed walnut shells in the bead blaster and broke out the airbrush.  In no time I had the body painted and even coated the plastic interior insert with some blue vynal spray I had on the shelf.  Put it all back together, applied a couple of globs of epoxy at the drilled out connection points and it was done... a mini "current project"... finished in a record 1 hour and 10 minutes!!!

Oh yea, I have elarged the project pictures just a bit.  I have a new digital camera and it takes higher res pictures.  The combination of higher res camera and bigger picters makes for much more detailed shots.