Week #125

Another leftover problem was the antenna bezel not fitting anywhere near flush on the fender top.  For whatever reason the two parts did not match close enough to where I was going to crank down on the lock nut and force the corners of the bezel into the paint.  I needed some sort of filler.  Something that was rounded to the shape of the fender on the bottom but flat on the top to match the bezel.  I had in mind a simple plastic washer ground to shape.  An old plastic miter box I had up in the attic had an area just big enough to cut out the basic part.  It was just the right starting thickness too!  I used various tools to get the basic washer shape... hole saw, cut-off wheel and die grinder... all running at slower than normal speeds.  After I had the shape just right I just sanded the edges down trying to form a uniform curve from one side to the other.  It was a lot easier that I though it was going to be.  I sanding block and some pretty stout paper made quick work of it.  A couple of test fits and that was it.  I polished up the edges and mounted the antenna.  This project was necessary in order to get done what I really wanted to get done this week...

... and that was to get the undercoating in the front wheel wells.  The antenna needed to be in place before I could install the rear splash shield... and they had to be in place before I could spray any undercoat.  The shields themselves have been restored and waiting their turn for a few weeks now.  I just needed to refinish any mounting hardware and get them installed.  Four of the bolts were blackened while two larger bolts and the small bolts with the big washers were plated.  I didn't clean and paint the large washers themselves as I found exact replacements at the hardware store.  The plating process works great but as complained about before, it is so slow and boring.  2+ hours netted me 4 blackened and 8 plated bolts!  The shields went in fine although a tight fit with new weather strip all around.

I saved the spraying of the undercoat itself for a day by itself.  I had to re-borrow the special sprayer from Tim the bodyman.  It screws right onto the bottle of coating material.  Anyway, it was a big mess as it wasn't quite as easy as the rear wheel wells due to the fact that the car is not on the rotisserie this time.  I had to stick my head up in the tight confines of the front wells and this stuff splatters around pretty bad.  I had the gun in one hand and a piece of cardboard as a shield in an attempt to keep the splattering limited to where I wanted it to go.  All in all it worked out good and I believe it looks very similar to the factory placement which, by the way, nearly cover the shields, new weatherstripping and freshly plated bolts and screws.  I don't think I'll tell anyone I plated those... it seems dumb enough for to me to have plated them KNOWING it was going to be covered with undercoat.