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Turbo Odyssey Part 13 -- More Pictures in the Paint
March 29, 2005
There are a few more developments on the convertible to report. The transmission and differential cases have been cleaned and primed in epoxy. Last weekend I returned them to Dan Konkle, who is rebuilding the powertrain for me. The pictures below show the two cases and some other engine parts that have been refinished:
Transmission case.
Differential case.
Oil filter adapter.
Oil cooler.
Once the transaxle is fully assembled, I will paint it silver.
This afternoon Joy and I went to see Bob Reeve to drop off a few additional parts and to check progress on the convertible. Having only seen the car in photos since the paint was applied I have to confess I was concerned with what appeared to be a very irregular surface on the hood and decklid. When I saw the car in person I saw the same effect. I then realized that it was the result of insulation attached to the ceiling of Bob's spray booth.
The smooth and shiny paint reflects this irregular surface quite faithfully!
Following are more detailed pictures of the car. At the time I took these, Bob and Carlos were in the process of masking the dash for paint.
Here the black engine compartment paint can be seen:
In this photo, the completed patch of the floorpan can be seen, or more accurately, can be not seen, since the welds are now undetectable. One interesting thing to note is that the Clark's patch panel had the drain plug stamped into the panel, rather than providing it as a separate piece. This would not have bothered me, but Bob cut out the hole, created the correct flange around it, and drilled screw holes so that the original plug could be reinstalled. His attention to detail is very impressive.
Here, Bob shows off the rusted floorpan as if it were a landed fish. Catch and release!
I owe Bob an apology for partially decapitating him in this shot, but I did worse later. This next picture shows the chunks of rusted metal that I am pleased to say are no longer a part of my car:
Here the headless Bob Reeve displays the inside of the rusted passenger rocker. We found it interesting that the rust was most severe near the top of the panel:
This is probably enough for now. The car's visit to the body shop could be over as early as this Friday.