So, Aerogirl has basically been sitting since the brake fail. Last November, I had the fenders, hood and radiator support sandblasted... and there she sits. Recently I've been thinking about getting it back on the road so I've been watching youtube videos on car things -- body work, engine swaps, whatever piques my interest at the moment.
Anyway, I realized that there are really only two ways folks work on old cars...
1) They get them running, then keep them running, fix this, fix that as they progress toward their finished product.
And, what the pro's do --
2) They disassemble it, clean it, do what needs to be done to put it back together.
I've always been more of a get it running and keep it running person... only fixing what I have to all while saying "yea, someday!" But recently I've been seriously thinking about the Patrols -- I have three and a half, two rebuilt engines, a Marks 5-speed and countless other goodies... so much so, my back driveway is full and a huge chunk of my garage is full of Patrol goodies.
I realized that I need to either sell all my Patrol goodies -- or, work like the pros do. -- I chose to go pro
Step 1 -- Remove the hard top and sides.
Step 2 -- Remove the tub
Step 3 -- Remove the firewall & floors/seatbox
Step 4 -- Probably this week, all these goodies (plus the tub, floors and firewall) will be heading to the sandblaster for cleaning and primer.
I am really worried what the roof will look like -- There is a pretty thick layer of surface rust on the underside of the roof. Plus, I'm positive that there is bondo and likely fiberglass all over it. But, I either fix it now or it rusts away anyway. If it's fixable, I'll find a way to fix it... otherwise, I mount that soft top frame on it and make it a softie!
This is after removing the headliner -- there are far more rust flakes coming out of the visor section that I would like. Hopefully it's not as bad as I expect... but it's probably gonna be worse!
All the glass is out -- The windshield has a couple small cracks, so I'll need to get a new one cut. But the wings, door glass and back glass are good. I have a set of sliders and new rubber for it tucked away somewhere in the garage. I will need to find some compatible rubber for all the windows soon too.
I may have removed the diamond-tuck headliner, but the seats are staying! Even if they don't match the new color scheme!
Some thing that works for me is to just be committed... When I don't get started, or barely start, the project just sits. Once I'm elbow deep into a project and there's no easy way out, I tend to make good progress. I think I'm committed at this point!
I plan to swap out the engine currently in Aerogirl with my rebuilt spare -- it is the original engine for this patrol so the serial number will match the VIN plate. Also, I'll be installing the Marks as well!
Anyway, all fun and games! Let's see if I can keep this momentum going!
John