6/13/13 New Phase

By now I've lost track which phase number I'm at, but there has been a major change in the work that is being done. It's now time to get into the body work, full time. Done with the wiring, cutting, grinding and welding. As in a lot of projects, flexibility moves in and somewhat replaces a lot of the planning. Which sorta reminds me of an instrument training flight one time into Everett WA. to runway 16. It was December, we were on final, the needles were centered and our heading was in the range of 205 even though our track was 160, the wind was gusting out of the west with a lot of turbulence, we were still in the clouds at 300' agl. When we popped out (about two to three miles north of the field) there was no runway to be seen through the windshield. I could see a shoreline going the direction my Mooney was pointed. My flight instructor, Bill B. who always remains super calm, told me to look out my left side window to see the runway. To say the least it was a little unnerving having to look out that side window to see where we were actually flying. We then continued down to 200', called the tower to announce the missed approach and decided to go back to Puyallup where the weather and visibility was much better. On the return trip to Puyallup Bill said that even though flying instruments should be very precise, you still need to be very flexible in your decision making. Makes sense to me.

Well, changing plans, is not something I like but as long as we keep moving in the general direction that has been laid out, that seems ok to me, for now.  Besides, what can possibly go wrong. Actually, the biggest deviation from "the plan" has been in timing. I guess this should have not been a big surprise. Although, it's a little disappointing that we will not be ready for the National Street Rod Association show in Ridgefield Wa at the end of June, but there'll be next year.

 The top and the windshield needed to be installed to make sure the fit is correct, prior to paint and final body work. There was a slight modification to the dash where it meets the windshield. All else is good.

I mentioned in a previous post that fender welting was probably not going to be used. The final decision is that it won't be used. Therefore the body/fender seam has to be addressed. I don't want to be telling myself later "I should have used the welting because the gap is too large", therefore let's make it fit now.

Here is the fit after a few hours of work.

 The final smooth coat has now been completed. Time to remove the fenders, running boards, trunk lid, and deck lid,  in preparation for priming with etching primer.

With the black etching primer still in the wet stage, you can look at the surface and see if you were successful with your body work. If not, more smooth coat can be added after the primer has dried. If all looks ok then a filler primer is added to fill in the sanding scratch marks left from the previously used sand paper. The process of adding filler primer will continue until we work down to using either 400 or 600 grit paper.

Now comes the task of masking off the areas you don't want painted. Almost complete.

 Complete.

Now shoot the entire body with the black primer.