Day 72: Picking up the car from paint and getting her home!!:):D

Final buffing at the shop
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On the tow dolly. Thanks for letting me borrow it Pete:)
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Arriving at home and jumping for joy! Photo credits go to my awesome wife! Together, my wife and I got the Rat pushed into the garage right before a deluge (from Hurricane Sandy influence) let loose. The batteries were dead from sitting for so long without being charged.

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Day 72: Safe at home in the garage!

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Guest bedroom
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I am hoping to assemble the rear bumpers and maybe get some lettering on the car later tonight:)

Impressive vertical leap. Car's not bad either.;)

I Know, who said white men can't jump?

Great colour and the car will be turning out to be wunderbar!!

Thanks guys! My wife called the picture " My husband is not concerned with silly things like gravity" on Facebook;) It is "wunderbar" that the Rat is back in the garage!

Day 72 continued: Once I got the car home and did some actual work I got to start the reassembly. I started pretty late and did not get to bed until 1:00am

Step 1 - Remove wedding ring and watch so new paint does not get scratched

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Starting reassembly of rear bumper. The trim was driving me crazy and I could not get the bend exactly right. Instead of forcing it I stopped working on it and will attack it sometime in the near future. I was able to get it pretty close but it seems to be much harded to get this lined up than on the front bumper. Even though I did not finish it I have a glimpse of how awesome it is going to look!:)

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The gap is way off
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After getting frustrated with the bumper I decided the decklid looked a little bare

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Day 72 continued:

I was also able to put the door handles back on and put in the washer fluid reservoir. Putting in the door handles involved about 30 minutes of cleaning for each handle to remove red overspray. I was also able to put lithium grease in the latches and now they work really well!

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Which way does the seal for the rear license panel to the decklid go on? Intuition tells me it should be fitted like in the first picture but I just want to make sure I do this right. Could someone post pictures of how this looks on their car?

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I've been keeping up and am in awe of the paint job but haven't posted in a few days. Your paint is very motivating for me :)

Funny, I always do the same thing with my watch and wedding band but for different reasons. I can't stand it when my wrist gets sweaty underneath my watch and I discovered turning a screwdriver while wearing my wedding band is causes pinching (left handed)... but now I'm digressing into a whiny mess... Sorry.

Onto real stuff: Take your time with the bumper trim. It seems they are all misshapen slightly. Jason (JBizzle78) had the exact same problem on his '71 and got in a little bit of a rush and snapped one of the studs (or T-nuts, I don't exactly recall the type of fastener). He started on the long side and tried to use the fasteners to pull the trim into shape around the bumper... bad idea. I think a better idea is to use a little muscle and try and gently pull the shape by hand. Perhaps some soft jaws with lots of padding in a vise may work too but you really have to pay close attention because there is a lot that can go wrong. ...and you certainly want nice looking trim to match that fantastic paint, right :D

At any rate, there is a little manipulation required and I don't think there is any way around it. IIRC, the front "smile" fits much better right out of the box.

I don't recall exactly. I thought it was this way ^^^ but not positive. If no one else speaks up, I'll have a look at Jason's '71 if his garage door is open this afternoon after work and can confirm.

Cheers!

heat the trim up a bit and then apply........keep a heater on it whilst perfecting.

Carry on - my 69 is getting painted next week - thanks for the slate grey paint card by the way....
I can use all your picture documentation and problems/resolutions to speed up my reassembly... (mine is a 912, but other than the engine they are pretty similar)

http://www.erikaslist.com/pictures/912_redo7.jpg

warm the rubber real well - address gap by stretching & clamps...


then buy another piece of rubber...

It is nice that you removed your wedding ring out of respect for your new grey mistress... :-)

Guys, the issue is with the aluminum carrier that holds the rubber deco strip and the seal underneath. Warming the rubber isn't going to make the aluminum any easier to shape... am I missing something here?

Fantastic job, I am going to begin the reassembly on my 70T in 2 weeks and your thread is very helpful. My fenders had fiber washers with the metal fender washers and I have not found a source for replacements. Do you have a supplier? When you installed at the shop did you put the fender gasket material? where was your source. At the rear panel over the muffler are you planning on fabricating a heat shield to protect the painted panel?

Jeremy,

Thanks for your advice! You did not miss anything. Warming the rubber will not do anything to solve my problem. Last night I spent an hour trying to get the aluminum carrier bent into the right shape. I will work on it again on Sunday and hopefully I can get at least one of the rear bumpers done.

Cheers,
Kristoph

*Slaps forehead.

forgot about the alloy. I'm from Australia so not that bright.

Carry on...:rolleyes:

No problem... Since you and RWebb said pretty close to the same thing, I wasn't sure if I had missed something myself. Hopefully Kristoph doesn't mind forging the path for the rest of us as I am going to be faced with the same parts (and probably the same problem) on my own car at some point.

Cheers!
Jeremy

Hey! Wasserkuhl is from SOUTH Australia!! The lights are bit duller over there and tend to come on about 10 years later than the rest of Oz :D

Wasserkuhl, any chance of you coming over to Vic. for a PFA SMT sometime.

Kristoph, great job on reviving the Rat, I can't wait to see the finished build.

Harvey (aka Harvs11)

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for the compliment. I am glad that the Rat is keeping you motivated. In terms of the bumper trim I completly agree with you and I will make sure to take my time and get everything perfect. I don't have a vise in the garage but luckily the rear bumpers are small and I can take them over to Peters pretty easily. Before I took the car to the painter I fitted the front bumper smile and it fit perfectly. Thanks for the advice on the rear license plate panel seal. Please send me a picture when you get a chance.

Cheers,
Kristoph