Greetings Friends,
I've added another 12 or so hours of time to dash sanding since my last installment. I already have some lessons learned that would serve anyone else undertaking something like this, or me if I were to try it again. That, of course, supposes I'll obtain results this time good enough to merit another such repair.
In a word, it's masking: I should have masked all the areas I wasn't glassing, i.e., the areas of original vinyl I've retained. That would have saved lots of time and hassle this past week.
But I'm trying to be sensible and think ahead. Years ago I was visiting my friend Keith at Alfas Unlimited in (beautiful) Norfolk, Conn., admiring a recently painted Duetto on a lift in the shop. Then Keith brought over one of the rather delicate front quarter bumpers and demonstrated that it would not fit within its aperture in the car's nose, because the body guy
hadn't test fit all the body fittings before signing off on his bodywork, so the car had been painted in its
Alfa Rosso without confirmation that all the pieces would fit.
Remembering that lesson (who would forget?), tonight, having pretty much completed my detail resin-coat shaping and sanding, I fit the central speaker grill and vents. The side vents both fit well, but the speaker and central vent apertures will need some minor dimensional additions. The filler will be significantly softer than resin, so I needed to make sure the resin coat (and FG cloth within it) isn't too proud, anywhere.
Of course this reminds me earlier attempts at using polyester body fillers; the first was when I was 14, on my Mum's four year old yet already terminally rusty 1976 Fiat 126; it also brings to mind seemingly endless spackle/joint compound shaping and sanding with my wife when we were rehabbing our first fixer-upper home in Paoli, Pennsylvania. Isn't that the essence of filling surfaces, too much on, then too much removed, over and over? Watching professionals is the best way to learn how to avoid too many mistaken approaches or bad strategies, which is why I always find collision centers among the most interesting shops to visit, talk to the guys, etc.
On a more basic level with this dash, the main molded fiberboard shell has another substructure, made of the same material and stapled within to add strength and structural features. Mine is loose; I've pulled the old staples and will glue it tomorrow.
Lastly, I had to visit the pharmacy on Wednesday, so donned my facemask and nitrile gloves to dive into Harbor Freight. Some people refuse to buy from HF, and indeed, they do sell certain items that aren't fit for purpose, but also provide some useful tools at reasonable prices; my 1000lb hydraulic lift table comes to mind. I'd seen they carry a speed controller (aka rheostat?) for up-to 15A electric tools, so I grabbed one in order run my Dumore grinder at less hypersonic speeds than usual. It works as described on the box.
I also bought their 2" orbital sander. I'm fortunate to have a kick-a$$ Ingersoll-Rand compressor acquired years ago, which has plenty of mojo for running air tools. This little sander cost $25 and is pleasant to use; it came with a hook-style pad so I've been tracing and cutting 2" circles on Norton Gold Hookit 6" DA sanding discs. Excellent results.
Tomorrow we are due some sunshine, which has been in short supply in these parts, so I must go exercise my SC and exorcise some COVID blues. But I'll probably rush back home to keep working on this dash. Next step will be to fix the dimensions of those two apertures, then start with the next level of filling/shaping, and so forth and so on.
Best wishes to all, John