[slowTA]

After almost 2 years of body shop class (3 hours a week) the ugly thidgen is getting painted this week! I dropped it off with my body shop instructor today and he's taking it to his friends shop to go over all my prep work and shoot the colors. It's going to be a 'simple' 2 tone, Alloy on top (yes, a mustang color) and the bottom is a Mercedes black with an orange pin stripe in the middle. The black and alloy have a bunch of metallic flake in them.

In progress pics:
(IMG:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-KLGOjJHuYCY/SsQUHPVTMkI/AAAAAAAAAp0/vjU6e3IfQYY/s640/100_0789.JPG)
(IMG:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/--bTfbRh2TTw/SsQUh6bgSaI/AAAAAAAAAqc/NZaLqf8VljM/s640/100_0798.JPG)
(IMG:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-pF_wd5M4LBM/S7u3CRON9tI/AAAAAAAAA5E/xjQtBmvKQa8/s720/4-3-10.jpg)
(IMG:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-z31Ea_0kFyc/S7ffEsYZRhI/AAAAAAAAA5U/UThhXMRZy3o/s640/IMG_0021.JPG)
(IMG:https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-SMt8QlWQhaA/TA8MSFRNMUI/AAAAAAAAA9M/lVztcy6RpB8/s720/6-4-10.jpg)
(IMG:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-XZNnhBQMdT8/Thpi4PkLC1I/AAAAAAAABXE/j8v6POX3Duk/s800/2011-05-07_12-11-43_299.jpg)
(IMG:https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-y_Xd0tmy3F4/ThpaqhxFxgI/AAAAAAAABWo/l32eYT7myYo/s720/6-4-2011.jpg)
(IMG:https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zrhAFGBe7pU/Thpa7IQ4wJI/AAAAAAAABWs/k7SZ01-rSdo/s640/IMG_0606.JPG)
(IMG:https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i7IaMPqD9O0/ThpeWMrFEoI/AAAAAAAABW8/NQaFXFgbxsk/s640/IMG_0603.JPG)

Obviously I kept it drivable during these 2 years, also used a bunch of time to fit the 315's and Unbalanced Torque Arm so that should explain why it took so long. I painted the bumper covers and headlight doors above, and yes it looks like the same color at a distance... without the stripe it might look like one big strand of carbon fiber. I should get it back either the end of this week or early next week, then I'll toss it back together and bring it to a friend for the pinstripe.

[CrashTestDummy]

Thanks, Chris. Your description is how I seem to remember it. I screwed up the metal part trying to get the rubber part off to remove the metal part. I'll have to hit the Pick-N-Pull again for some more drip rails, but take my plastic prybars with me the next time.

Yeah, cone marks are a rite of passage, I guess. Luckily, they mostly rub off. The dark color will hide most of it. I have an almost complete imprint of a cone midway up the driver's door on our car. Not sure how it got that far up, but I do remember a couple of clockwise spins at recent events. I guess if you hit them hard enough, you can get a little air under them.

New weatherstrip is great, but really shows the weaknesses in the rest of the system. I recently installed new weatherstrip in the windows of our 86 SVO. The doors take a LOT to close, and a lot of effort to open. All the window tracks had to be re-greased, too, just so the windows would work. The doors have a very nice solid 'thump' to them when you close them though. That's nice.

This post has been edited by CrashTestDummy: Jul 26 2011, 01:09 PM