GOULISH BUILD WEEK...It was for the BIRDS!!
The New Jersey area was struck by a rain storm this weekend called a "Noreaster." Basically tons of rain. Anyway, I was working on the car and I hear very loud 'WHACK!'...Then I hear another one..then another...then it sounds like it is raining golf balls! I slowly peak my head out of the garage and I see the oddest sight! My neighbors ancient tree (full of acorn looking nuts) is getting swarmed by hundreds of birds. The birds are ripping off all the acorns and dropping the nuts on the ground (much to the squirrels delight). These nuts are just slamming his car and roof. Weirdest thing as it looked like the movie "The Birds." This wouldn't be the first thing to haunt me this past week. My goals this past week were to prep the cockpit, install the aluminum firewall and mount it to the frame. My first task was to apply hurculiner to the bottom of the cock pit and trunk floor. I even fabed up my own paint stirring tool using a bent up coat hanger and my drill (NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!!) Some folks choose to the do the whole underside. I chose a more selective approach; masking off some areas like the trans tunnel but applied to underside and wheel wells, etc. This process was very easy. The hurculiner product is very simple to use and it went on without a hitch. The second job was to mount the heat shield and aluminum pannels to the firewall. I had to purchase a rivet gun and tin snips for this part of the job. This went along very well. I could have done more "fit and finish" with the aluminum panels but I am really trying hard to keep this car a "driver" instead of a trailer queen. This means I don't want it to look perfect. I will take some scotch bright to the aluminum panels as well to get that "race" look. My lovely wife was my assistant again to help me mount the tub. Things were going fine until the point the tub didn't sit totally on the frame. I looked underneath and my shift linkage on the toploader transmission is too wide for the trans tunnel. I will most likely cut a relief in the tunnel and fab up an aluminum cover and rivit it on. This could be a blessing in disguise if I ever have to access this linkage again. Will help me avoid taking off the body and cockpit tub. I am checking with Hurricane before I do this. Will write more once I find and execute a solution. Pics below!