hursst

If you live close enough and/or are planning on attending Hershey this year, you should find most of these things there, as long as you know what you're looking for. I found a lot of '30 Plymouth parts there over the years, but it takes asking, digging, and searching in nooks and crannies. Or, try to get a hold of a program, if you cannot attend, and check out the MOPAR venders in it so you can target them after the show.

Today, got another hour+ in. Mostly finished sanding, filling, and sanding again of the front cowl shelf (Photo 1). Had to make a smooth transition between the leading and the heavily-pitted panel, the leading being a little higher than the panel. The panel needs a little extra "height", plus this panel is quite thin anyway and "oil cans" when you push it in certain places, so a little extra filler should help it out. Most of this will be rectified when it's bolted to the chassis. Turned out pretty nice so far, but still have some details to smooth out. It's also only sanded to 40 or 80 grit, so needs more fine-tuning before it's ready for primer. Here's a photo from 2016, right after I bought it (Photo 2), to show where it started and to show how much junk is on the panel, which gives me a lot of latitude if everything isn't quite perfect. Tomorrow AM, I will try to get most of all the external panels in 3-4 coats of primer, so I can then do a final round of sanding and have them ready for a final test-fit, then paint.

Good to know this info, I wasn't aware that was "allowed," so I think I may end up doing the same, since I'll have an off-white color. How long is the paint good once you open up a can and paint in this piecemeal way? How will temperature and humidity affect the paint color, if you don't do it all at once? Thanks!!! -Chris

Looks for part numbers on the rear axle. Just about anything could be a clue, like data codes, axle ratio codes, etc. Also, the carrier is in the front for the one axle in front ,so you can eliminate some makes. May take some research and sleuthing, but you may be able to figure it out.

Had extra time available today, but go too hot and I started sweating over everything, so only got a little over an hour. Was able to finish sanding down to (mostly) bare metal, clean it all up, and apply filler to both the driver's side and passenger side of the front cowl shelf. Did some sanding in the middle so far, still have more to go (Photos 1 & 2). A little awkward, having to reach in from the sides to do the sanding, but doable. Turning out better than I thought so far, but will require a little touch-up and detailing to make it look really nice. I think I can get going on the primer on the outer panels Saturday morning, should be in the 70's or low 80's if I can get some things done before about 10am, then it does up to about 89.

Jeff, I think spreading this unpleasant work out in small chunks seems to be working. Minimal effort, but consistent progress. Got in another hour today, I think I can consistently get at least some time 4 of 5 weekdays now. Today, I switched over to the other side of the front cowl shelf. This area only had one section with welding and leading, but it was fairly large. In this area, water or condensation pooled at a low spot and severely pitted and rusted out the far corner. The metal is fairly thin in some of this area with the heavy pitting, but I think it will be fine, as much of it rests on the upper chassis and it's very structural. I think if the car would have sat in the barn for an additional 2 years, this panel would have had to have been replaced, or at least a good chunk of it. I cleaned up the area around the leading, sanded the entire left half of this panel further to get more of the green primer cleared out, thoroughly cleaned it, and hit it with more rust inhibitor. I then hit the entire left half with a layer of filler, which should take care of the pitting (Photo 1). I'll do the same to the right side the next day I get, then I'll finish the rust-inhibited areas last, to give them plenty of extra time to dry out. Should sand down fairly easily since it's a flat panel.

For Sale- 1960-61 Chevrolet Corvair 13" accessory wheel trim ring. Will also fit 1962-69 Corvair, but not sure if it was an official option or not. Will also fit any other Chevy with a 13" wheel. Piece is in excellent condition. Paint on black bow ties is perfect. Good chance that this piece was never on a car. Sorry, I only have one of these available. $20 + shipping, Or Best Offer. Can bring to Hershey and may Carlisle to save on shipping. -Chris

Pressing ahead with my 1 hour a day during the week policy. Bought some new primer today. It's unbelievably expensive! Also went out to the garage and continued. This time, went to the front shelf in front of the firewall. This area was severely pitted, but still quite solid. I had to make about 3 medium-sized rust repairs a while ago, which I leaded, as the metal was so thin I could not get a very good repair without a lot of pinholes. Replacing this panel was a no-go for me. Turned out okay at the time. So now, I'm removing the green primer/sealer, as I learned that the body filler does not stick to this very well, so took most of it down to bare metal, although it still needs a little more grinding/sanding to clean it up a little more. About 80% of the panel will require filler to fill in the heavy pitting. I didn't make it that far, but got the two problem areas with the leading cleaned up pretty well, then I applied a heavy couple coats of rust inhibitor, as there was a little surface rust slowly developing because of the welding work (Photo 1). This should stabilize the area enough for me to continue working in this area and get it to a reasonable standard. The good thing is, most of this area, in black now, will will be hidden by the master cylinder and wiper motor, so that's to my advantage since this area will not end up being perfect. I'll continue working at the unfinished areas where I welded/leaded around the car, until I can get a good day to apply the primer to all the exterior panels. It's going to be in the mid-90's most of the week, so maybe this coming weekend, when it cools down a little. Really motivated to move this project along. Making progress, but still so much to do!

Pressing ahead today. Decided to take a break from the main body exterior and moved back into the trunk and spare tire aperture. There are still some areas in the trunk in the corners that were welded up, but were unfinished in terms of grinding and some very small pin holes. I continued to clear these areas up by doing some grinding, a little welding where needed, and applying some filler to smooth everything out. Didn't have too much in the trunk, so I switched to the inside of the spare tire aperture/battery access area and did the same thing; some grinding, some welding, and some filler. Here are the areas almost finished, just needs sanding (Photo 1). Las , I went back to the trunk and cleaned up the bottom of the aperture area. A lot of pinholes here, but welding is solid. I cleaned the bottom are up and applied seam sealer, as I believe the factory did here. Most, if not all the trunk pan has seam sealer, of which some still remains, but I've forgotten each and every area since I've done a lot of reconstruction in the upper area. It won't be seen because of the spare tire cover and I think it needs it (Photo 2). Photo is dark, because the repaired area has black rust inhibitor and black seam sealer.

I am using a Devilbiss kit with two spray guns that I bought from Eastwood.

Got the upper cowl area re-filled and sanded down today (Photo 1). Wasn't too much of a disaster. No problems with cracking or peeling of the filler at this point. The rear looks to be fine, so just a little more work on the very front of the body and I should be back up to where I was before. Going to buy new primer and filler Monday.

Continuing to get out to the garage after work for at least a little time, but had a setback today. I noticed that there was a small crack in the filler towards one of the edges. Upon further exploration, it appears that the filler is not sticking to the green primer I originally laid down, mainly in sections where the primer is still somewhat intact. I noticed this happening before, but I thought it was because I made a bad batch of filler, but it's primarily or completely caused by this incompatibility. That's what happens with an amateur like myself, I guess. The good news is that for the exterior body panels, I sprayed them with the gray primer over the green primer, which are made by the same company and seem very strongly bonded. Any filler was either placed on bare metal or on the gray primer, of which the filler seems to work with very well. So, I don't think I will have to redo any of the removable panels, but I am going to have to strip the filler off the main body in most of the sections. Not a huge deal, but a setback and waste of time and resources none the less. I stripped off most of the filler on the front of the body today and tomorrow I will sand off most of the green primer to get to bare metal so the filler will stick. IF I have time, I'll apply what's left of my filler (I'm almost out). I'll have to assess the rear area, where I took most of the green primer off already, so I may be okay there, but I'll have to inspect it. I guess some good news out of some bad news. I am going to quit my job for various reasons, and due to more various reasons, after I give my notice, I will have a "free" 6 weeks off, so I will be working on the MG almost full time for at least 3 of those weeks. We'll see what kind of progress I can make. Hopefully, I can at least finish the remaining external body work, get the panels back in more primer, have them sanded down, and have proper fitment on the body. I think I'd be happy with that. That would just leave taking the body off the chassis and completing the filler work on the welded and leaded areas, then it should be about ready for paint. No photos today, nothing new or good to see. -Chris

Thanks! Yes, I am aware of the compound curve. I'm using a moderately flexible long board for sanding in this area, I think 2 feet long, so the curvature should remain clean throughout. Had to factor this in for the thin areas next to the trunk as well, since it's not just a straight drop. Thanks for looking out for me! -Chris

Great weekend for me. First, I have never driven nor driven in an MG of any kind, just never happened, yet I've now owned one for 5 years and been in a the local MG club for 4 years. Saturday, I was finally able to be the passenger in a '58 MGA, driven by a woman from England, none the less. Fantastic experience, plus learned a lot of how things fit, where they go, etc. Between the rest of Sat and Sunday, was able to get a lot of work in. Spent many, many hours sanding, applying filler, sanding, more filler, more sanding, and some hammering for good measure. I am now generally finished with the external body work, at least in terms of it being ready for 4 good coats of high-build primer. The very front was pretty much finished already, so I worked on the front cowl area (Photo 1). This area was sunken in as well, but to be expected, as the windscreen goes across here, so that weight plus 55 years will probably make it sag a little. I did some light hammering with a rubber mallet in the places that didn't have bracketry underneath, and that helped a little, but there is not much I can do about it. Since there are so many pieces in this area (windscreen, defroster vents, wiper arms, etc., I decided to sand in more of a width manner, rather than a length manner. I found that when I sanded from front to back, I would get the high spots at the very front and rear of the panel, leaving a canyon in between where my block sanding would not reach about half of the filler. Since it doesn't matter if this dimension is perfect, I then starting sanding with emphasis across the panel, from driver's side to passenger side (sanding at 45 degree angles, alternating from time to time). This method worked well, but I had to make a few minor filler re-applications. So, the panel will still be a little low towards the middle, but it should appear nice and smooth, as the low areas will be covered by the windscreen and defroster vents, so I think I'm in good shape. The back header panel was finished last week, so just a quick photo (Photo 2). The tail panel area was a mess. It had numerous dents, dings, and had been lightly hit or just tweaked at the passenger side rear. I had to do some hammering where there is a large amount of filler to try to get the whole panel somewhat straight. I made a few new dents in doing so, but the overall shape ended up much better, so I had to fill in a few shallow dents that I made in hammering it back to shape at the very bottom. Worth it to get the overall contour better (Photo 3). I also ended up hammering lose one of the spot welds on the outside, right around the corner on the passenger side. Should be an easy fix wit ha quick spot weld on the same area, then some cleanup afterwards. From the looks of the whole mess, it looks like the license plate frame was pushed back into the body, hence the two dents that are now filled in in the center of the panel. It also looks like the bumper support bracket may have been pushed into the body, as there is a light crease to the driver's side, which really only cam out after I filled and sanded the area, so it's fairly shallow. Overall, I'm pleased with it, considering a tree branch landed on the upper part, and it's been hit in some fashion multiple times all over this panel. I guess, pretty big milestone, all the major body work is finished (I hope!). I think at this point the thing I look forward to the most is finishing the sanding, so I can thoroughly clean the garage and everything in it. It's now covered in sanding dust everywhere; very dirty and annoying. Next step will be to buy some more primer and filler this week so I can continue priming the other outside panels and hopefully, sand them down to 400 grit with minimal or no filler or re-priming (yeah, right). After that, I will attach all the panels again and do another round of fitting to see if the adjustments I made will allow everything to fit together correctly. Once that's done, I'll have my friends over and take the body off again, so I can access and finalize the remaining bodywork I have to do to the inside areas, mostly where I welded in patches and did the lead work. -Chris

https://www.ebay.com/itm/174483600615 If this is correct, it's part of an accessory ashtray package for a convertible. The ad is not sure of the year and neither am I.

What type of 1955 car; you don't mention that.

Do you still need these? I might have a source at a junkyard I'm visiting on Aug 23rd.

Been getting out to the garage most days this week, but can only get 30-40 minutes in before the 100 degree heat starts me sweating uncontrollably, then I start sweating on the car, no matter how hard I try to avoid it, then I have to stop as sweat and bodywork don't mix. Here's the further progress as of today. Added a lot more filler to the passenger side and am now sanding it down (Photo 1). This is about 80% finished, still more sanding to do to get the big blob of filler on the right where it should be. Having some trouble in the upper left portion, where a tree or something fell on it. Can't quite get this area smooth enough. I will probably sand this area out deeper, do some more hammering and try to make it more even, then re-apply (hopefully) lighter filler to get things a little more even. I also filled and sanded in the heavily pitted lower trunk lip, where water had collected. Luckily, no holes, just pits, but they were pretty easily filled in. Seems to be moving along. Good to be making this constant progress, but still so much more to do; also very tough to make good progress in this heat.

Missed about 3 days, had to go out of town after all, but got back in the garage after work today. Finished sanding the top part of the rear body (Photo 1). This portion is ready for primer. Moved on to the lower part of the rear of the body, where there was a lot of damage. I repaired most of it many months ago, but there are still a lot of dents and imperfections. I sanded it down to the bumper mount holes for now and it's not terrible at this point (Photo 2). Since there are a lot of support brackets behind this area, I couldn't get behind every dent to hammer them out, so had to do the best I could, then I'll have to go to filler. The dents aren't that deep now, so I think they will be okay with filler. I decided to just cover the whole area in filler and will start sanding shortly (Photo 3). The passenger side was in pretty good shape and didn't need any filler, at least at this point. We'll see how it turns out, I think it's probably not quite as bad as I first thought. Cheers, Chris

This week, hit it pretty hard after work. Got the upper rear body about 95% ready for primer. Had some issues because it is now obvious that folks had been sitting on the back body behind the seats, as it's all slightly dented in in this area. Was able to knock some of it up higher, but couldn't make it perfect because there is a lot of bracketry underneath, so very hard to get much up there to bend it all up. It doesn't seem too bad, but requires a good amount of filler to make it all even again. Here it is when I just put on a ton of filler (Photo 1) and two views after I sanded it down and applied some glazing putty to the imperfections (Photo 2 & 3). You can clearly see how the middle, where folks would have sat, is lower than the surrounding areas by all the filler still remaining. Very pleased overall, as I'm realizing how little there is left with the body, at least as far as exposed areas that need to be "perfect," as opposed to 75% of the rest of the body that can't bee seen and doesn't need extreme detailing and smoothness. The bottom rear area will need a little more attention, I think, because it had tons of dents when I started out, although it should be somewhat straight from my last rounds of bodywork in that area. Too busy this week to get to the next town to buy primer, so I'll try again next week, maybe. No hurry.

Jeff, Looks amazing. Great tips, I will be following all of your advice as I work my way to paint (like doing one panel all the way to the end first). Great tip about sanding one way, then switching 90 degrees for the next grit; I don't know if that would have entered my mind. You may end up with the nicest TD on the planet at this rate. Clear space on the shelf for awards. -Chris

Spent a lot of time in the garage today. Completed all the panels in terms of being ready for the next round of primer. Started with the driver's side rear fender. It had a large low spot in it, possibly because of what ever fell on it decades ago. I applied a large amount of filler (Photo 1), then sanded it down. Not as bad as it looks, it's not very deep, but this was needed to fill in the many imperfections from the large amount of damage it had. The doors are better than I thought, they were both about 95% complete already. Just had one small ding I had to fill (Photo 2) on one of the doors. The edges of the doors are high spots, since the aluminum skin is crimped around a steel frame; one final round of about 4 coats of high-build primer should do the job. Doors are nice and smooth at a 320 grit sanding right now. Had a lot of success with the panels today, so kept the momentum going. The trunk was better than I thought it was the last time I worked it, so moved the rear of the body. Here's the lower rear driver's side of the body, adjacent to the trunk aperture and tire (Photo 3). There was more damage here from whatever crushed the fender, in the form of some fairly deep dents. I hammered them out a little, but there is a lot of bracing underneath, so didn't get them as nice as I'd like to. I hammered down the high spot a little to shrink it, and that helped, but the dents still remain. Gave a large part of the rear some filler, but I either didn't get my filler mix quite right, or I'm having some adhesion problems with the green sealer/primer, but probably both. Had to strip it all off again and start over. Very wasteful and time consuming, but mistakes are made. Hit a small section again after stripping most of the primer/sealer down to bare metal and did an extra special job of cleaning it. Worked okay this time (Photo 4). Have since sanded this down and it stuck. Did some touch up as the low spot is still a little low, and will continue sanding the next session. Body is rougher than I thought, so will need some extra work. It appears folks may have sat on the rear deck a lot, as the areas in between the bracing underneath are all low and will need some hammering and filler to be even. Overall, pleased with the progress, but still a lot of work to do with the body and panels.

Jeff, Great photos that show the process/progress. For those two concave strength lines (or are they convex?), do you just not touch them at all because you can either sane thru them or not really get to them? It looks like they were untouched in the photos. Maybe you just hit them with compound towards the end? What the process with areas like those (or something like fender edges) where you could easily sand/polish thru the paint, or not be able to sand it at all? Chris

Beautiful car! Great progress so far, too. That's the way to do it. Attack it immediately and keep the momentum going. Are you going to go with the original color, or go with something else entirely?

Steve, is it possible just mud wasp-related dirt? My MGA looked like a mud wasp city after tearing the car apart originally. Either way, I think the compressed air, breaking it up, and blowing it out should work. Maybe you can use some sort of snake, coat hanger, vacuum; something to get access to all the areas with dirt. I have the same problem with my Jeep Wrangler (although it's from driving through mud, rivers, you name it). Was able to get most of it out. My mechanic recommended and internal frame spray. It has a special nozzle that goes in fairly deep and sprays a protectant/paint all over the insides. This may prevent rust (or further rust) without taking the whole car apart chasing it.