I shoulda known better.
After having to deal with a less than perfect finish on the red car, you'd think that no matter what I painted, I'd never settle for a less than acceptable end result. Even under the hood of the car.
I went downstairs at 10AM this morning to ck on how the paint laid down after drying overnight. I'm pleased to say that as far as the quality of the paint finish,..I'm confident that I'll be able to paint the entire car when that time comes. The paint had flattened to a perfect satin finish, and was consistent throughout, (with the exception of the one apron that I admittedly dry sprayed)
But,...........Those little bumps, and dips........they may as well have been mountains, and canyons.
I went to my paint cabinet, got out the 320, filled a bucket with water, and proceeded to make bumps flat, and block sanded till the canyons either disappeared, or revealed to me that they were gonna need filling.
The worst part was that upper radiator saddle. I welded the two big holes shut, but was negligent when it came time to properly prep them. One stood above the finish, and the other was low,....and that black paint was sayin' " Look at me!!,..Look at me!!"
I told it to shut up, ground the high one down, and covered them both with some filler ...all while it kept saying ....
** cover your mouth with your hand here,...and say it with me...
"Look
at me,.....Look at me....Loo....."
Take that, mother fu**er!!
After spending a couple of hours wet sanding,...and remembering that I'm already sick of that,..I moved back to the intercooler heat exchangers. It was after all what I was supposed to be doing today in the first place.
First,...you look at the sky,....and then do what ever your religion suggests you do before taking a step over a cliff:
And you just cut a GI-HONKIN' hole in the quarter,..right in front of the rear tire.
Then you go to the other side,....and repeat.
In case the pic doesn't properly represent how big this hole is,..go get a gallon paint can,...pry off the lid,..and hold it up on your car where I've cut this hole.
( Because the lid off of a one gallon paint can is exactly what I used,.......6" round zactly.)
Last week,..while I was screaming and cussing about the first time I had to redo the engine compartment, I took some sketches, w/ measurements to my metal guy, and asked that he cut and bend me the pieces I needed for the airbox, that will hold the radiators that are in effect my heat exchangers.
One day later,...and 79.00 shorter,..I come back w/ the pieces cut, and bent.
I started by welding a rectangular frame to hold the radiators,...and fitted it where it will end up.
Since the box is so big, I actually had to build it outside of the car,..then take it back apart, so I could finagle the thing into the space it sits.
Obviously, a behind shot,....the exhaust from the cooling fans dump on top of the rear end.
This cover screws to the box. Two 6" alum flex ducts will hook the holes in the quarters to these two big-assed inlets. Since I have no back seat,..there'll be a rear seat delete made out of 1/2" MDF that'll serve to hide all this, all of my electronics (ala @
RacEoHolic330), give me a place to mount my twin, hooptified 10" subs,.....and will hopefully work better than the rear mounted A/C system the red car had.
Now,..back to this:
I've seen examples where guys have just made a trim ring,...covered it w/ a screen. ( so pets and small children don't get sucked up in there).
I've also seen examples where guys have made a "blister" out of a stainless bowl,...cut it in half, and turn it into a side scoop of sorts. I'd still have a screen covering it of course,...for the sake of the kids, cats, and chi-waw-was
Thoughts?