dreamr
Explorer Addict
- Joined
- October 5, 2003
- Messages
- 3,636
- Reaction score
- 13
- City, State
- Lynnwood WA
- Year, Model & Trim Level
- 99 XL / 4x4 / 4.0 ohv
Well if only money truly grew on trees, well other than marijuana plants.
Slowly the project moves along. In August I ordered a reproduction trunk lid through American Muscle. I was concerned about having large body parts shipped, and my concern proved to be justified as it got pretty buggered up during shipping. Fortunately when I contacted American Muscle they were great about facilitating the repair of the lid. The work was done by a local Maaco.... I know... but they actually did well. Though they neglected to finish the underside and mount it as I had asked..... didnt bill me for it either though so whatever. Anyway onto the poor damage photos.
As I said American Muscle had excellent customer support throughout this. I decided to have them just give me store credit for the amount of repairs rather than coordinating a payback, and in turn ordered a wing for the back with that money. This piece shipped well and had no damage to the wing. Unfortunately the brake light housing did not weather as well, but it was easily repaired so I didn't bother them with it.
The scary part came when I realized I had to drill all the hinge holes and allignment bolt holes for the trunk... eeek lets just say I loligagged quite a lot and ended up refinishing the interior trunk pan, water channels, and also painting the underside of the trunk before I got around to drilling Needless to say I measured and remeasured a couple dozen times and hit every hole perfectly and it lined up almost right... here is where maaco's body work failed... one edge was about 1/2 low ..bent down.. and the back edge is a bit wavy... Most of this I corrected with some careful sheet metal bending the wavy part can be fixed as it hits final prep for paint.
Now to mount a wing.. I hate wings these days... they are all so styled and fugly as hell.... or they have 3 veins or are 20 feet tall. I searched and the only ones I could find that were simple were oem or cervini's boring one... lucky for me American Muscle carried a cheaper fiberglass one that was relatively unique while still tasteful and also moved the third break light into the wing which is a nice touch to update the car look... the trunk mounted thingy was welll 80's : Again I measured a half a dozen times and popped my holes through almost perfect... one had to be widened a hair. then from underneath I opened up access holes as conveniently as possible to facilitate easy removal for the full car painting to come. All in all things worked out well. the fin was pre prepped without any flaws in the glass .... kinda amazing actually for fiberglass.
Enough of my chatter.. y'all want the pictues if anyone actually reads my threads anymore Paint to come one day in the semi near future, but first the hood and a few details.
Slowly the project moves along. In August I ordered a reproduction trunk lid through American Muscle. I was concerned about having large body parts shipped, and my concern proved to be justified as it got pretty buggered up during shipping. Fortunately when I contacted American Muscle they were great about facilitating the repair of the lid. The work was done by a local Maaco.... I know... but they actually did well. Though they neglected to finish the underside and mount it as I had asked..... didnt bill me for it either though so whatever. Anyway onto the poor damage photos.
As I said American Muscle had excellent customer support throughout this. I decided to have them just give me store credit for the amount of repairs rather than coordinating a payback, and in turn ordered a wing for the back with that money. This piece shipped well and had no damage to the wing. Unfortunately the brake light housing did not weather as well, but it was easily repaired so I didn't bother them with it.
The scary part came when I realized I had to drill all the hinge holes and allignment bolt holes for the trunk... eeek lets just say I loligagged quite a lot and ended up refinishing the interior trunk pan, water channels, and also painting the underside of the trunk before I got around to drilling Needless to say I measured and remeasured a couple dozen times and hit every hole perfectly and it lined up almost right... here is where maaco's body work failed... one edge was about 1/2 low ..bent down.. and the back edge is a bit wavy... Most of this I corrected with some careful sheet metal bending the wavy part can be fixed as it hits final prep for paint.
Now to mount a wing.. I hate wings these days... they are all so styled and fugly as hell.... or they have 3 veins or are 20 feet tall. I searched and the only ones I could find that were simple were oem or cervini's boring one... lucky for me American Muscle carried a cheaper fiberglass one that was relatively unique while still tasteful and also moved the third break light into the wing which is a nice touch to update the car look... the trunk mounted thingy was welll 80's : Again I measured a half a dozen times and popped my holes through almost perfect... one had to be widened a hair. then from underneath I opened up access holes as conveniently as possible to facilitate easy removal for the full car painting to come. All in all things worked out well. the fin was pre prepped without any flaws in the glass .... kinda amazing actually for fiberglass.
Enough of my chatter.. y'all want the pictues if anyone actually reads my threads anymore Paint to come one day in the semi near future, but first the hood and a few details.