Well, we got the headrest out of the seat. It was a combination of the contraption my dad made and hitting the stuck post with an air hammer to loosen up the rust. Yes, everything in these cars rusts.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
I took the seat back home and got to work. I did a little more sanding to smooth out where I filled in the pealing leather.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
And applied a couple coats of dye. It doesn't look great up close but I think its passable for now.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
I hauled them back to my dads shop Saturday morning and then got started on the E9's paint. I love the convenience of my wagon, I can just toss parts in it and have fun on the back roads on the way to drop them off.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
I also got started on the wet sanding of the e9. I started off hitting it with 1500 by hand and then 3000 on the Porter Cable.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
No going back now. I hit it with a couple passes of Jescar correction compound and a Megs Microfiber cutting pad.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
Untitled by
Nick Wood, on Flickr
Untitled by
Nick Wood, on Flickr
It came out great, but it took a lot of passes with the compound. While I was working on the fender my dad sanded the roof. I don't know what he did but it would not correct out. I made a Harbor Freight run for some Megs 101, which they didnt have but I got 105. I also bought one of their sun match lights and stopped by my house to get the dewalt with the woolpad(this is the nuclear option.)
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
I got the roof to about 90% perfect. There are some actual scratches in it, so I think my dad picked up some trash in the sandpaper. Its something I will only notice but, I will totally notice it. Not sure what the plan is, I am hoping the polish and coating/wax will hide them a little. I then moved on to the drivers door, with the same process of sanding and microfiber pads but using the Megs 105. It corrected out a little easier but it still took a couple of passes. This light was also making me chase every little mark and swirl, I am pretty impressed, its a nice product.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
The door, after correction.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
When working the door, there were a couple little spots were there were nubs in the clear. I sanded those spots a little harder, but when I compounded the car those spots corrected easier. I guess I am knocking the orange peal down level and this is making it easier for the compound to brighten it up. I did a small test spot on the drivers rear 1/4 and it confirmed my theory so I sanded down the panel a little harder than the rest.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
And this pretty much corrected out with 1 pass of 105. I think this will be my process on the rest of the car.
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Nick Wood, on Flickr
There are a few small areas that I missed. I have a 1" and 2" pneumatic random orbital kit coming, and I am hoping its going to work for the tight areas. More to come this week.