Started The Bodywork!

Just set things into high gear and got a great jump on the bodywork today, and there are plenty of dents to address! It looks like someone drove this drunk down a street with cars parked up and down it, or they were playing tag, because both sides of the wagon are dented up front to back. But, with a little help from my friend Tim, and a bunch of hammering on sheet metal, I am almost ready to start putting down a layer of filler to true up the panels.

We got the windows, hardware and trim removed from all 4 doors, and in the next couple of days I will be sending my dew wipes from the doors and the tailgate out to be redone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this goes smoothly. If so, I will be set for about $150 which is pretty awesome.

The rear tire is off the car because, unfortunately at some point, someone thought it would be a good idea to flatten out the lip of the wheel well with a set of pliers. I straightened it out as best as I could, but I couldn't true the underside up 100%. I guess if it has to be off, that is the place to do it. The wheel well trim is quite rough, but I picked a decent set up some time back. I will have to see if thwy are a correct fir now since they are off a full-size Merc, but not a wagon. I hope so, because finding even those was almost impossible.

I also got to spend a little time yesterday working on the second header and have the first tube's run tacked up. That's the hardest part, but now that it is done, I can run the other three around it down to the collector. Should be interesting since I will need to work around the steering.

More to come soon...