Thought I would share couple of pictures of my rebuilt engine, with all the period correct brackets. Still needs some finishing, including the air cleaner.
A few questions...
1) I stripped most of the engine bay to bare metal but noticed that the driver side fender apron & the strut rod bracket under several layers of black paint is the original Candy apple body color. Is that normal? Did it come from the factory with body color? I thought it was a semi gloss black. Sorry this question may have already been asked here before. I couldn't find a straight answer.
2) The sheet metal underneath is rust free but has some slightly uneven spots. Should I smooth it out with some sort of high build primer and block sand it? Or use light bondo?
3) I would like to preserve the look of the factory spot welds. Should I use only light coats of spray here? Any other tricks?
4) Is it normal to have the VIN number stamped on the right fender apron? I thought only the left apron had the vin #. Unfortunately my battery tray was rusted out and had to replace this apron a while back.
Thanks all.
A few questions...
1) I stripped most of the engine bay to bare metal but noticed that the driver side fender apron & the strut rod bracket under several layers of black paint is the original Candy apple body color. Is that normal? Did it come from the factory with body color? I thought it was a semi gloss black. Sorry this question may have already been asked here before. I couldn't find a straight answer.
2) The sheet metal underneath is rust free but has some slightly uneven spots. Should I smooth it out with some sort of high build primer and block sand it? Or use light bondo?
3) I would like to preserve the look of the factory spot welds. Should I use only light coats of spray here? Any other tricks?
4) Is it normal to have the VIN number stamped on the right fender apron? I thought only the left apron had the vin #. Unfortunately my battery tray was rusted out and had to replace this apron a while back.
Thanks all.