RNR1957NYer

Well done, sir!

Or, Option 6, cut and weld two oil bath air cleaners to fit. I posted this photo of just such a thing seen at a show on another thread awhile ago.

Don's posts will be missed. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about - Old school craftsmanship! Next, a flush tailgate panel punched to match?

The guy who punched mine wanted me to take the paint off both surfaces; even if your shop didn't ask you to, now's the time to get both surfaces of the hood ready to prime and paint (and the top side finish, patina not, won't survive the stamping). Then, as you note, you will have some deburring to do. When you prime and paint it, make sure you get good coverage on the edges of the sheet metal at the openings. I decided that I wanted to paint the hood underside International Red to match my wheels. I shot the hood black and cleared it, then masked all the openings making sure there would be no red bleeding onto the top side. If you decide to do this, make sure the clear has completely hardened, and still be prepared to carefully wet sand & polish out some masking tape texture (and random red in my case) from the clear. Or, you could paint both sides matte black....

Trust me - all the effort and drive time will be worth it; every time you look at the louvered hood you'll smile!

I came to the same conclusion as to the cost effectiveness of the Harbor Freight dolly. I disassembled the dolly and cut up a 2x6 and steel shelving legs I had laying around. It's not as robust as yours, but I'm into it for the $9.99 cost of the dolly!

Hi Radar - My strong recommendation is to find somebody to punch louvers in your hood. Trying to weld louvered panels into a curved hood would be extremely difficult to pull off, even for an expert body man. I picked up an extra hood for my P12 and had a local "old timer" (sorry, Roy!) stamp it full of louvers and it was worth every dollar.

I have a couple of those as well - a friend who is a long-time body man for GM dealerships swore by (not at) them. While they don't have different size caps, there is a You Tube video by someone who drilled the cap out for heavy primer /surfacer.

Finished my indoor chores, so I get to play for awhile in the garage - took some pictures of the sanding blocks I'm using. The black blocks are on the hard side, but the curved faces and long lengths were indispensable for getting the long lines straight on my '66 Satellite (available at Eastwood, but I got mine on ebay). The blue teardrop shaped block is slotted to hold sandpaper (I got three lengths from Eastwood). The red and black block is the go-to block I described above - available in auto parts stores. The small black (because I've been using it on black paint) block is actually a white vinyl eraser - I use that on small areas, especially if there is a body line nearby and I'm afraid to burn though the paint. Hopefully the Satellite will be painted by next spring. The "shiny" pic is my P12's deck lid - starting the polishing last night.

Most urethanes labels I’ve read recommend 320 grit. Also, your arms will fall off if you start with 800 on primer out of the gun! I recommend you use a soft rubber block - I’ve got one that’s about a 1/2 thick, with one side a closed cell rubber, the other side more of a “sponge” type. This block is flexible, which is what we need with all the inside and outside curves on our cars. I finished sanding the color coat on my P12 this week - spent a few months with that d**n block in my hands!

and if you referred to it as an Alfa, it would be leaky and rusty....

When considering the value of the car to you, think about the value of: - it being close enough for you to see personally - it being close enough to get it home without considerable cost I was the high bidder on ebay for my P12, but my bid didn't meet the seller's reserve. The car was only three hours away (and near where my son went to college) so I was able to go see it and hear it run. I had an upset limit on what I wanted to pay but we were still a few hundred apart. The gentleman had a pickup and car trailer and offered to help get it home; I calculated what it would cost me to rent a U haul pick up and trailer, plus gas and tolls. We made a deal on the car at my price plus the $400 bucks I figured it would cost me to get it home. Everybody happy! (and I haven't seen another I'd like for similar money in the five years since).

My first car ride home from the hospital in 1954 was in Dad's '52 Belvedere; he soon bought a used '52 Windsor because he wanted to upgrade to a Chrysler and with two kids now, the four door Windsor was more practical than the two door hardtop Belvedere. The Chrysler was the first family car I remember; Dad kept it 'til '60 when he bought a new Valiant. He brought the Valiant home, opened the trunk for a neighbor and thought the spare was missing; at six years old I showed him it was under the floor (I must have been paying attention at the dealership!) My latest experience was the 25 mile drive into Boston for work this morning - my daily driver '09 Challenger R/T has about 202,000 miles on it. There are a few MoPar experiences between these.....

Why not??? (view of Owasco Lake from the deck)