Almost done, or not. Fuel overflow lines...

So I thought I was done with the underside of the b.
Turns out....
I needed to wire a new ground for the group 26 12v battery, replace an axle strap that ripped without ever being on the road, bleed clutch and brakes, and install "toms knob"(the air intake drain tube), AND prime the fuel pump!

This is what's inside the stainless lines fuel overflow lines. Although the braided part will last another 50 years, the inner perished years ago, allowing gas fumes to get into the trunk and the evaporation system out of service.

THEN it can be put on its new tires that have never touched the ground.

Shrimp and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos. Just to break up the monotony.

going back together!

So started putting stuff back together.
Building heater box, bolting on intake carbs, exhaust. Brake and clutch lines, charcoal filter, etc...

Starting to re acquaint myself with the wiring from, oh I dunno a year ago.
I started going through all the lights and making sure they worked.
  The problem children were the front turn indicators, btw the all orange lens was only made for a few years so I wanted to keep them awhile. The
Inner chroming came off so they were aluminized .
 The original contacts were shot along with the spring so I went to Dorman products for 2.99 vs $37 ea. for new lights.
I had to shave a little off the contacts disk so it would move easily in the light housing.  Just line up the tab on the disk to the bulb slot so the contacts will match up.

Extreme body mods.

So, about the problem of having to undo the clutch line from the chassis if needing to fix or remove a part...
There are 2 large washers sandwiching the frame part between them.

Done painting

So after wet sanding the massive orange peel out of the original spray w 1000 grit, the car got its final paint today...

I guess GM got something right in the past, cool color.

I was in a conundrum today due to the 87% humidity, but a brief shower today kept temps in the low 70s w light winds.  

After adding extra reducer  it sprayed pretty nice.

Had to pull front fenders to get door fronts painted and also because dot 4 brake fluid on nearly new paint will eat a hole down to the primer.

So had to fix that from last time.

Feeling fathom green around the gills

So the weather warmed after 5 days of rain, I got time to try to finish some painting...
High temp today 85*, 50% humidity.
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It took to the last ounce of a gallon of paint to figure out how to shoot this stuff as easy as shooting
with a spray can.  I imagine there will be some touch up here and there after.
The paint was spitting out the gun again, I added a couple oz. of thinner to the paint itself, mixed thoroughly and then mixed it to its 8:2:1 ratio.
Also found that I mixed the 1.4 gun needle with the 1.8 tip. Also hooked a second larger compressor inline with the other so there was plenty of air.
If I had not wasted several cups of paint figuring out what was happening, there would be plenty of leftover touchup.  Paintforcars never answered my email question from a month ago.
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 Fortunately and unfortunately my phone doesn't take the best pics:

 Fathom Green- drying as I type this

It really is a cool color, kinda a fancy mossy woody color

Again, the color changes in different lights

The camera doesn't show all the flaws,  Wait did I say flaws? No flaws here.

Same angle without the flash...

After I assess the paint when it dries, then parts can get thrown on the MGB

Attempt at painting...

Fathom green, that's the color.
It was popular in 60s early 70s chebbys, dark mossy green with tiny flecks in it.  And a pain to paint with though.

Sitrep:
Temps high 60s low 70s.
Have compressors hooked up,
Have fans and new filters.
Have time.
Ready to paint right?
Yes and no.

The mix is 8:2:1
That's 8 oz paint to 2 oz reducer/thinner to 1 oz wet hardener.
H.f. "pro "paint gun, New moisture filter.
I tried mixing half a batch of the "starfire s.s. urethane" to try out my prowess with real paint since the primer went so awsomely.
I got spitting and more of a wall texture/ micro truck bed like coating.   This stuff is pretty forgiving, as long as it was still wet and enough went on it flowed the globs & blobs together nicely.
  Only comparison I have is to a high quality spray can.  The cheap ones are thin and run and the better ones have more pigment and bonding properties.
Since I tried it out on the trunk and underhood first I let the defects stay there until it gets figured out.
  Next mix I did a full batch and  added an extra ounce of reducer to get more of a liquidy flow w/o problems.  Initially it shot great
And after stopping and repositioning the spitting started happening some again.
The second compressor wasn't coming on when it was supposed to so air was low and the 25 gallon was working its a** off.  I was able to shoot for max 20 seconds before I lost pressure and it came back on.

So I'm in the process of trying to get the mix right, fan pattern has little effect on it, air flow probably needs more, paint flow /trigger pull has some effect on the spitting.

Mtf...

 I have gotten some indication that there is more need for airflow mainly, needing to keep the gun a constant distance from the panel, not thinning the paint too much, not under thinning it.
Its a confusing balance.  Anyway I need another big compressor for airflow.

Dash fix. Fixed. V2

Being thrifty like I am, I saw a product from urethane supply co. That was meant to full in dash cracks, and boy does this have them.

Here is the main problem, between the oil, speedo and the tech gauges there is a crack in the vinyl. That's it on the front of the dash.

The ugly crack.  There was more vynil stuck to this but I didn't get a beginning picture.

But on the top.... Cracks galore. After chipping vinyl, the bad foam has to come out.  One hole is 1/4" deep.

I started pushing in with my thumb in outwards circles from the cracks until the dash top stopped cracking. One spot got huge.
Then I took a dremel and ground down the edges so they weren't jagged and curled up around it.

Here is the urethane in action.
I looked on the bimmer forums and a trans am forum , and they were both happy with the results. It gets sprayed with s.e.m. coating afterwards. If this $17 fix doesn't work, then it gets a $60 dash cap...  Still not $329 for a new dash cover.

After it dries, it gets 150 grit sanding to general form, then 325.
Update later....

Update 2-5

All of this beauty from an 8 oz can.
Sands amazingly flat and feels more plastics than regular bondo. If you mix the putty oo "blue" this stuff sets up quick. The best mix color is little old lady silver/blue hair color.
I'm coining that phrase.

The original offending crack from tech to Speedo...fixed!
Another update coming after final sanding...

And here's the finished product.

After a wipe down with degreaser from the paint, I shot it with the SEM coating. Amazing stuff.

Here's the offending crack after the fix.
I know it was (is) there, but you have to look for it. 

quick edit-  after shooting the sem coating, it seemed to be horribly flat black.  the type that turns dusty white after just barely touching it.  I hit it with some duplicolor bumper black (flat) that made it look almost satin finished compared to what it was.