A family affair

Last weekend was thin on getting work done on Fillmore but rich on fun family time. My nephew Riley was in from Manitoba and we kept busy with paintball,dirt biking and sightseeing.

And yet we still found a little Fillmore time. Nothing says family like greasy knuckles and stinkin' like bus.

After Riley headed back home and the week began again I took the opportunity to do a little repair on the front entry door

There are a few spots of previous repair, that just don't cut the mustard now.

So out with the bad.......................................and in with the new.

One down and a few more to go.

The Spanish Inquisition

Probably the biggest challenge for a project like this is fear....Fear and surprise.....fear, surprise and a ruthless efficiency. Wait, no that is a Monty Python skit
Seriously, fear and surprise are significant and daily parts of working on Fillmore, but the biggest challenge in my eyes is organization. This has been and continues to be a long term project, as such there are times where you take something apart, bag and label the items, and then store them so when it comes time to put it back together, you have everything you need. Take for example two of the four round "donut " collars that are around the bumper supports on the front of Fillmore. There was damage to the lower 6" of the front nose panel and I made a decision to replace the lower portion of the panel only. This all took place when I gave Fillmore a Nose Job back in 2010. The two donuts in question went into a labeled baggy and were stored, and then moved, and then shuffled and then placed for safe keeping.
Then it was time to repair and reinstall......You guessed it I can't find then at all. DAG NABIT!!

I removed the remaining two collars, cleaned them up

And then used them as a template for fabricating new ones, above is an original (left) a new one in progress(center) and then one that is done(right)

Primed and waiting to install.

In the meantime my helper was johnny on the spot with the rivet gun...

...and some body work.In the pic on the left you can see the collar installed

But even the best help is hard to keep focused on task!

Conjucal visit

 Last week I was  "That guy". Fillmore was in the shop waiting for his day in court, his judgement day. Frankly it was supposed to be done last week but life gets in the way for more people in the world than just me. David from the shop, was supposed to be at work last week, but things happened and he was gone so Fillmore sat in lock up, solitary confinement really. I spent the week calling the shop every day and not getting the answers I was looking for.
 In the meantime I played. I did some experiments with insulation, bonding the insulation in, different types etc. etc.

I made, yes..., a template for some rigid foam for the window wells. Then I simply used some 2" scrap pieces I had lying around in my shop for the past 12 years just waiting for the right time to be used. Not bad! I like it!


I also have some special insulation I plan on using in the roof, an  insulation from Pacor/ Aspen Aerogel called Spaceloft. It's basically quite thin(1")with exceptional thermal and acoustic insulating properties.

But of course I am trying to figure out the best adhesive for holding it all in place, being that Fillmore is in lock up....I might as well have my own little 'consumers reports' test.

As the week came to a close I decided on Friday to stop by their shop [after I had a day of an extremely riveting and super interesting lecture on sleep prosthodontics.....(insert sarcastic harrumph)]. I found that Fillmore had been set aside but the promise was that he would be first on the docket monday morning. I negotiated a weekend pass, a conjucal visit per say. I was able to break Fillmore out with the promise that we would be back for Monday morning.

 Sat. morning was me, my coffee, two home made breakfast sandwiches and CBC radio. I hate to start making noise before 9 am so it turns out to be a fantastic quiet time to sit and think about what will happen today!

 The day turned out to be a day of little jobs. Not so little in what has to be done but, little details that I have been looking at for...years! saying "oh ya, I'll get at that soon." Today was the day.

 I needed to remove the front wheel to get at a little finishing detail in the front passenger body panel in front of the wheel well.

 A little Bragg Creek Nip and tuck!

Didn't I already do this??

I don't know why I am surprised when it happens because it has happened before but it seems like I just finish something , only to turn around and decide that there is a better way of doing it. So was the brake treadle. I'm sure the fixtures I had used to plumb the airlines to the brake pedal were just fine, but I decided I wanted to re do them. So off again came everything, then I find while in the thick of it I was one fixture short. So I hold.... and wait to get  more parts from Greggs distributing.

Thankfully they deliver! After a few hours of Fillmore time the front is all back together....for now.

Now on to my favorite job, a little bondo. There were numerous places where the previous owners decided to drill holes, for hinges on the bottom of the window frames. I decided that this wasn't going to be a kept feature.

So I pulled Fillmore out into the sun, cleaned, primed, bondo, sanded

There is still so much to do, but every drop helps to fill the bucket.

I finally got around to finishing the wood floor on the passenger side, why did it take so long?

Hard to say, I'm sure there was a reason why I didn't finish it at the time I did the others but I can't remember.

Once again Fillmore is away for the weekend. I have him in at the shop that will pass him on his inspection. It really seems ridiculous when the guy inspecting the vehicle constantly says..."My car isn't in this good of shape" but rules are rules, and hoops are hoops here in ALLLLLLberta!

Wow, what a summer!

Wow is right the summer flew by and it was actioned packed. The highlight was our family trip to Europe. Of course we couldn't see all of Europe but we managed a few countries and loved every minute...except the times we were hot, sweaty, tired, hungry, and quasi-lost...those maybe weren't things that made the high lite reel.

LONDON

Paris

Venice

Rome

Whenever you travel, you marvel at some things that you see,things you do, experiences you have.Sometimes it's when you return home you appreciate how fortunate we are to live where we do. For me it was the fact that we have space to breath, space to stretch, just space to be.

Sometimes a break away gives you the fire again to carry on.

It was great to get back to work on Fillmore