Monday, October 14, 2013

1077 Days: A Small Update on a MAJOR Milestone

1077 days.  I look at this number and shake my head.  That’s a long time.  In fact, 18 days short of three full years.  It’s hard to imagine that the Boss has been hanging in the rotisserie for this amount of time, all the while getting its much needed and deserved reconstructive surgery.  In that time, I have dedicated over 2000 hours in all of the work that was required to return the chassis to a “buildable” state and I am only now reaching the point where “normal” restoration work will commence.  But more on that at another time.

At long last, a major milestone was finally reached in that we were finally able to take the car off the rotisserie and mount it on the body cart to begin the next phase of the build.  As exciting as this moment was, it came with a certain disbelief that so much time had been invested in the car to get it to this point and yet to the casual observer, it still looks like a gutted shell of a car that appears to flirt with the fringes of hopelessness. In fact, the before-and-after shots below are what finally gave me that “holy SH*T!” moment of realization that a lot of ground has been covered and every bit of it has been documented to an extent that I had never really imagined or put into perspective.

To say I am thrilled to have finally reached this point of the build is an understatement to be sure.  The enthusiasm to get on with making it look like a car again is building at a rapid rate and my ever-stirring brain is already working on the more intricate details of where I will start and how I will move through the preparation of the body.  I hope that the next phase of work will start showing larger leaps of obvious progress as panels start to take their rightful place, gaps are aligned, and contours perfected.  There is still a mountain of work to do, of course, but with every challenge, the therapeutic repayment the car delivers more than makes up for the strains of the work.

As it goes, I will let the pictures and captions tell the story of our latest success and thanks to all of the folks in “our” small circle of support who have kept the encouragement and positive energy coming.  It is more appreciated than you may ever know.

Thanks!



BEFORE
(ALMOST) AFTER


AFTER (1077 Days)!
 
 
 
The Big Move to the Body Cart!

After a bit of measuring, I determined all that was needed to provide a solid mounting surface for the chassis were these two simple wooded "pads".  The front pad (left) has the locator blocks already screwed into place.  Once the rear locator pads are in place, the car will be secure in both the fore-aft and side-to-side directions.

With the center spine brace removed from the rotisserie, the cart was positioned under the car and the entire works was placed on jack stands placed carefully on the body cart surface.  This allowed the front and rear rotisserie frames to be easily removed from the body mount brackets.


The body was lowered on the jack stands at their lowest settings in preparation for lowering the body down on the wooden support blocks.  Note the body brackets are still in place as they will be used as the final jacking points to lower the body to it's final place on the cart.

And there you have it.  For the first time in almost 3 years, the body is off the rotisserie!  Kinda looks like a car all of a sudden!

I kinda like this perspective.  This shot clearly shows how much working room this cart provides.

12 comments:

  1. I remember looking through all those old posts and all the progress that was made. It has also helped me as I have worked on my own car. It's good to see these cars coming back from the dead. Seeing that rotisserie come off is quite the milestone. Hopefully at some point I'll get one of my own built. Can't do that until I finish dealing with the frame issues though. Here's to seeing the car finished soon!

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    1. Thanks Grant! You've been hanging with my blog for a long time and I really appreciate it and enjoy knowing some bit and pieces of it have been useful to you too. You know all too well how tough these builds can be, but your progress is quite remarkable as well. Keep at it!

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  2. Congratulation on your milestone! I have been watching since you started the blog. I have to say the work you have done is amazing. I am looking forward to the rest of your project.

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    1. Thanks very much! I appreciate the comments and encouragement and thanks for sticking with the blog for so long!

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  3. Congrats Sven! I can't think of a better, more deserving, custodian of such an excellent example of a Boss 302. You have much to be proud of.

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    1. Thanks very much Alex! Hoping to be where you are some day in the foreseeable future: Enjoying the car every chance I get!

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  4. Congratulations Sven!!!! Let's hope that is the last time she is on her roof :) Loved the 3 shots of the under carriage. A pile of work indeed. Thanks for allowing us to walk this journey with you. It's been fun!

    rj

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    1. Thanks RJ. You have always been a generous supporter and I appreciate the encouragement. And BOY do I hope she's never on her roof again for sure! Ha!

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  5. I remember finding your blog (after you found mine) and watching the progress from the full floor, the 4-bar rear suspension, the chelation process, rear body panel, roof install, and all the bits-n-pieces in between. The before and after pictures don't come near telling the whole story. Congrats on getting Night Mission off the rotisserie. Now the new day count begins to when you turn the key!!!!

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    1. Wow Dennis! When you put it that way, it seems to add even more scope to it all! Lots of ground has been covered and LOTS more to go! At the same time, YOU have covered a ton of ground yourself! That's one of my favorite things about our little blog community! Thanks as always!

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  6. This is going to be an awesome car ! Show quality and beyond.
    I really like that Night Mission vision a lot.

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    1. Thank you Risto! Always enjoy your updates and I appreciate the encouragement. Cheers!

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