August 11, 2006 - Tick tick tick... time waits for no one

Time keeps moving and Sept 30 keeps getting closer and closer.  My 30 day buffer is slowly being eaten away by service delays, backordered product, acts of nature, etc..  Gee, this is just like a computer systems implementation project!  Funny how cost overruns seem to hurt so much more when they get funded out of your own wallet though.

The Celica went into the bodyshop last month and the guys have been making good progress on getting it painted.  Unfortunately, the Aug 1 date has come and gone and the car is still at the bodyshop.  Not because of any lack of effort though.  The guys have been working diligently on it even in the midst of one of the hottest summers Socal has ever experienced in a long time.  Stripping the car has revealed some bad rust spots requiring some extensive rework and metal replacement.  Getting all the dings, dents, and filling in all the holes has taken its toll on the schedule also.  But the car is looking really good and will hopefully be done next week.

Had to cut out the entire section because of rust.

Another one.

And another one.

This section was cut and replaced also.  Note the holes where some of the rust rotted thru.

Some of the other holes which have been filled already.

It was interesting to watch some of the tricks they use to make sure the body line was straight.  They first stripped and filled in the holes, sanded, touched up and sanded again.  Then shot some primer then splatter some color so they can see the body line.  It also makes it easier to see where they sand to make adjustments.  After they were satisfied with the quality of the body line, they then shot a final coat of primer then sanded.

Kono's also filled in the big holes where the stock bush wacker bumpers mounted.  From what Bryan told me, it was a lot harder to fill than it looks...

Before filling in...

And after.

Kinda cool huh!

Here's some pix of the finished body lines.

Not exactly sure what the big cardboard box was for...

Finished rockers.

Doing the final sanding.  Boy, looks like A LOT of work.

Even though the body was pretty straight on the Celica, they still needed to put a lot of time and effort into it!

On another note, Kono's is almost finished with another restore project.  Bryan was putting some of the chrome back on this Buick that they've had for the past couple of months.  Car turned out really really nice.  I hope the owner doesn't mind me putting a picture of it up on my website.  :-)

The paint came out really nice.  The shine looks wet!

I got some of the finished parts back already and the finish and color came out nice.  There was some concern earlier about the shade of color and if it was what I was looking for.  If not, it might require another stage to shoot a layer of candy on top of the base coat to get the color tone right.  Luckily the base color matched the chipbook perfectly and it won't require the extra step.  And with the crazy price of that House of Kolor paint, I'm glad it won't require the extra duckets out of my pocket.

You can really see the pearl when the light hits it.

With no flash.

I have a lot of work ahead of me these next few weeks!!!  It will definitely be a crunch to get the car back together by Sept 30 for the JCCS show.  http://www.japaneseclassiccarshow.com

The guys got all the jams painted.  They got the inside of the hood and hatch finished also.  Depending on how the light hits it, the painted pieces can get really bright.  :-0

Took these shots with the flash.  You can see the pearl when the light hits it.

I can see why the color is called Sunset Pearl.  Kinda cool how the light varies the shade.

I also got my rims and valve cover back from polishing.  Took them to Speedway in Santa Ana.  Nice work, really reasonable prices.

Rims after respraying the black.

I also got my rear seat back from the upholstery shop today.  Wahls Upholstery in Los Alamitos did an excellent job on the seat.  Great craftsmanship and very fair pricing.  Highly recommend them.

I really need to finish mounting the spoiler and get the whole assembly to Kono's so they can paint it.  I anticipate some late nites for the next 49 days to get this car back together.

Okay, that's it for this round.  Hopefully next round we'll see some color all over the car!