asiab3 wrote:But seriously, Ian, how much waxing was there of the paint under that rack??
Robbie
Seriously, Robbie? Seriously? How much waxing was there?
Thhhhhhhiiiiiiiiiiiiiiisssssssssss muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuccccccccccchhhhhhhhh:
There was a lot of washing, 3M Rubbing Compound, Mother's California Gold Cleaner Wax, Mother's California Gold Carnauba Wax and even some buffing, and I remember thinking, "must I? I only have two days to do what Ian did in three weeks."
Right off the bat, I bailed on any notion of removing the top, not when Ian started talking about the three-man job of extricating it from the roof after unscrewing sixty thousand million screws holding the canvas to the roof, I only have two days.
I told Ian I was going to just tape plastic drop cloth to the perimeter of the roof and paint on the vehicle. Miami's weather conspired to agree with Ian and make me look like a weirdly striped and very cranky idiot. Here's why. Miami's weather remained utterly beneath comment until I got just enough plastic taped up to get a good flap going, then the winds flared and the trees shed tree detritus. The poptop betrayed me with a delightfully Candid Camera-esque horrendously awful surprise when I peeled off the twenty feet of poptop seal. Someone. Someone had ... SOMEONE JUST HAD TO use black butyl windshield seal black stringy goop between the seal and the poptop, why would someone use black butyl stringy snot windshield sealant, why? Why? WHY? So the black stringy goo-snots were getting flapped but good by the plastic drop cloth and the plastic drop cloth was trying to impart the Jackson Pollack effects against the canvas, oh yes, I could see the efforts get ever closer as the stupid stupid stupid tape started letting go because this is some talented tape, it is sticky as hell for just three minutes then it releases. Flapping sticking plastic tape releases tree debris wind gusts ladder lurches, I have only two days, canvas billowing closer yet to certain black butyl sticky glooped glop,oh there goes another piece of tape, now the whole left side "drop cloth" whips up over the poptop with black butyl strings glomming onto the gutter. My hands were now black glopped tapeFail plastic sheeting and I am trying to see if the upside of the plastic is contaminated or is it the down side? Hey, did I mention that I CANNOT tape the outside paint of this car? It lifts up like it was painted an hour ago, not twenty years plus. I had to trap the plastic sheeting in the tailgate and doors and tape it to the window glass,
Anyways, eventually, I mummified that car with an ugly wrap of plastic and got to fiberglass-repairing the luggage rack. Amazing really, to visit Jivermo just after he did his poptop. There's the sander, the sand paper, solvents, the resin, the hardener, the glass, the paint, the paint tray, four new rollers, saw horses, there is the roll of paper towels, and, by jove, a Bugatti - should I need to reconnoiter over to the commissary, I say:
So, I have never fixed a Corvette or a boat, and I was CLUELESS about how much to sand. This job was all guesswork. I have never set a roller to a vehicle, ever, either:
Then it rained. Of course. Blasted through the taped doors and got the car into the garage. "Blimey you Bugatti, budge up, I can't fanny around here." Second day first coat on the main poptop by 10:45am. Sanded it at 3:00pm, a good eleven hours before the recommended curing time, "well, I am sure there is some leeway here." Slammed on a second coat at 5:30pm just before a surprisingly good sushi spread and another installment of a series of conversations that bracketed this two-day operation:
I was pretty much up in the rafters:
... ... ... with an average of two inches between the car and various artifacts:
Charming, I say, totally charming in this cozy spot, and moreso because I was hating on the outside world's wind and tree debris, and rain showers that were all conspiring to sabotage this project:
Stuck the luggage rack back on the roof at 8:30pm, found the luggage rack carriage bolts and blindly guided the rubber spacers to the centers of the luggage rack holes, ran my hands deep into the headliner fiberglass insulation over the headliner which I never did remove, and stuck the washers and nuts on with pretzeled wrists and fiberglass insulation rasping the skin of my forearms.
Read the writing in the accumulated dust on the passenger door glass:
"CALL AMY 10:00PM!" So I called Amy at 9:30pm.
Stuck that horridly gooped goobered poptop seal back on at 11:45pm.
Struck out for the cottage at the stroke of 1:00am, this two-day project was dun did ding-dong done.
Colin