Well, today I got tired of sanding. I really hate sanding. I have to sand out the dang fisheyes and repaint part of the front cowling but don't have the heart to keep sanding. I decided to reward myself with some visual success and insulate the interior in preparation for carpet. I vacuumed everything out inside and slid the transmission cover in. I have the foil covered bubble wrap insulation and started to mould it into place. It worked very well. I only had to use a little glue on the raised rail between the seat and the front floor pan. Other than that it all laid down and moulded to the curves very well. Of course it turned out I didn't have enough freaking insulation. I need to insulate the front floor pan and the rear ledge still. I decided to try to fit the carpet onto the transmission cover. It came with the shifter boot installed. I got that slid in and thought, what the heck? I think I will continue. There were no instructions for the carpet except for a picture of the shapes and layout. It didn't say where to glue, which piece tucks under, which piece lays over, or which pieces you should install first. I have had great success with the trial and error method, and it seemed to work here, too. The carpet doesn't fit as well as I would have hoped, but I will park it out in the sun and let things stretch and settle in. Thursday I will be in town and will get the rest of the insulation I need and finish it up. It feels good to see a visual change, and it looks so much cleaner now. I will have to find a car cover now as well to keep the dust and dirt out.
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On a side note, I found a used brake and clutch master cylinder and ordered them last Friday. As soon as they arrive and I see that they will work I will order the rebuild kits. I hope to get this car moving ... and stopping.

I finally got the dash installed. The hardest part was the choke cable. I am pretty sure all the wiring is correct. I can't check because the headlight switch is broken and I have to order a new one, the wiper transmission and washer nozzles are removed for painting, the tail and turn lights are all removed, and the hood has been removed and all the associated lights went with it. I will have to cross my fingers.

I haven't had much time to play lately. I started putting the dash panels in. That was the easy part. The wires were the not so easy part. When I removed the panels I marked all the wires I removed and took a lot of pictures. The PO had disconnected a lot of things before me, however, and I had to figure a few things out. I started on the left (read: easy) side. The center section was a little more complex, but not bad. I replaced every bulb first, as I didn't want to have to do this all again later to replace a burned out bulb. I also realized I hadn't run or attached the heater control cable yet, and did so at this time.Once the center was attached, I moved on to the left side. There are tons of wires there. I ran the speedometer cable and the grommet was all stretched and cracked, so I replaced it. I struggled getting the new grommet over the cable end. It had a plastic retaining clip to attach to the speedometer and I didn't want to break that. After ten minutes of struggling I finally got it over the end and didn't break the clip. I slid the cable through the hole in the firewall and the damn clip brushed against the side and broke off. Now I need to order a new speedometer cable. I ran the tach and choke cables as well. I got everything all wired and was going to mount the dash when I realized I had forgotten to run the wires thought the dash hole first. They were all hanging under the dash, so I have to disconnect everything and run the wires though the dash and reinstall them again. The headlight switch was broken as well. I tried to fix it, but it didn't hold. I will need a new one. I also ordered a brake and clutch master cylinder from a salvage yard in New Jersey. I will have to rebuild them, but they were only $25 each. With any luck I can have this vehicle movable under it's own power in the near future. Tomorrow I plan to finish installing the last dash panel and sand the fisheyes from the corner and sill plate and ready it to paint again. I still don't know how that happened. The primer was fine, and I painted it less than hour later. Nothing could have contaminated it. Oh well, nothing for it but more freaking sanding.

I got the whole interior area painted in color. I used the last of the paint that I had. Unfortunately, there are fisheyes on the driver's side cowling and sill plate. I don't understand how that happened. It didn't get fisheyes in the primer, so there were no contaminants on the metal. I painted the color shortly after the primer so nothing got on it either. I am assuming it had to do with the humidity, though everywhere else looks just fine. I'll have to wait a few days, sand and paint again. I'll have to buy more paint, too. That sucks, but at least the interior and doors turned out. I can work on the dash in the meantime.

Holy Hannah is it hot out there! The one day I have to paint has to be one of the hottest of course. I got out and taped and covered the car and cleaned up and residual overnight surface rust from humidity on bare metal. I pull out the spray guns, get the filter on the compressor, grab the primer and.....shit! I don't have enough. Run into town and get some more. Stir it up, glove up, mask on and I'm shooting. There are some really tight areas to try to get into, but patience prevails. It is all primed and I have come in to cool down. My gloves were full of sweat. It's 86 degrees and 55% humidity today. I figure I will give the primer an hour and shoot the color.

Well, it looks like I will be back to work before too long. I will have to really bust my behind and get some work done while I have the time. I finished sanding the inner doors and door jambs along with the dash and windshield frame. I treated all the bare metal with rustmort and washed everything down with a green scrubby pad. Then I dried it, scuffed all the clean paint, and washed and dried everything again. It is now ready for paint. Tomorrow morning I will mask off the spots that need it and clean up any overnight surface rust. Then I can use the last of my primer / sealer and shoot the metal dash, windshield frame, inner door panels, door jambs and door sills. I plan to roll some paint out along the fenders, quarterpanels and doors so when the time comes to paint the whole car it will be that much easier to prep. After about an hour I will shoot color on the whole area. This is such an important step for me. It opens up a whole lot of areas to work on other than sanding. I can install my dash panels, figure out where all the wires go to, run all the cables, hook up the choke, install the carpeting, install the seats, make door panels, make the rear and side panels. This is the first step of completing the interior. I am very excited for tomorrow, if for no other reason than it will keep me off body work for a while.