Well, I couldn't put it off any longer, so this weekend I attacked the top of the bonnet.
Fill - sand - fill - sand - more fill - more sand - more fill - more sand primer - sand - more fill - more sand - more primer - more sand etc.
After a day and a half I've got a surface that is reasonably flat and reasonably smooth ready for a colour top coat. It took a full 600g pack of filler, however, most of that ended up as dust on the ground.

May give it another coat of primer and a light sand to be sure, but Wednesday should see the bonnet finished and maybe back on the car.

The bonnet is something I'd been putting off sorting out.
Apart from the rough top surface, there was a spot in the top drivers side that was stretched and would 'pop' up and down with the slightest touch.
I didn't know how to deal with it and after some discussion with Graham on the weekend I decided to glue a strip of metal on the underside that had a slight spring up in it. This should give the area a bit more support and make sure it popped back up if it was pushed in.
I considered several options as to what I would use and settled on a strip of aluminium that had been work hardened by bending into the curve backwards and forwards a few times. A bit like 'breaking the grain' of a piece of sheetmetal before bending to get a smooth curve.
I cut off a strip of aluminium and cleaned off the surfaces and after bending to an appropriate shape, I used contact adhesive to glue the pieces in a diagonal shape on the underside of the bonnet.
It didn't glue as well as I would have liked and one end would not stick down completely. I could not get it off easily, so It will have to do. It does stiffen up the panel so I'm pleased about that.
I cut the insulation pieces to shape and had intended to get them under the edges of the frame of the bonnet, but I couldn't spring the frame away sufficiently to do that so the pieces were glued over the lips of the frame as neatly as I could. It still looks find but I was a little disappointed that I couldn't hide the edges.
After that I started on the top side. Sanding, filling, sanding. It will take much more fill than I had wanted to get a respectable surface. So much for the weight saving of an aluminium bonnet.
Still got a lot to do.
Last week I made some enquires about the seats and went to the guy that did Ken Campbell's seats. He does good work, but he's too expensive for me. I went back to Scotts and left them with him. His father will do them next week. I discussed the pattern on the seats and decided to do them black with a maroon piping and a grey panel down the centre. We couldn't match the grey easily so I took the grey I had in and he's going to use that.

Been raining off and on for last few days and I've been putting off the painting - 'till today.
Stopped raining and it was still, no wind to speak of. Thought I'd give it a go, mainly so I could remove the masking from the car.

Mixed up a decent batch of colour and wiped down the car with wax and grease remover. I laid on a good cover of paint going over it a few times as I worked my way around the car. Got what I thought was a good result.

Left it to dry, flushed out the gun and came inside to have a snack and a drink.

When I went back outside intending to put a bit more paint on, the surface was almost completely grey. Obviously too much moisture in the air and the extensive evaporation had formed condensation on/in the paint. Came inside and checked a website about painting defects and saw that some thinner sprayed on may get rid of the 'blush'.
Did that and got rid of most of it. some remained on the shroud which I could not remove.
I left it to dry completely and late tonight I hit it with some cutting compound. It will come off but I will need some heavy duty compound which I will pick up tomorrow.
Wish the rain would go away now. I believe we've had enough, just here anyway. My tanks are full, anything further is just a waste - here anyway.

Body work in earnest is the order of the days now. I'm halfway through the holidays and I've got stuck into the front guards. You may remember that the passenger guard was patched and was very rippley. Lots of filling and sanding got me a result that I was happy with and I put a few layers of fill primer and the a nice wet coat of colour on it.
I picked up another gun the other day - a larger version of the touch up gun I've been using. It came with 2 needles, 1.4mm and 1.7mm.
I used the 1.7mm needle to prime the guard, but I think it needs more air than the compressor can deliver. It went OK but I got much better result with the 1.4mm when I used it for the colour.
The surface finish is much smoother than I was getting before and I'm happy with it.
I'm using the small gun for the primer and the large gun for the colour. Mainly because I've got a good result with both guns and I don't want to have to fiddle with the settings.
I made a stupid mistake today when I was cleaning up the overspray and getting ready to work today.
I have 2 lots of thinner for the paint. One multi purpose one for the primer and cleanup and one better one for the colour. They are in tins the same except for the colour. Multi is yellow and the good one is blue.
I also got a tin of grease and wax remover to cleanup the surface and it does not interfere with the paint so I can slop it around freely to clean the surface between spraying.
It comes in a tin with a green/grey colour - too close to the thinner as it turns out.
I had both tins out and used the wrong one to clean the shroud. Made a hell of a mess, took the paint off and I even double checked that I was using the correct one when I noticed that it was picking up some colour.
I went through the paint before I realised what I'd done.
I didn't intend to paint this part again, but now I'm going to have to.
I finished the filling, sanding and priming routine tonight and I was going to put some colour on it while it was all masked up, but it turned windy so I've put that off until next time.
The bonnet is causing me some anxiety. I think I'm going to take it back off to sort it out. The insulation needs to go on the underside and hopefully this will solve some of the distortion it has in it.
Overall I pleased with how it's going and I hope to get the painting finished before the holidays end.

It's been a bit windy here the last few days and as I've been a bit off colour, I've not been to school the last two days. Yesterday and today I slept until noon but on Wednesday I fixed an issue with the choke in the morning and because of the wind I spent some time cutting out the insulation and fitting that and the carpet.
The choke was a problem which initially had me stumped. The motion that was required at the carburettors was only about 30mm of cable pull but to get that I was pulling the knob at the dash right out of the holder, about 80 to 90mm. It turned out that the outer cable was moving in the tube just behind the dash where it had been crimped.
A fix was achieved by removing everything and soldering a small, short tube inside the sleeve for the cable outer to butt up against.
It was a bit fiddly but I got a result that now allows the knob to be only pulled out the same amount as is required at the carburettors.
The carpet on the sills I had already cut out and using some contact I glued them to the sills. Very pleased with the result especially with the door seal in place. I also cut and glued two layers of the insulation to the back of the carpet at the end of the foot well and doubled up the insulation at the end of the floor piece up near the firewall.
The rear piece, in front of the battery box has also had a piece of insulation glued to it and the floor pieces have been cut and duplicated in insulation. I'm happy with how it's all going and when the carpet is glued to the insulation it doesn't appear to need much to hold it in place.

Got the compressor out and mixed up some paint. Did the underside of the bonnet, only around the edges. After it was dry, I attached the bonnet safety catch and the main catch. I attached the hinges to the car and with Sharon helping to hold the bonnet, I attached it to the car.
The top of the bonnet's a shocker and I considered replacing it.
But with a fair bit of jiggling and twisting and bending, I've got the fit to the stage where it's not really crap it's only a bit crap.
I fitted the bonnet stay and fiddled with the catch a bit more.
I turned my attention to the boot lid and sprayed the underside of it.
That was yesterday.
This morning I flipped over the boot and decided to paint it as well before putting it on. Gave it a light sand smooth and put a layer of red orange peel on it. Sometimes I get the finish just right, most times, not. This was a 'most' time.
I'm working on the principal that if I get enough paint on, I'll be able to sand and polish it smooth.
After it was dry, I put the hinges on the car and attached the rubber seal.
I probably need a new one, but I turned it upside down and It seemed to go on ok.
Sharon helped me attach the boot and the fit was very crap.
I jiggled it about and laid into the rim on the car with various tools - mostly hammers of various sizes and compositions and got the fit to the stage that with a little filler shaping on the surrounds it will be ok.
The bonnet and boot, however, are on and after some careful filling and sanding, I'm sure I'll be able to get a finish that I'm happy with.
Late this afternoon, I was cleaning up and came across a can of clear coat. Out of curiosity I sprayed some on the boot and I was quite pleased with how it improved the finish.
I may be able to do something like that after the spraying.