So I did a few things the last few days including making an appointment at that MVA on Tuesday to title the car.
This may or may not actually happen as the state trooper who I understand has to sign off on this only works Tuesdays from 8 through noon, and the earliest (only) appointment I could make was 3:45. So I'll try him Monday and see if this can work. If it can't it'll be at least another two weeks. And so begins the Final Stage.
I bought a heavy duty bathroom scale and weighed each wheel today in turn while sliding plywood under the other tires to keep the car level: 1483 lbs total.
356 334
378 415
I'm not at all convinced these numbers are spot-on. Left rear is especially suspect as I jacked the car up on that corner to spin the adjuster screws a turn and lift, and did not then drive or roll the car to "settle" it. But they seem ballpark.
And I've been sanding the lower leading edge of the hood with 120 grit.
Funny story there. When Tommy got done with the paint he said something like "the hood's a little tight I can sand it if you want" and I was like NO! WHY THE HELL WOULD YOU SAND NEW PAINT?
So obviously I should've said HELL YES YOU FIEND MAKE THE GODDAMN THING RIGHT! but also Tommy might have done better to say, instead of "a little tight," "it's gon' scrape" or better yet said nothing and just did it.
But that's not the story.
The story is, I've been cranking on the leading edge of the hood with 120 grit for a while. Lots and lots of white dust falling away. Sanding and testing the closure, sanding, testing, sanding, more dust. As one does.
This is the leading edge of the hood which I am sanding with the hood open meaning the edge is down and basically invisible to me.
I mean SANDING that mother. Again, with 120 grit.
So today I'm fixing to remove the hood so I can hit it with some 600 and tape it off for primer so I can then repaint that thin edge I've buggered up awful with all that sanding.
And I squat down real low.
And I tilt my head to look at it.
And the dang thing is STILL BLUE.
As in: painted.
I look at my 120 grit. A little blue there. Not much.
And I understand what has happened.
Turns out Tommy hung the hood to paint it, and the clear coat I gave him, formulated for long pot life at 85+ degrees F, ran down to the leading edge and lengthened it. I did not screw up my body prep; the panel gaps were good.
Anyway, these are the sorts of things you learn.
I broke out the 2k primer/filler for the body edge that's damaged.
This'll get cut down tomorrow with the 600 grit, re-masked and then sprayed with the Voodoo Blue x 3 and then the clear x 2 or 3, before a final blend with the high number wet paper and maybe the compound.
