I got the hood sprayed with epoxy primer again this weekend.  It looks pretty good, it's about ready for final prime and finish sanding now.

While it was (finally) sunny outside, I decided to strip the old paint off of my roof and spray it with epoxy primer as well.  I also did the driver side A- and B-pillars.

I also stripped and sprayed the second tow hook I added on the driver side frame rail a few months ago.

I ordered a new radiator, the old one was a little sketchy.

The original radiator fan shroud uses self-tapping screws threaded into plastic, but I wanted to use proper stainless screws.

This is the original:

I drilled it out from 5mm to 8.9mm diameter, I did it in multiple steps to prevent the plastic from splitting.

I installed heat staking brass inserts.  These are pretty slick, you heat them up with a soldering iron and then press them into the plastic hole.

After trimming away the excess melted plastic, they are now threaded to accept a stainless M6 screw.

New tools!  I ordered a set of Lisle hose cutting pliers and two sets of cheapo Astro Pneumatic bit sets (one for work and one for my toolbox).

I also ordered a set of VIM 1/4" drive stubby triple square bit sockets.  Sometimes the larger ones don't fit, the newer German cars are built entirely with these fasteners.

I used a Snap-on magnetic socket rail from the last bit set I bought, it tucks nicely under the rear lip of my socket drawer.  I'm running out of real estate so I have to get creative with the new sets!

I spent a lot of time this weekend touching up a few small spots on the hood and block sanding the epoxy primer.  I only snapped a few pictures, but I feel like I made decent progress.  This is very time consuming.

More sanding.  I spent all weekend working on my fan shroud, there is a lot of detail on this piece and it's been time consuming to get it straight!  It's not there yet, but this is as far as I got this weekend.

I bought a new pack of razor blades and noticed something a little funky when I opened the package...

One of the blade covers was already soaked in dried blood!!  That isn't a good sign.

I finally got my hood coated in DP50LF epoxy primer.  There are 3-4 spots I'm not happy with, but they will be easy to rework.

Here is another look at the "before,' I filled 59 holes in the bottom alone.

Hood.

I made a lot more progress on my hood!   I spread some more bondo... then sanded it off.

For some of the contours, I used tape to get clean edges on the putty.  The Evercoat Quantum One small repair formula I'm using is self-leveling like putty, you can pull the tape while it's wet and get a clean edge.  You would never want to do that in the middle of an open panel, but it was working pretty well for detailed areas.

The factory stamping are really bad, there are blemishes everywhere.  Rather than leave them, I spent some time filing, sanding, and puttying them.

Before:

After:

I even sawed apart an 8" file to get smaller pieces so I could file imperfections out in the center of the skeleton.  Most of the edges were really sharp and lumpy, I filed them all flat and smooth.

Putty work complete!  Some of the worst areas were the spots I didn't even modify.  The quality of these underhood stampings is not good.

Next I sprayed around with a bunch of Transtar Amber Rustproofing.  This is like a waxy coating that you spray into channels to protect the back side of welds.

I poked the nozzle through all of the openings between the skeleton and the hood skin to coat as much as I could.  This, in addition to the weld-through primer I applied to the patch panels, will help prevent the hood from rusting from the inside out.

Milo the crazy cat helped.  He was covered in sanding dust, he kept laying down under where I was working so I would pet him.

I have some cleanup to do before primer, but I think I got pretty decent coverage in all of the channels.

New radiator!  The old one was questionable, so I bought a new one.

And while I'm on the subject of radiators, I started puttying and sanding the fan shroud I made a few months back.

New tools!  I received a vintage Lufkin 6" combination square from eBay.  I already had the 12" and love it, so I have been watching for a smaller version.

I also received an SK 10mm combination wrench back from a warranty return, so my wrench drawer is complete again!

I went to a gathering at our friend Shek's house.  Jimmy brought his dog Mia.  Racedoge.

Then Jimmy and Jason test drove Shek's Both-Hand-Drive Honda S2000.  I probably shouldn't have leaked these pictures, but BHD is going to be all the rage this show season.

I also went to visit my friend Dave and Ian's garage, and their buddy Andy was working on a Suburban he just purchased for parts.  He drove it home from Cleveland like this!!!  He said it was cold driving without windows, but otherwise it drove 'straight.'  It was only caved in about 2 feet.

He also sprung a leak from the heater core during his journey.  He decided to loop the line...

...With a 12mm deep socket and two hose clamps!

That's all for now.  More bondo this week!