Positive Body Image

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With the Christmas season now over, it's time to pick up the ratchets again. Today, I enjoyed strolling through the Car Expo with my cousin and his family. While popping in and out of new cars with my godson, and pretending to drive, I was scoping out car colors along the way to see which to go with for the Cougar. The expo had an abysmal showing in the classic car exhibit, so no luck there. With the interior of my car being shades of aqua, I was focusing on cars with white or blue paint jobs. Right now I'm liking a shiny pearl white paint job. 

I'm pretty sure I will not be putting a vinyl top back on the car, and would like to paint it. My cousin showed me some sketches he had colored in with markers to show me some striping options. I hadn't really thought about stripes too much, so now I've hit the internet for other inspiration. I'm liking a stripe on the hood, and along the bottom body line. But I can't quite picture it with the colors I'm looking at. This is going to be hard decision, especially since I can be very fickle with these sorts of things. It's a good thing I don't need to decide right now. Let me know what you think of the options I've found out there. 

So what's next? 

  1. My car has been moved to my cousins house. He has a large barn/garage and all the tools, I can possible need. This is really a big help! I don't have a garage, and tools are really expensive. I'm lucky that he's allowing me to use them. 
  2. Assess the body rot and any damage
    1. My cousin is going to help me identify any repair or patch panels I will need. He's let me know all of the material I will need to buy to strip the paint, patch, and prime. He will be performing a lot of the body work. Hopefully, I can help with some of the welding, but I really don't know what I'm doing there, and the flame scares me.
  3. Remove all necessary parts and trim to prep for body work
  4. Fixing and preparing the body will happen alongside mechanical work that is required.

There's So Much Fluid

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It's started to get cold now, so today I had to work pretty quickly. After watching some YouTube videos, I was feeling pretty confident to handle some real unsupervised work on my own.

  • Oil Change

I bought an oil can wrench to remove the existing one, and replace with the new oil filter found in the trunk. Draining the oil by removing the bolt in the bottom of the pan. EASY PEASY. What's next?

  • Transmission Pan Gasket Replacement

There has been transmission fluid leaking. As a first pass for a solution, I purchased a new gasket. I was quickly covered in red transmission fluid after removing the pan from the C4 transmission. Simply cleaned it up, and painted it the same as the calipers and drums. I was able to adhere the new gasket with some liquid gasket adhesive recommended from a YouTube video.

  • Change Thermostat

My Dad had mentioned to me that the thermostat needed to be replaced, and there was a new one in the trunk. The YouTube video for this was pretty straightforward. Started by removing the radiator hose from the thermostat housing. INSTANT LESSON! Radiators hold anti-freeze! I had enough fun for today. I hooked the radiator hose back on the thermostat housing, and got some food. 

Calipers & Drums

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Finally! Calipers are in!

I painted them, and installed them with shiny new brake pads, brake hoses, and cross over lines. 

The brake drums in the rear are in good shape, and the brake shoes weren't run down enough to warrant replacing. WIN WIN WIN I just needed to clean them up and paint them as well.

We were also able to get under the middle of the car and run the rear brake lines from the front. With rust falling in my eyes, safety glasses are now high on the purchase list.