Amazing pace of progress. You'll be burning rubber in no time.

This is looking better and better each and every day! Love it Graeme. I have the same frame connectors. I'm still waiting on the remaining parts of my car to get painted....

Thanks! The frame connectors are probably the best fitting set I have ever had on a first-gen car. I like that they fit up close to the floor and keep a low profile.

I keep watching your project to see how your hood comes out. I'm sure it's gonna be stellar, just like the rest of it. What else is being painted that you're waiting on?

That's good to know, I wanted low profile as well without cutting my floors.

I am waiting on the hood (obviously), cowl, header panel, lower valance, and fender extensions. I also had the painter mask my black rear panel too close to the rear lower valance so we'll need to repaint that area and move the black masking line closer to where it'll be covered by the bumper. He said give him two more weeks... This is the problem with a production shop. Lots and lots of cars being repaired at all times. Easy for them to put the restoration paint job on the back burner. Plus they're short handed right now. Seems like there's always something going on over in the body shop. Hands down the most dramatic department at the dealership!...

Yup...

I worked in a large GM dealership when I was a kid and spent some time in the body shop where I worked on my own car on the weekends. It was a true 9 to 5 thing there and nobody worked any harder than they needed to. It's hard to find a good body man or painter with old school skills and some work ethic these days. And yes...I know how lucky I am to have one that fits that mold.

Hoping your parts get some color real soon and your car takes off again. I can't wait to see it transform. Cheers :beers:

At this pace, you'll be out of work by January 1st

Cool...I'll have some time to play in the Rockies this winter. (lol)

This is my favorite stretch after a good dump. Pipeline in Fernie BC on the way up to the cabin, and riding the Notch.

https://snoriderswest.com/images/upl...planner630.jpg

The front end is now is in primer after some bodywork was performed to fix the front fenders. The passenger side had a little hidden rust at the bottom while the driver's side had a dent and a previous rust repair that was cut out and redone. Next, the front end parts will be prepped & painted along the edges. Then it'll be ready to install the front clip and finish up the trunk before starting to block out the body.

https://i.ibb.co/qyLnWn6/IMG-3893.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/1bH3VZQ/IMG-3894.jpg

Lots of stuff going on with the restoration of parts here this week. In addition, Ron is continuing with the bodywork and furthering the paint prep. The inside of the hood, fenders, and the edges of the front end parts are all prepped in yellow now. The staples and splash aprons are complete on the inner fenders as they will also go onto the car later this week. Next up is the heater box which I'll hopefully install ahead of the front end sheet metal. Here's your daily dose of yellow for those who are following along.

https://i.ibb.co/N9GRW38/IMG-3910.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/zb0ccpb/IMG-3911.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/55BPJ8D/IMG-3904.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/G3WnHMn/IMG-3912.jpg

It must be nice to get things done so quickly. It was 18 years from the time I started taking my car apart until I got to drive it again.

I know this isn't normal Freddie? But I'm glad it's going the way it is. I don't think I'd be at this pace if it wasn't for Covid. It's made me realize that life is precious and there's no guarantee on how or when it ends...so enjoy every moment of it.

It will be done before spring! And thoroughly enjoyed after the fact. :burnout:

Great progress, greater mindset :beers:

Stopped into the body shop where Ron was busy painting tonight. Earlier today he block sanded the roof and just finished painting the black trim inside the rear window. He also sprayed the first coat of black on the underside of the hood with one more to go. Before the night is up, he'll be painting the cowl panel, rear spoiler, and insides of the lower fender extensions in yellow. He's also been busy with repairs to the Endura bumper which is looking awesome right now. If all goes well with assembly and the final stages of blocking, the car will be painted next week.

https://i.ibb.co/G0WkbRW/IMG-3940.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/w7jJtKt/IMG-3938.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/Sv4DShN/IMG-3936.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/pf69zty/IMG-3937.jpg

On the interior front, Al Knoch has color-matched a set of molded front door panels and they are currently on the way up to me now. The rest of the interior was just performed by Michael Van't Wout at Crown Automotive Interiors in Red Deer, Alberta. He custom made the patterns, rebuilt the materials onto the frames, and assembled all of the seats for me. Earlier in the week, I also had all of the plastic's color-matched to the new vinyl and had the headrests dyed so everything pulls together nicely.

This afternoon we added the plastics to the seats and dropped the headrests in to see how everything looked. I have to hand it to Mike, he did a great job on the seats and I am very happy with the results. He also finished off the rear side panels although I still need to polish and install the stainless trim. I dragged them home this evening and set them up for a few pictures before covering them up again. The yellow looks much better in person than the pictures display as they do have a soft creamy hue to them (very buttery in person). Dare I say they are spot on with the original color...yet the camera makes them look a couple of shades darker (bolder) than they really are. Now to get the heater core painted and connect the controls so I can get it installed before the fenders go on this week.

Laughing out loud here as I try and keep this pace up. :biggthumpup:

The last of the upholstery completed before we assembled the buckets earlier today.

https://i.ibb.co/V2gnZ3T/IMG-3927.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/xhK8KzP/IMG-3928.jpg


And here they are after bringing them home earlier tonight. Setup for a few pictures before I store them away.


https://i.ibb.co/ZXMXpdj/IMG-3941.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/6FFr16X/IMG-3942.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tqPGPpf/IMG-3947.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wQXqnC1/IMG-3943.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HFv6pLq/IMG-3944.jpg

Looking fantastic!

Wow, the interior looks great!

Jason

Looks great Graeme! Make sure you wear sun screen and sun glasses while operating that Z! :wink:

I had problems with bees with my yellow/yellow...Joe

Great. So between the car and interior, I can expect to get stung more. :bs:

"Murder Hornet Z",,, Chops the Head off the Competition,,,,,,,,,

The small front end pieces are now painted and ready for assembly with the front end. Last night I rebuilt the heater box and collected all the parts I will need to install the inner and outer boxes today. I'll also get the inner fenders installed so the front can start going together this weekend. It should all be painted in a week from now, then comes the cut & polish.

https://i.ibb.co/0D3Lc6R/IMG-3951.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/hLDbK6z/IMG-3952.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/sJbyMrQ/Heater-Boxes.jpg

Sir, you work at an incredible pace. This car is going to look fantastic.

Bah...it's just everyone around me who's going so fast. I'm just kinda standing on the sidelines and taking it all in (lol). Today, we added some sound deadener to the inside of the NOS quarter panels and spray tested some samples of the trunk spatter. We also installed the firewall pad and got the heater boxes installed ahead of the front fenders going on. Ron was busy hand blocking the fenders and doors before the front clip goes on this weekend. It's motoring right along. In case anyone is wondering, there will be no PTB artwork for this car. Keeping it clean and simple where the engine will do all the talking.


https://i.ibb.co/ww5KqrG/IMG-3960.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/tzZRGG8/IMG-3961.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/vZRdMQc/IMG-3963.jpg

Great job! Inspiring stuff.

Looking good. Must be close to doing the stripe colour in the cowl/wiper linkage area too!

Yes...

That will be sprayed pretty soon, but not too soon.

Didn’t want to hear that Freddie! I’m at 9yrs, and losing patience!
Buddy

Great work Graeme. I’m jealous for sure!
Buddy

Yep the cowl plenum area on a Norwood Z had stripe colour applied by Fisher body, well before Chevrolet painted and striped the doghouse and installed the wiper linkage.
Ron is doing a fantastic job on this car, and the DY looks spot on. Enjoying the updates.

Thanks Tim,

Ron's been on a tear the past little while. I agree the color is a great match. Just yesterday he was showing me the yellow tint he just got in for the base color. It was on backorder and just showed up the week before he was getting ready to spray it. Doors went back on today and tomorrow he'll be hanging the front end.

https://i.ibb.co/34nMc7Y/IMG-3976.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dbN6vy0/IMG-3977.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/4tRrHHp/IMG-3975.jpg

The cowl plenum is now painted with blackout, repairs are now finished with the urethane front bumper, and the inner fenders are now joined up with the front fenders.

https://i.ibb.co/cFTGr5L/IMG-3996.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/HFtPDQj/IMG-3995.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/GPnwGz3/IMG-3994.jpg

Looking great! That's the way I remember Daytona Yellow looking back in the day! I see too many at car shows that are off-color to my eye. They look too much like lemon yellow or something too bright.

Nice update, the VE3 came up looking mint. Meant to ask which firewall pad you went with, and if you had to overcome any fit issues, particularly around the fuse block?

I looked at some pieces from my car when it was painted in 1982 & it had a greenish tint to it. My paint shop had to work with the color for a while because some of the toners no longer exist. They finally got it correct & it matches the factory paint that was remaining on the inside top of the LH quarter, the area that's covered be the rear décor panel...Joe

The firewall pad I used was the molded OE style pad available from HBC as Part INT-2951. It only comes with the plastic plugs so you have to buy the rubber plugs INT-1322 separately if you don't have some, but the quality of the pad itself was excellent. Trimmed at the perforated cuts for the steering column plate and only a small piece was cut for the pedal carrier base. It fit excellent along the heater box section, all holes aligned really well and the whole thing was fairly soft and pliable, yet strong. The fuse block section seems to be perfectly aligned yet I haven't installed that yet. I will in a couple of weeks though.

As far as paint goes, I like yellows even when they are brighter, but I wanted to get this one right with the correct DY color. Ron is using the Sherwin Williams ATX basecoat/clearcoat system and matched the Daytona Yellow perfectly. The test cards he sprayed were spot on with the original finish found throughout the car. I am very happy with the color but cannot wait to see it with black stripes and clear later in the week. I'll head back up when it's ready to stripe.

Ran a few parts out to Ron today and snapped a couple more pics as he was fitting the front end sheet metal. It's really starting to take shape now. I also took him a Rosewood wheel that I bought from another member here (Thanks Barry A.). It had a couple of small cracks that were previously repaired and shot with primer, so my buddy lent his painting talents and airbrushed some color in after the repairs were sanded down. Ron will now add some clear coat to the wheel to finish it up for use in "The Brat". Also seen below is the color of the trunk spatter which included a premade quart that I picked up from HBC. Not exactly Norwood looking colors but I'm OK with the way it turned out.


https://i.ibb.co/7YJ6wb0/IMG-4018.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/m8bCCbc/IMG-4023.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/dfKBftv/IMG-4026.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/2YyZV6P/IMG-4022.jpg

https://i.ibb.co/wzV9rnx/IMG-4027.jpg

Wow, looking great. The trunk is especially looking good, great job by your painter.

The hood is on. Just the first fitting with a few minor adjustments forthcoming. :biggthumpup:

https://i.ibb.co/sJSRQb7/Hood.jpg

Graeme,
Don't forget to paint the trunk lid attaching bolts body color. That is a little detail some people forget...