[RHClarke]

Spring is here! Or so we thought. It was 0oC at 8:00 AM this Saturday morning, but the wind chill hovered around -8oC. Given our recent high temps (approaching +20oC last week), this was a shock to the system.

I got an early start on my door hinge. Bob’s advice to let the metal cool slowly worked. Both holes were drilled with very little effort. The hinge was test fit to the HUP and looked the part. My major task this morning was to finish the preparation of my HUP side window frames. When I took the HUP apart, a lot of screws refused to turn, so I chiseled them off. Each window frame had about 4 headless screws in them. Some were long enough to twist out with vice-grips, others were broken off below the surface. The sub-surface screws were removed by center punching the top of the screw body and then drilling it out with progressively larger drill bits. The holes were then tapped and test fitted with some original screws. I think my success in this task was due to the fact that no “easy outs” were used. Bob then showed up to pick up some wheels to take downtown for replacement.

The next task was to fix one portion of a frame that had been caved in – there was no way in my mind to bang the dent out, so I used the grinder with a thin blade to cut across and under the dent. The surface was bent back into place and the cuts were re-welded and then ground down. I couldn’t believe how well things were going – figures…it was a short day for me.

Grant arrived as I was welding the window frame. He decided that Lucifer should be lit up to keep Bob nice and warm when he got back from his morning administrative run. I spend the remainder of the morning hunting for parts for the next phase of the restoration project – the dash panel.

Bob and Grant may have some more to add to this thread as they were at it Saturday afternoon and today.