Today was a roller coaster of a day. We will start with my mission to add an inline fuel filter (knowing that the gas tank still has rust in it) and I have learned that there is no simple way to add a tubing fitting to a flare line. I will have to do some creative thinking to see if I can still manage to add the cheap filter so I can replace them regularly at least until some of the rust works its way out of the tank.
Next I spent Sunday trying to repair the severely rusted front fenders. I wet sanded the hood after the rain fiasco. I got everything ready for a coat of paint Monday morning and was hoping for assembly Monday night. All did not go as planned. After wet sanding I cleaned the hood with a degreaser as recommended by the person behind the paint counter where I bought all the paint. This was a mistake. I should have wiped it down with Acetone like I usually do. After a few swipes down the hood I noticed some really bad fish-eye finish. I grabbed a rag and soaked it in Acetone and cleaned all the fresh paint off. I wiped down the other areas I sanded and painted the hood for a second coat. The fenders turned out as well as expected since I didn’t make them perfect. I had a feeling they would get beat up someday, I didn’t realize it would be today. Nothing seemed to fit so it took some beating and bending to get the front fenders to match up with the grill. Of course I was then missing a critical pin on those fenders to fit into the grill. I made it work with a bolt tightened into the grill and decided I would put a hole in the fender side to receive the bolt. I welded a nut to the outside fender (good bye paint finish) and assembled most of the parts.
Here is where the 1948 Ford 8n sits. The fenders line up pretty well with the brackets on the front but the radiator cap would not fit. I have added 2 layers of a high density rubber but it is still not setting the radiator high enough to clear the top of the hood. I will need to add some spacers and buy some longer carriage bolts to mount. The hood and fenders are sitting off to the side until I can get some spacers and raise the radiator. I will hit the parts place and pick up some new steel fuel line and make some pretty bends up and over the engine to the sediment bowl.
