So the prep for paint continues, and seems to be never ending I keep finding reasons to re-do things, which is a hint that I'm not overly sure of myself in this arena. The body looks a lot different with the gel coat scuffed:


After lots of time thinking about it I decided that the only way I could get the firewall painted right was to pull the engine & tranny:


I quickly found that there was no way to get the chains hooked up front without trashing the intake/throttle body, and I remembered that the first time I put the engine in the top was bare. After a bit of head scratching I bolted a couple of pieces of C channel to the block and tacked on a top connector. That got the front of the puller above everything -


And the engine came out without too much cussin' and gruntin'


Another reason for pulling it was that I really wanted to upgrade my shifter to a Steeda short throw unit. This thing is spring loaded to the center 3 & 4 slot much tighter than the OEM Tremec, and should really help on that critical 2-3 shift, which I've missed a few times : That rev limiter is a life saver!!





Last time I painted in the barn I made a crude roll down visqueen wall that worked, but not well. So today I decided to attack the temporary wall to segregate the paint booth area from the shop proper. I realized that this time around I really have to have the ability to move things in & out of the booth since I'll be pulling the doors & trunk lid from the body. The answer was to make the wall in hinged pieces, three to a side across the 30' span; and to make it such that it can be used again later. Here's four of the six panels in place:


And here the two middle panels have been added with a door panel for access during prep time:


And it actually folds up as planned!! Screen door is on & spring loaded!


Tomorrow after church I plan to break out the visqueen and cover the individual panels and the door. The folding wall is mid-way between the roof trusses, and my old roll down wall will now be used as the "ceiling" between a truss and the new wall. Once the fans are sucking I think this wall will tend to get a bit wobbly as it's only connected on the outer ends, and C-clamped together in the middle. I think I'll add a pair of 2x4 supports hinged to the folding wall top, projecting to the inboard truss to counter any suction force.

Speaking of fans, I have a 24" gable mounted fan which I used when painting the frame & undercarriage pieces. I now have a furnace blower that I plan to wire in with two speeds, ducted low to pull fumes down vs up. Hoping that it flows enough to not use the gable fan, but we'll see....


Getting closer!! Before long I'll run out of excuses and have to buy primer & paint and see how big a mess I can make!! Thanks for looking!