So I'd called the PO of the project to let him know that the box labeled "Rear backing plates & drums" was missing the drums, and also that I believed that the poly fuel tank came with a filler nozzle & billet aluminum cap, as I had found the cork gasket and screws for it, but no nozzle. Neither is a big deal, but if they're sitting in his garage/basement then they're of no use to him. The good news, he called me yesterday and said that he'd found the drums in the basement, put there after he'd painted them; and he'd not only found the fuel nozzle but a anti-rollover vent and some mounting hardware for the tank, too. Bonus!! I picked up the lot yesterday on the way to another errand, and he told me he'd used "high temp paint on the drums, so they're good to go."

Today I went out and started gathering things that need to be painted chassis black. As I looked at the drums I noticed a spot where the gloss black had flaked to bare metal so I took a piece of duct tape, pressed it on firmly and ripped it off bringing all of the paint off with the tape I spent about an hour with a wire brush before I grabbed a wire wheel in a plug-in drill and got after them. I swear undoing the things the PO did that aren't right takes longer than doing them right from the start!!

Spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning out the front part of the barn that serves as the spray area, getting ready to prime & paint a bunch of little junk. Wanting to get the chassis stuff & wheels done so I can get it sitting on rubber, set the engine & tranny in place to see what I need to do to the tranny mount, and then set the body on to see what needs to be trimmed to clear the tranny bellhousing area.