We haven’t had much to update the last few weeks, work has still been progressing, however it hasn’t been very visual. We’ve rubbed back the merc once again and applied another coat of primer. The spray gun and compressor we used initially weren’t upto the job so we managed to find a much bigger compressor and gun to suit. That said, the latest coat of primer went on nice and thick and should definitely rub back very nicely.
We also had to source a new steering rack as the camry one we were planning to use wasn’t upto the job according to the engineer. A rack from a VN commodore was sourced and we should have it installed after the shell is rubbed back and primed two more times.
Just before adding our guide coat, we were checking how well the primer coat went on and noticed a lizard like head poking out of the scuttle panel. There was a freakin snake in the scuttle panel, must have been there for ~2 months or more. We tried to get it out with a golf club and set of tongs but it just wasn’t going to happen (read we were crapping our dacks). Steve Irwin would have be ashamed of us.
We rang up
WIRES and they sent out two fellas who picked up the snake in a matter of seconds and had it out of there. Thanks wires, that snake whilst small ( I swear it was 4 metres long and 100mm wide when it was in the car) was only going to come out of there if we lit the merc on fire if we had anything to do with it. For anyone interested apparently it was a Tree snake that is ‘mildly’ venemous and lives off of frogs.
I love how it is ‘mildly’ venemous, that’s just like saying a car is only mildly dangerous if you’re run over by one.
Snake gone and a nice coat of GMH black was added as our guide coat. It took 1.5 hours to get rid of the snake and 10 minutes to apply the guide coat then clean up.
Anyways our plan is to add two more coats of primer this coming week, wheel the shell out then prime the doors and panels the following week. In between priming the body panels we’re planning on attaching the steering rack. The hope is to have the shell and panels ready to be given their colour coat in two weeks. The engine bay will be left until we have finished off our headers and all engine work, then we’ll more than likely paint the bay ourselves when the time comes.
We still haven’t finalised plans for the sump, as we were getting bogged down and not progressing forwards. Once the shell and panels are painted we will get back to organising the sump.
Mercules MCF Project Part 5 - SNAKES ALIVE
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