8/7/02
Stainless Trim, and My Sunbeam

Continuing the work on the hood of my car, I spent the better part of the day sanding and polishing the stainless steel hood spear that runs down the center of the hood. It has a bunch of little scratches that first need to be taken out with sandpaper. The deep scratches came out with 400-600 grit sandpaper, and I finished up with 1500 grit before I got to the buffing stage. Using a bucket of soapy water helped keep the wet/dry sandpaper from “loading up.” with material. Stainless steel is a very hard material, so it takes forever to sand it smooth. Small scratches that would easily come out on aluminum takes a lot more work when it comes to stainless. Sometimes, if a small scratch is missed before buffing, you have to start all over to get the scratch out. I would rate this job slightly more desirable than scraping undercoating!

The 1968 Ferrari 312 F1 car was loaded onto a trailer today for a final buffing, and touch-up at the body shop. It looks sooo cool in the daylight. Unfortunately, François started it last week, so I missed it firing up for the first time! By the time I got to the shop this morning, the intakes were all taped up, and ready for transport, so there was no way I was going to get François to fire her up again. Damn! Hopefully, I’ll (we’ll) get another chance when it comes back from the paint shop!

Just imagine driving on the highway in CT this afternoon, and seeing this in the lane next to you! What were the chances that someone actually even knew what they were seeing?

After the oppressive heat of the Summer, and the fast and furious pace of my Ferrari restoration, I neglected to get my Sunbeam out of Winter storage! With a break in the work on my Ferrari, and a nice 80 degree day, I felt today was as good as any to wake the little girl up. Strombergs don’t like to sleep for long, so they were especially cantankerous to start. She chuffed and coughed, but eventually settled down to an acceptable idle.

One thing that bothered me was the lack of clutch pedal action. Either the slave cylinder packed it in, or the clutch was stuck to the flywheel. After checking for fluid in the clutch master cylinder, I soon realized it was a stuck clutch. This happens when moisture causes the clutch to rust to the flywheel.  I got my jack out, and positioned my Sunbeam so it was pointed out the door of the garage. With the engine off, I put her in second gear, and engaged the starter. After a couple of lurches forward, the clutch broke free. The last time this happened, I needed the weight of another friend in the car to brake the clutch free. It was either not as bad this time, or I’ve gotten heavier!

I bled the brakes, and clutch master cylinder, and I’m now ready for driving in the Fall foliage!

On the Ferrari front, the parts for the hood pad haven’t come in yet, so the hood project is stalled on that front. It’s O.K. I’ve got everything ready for that to come together. François is going to have a “glass” guy stop by the shop to have a look at my windshield. Hopefully, he’ll have some solutions. I’m headed on a trip to China for the next week or so. It falls right on the Pebble Beach events, so I won’t be making it this year, but there’s always next year! I’ll talk to you guys in a couple of weeks!