Crying Towel sub-category?

Somewhere between good work ethic and accidents, there are times when I make a SUPREME boo-boo. Today was one of those, and we have no place dedicated to whining, being ridiculed, being encouraged, stroked back to carrying on.

I'll post this here, but I'll post again in Cosmetic & Restoration.

I was doing the final adjustments on the doors and locks and latches, leaving the tailgate to the last. I broke one of the gas-filled cylinders, reinstalling them the right way for the Fairmont - the chrome plunger goes down, not up. That wasn't so bad.

Then I started installing the rubber bumpers back in - they went fine - two are alignment on the sides, two are just simple bumpers and one is a guide at the bottom of the door.

Then I started on fine-tuning the hinges. The manuals have no dimensions to guide you, so its visual, align with the roof curve, align side to side and Bob's Your Uncle, right?

I did that a few times, having to remove the gas-filled gate supports, because they push the hinges up too high. So did, then I put blocking between the hinge and the weatherstrip lip (body sheetmetal). All nice, careful, go-slow. Then I lowered the gate. The wind was up to 55 MPH today, bring us the warm weather. I couldn't hear the scraping, and I couldn't watch because I was lowering the gate, the newly 8 coated, buffed and waxed with new window installed tailgate and the top of the frame wrinkled by 3 inches on the top edge. The tailgate is a wreck, the window survived, because the sealant broke away at the bend. My newly painted, newly undercoated, newly re-woodied tailgate, with nely refinished and clearcoated inside panel is wrecked, BY ME! :confused:

Another pair of eyes would have avoided that disaster.

I called up a freind and we went to a place that had an 1982 Zephur last week. They recycled it - all gone. It was getting to closing time, but we found 2 - a brown Fairmont and an LTDII, so I'll call around tomorrow and put that on for the winter.

All expletives never came to mind, and for me, with 5 languages to choose from, that is surprising. I was really sad. Really stuck for words.

 

if i was closer i'd come over...and give ya a hug!!. ...sorry pal

 

Thanks Rev, I found 2 and will follow up this morning. We got 1cm of snow today, but that's it for 3 days. One was an LTD II, gorgeous, complete with all the toys. The other is a Fairmont (Turd Brown)!

 

I don't know what to say! Take a deep breath. Step away and continue with what you can. You'll get a tailgate soon and you'll be back in the restoration mood.

 

Yeah, TBird, of all the toughest, virtually non-repairable areas there are on a Fairmont. If that LTD II has the openable window, I'll scoop it, but I think the guy wants to sell the whole car, so I may take the Fairmont gate (same guy). He's got at least 6 or 7 wagons that we saw, Buicks, Chevies, some big Country Squires. A Rev Heaven! And at least 100 cars on his front acre.

 

I've tried to adjust mine but never took it all the way off. It's mainly the glass on mine that's a little lower on the right. I just can't picture what went wrong. Especially while lowering the tailgate (hatch). I can picture it binding at the top while raising it.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll get it solved.

 

Oh yeah, I'll have somebody spotting for me at the top edge. It's only 2 bolts. About a 15 minute job, if you have to fiddle with blocking.

In the Province of Quebec, their license plates have a Slogan "Je Me Souviens", "I Do Remember", Quebec's Heritage. Well, I won't forget this one. Even though they made only 50,000 or so of the Fairmont/Zephyr/Cougar/LTDII wagons, I doubt that there's even a few hundred in good roadworthy shape, and that fiasco got my mind racing of the odds of finding a good door.

Now that I've found one, its time for strapping on my negotiating skills and getting it on, fast. More snow on Thursday, and the tarp has to come down.

 

Well, Stefan and all you charter members, I want to thank you for the support and ideas to solve this near-disaster. That's a huge hug with practical solutions. Thanks guys.

 

End of the Tailgate disaster!

Thanks to you guys, ideas, suggestions, encouragement all lead to a successful result. I'll post pictures after I get it back on, but the methods are in the Roller Painting Thread. For my wife's health reasons, I can't do any filling in the house (lacquer-based fillers - big no-no). So I'll use paintable body sealer and rattle can it up in the attic, then install the window, chrome trim, etc. Better than freezing my touche off in -7C!

So next Spring, I'll finish it off properly and any scratches from installing and re-assembly.

The bodyshops wanted from $225 to $450 for 3 hours of work - no filling or painting. I did that in under 1 hour with the ideas that floated around from the members.

Major Thanks for bouncing things forth and back, back and forth. The trilogy moves on.

 

painting in the attic????????????? ...Dad??......is that you???





your my hero!!!

 

That's right! You're almost at sea-level aren't you? So my attic is at a higher altitude at 762 feet above sea-level. See that, that hot-air from the West Coast heats up my attic! Good place to paint and dry.