1968 Mercury 250 Camper Special

[cdnwillyg]

I got a hold of DC and was shocked to hear from them that their apron seals are the same no left or right!!! Why do the aftermarket vendors not do their homework???Frustrating.
I then decided just to use what I had and see if it would work, took a while and not the prettiest but will work.

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I'm ready to install my hood so I can install my fenders and grill, lights,etc.
Any helpful hints on aligning the front sheet metal?

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[Ranchero50]

Doors, fenders, then hood. Door centered in the cab, fender gap same as the doors, hood on top to square the front clip.

Hopefully you have new hardware. If not, order it.

[cdnwillyg]

Jamie I read somewhere that once the doors are centered then the next piece was the hood. The reason they give was you lined it up with the cowl for gap then the fenders were aligned from the doors and hood. The hood is suppose to give the right front height for the fenders by the gap on the side of the hood to cowl and squareness along the top.
As for hardware I have new cab,rad mounts, hood hinges and new rubber hood bumpers, the doors lined up well with their hinges no play there. That's all there is right?

On a side note Jamie you can be the only supplier of proper apron seals if you decide to build those too!

[DuckRyder]

I’m going to have to try to look, but I remember my DC fender seals were identical to the OE and they fit perfectly, I will have to try to look today and see if I can tell they are the same side to side.

[Ranchero50]

The horizontal fender to cowl line is most obvious when looking along the side of the truck so it's simpler to make that gap a base line for the hood alignment.

Hardware is all the short and long 5/16" fender bolts and short / long U nuts. I think I ended ended up with 25 or so of each length.

I'm still perplexed about the fender seals. I used my old ones to make the templates and they were flat when I started. Maybe the after market folks just supply one side for each because it can be forced to 'fit'?

[cdnwillyg]

I have those new spare bolts in the parts that came with the truck.
A buddy came by today and he helped me install my hood, use the help when its around!!
Then I got side tracked looking at the hood on its paint runs so I jumped on those.

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I took a razor blade on edge and shaved the runs down first.

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Then sanded with 1000 grit,and followed that with 2000 grit.

[cdnwillyg]

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And this is what it looked like.

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Next the power DA using wool pad and course cutting compound followed by a yellow pad and a finishing cutting compound.

[cdnwillyg]

This is how it turned out.

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There are other flaws in the paint but okay from 5' away. It cleaned up well for being kicked around for the last couple years.
Finally polish and wax after she's all together.

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[Lone Ranger]

Wow great tip- I got a few runs in my paint and might have to try that. Turned out great!

[Joshgt87]

Wow!! That paint run repair looks fantastic!! Nice work!

[hfdco4]

Very nice work fixing the runs.

[cdnwillyg]

Thanks for the kind comments on the paint fixes. This is a single stage paint and I have never worked on this type of paint before, so I was practicing to see what could be done. I have a few paint chips and two small dents I have to do later before the finally polish and wax.
Tomorrow I go onto the radius arm bushings and front disk brakes to get them operating properly before I throw on the fenders.

[cdnwillyg]

Got side tracked getting ready for Christmas so not much done on the truck today but got some stainless trim polished.
Difference between polished and not!

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All polished.

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Need this headliner trim corner piece, anyone have a spare?

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[hfdco4]

I will look and see if I have something kicking around. Won't be until next week.

[cdnwillyg]

Thanks hfdco4, no hurry on this end yet!