The EMC 442 “finish it” project is nearing finalization. At EMC we enjoy working with a client to feel his dream and put it into reality by finishing his/her project.
The “not-so-fun” part, is trying to make someone else’s inferior work look acceptable. The really bad part is having to point out to the owner what was improperly done and what should have been done by the “other guy”. We usually find that the “other guy” didn’t do something wrong intentionally, more like he just was not properly schooled on the “right way” things in custom projects need to be done.
Some of the “right way” things that weren’t done on the 442 project: No excuse to put new paint over old paint. The paint application on the 442 was good; but for correctness and longevity, painting over old paint never works! Remember: “Nothing is more expensive than a cheap paint job”! Another serious problem is evident that the panel mock up wasn’t done before painting the car. Fitment, alignment, body gaps – all need to precede final paint application. Otherwise, you most surely damage the paint during final assembly. This was really evident in the hood latch mechanism. No thought of how or what type of latch was going to be used before the paint was applied. This caused us serious problems. Another big mistake – the door/fender alignment was not done correctly in mock up. The gap between the fender/door and the windshield post on the left side is about ½ an inch bigger. This cannot be properly aligned now, because the door and fender were skim coated with bondo and block sanded flat. If you try to move the door/fenders to the right, the flatness disappears.
These are the “little” things that weren’t done and make this project a nice “ten footer” rather than “flawless”