The steps I took before the car was painted

One of the last things that I needed to do in the interior was trimming out the carpet with some sill plates. I looked around for some and found these made by Valley Auto Accessories. These are made out of aluminum and are slightly curved along with a right-angle bend. They get screwed on in two places, the rocker panel and on top along the carpet area. After trying them on the car, they didn't fit so a little trimming would be in order. I needed to trim one end to clear the roll cage but once I did that, I wouldn't be able to return them. I wanted to make sure that these were going to work so I also looked at the clearance between the door and rocker panel to make sure I had enough room for them. I grabbed a scrap piece of 1/8" thick aluminum plate that was about the same height but a little shorter than the new sill plates to see if I had the room to use them. Sure enough, the door didn't close very well.....but it did close. I also thought about what these sill plates would do to the door panel over time if they were squashed between there.

Before I trimmed the carpet right up to the edge, I had a small section that was overhanging into the rocker panel area and I didn't think much of it. One day I opened the door and started working when I saw this line in the door panel. I had no idea how it got there till I looked over at the carpet that was hanging over the edge and then I knew. I trimmed the carpet right then so it wouldn't create anymore unwanted lines in my upholstery and the lines seem to be going away now. Remembering this, I didn't want this to happen again so I decided to send the new sill plates back before I hacked them up. Before I packaged them up, I used one as a pattern and transferred the curved shape to a piece of aluminum so I could make my own.

What you see here is the drivers side sill plate that I made. It's .100" thick X 3/4" wide held down with five screws. I'll be polishing them once I take apart the car for paint so they should look much better when they go back on. The areas that have been sanded on the rocker panel were some small bumps that were molded in the body. I thought that sanding them off would allow the other sill plates to fit but they still didn't. The bumps were sticking out about 1/8" and were just touching the door panels. Once the car is painted, this area will look much better.

What you see here is my handy work installing my windshield temporarily with duct tape. The reason for doing this is so I can take the car on one last test drive without having wind in my face like the last time. If I used rubber and silicone to install it, I would just have to remove it a few days later and risk breaking the glass in the process. The tape should hold it in place for a few miles while I make sure everything works and that I'm satisfied before disassembling the whole car for paint. So.....how many people need some glass installed, because yours can look this good too!!

I asked my best friend Gary to go on the test drive with me so he could tell me what he thought. He has a good ear for things that are "right and wrong" so he will be a big help. I went down to the DMV to register it the other day and will have to go back one more time but I did get a one month pass to do the testing with. The pass is taped to the rear window so now I'm legal (kinda) and ready to go. I'll write about the cruise in a few days and if I come back with my eyes big, things went well so stay tuned for some good news....I hope!!

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