I had to spend way too many hours sanding and rubbing out the Europa body. But until I was happy, I had to keep rubbing and sanding and rubbing and sanding. It wasn't that the paint was bad. It just wasn't good enough and I wanted it better. Maybe my problem is that I spend too much time watching the Barrett-Jackson auctions on the Speed channel. Sue and I actually went to the Scottsdale Arizona Barrett-Jackson auction in January of 2007. Lots of very nice cars and lots of ridiculously nice cars. We had a great time and I DID NOT buy anything!
So when I look at my pretty good paint job, I see flaws. Maybe only flaws that 99.9% of the population would not see, but I see them. Uneven orange peel can be cured with some fine sandpaper and rubbing compound, but then you are kind of sucked into doing the whole car. If you sand one area flat, you have to sand it all. In doing so, I had rubbed through the clear on a couple spots and had to re-shoot some areas. That's the unfortunate part of being an amateur. You either have to compromise on what is acceptable, or spend a lot of time re-doing things till you get them right. It's important to walk away from things when you get frustrated. Patience is tough when you have to redo things several times over. If you are impatient, you end up mucking things up again and then your frustrations double and you get pissed off and start thinking of either paying someone to re-paint the car or you start thinking about taking a sledgehammer or a cutting torch to the whole blasted thing! Can you tell I was frustrated?
In one of his wonderful monthly articles in Road and Track, Peter Egan had recently mentioned a book called "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance". I picked up a copy of the book at the library and found it a very challenging read. The book was written on several different levels which was cool and I could handle that part. The main story line was a father and son on a cross country motorcycle hip with descriptions of maintenance and repair of the motorcycle as they crossed the country. But inserted was much deep philosophical debating referencing ancient Greek philosophers along with flash backs to the main character's bout with insanity that was a result of more deep philosophical debates within his head! Whew! This Zen book as is turns out was a lot like much of Peter Egan's writings where I found a correlation between what was going on in the book and what was going on in my garage. Often Peter will discuss a topic in his monthly column that correlates to a recent or current experience of mine. I really enjoy his articles. It's the first thing I read when I get my monthly issue of Road & Track.
So anyway, on three different levels, the "Zen" book started talking about "Stuckness"... a situation where you get stuck and are not sure what to do to get unstuck. Not glue stuck but situational stuck. In the story, they were kind of lost in the wilderness not knowing where to go while the philosopher in his head couldn't get around a debate in his mind regarding the term "Quality", and the main character was also having a tough time dealing with his son who was acting just like a reflection of himself - weird. A tough but very enveloping read. The book walked through different ways of getting UNstuck... again, correlating to what I was dealing with in the garage. One phase is just to stare at the item causing the stuckness and let your mind work out a path. This I often do. Often this involves some Unstuckness fluids in a can. The fluids help the mind relax and find new paths. Of course the fluids also cause you to make a path to the bathroom; usually the standard path is taken there. My wife Sue often catches me staring at a part in the garage. She thinks I'm crazy (she's right) but by staring at apart, the engin-nerd in me comes out and I figure out how the part was designed to work and ultimately how to either repair or install the part.
Another method to become unstuck is to bring in outside influences such as calling on other experts. This I often do as I will call upon Paul to come on down the alley, share a can or two of Unstuckness fluid and help me with an issue of Stuckness. Outside influences can include reading the manual (oh, no!) or these days can also involve research on the internet. Something Pirsig the Zen author didn't have when he started on his book in 1968. Another Unstuckness method is to just walk away for a while to refresh your outlook on things.
All these methods are good in that they draw you away from immediate frustrations which can lead to rash decisions. Something you don't want to do and regret later. I've seen folks get frustrated quickly and sell their car rather than deal with a Stuckness issue, like a blown up engine that you just spent several thousands of dollars to build.
So after finishing up Zen and working on my own Stuckness, I finally got the Europa body paint to where I was satisfied. I then finished up a few loose ends on the chassis to prepare it for the mating with the body. The heater and radiator hoses had to be connected up in the tiny area in front of the engine. A very small area that becomes very cramped once the body is on and you can only reach things from underneath. I buttoned them up now without so much as a drop of blood!
I decided to install the gas tanks next. They are much easier to install if you have the body jacked way up and you are standing in the empty engine bay. Rich had bought new aluminum tanks and I spent some time polishing them up so that they would stand out. Not a mirror finish, but pretty nice. They went in pretty easy. I then cut out a new jute blanket to cover the chassis and act as insulation. Not that it keeps the chassis warm, but it acts as sound insulation and also makes for a very snug fit when you drop the body on. I also cut out and glued in a new fire wall out of the material you use to insulate an engine hood. Scissors and a can of high temperature spray-on glue, and I was done in 30 minutes. Now we are starting to make progress!
Next - Europa Euphoria, Part 21
