As you last saw Sherman in the deconstruction for media blasting, I had removed the essentials to get the hood and fenders off. As usual with any big project like this is that one things leads to another. Since I have done all the work to get the fenders off, there is no better time than now to detail out all the hard to reach places that were near impossible to get to.

I started by completely dropping the bumper. The bumper itself is not that hard to get loose, but the bumper's cross supports that go up to the top bar are. These bars are shown below. I found the easiest way to remove the bumper is to remove its four mounting bolts, let it drop slightly bringing its bars with it (watch the condensor!) and then unbolting the bars where they attach at the bumper.


I also had an issue that someone had taken out the wiring harness connectors to the turn signals opting instead to solder the connections. I had to cut them and may resolder, or may change the harness. The car sans bumper and condensor below.


Next I had to get the lower support bar that ties both inner fender together off. I got all the fasteners pulled off on the passenger side, but the driver's side was so rusted getting the fasteners out while it was all put together on the car was impossible. See below how I got everything out of the way to take the driver's side inner fender out with the bar attached. I ended up having the cut the metal around the body mount on that side to get the rest of the nine yards off.


Once the driver's side was off, it was the passenger side's turn. It was uneventful. My plans include painting the accesible portions of the frame and firewall, and replacing the front sway bar hardware because I know how hard it is to do when the front is on the car.


Back when fenders had come off, I had discovered I had some holes in each side of the cowl directly above each fresh air vent on the sides of the car. Here they are after sanding:


My goal of working on the car is restoration. However, finances are are constant factor. I want to do everything right the first time, but when finances do not prevail I take the route of preservation. Here I have put rust converter on the affected areas:


Next, where there were actual non-factory holes, I covered them in metal tape and then shot primer on top of them. Once again, my goal is to preserve the areas until I have finances later to fix them properly. When I paint the firewall, I will probably hit this area with the semi-gloss paint I have just for extra protection.