With the car running like a Swiss watch, I can slowly move on to other things on my "to do" list.
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One thing that has been bugging me all along is the dented right rear fender. As much as I like the "worn" look of my 544 and try to cope what Inspector Columbo endured with his Peugeot, I can't stand body damage.
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Luckily, I was able to purchase a set of excellent rear fenders off eBay and got two equally nice taillight housings from the boneyard. I wire brushed the inside of the fender down to bare metal, then painted it with POR15 for peace of mind. Once the body shop had finished prepping the fender on the outside, a fresh coat of single stage paint made everything look like new.
I ordered a new rubber fender guard, all new hardware, and a roll (enough for 4 fenders) of the good vinyl (not the cheap rubber) fender lacing.
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Once the old fender was off, I cleaned up the contact areas between fender and body, as this is where humidity is trapped and corrosion starts to develop over time. Once clean, I painted these areas with POR15 as well. A rattle can with flat black and some camouflaging with bronze paint made my intervention almost disappear. With the fender lacing mounted, almost all of it is invisible to the casual eye.
Interestingly, the bolts that mount the fender to the body have a smaller head than the originals. I thus used the new ones only inside the wheel well, but re-used the originals inside the trunk, where they are visible.
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The "new" taillight housings were media blasted and painted as well and mounted with all new rubber and hardware for a uniform look.
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It's Fall of 2010 now, and my PeeVee looks just great. If you have eagle eyes, you may also detect a new exhaust tailpipe or, more to the point, two of them. They are part of a N.O.S muffler that was manufactured for a Triumph TR6. I like it!