Shocking....well, not really.

In anticipation of getting a battery for 'RJ' I took a look at the battery tray and decided it need a bit of cleaning and protection, so after cleaning it I primed and painted it.  I'm suggesting to Michelle that an Optima Gel Cell battery may be the way to go, the down side is the initial expense and their sensitivity to overcharging however the upside is that they hold a charge longer than a wet cell battery and will not spill acid on the car.  Michelle is once again lucky because even though there has been some damage from a leaky battery it hasn't eaten through the metal or sill like I have seen on my own car.

A lot of the time today was spent painting parts for installation, painting aside from looking nicer helps protect the parts and work that's being done.  

The air filter box on early cars like this one were painted black, unlike later 4.2's that were painted Hammertone silver.

While working on the air filter box I happened to notice that the mud shield under it was bent and damaged.  A previous owner (DPO) had bent the heck out of it presumably to gain access to the oil filter, half the fasteners were missing too-would have rattled horribly.

Cleaned mud shield, had about a 1/4 inch of oil, dirt on it.

Straightened and painted mud shield, now fits properly and is fastened in place

Air filter box after painting and ready for installation on the car. has two bolts and and a nut on the bottom to hold it in place, it was missing the nut on the bottom

Mud shield back in place and properly fastened in place

I was getting a little tired by now and thought putting the bonnet safety catch in place would be quick and easy. Not so fast, a PO had run a set of wires through the bottom hole for the catch.  Rather than just cut them it seemed prudent to see what they were for, I confirmed my suspicion that it was for a manual fan switch under the dash.  While an OK idea, I think it's better to have it set up properly as from the factory, a lot of times these cars had overheating issues that were likely related to poor maintenance and or a faulty 'otter' switch so folks would modify it with a manual switch. 

I was surprised that I had to take the dash top loose to get to the wires on the inside and cut them loose.  Once I cut them loose I was able to route them down through an opening intended for the wiring harness.  After I re-routed the wires I was able to install the safety catch.

I also installed the passenger side door handle today, am holding off on re-installing the door card as it has water damage and should probably be replaced.  But at least the doors can now be opened from the outside...
Cheers