January 28, 2024 - February 2, 2024 - Fender Repair Continues; Pilot Light Switch; Shower Doors; Fender Repair Finished

Sunday:

A day of watching football playoffs. We are thrilled that the Chiefs are going to the Superbowl but sad that the Lions aren't. I sent my condolences to my Michigan friends. Maybe next year.

Monday:

I started spreading Bondo on the front fender and in the holes in the hood after removing the black plastic "Club Car" plague ("Club Car" is missing by the way) and the aluminum "Cart Haven" plaque over the top of that They were both riveted on. Here are pictures of the first layer of Bondo after it was sanded down.

Tuesday:

Here is a picture of the second layer of Bondo on the fender. It is shaping up nicely. There will be lots of hand sanding since I don't have an electric sander here. 

With the sun out the Bondo dried quickly so I wet sanded everything down with a lighter sandpaper. Ready for primer. I got the primer and paint from Walmart because I knew they would have the best options for matching the rest of the cart. I bought two different shades. One color matched pretty well. The color may change a little over the primer. After one coat of primer I could see a couple of small spots that needed attention. I sanded them out and hit it all with a second coat of primer. Here are pictures after two coats of primer.

While waiting for the primer to dry I chucked the decal eraser I purchased in the drill and got to work taking the pinstriping off the sides. I had to take the pinstriping off because I can't match it on the newly painted front clip. It would look dumb just being on the back. Here are pictures of the pinstriping off on one side and half off on the other side. 

I ran out of battery power and also finally finished burning up a Craftsman drill. I smoked it some weeks back trying to raise the cart with the scissors jack. Knowing it wasn't long for this world I bought a used drill off of eBay. I have two Lithium batteries and both went dead at the same time. A characteristic of Lithium batteries is that they just quit with no warning.

We decided to name the cart "Buster". I will order vinyl letters for the front after all the bodywork is complete. The name "Buster" is in keeping with our longtime system of naming all of our vehicles after Simpson cartoon characters. Buster was the name of the Crazy Cat Lady's first cat on the show. We also think the name is fitting because the front fender was "busted" when we got him. 

Our bathroom vent fan is extremely quiet. As a result people don't hear it to remember to turn it off. Our daughter was here in August and left it on. It ran until we got here in November. I wanted to correct this issue by installing a pilot light switch. With this switch, when the fan is on the red pilot light will be on. I purchased the switch. Here is what it looks like.

I usually have no problem installing switches but I did not totally understand the instructions included. I sent a copy to my friend, John, who is quite good with electrical issues for his input.

Wednesday:

While waiting for the sun to hit the golf cart so I could paint it, I installed the pilot light switch for the bathroom fan. I followed John's instructions and it works perfectly. Here is a picture. No more concern about leaving the fan on in the future.

Thursday:

Another project I'm working on is reinstalling the master bath shower doors. When we bought the place there were no doors on the master bath shower. There was a shower curtain with all of the sliding door track still in place. Kelly bought a new shower curtain and we put it up. We both thought the shower looked dumb with the shower track all around so I took it off.  Here is a picture with the new shower curtain and the track removed.

It is a small bathroom and the shower curtain takes up more space than sliding doors.

The king bed mattress in our bedroom is on a wooden box, not box springs. I had assumed the box went all the way around but in looking for something on the floor last week I found that the foot end of the box was open. I looked in there with a flashlight and low and behold, there were the master bath shower doors. We pulled them out and they looked fine. 

Being the packrat that I am, I had stored the four sliding door track pieces I took off on a high shelf in the shed rather than throwing them away. We decided to reinstall the track and the doors, thus eliminating the shower curtain. All the aluminum track and and the aluminum on the doors needed a good cleaning and polishing. I cleaned all the track pieces with aluminum polish. I purchased sealing tape for reinstalling the door framework with so no leaks. After all the track and doors were cleaned an polished I installed them. It looks great. We are happy with the reinstall.

The final coat of paint was sprayed on the golf cart. 

Friday:

Kelly had to go for a checkup before her cataract surgery. After we returned home I installed the new headlights in the golf cart and enlisted the help of a neighbor to reinstall the roof.  With a quick bath Buster looks pretty good for being almost 40 years old. 

What he still needs:  A new speed controller, a new rubber floormat, the dash painted, the carpet and glue scraped out of the back, and the digital voltage meter installed.  All in due time.