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One step forward, 2 back. I was polishing the nozzle side, and I got in too much of a hurry, and burnt the paint. I'll have to sand it down and put another coat on.

I sanded down the paint on the nozzle side. I had overworked it and burnt through in several places. I gave it two more coats, and then worked it more carefully with 1200 grit instead of 800. The bummer here is the time wasted on a screw-up. I have enough paint, so that's not a big deal. It's the 24 hour dry time that's the killer. Oh well, not the worst thing to happen. After a new polish job, it looks good.

I started to rub out the top. I'm taking my time with this. I've learned that 800 is just too aggressive for final rubbing. I'm using 1200, then switching over to 1500. The area around the louvers is an issue. There's really not much I can do in that area as there is no way to polish it. The metal in that area is really wavy from the factory. I imagine they really had to work the metal in that area to get the louvers, the flange on the bottom edge, and the complex curves of the rest of the top. I'd love to see how this piece got stamped back in the day.

I'm done cutting with 1200. It took almost 45 minutes. I need a break, and then I remembered the thing I ALWAYS forget on every gas pump restoration I've ever done. I had to redrill the top for the reproduction globe holder. You have to change the "lug pattern" from the original to the new one. This should be done as early as possible in the process before you paint. I forgot again. The danger here is I will have metal shavings all over my new soft paint. I will have to be super careful to clean them both from the part, but also the work area. Just one shaving could get caught in the sandpaper or a rag and put an unrepairable scratch in the soft paint. I made a template from cardboard to match the new bolt pattern of the holder, and offset it by 45 degrees from the original.

Why not drill the globe holder and leave pump original?

The screw holes for the original globe holder are too far out and wound interfere with where the globe sits in the holder. The new holes are inside the globe when the globe is attached.

Top is done. Polished out and looking good.

I was going to attach the nozzle boot, but I could only find one of the brackets that hold it to the side panel. I had to make my own out of angle iron.

I've been putting the coats on the valances. I'm up to five coats. Hopefully this will be enough. These will be the toughest parts to buff and polish.

If you ever need to cover a workbench, a cheap option is to go to a dollar store and get one of these party table clothes.

Here's where i am at so far.

These valances are proving to be quite difficult to work with. They are so wavy from the factory that I keep cutting through the paint in random spots. Also there is almost no way to hold them down to buff and polish them.

I've been working on the uppers for a few days now. I have come to the conclusion that this is one of those "It is what it is" moments. There are just too many highs and lows on these parts. It's just the way they're made. I'd get the peel to level out well, then I start working out the peel on a low area and cut through the paint on a high area right next to the low. I've just accepted that there's going to be some peel on these parts.

The next problem was how to polish these. They're are just too small to hold on to. I tried to hold one down and polish it at the same time, and was rewarded with a nasty grinder bite on two of my knuckles. I didn't know what to do. I tried polishing them by hand with a rag, but I was just not getting the cutting action out of the compound. I couldn't get the fog out and the clarity back to the gloss by hand. I took a break to think it over. I grabbed some scrap 2x4s and came up with a rig to clamp them to. Then I put all that into a vise. This got it done.

Finally it looks good. I'll do the other one tomorrow.