Hello again,

I had my delivery back in June and still don't have enough pieces to get started (no front spindles, no rear bushings, no springs, no fuel tank, etc), which is driving me a bit crazy. In an effort to keep my sanity, I've made myself busy and gave some TLC to all the aluminum panels (powder coating seemed a bit too expensive). I'm pretty happy with the result, it pretty much removes any previous scratches and hides any future ones, as well as eliminates any annoying smudges from sweat and handling. Here was my process and some photos:

  1. Clean panels with lacquer thinner
  2. Wetsand with water and dish soap in only one direction, with 120 grit first then 220
  3. Repeat with red-colored scotch Scotch-Brite pad
  4. Wash with water
  5. Wipe with WD40
  6. After drilling the holes, apply Sharkhide in only one direction with a flatfold cloth diaper (believe me, you don't want to use anything else)


IMG_20210626_190256_800.jpg IMG_20210626_190350_886.jpg IMG_20210626_202732_109.jpg

Now, to my question: I've seen a lot of discussion in the build threads as to when to drill and rivet the panels but it looked like in general, it was best to wait as much as possible so you have room to work. Since I'm already going a bit cuckoo, I figured I would try to get some of these finally installed. Any guidance as to which ones I can safely drill and rivet now?