Road Runner Nest

First, cut off the cone and put the fastener assembly together. The top of the screw head has to be ground flat so it sits flat in the opening.
Then do a fit-check to make sure everything is good. Next, mix the JB Weld and put some in the hole first....then place the fastener in and pour the rest of the JB Weld all over. and let it set-up for 24 hrs.
I checked it today and she's hard as a rock and solid too! It's much stronger than the original.....now to do the rest of them.

There you go. A little bit of work and it should look the part of a real grabber. I have been thinking of doing the same for my Satellite. Can't justify getting a real one for it - that would be blasphemy! Lol.
Scott.

Yes Scott, I'm hoping it will work the way it should.
I can't budge the studs now that the JB Weld is set.
So, all 4 of the rear studs are done now, including the other studs needed to hold the insert to the hood. I prepped the underside to get it ready for primer. I noticed that the Air door had some pock marks on it (again....not the best quality from Stinger... )
So I applied some putty. Sanded the putty down. And shot some black primer on it. As soon as the air door hinge comes in, I have to do a fit-check.

Got a chance to put a bit of color on the car.....

I got even more contrast color on the car this weekend.
First, the header decal.... Next, the engine callout on the fenders.

Next, I started laying out the strobe stripe.
Many many thanks to Doug (72RoadrunnerGTX) for the info he sent me regarding where the side stripe should be.
First, I found the center line of the roof and the center of the roof stripe....see red grease pencil markings. Next, space out the same distance as the strobe to where the side stripe meets up with the top stripe. Then, I checked the gap at the side window opening and I was 1" away. Put a few magnets down as I still need to do the other side.

Awesome job! Thanks for posting this.

I know your're busy but when you have a moment, can you post some pics of how the rear valance is attached and how it should look. My car's was not on it when I bought it so I have no reference for it. I'm looking for pics of how the rear valance meets up with the lower quarters, how it's attached to the trunk extensions and how it's attached to the extensions on the rear deck (under the bumper). Any help is greatly appreciated!

CT, the rear valance is fastened to the rear quarter reinforcement piece.
If I remember correctly you recently just installed them on your Runner.
Here's a picture of one. I've circled in red where the valance gets fastened to. There are no fastening holes on the rear quarters or the the trunk extensions as you probably already know.

So, continuing on with the strobe stripe install...I had to get the passenger side stripe mocked up tp make sure it's lined up properly. I had to go back and forth with the 2 side stripes to ensure they were as correctly mounted as possible.
Once confident with that I bit the bullet and started sticking down the roof stripe....
I did it in sections of 3 strobe panels at a time. I put a masking tape down over the 4th strobe, then pulled back the backing paper on the first three and started with the spreader. Good thing I didn't have the rear glass in as I got my butt up on the rear parcel shelf and thru the rear glass opening.
Once the first three strobes were stuck down, I moved my masking tape line over to the next set of three.
After a bit, all 12 segments were on. Next, I moved to the passenger side stripe, I did the same as above but only did 2 segments at a time. Once all the segments were down, I was pretty happy with the way it turned out.

Todays task was to get the drivers side stripe on.
Using yesterdays technique, it all turned out well. The final step was to apply the reflective running birds. So another big step to getting some contrasting color on it accomplished.

So I did have a little bit of time today to get back at the Air Grabber setup and sand off the putty.
I'm still waiting for the door hinge to arrive.

Since I will not have any of the under hood mechanism for the Air Grabber in place, I had time to MacGyver up some aluminum brackets that will hold the Air Grabber door open 24/7.
The reason I'm doing this is because the intake I'm using (Edelbrock Air Gap) is too tall to have any of the under hood hardware in place.
First, I had to install the studs for the hinge and the new brackets. After that, I made a carboard template and made this bracket. I think one on either side will be more than strong enough to keep the door open and not have it vibrate.

I got the other bracket made and put it on for a test fit. Some small spacers are required, but looking at it thru the opening, it wasn't too bad.... In the end it should look like this (but painted of course).

So today it was on to the black primer stage.
It's amazing that this whole assembly (with the hardware) took 4 cans of black primer at $25 a can.....
I did it outside as it was nice and warm with no wind today. Turned out great!! Here's what it looks like back inside.... The next step is for the black satin paint....