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I am finally getting my car back!
..At least the body anyway. I stripped the entire car - engine, trans, interior, wiring - everything, and I dropped it off at my friends body shop and told him to take his time painting it. I wanted everything done: Fix the floorboards where they rusted through (on top of the Spohn subframe connectors and the fender wells), paint the engine bay, replace any part that needed it. I did a lot of research on what I needed, and started gathering parts.
Rebuilt the headlight motors with the brass gears from Top-Down Solutions. New door pins and bushings (TD again) New 1990 MAP wiring harness from Painless. New 3 core aluminum radiator, new condenser, all new power steering and AC lines. Got some closeout deals on a new AC compressor and power steering pump.
Found some new repro side markers and front turn signal indicators, polished up my taillights and rear plastics. The list goes on, and I have 2 years of accumulated parts ready to go in:
They did a great job on the engine bay:
Took a lot of time on the sills, and other areas too:
I actually had to pull the glass and rear hatch apart to realign it - the hatch shocks pushed the trunk out after 23 years.
Got these off ebay yesterday:
I figure it will take me another 8 months to get it all back together - I don't have a lot of spare time anymore. And it definitely won't be my DD!
I still need a bunch of other stuff - door panels, carpets, some miscellaneous interior trim, new door glass, etc, but I think I am mostly done spending money on it
Looks great! I can't wait to get my car back from paint! Next time I pull my engine out, I'll be painting the engine bay myself... Wish I had the time to strip the car before paint. Being overseas sucks!
Not too much progress to report yet. Last year, hurricane Irene demolished a lot of parts I had for my bird - mostly interior parts, but it also did some damage to the wiring and various engine components I had stored at my house. This year, Hurricane Sandy didn't destroy anything except the shed at the body shop my formula was housed in, so that is delaying progress. Heck - whats another month or so after 2 years? They did manage to do a bit of work after cleaning up after Sandy.
They spent a LOT of time on the doors - wanted to make sure that they wouldn't rust on the bottom. They also welded up a couple of small stress crack on the inner door skin.
This is the bottom of the door - they used seam sealer, a bit of welding and a lot of time to get them right:
I have Top Down Solutions grease-able door hinges and new GM roller stops to be installed:
I'm a bit concerned about how weather tight the T-Top seals are going to be, but Kurt says it won't be a problem. The new style adhesives they use will be way more than enough to make up for the missing metal. There is enough there to hold the seals in the proper position while the adhesive sets:
After I get the car back, I need to spruce up the engine bay. I am going to use the plastic paint and binder motobooks used on his trim pieces on my wiper cover and other plastics in the engine compartment. (Anybody remember the name of the stuff?)
I also need to paint the brake booster, heater cover etc.
This is where Kurt replaced the floorboards on the drivers side. Water got between the subframe and floor and made quite a hole. He used a piece of an old Cadillac;
While I was there, I noticed my battery tray didn't look right, so I took a look at the underside. Seems they missed a spot:
They are going to sandblast and POR 15 it. It's not visible when the car is assembled, so as long as it's treated, I am not going to raise any issues.
So. Sandy has knocked my schedule back a month or more. I am helping out a couple of my friends who live in Belmar - they lost a lot when they got flooded. There are more important things in life than cars after all. (Not many, but some
Use SEM trim black for the exterior trim. It is an exterior paint and goes on nice. I painted my t top trim and hatch window trim with it and it came out great. http://semproducts.com/product-catal...nt/trim-black/
Like Luis said - don't forget to use adhesion promoter on plastic parts.
Last edited by 82tarecaro; 11-29-2012 at 06:47 AM.
Thanks for the info guys. I think I will also get the cleaner, prep and adhesion promoter they list in the TDS (below). Less chance of me screwing up if I RTFM...
(RTFM=Read The Friggin Manual)
Plastic:
1. Clean first with 39362 SEM SOAP and a gray scuff pad.
2. Rinse with water and dry. If contamination still exists, water will bead on the surface.
Repeat this step until beading no longer occurs.
3. Clean with 38353 PLASTIC & LEATHER PREP.
4. To promote adhesion on ABS, PVC and other similar plastics, apply a medium wet coat
of 38363 SAND FREE. Apply color while 38363 is still wet. As the 38363
evaporates, the color is drawn into the surface creating excellent adhesion.
-OR-
To promote adhesion on TPO, EPDM, PP and other similar thermoplastics, use 39863
PLASTIC ADHESION PROMOTER or 77723 XXX ADHESION PROMOTER.
I should change the thread title to "after 3 years..."
FINALLY got her back from my friend at the body shop (Note to self: NEVER tell them to 'take your time - I'm not in a rush'), and she's looking good.
Since I started this restoration, I changed jobs, and now I run a small HVAC shop. The owner retired, so now I am in charge, and it's been pretty hectic around here. Previous owner sold the building, so I lucked out and got to choose the new location, which coincidentally has enough room for my car and all my auto tools, compressor, etc.
We are just settling in, and my car arrived today via flatbed:
Not a great shot, but I was in a hurry, as my buddy didn't have much time.
Anyway, we got to the new place, anloader her and put her up on the dollies:
Next weekend, I need to rent a truck and bring all the parts over - interior, motor, my entire set of tools, etc.
Looks like I have a nice winter project now!
I decided to go with the Formula 350 decals, sincd that's the motor I am putting in.
There's an old saying out there - 'in for a penny, in for a pound'. I know what it means now.
Opened the hood and looked at this:
So I'm thinking, "Man, that's an ugly K-member. I need to do something about it."
Just got off the phone with Spohn, and I ended up ordering the entire new tubular K-member, A-Arms, and the whole 1LE brake package. Set me back a few $$, but I went this far with my baby, may as well go the whole way... SMH.
May as well remove and paint all the underhood plastics as well...
Gotta have an infrastructure in place before you can get any real work done. I was going to build a workbench, but I saw one on Grainger.com that looked really nice. 8' long, 30" deep, 1 3/4" thick maple butcher block top. But they wanted something like $1100 for it. So I looked up the manufacturer (TENNESCO) and found that they would sell it to me for $650 shipped. Shipping weight was 300 pounds...
They did a beautiful job packing and shipping it:
It was a breeze to put together, and it is a beautiful piece of work. It's going to be a shame to get it dirty!
Now I can start doing some planning and mock ups. First thing is the new wire harness. We had re-pinned my old harness from MAF to Speed Density (Kat from right here on thirdgen helped me out a lot on this - Thanks Kat!), but that was 10 years ago, and the harness was pretty beat. I bought a Painless harness for SD cars a couple of years ago, and I'm hoping that it really will be painless, although I doubt it, lol...
I'm liking the CEL right next to the ALDL:
The ECM connections are way neater than our attempt:
This looks like its going to be a 1 year + project. I don't have a lot of time lately
Going on 3 years later:
I'm FINALLY able to start work on my bird again. I bought out the owner of the company I was working for, and I haven't had time to do much of anything except get this place making some money, lol. Them my father died in February, and all of my tools, parts, etc were stored at his garage.The biggest hassle was making room in the shop to move all my car stuff in. As you can see by the pictures, I built a lot of suspended shelving 8 feet off the ground, as you can see in the pictures.
Anyway, first project: Removal of K Frame for installation of new Spohn tubular K-Frame and coil overs:
That paint is NICE! 14 months of prep for paint I know you were restless. Ive had mine tore apart getting prepped for paint since early July and im anxious!
On to the next task. Got the K Member out, and I figured I may as well go all the way. There are a lot of rusty, dirty items I want to reuse, so I went and procured a cleaning agent:
Now I can do this:
I bought some glass bead for some of the underhood aluminum stuff. I may as well take it all out and do it right:
Lots more. I decided to go the full Monty on the engine bay - pulled everything out; blower, even, wiper assembly, etc. sand and paint everything.
I will post some more pics shortly...
Now I know why people charge fifty thousand dollars to do a total restoration on a car...
I guess you have to decide exactly how much detail you want in a restoration - the minutia can drive you crazy!
Now I am paying for some of my earlier mistakes. Back in 2002, I converted over to a T56 from an auto. Bought a drivetrain from a 97 Formula, including the pedals, etc. Me and a couple of friends did the conversion in 1 day (Thanks Kat, Alex, Erik!).
Now that I have the steering column, brake booster, etc out of the way, I can see what I did wrong when I cut the firewall out to make room for the clutch master cylinder. I remember putting that bolt in there to get the proper angle of the clutch cylinder to the clutch petal.
When I took the old cylinder out, this is what I found:
this was done 14 years ago - I don't remember all the details of the job, but I do remember how cramped it was getting to all the parts. Now that I have unrestricted access to the firewall, I can correct it.
I slotted the mouting holes so the cylinder will now line up with the petal:
Then I make a cardboard template for my next door neighbor (who happens to have a complete maching shop) to make me a 1/8" steel plate:
Should have it by Friday, so I can paint it, mount the clutch master, booster, etc. I'm hoping to get the engine compartment finished in the next couple of weeks so I can get the motor bnack in...
The factory reinforces the firewall with another sheet of metal on the inside. I have a factory plate from another car and am welding that into my car. It actually goes up under that indent under the booster recess
And another year and change has gone by. Been really busy at work, so I haven't done a lot until the last week or so. I am moving my shop to a bigger space (double the current size!), so I needed to get the front end assembled so I can move the car over to the new shop.
I had forgotten I had ordered the 1LE front brake upgrade to go along with the new Spohn tubular coil over K frame, so I had to modify the spindles on top of everything else.
Start with sandblasting - 28 years of road grime and grease:
Going on 6 years later, over ten years since I started!
Pretty much haven't done a thing for 6 years. I am actually getting close to retirement age, and have some free time, so I thought I would try to at least get all the major parts back together and either finish it or sell it.
Gas tank is (of course) a total loss, so I bought a new (GM) tank, sender assembly, fuel pump, etc. Flushed out all the fuel lines and installed new tank.
This build is going on eleven and a half years!
Hard to believe I started this in October of 2012. My excuse is that I bought a Cadillac CTS-V Coupe in January of 2013. I put some time and $ into that, and kinda forgot about the bird.
I'm almost 64 years old, and going to retire in a couple of years, so I want to finish this.
Moser (Ford 9", 31 spline) is sanded degreased etched and painted with POR 15 and installed. Installed the third member (411 gears, US Posi)
Put the rear wheels on, car is on the ground for the first time a quite a few years!
Got the engine in: My old ZZ4 bored 0.30" over, eagle forged 383 stroker kit, ZZ4 heads, pocketed, threaded studs, dual springs, comp cams custom grind, 1.6 roller rockers,
Ram clutch on an externally balanced flywheel.
I spend a considerable amount of time with the engine wiring harness: Picked up a 1990 manual trans harness, and had to make it compatible with my 1989 interior harness (wiper/washer sub-harness for the most part).
CUrrently working on cleaning up the transmission, Spohn trans mount and torque arm. Hopefully get the transmission in this week...
Moser 9"
All heat shields have been sandblasted and painted:
Balanced flywheel for externally balanced engine(been in the shop for a dozen years!)
Motor is in! Bead blasted all the accessory brackets. Gonna paint with Alumni-Blast to keep the natural aluminum look.
10-02-2012, 06:56 AM
