[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Friday was spent repairing the drivers seat frame springs that were discovered (last week) to be broken, all three in the seat back at the bottom, and two in the seat bottom along with the side support spring. (if you can call it a spring) I went to a local upholstery shop and purchased 4 feet of S spring, got it home and it was heavier than the original and tighter S’s. I replaced the outer spring in the seat bottom (real tough to bend into the Z) and repaired the other broken springs with sections of the one I replaced and crimped them in. Got the seat back and bottom all re-assembled and ready for the new foam. Last week, as I was stretching the passenger seat back cover over the frame, I tucked the last bottom corner over and blew out the seam. (I probably shouldn’t have pulled where I did) Local upholstery shop replaced panel in seat cover for $70. (ouch) Got all seats done except drivers, they look great!

Saturday was spent preparing the weatherstrip channels for installation. (I should have removed upper spongy seal and adhesive from channel before having them polished for $350) After taping up the polished surface, I had good results with goo gone, but dad wanted to bathe them in lacquer thinner and scrub them down until you could use them in surgery! Both of the post channels need the guide nub replaced and of course the correct rivets are un-obtainable so we cant install those. We were able to source the channel corner guides (original were broken, $70 for both) and after quite a bit of massaging and buffing, (not easy without body hammers) they look pretty good. At the end of the day, dad decides he doesn’t like the drivers seat repairs that I spent all day Friday on and wants to look for the correct spring material and re-do it all again. (he might as well have poked me in the eye with a screwdriver)

Sunday was spent attempting to fit the rear quarter window outer seals which were not PY product (I don’t make the purchasing decisions) and are a Made in Taiwan product (supposedly the best option?) that don’t fit, one (drivers side) was better than the other but the screw holes don’t line up with the originals and the radius fit is gapped, also the rubber flap that sits on the paint is not as wide. These don’t seem like they are going to work for us, wondering if PY’s is the same supplier. Got the window regulators all cleaned up and found the driver door guide rod stud at the top had sheared, (don’t quite know what to do here) we will probably grind it flat and drill and tap for a new stud or even a bolt. I was able to install both quarter window regulators and guides but haven’t installed the glass yet. Shifting gears, I cut a gasket for the A/C / fan housing at the firewall instead of using the recommended calk rope seal; we used a section of 8 mil wet suit material. (Dad??)

Stay tuned…

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

52 views and not a single comment, no atta-boys or duh-dumb-dumbs or anything?

[72pontiac]

all that writing deserves something. kudos to you. wish i worked on my car and not mowing, hedge trimming, garage cleaning, my wifes not mine, fertilizing, picking up dog poop, sanding down the peeling rusting rockers on my suburban and putting rhino lining on them. next wk end is a wedding the next is my anniversary the next is a church picnic the next is norwalk the next is wifes birthday. i will never get to work on my car.

[bigborehunter]

Man, I read it and didn't know how to reply. You sound browned off about your dad's cutting corners and I can see why you'd be tetched off. I own a 72 hardtop so I know what those cars are like. You're learning the real world way what it takes to put one of these girls back on the street. No one can take that away and you'll be proud when its done. On the problems you encounter having to budget. Look at it this way, as long as its re do able later on, why not repair it economically? Get it mobile and driving. Later on when the cash comes in you can do it up the way you want. I'll tell you one thing, I did up a TA nicely right out the door and I ended up worrying about instead of driving it hard and lovin it. My favorite pic is it at the top of the sand quarry on the hottest day in July. T Tops off! A black SE by the way and the sand was white. I never enjoyed it as much after the perfect body and paint and new interior which was junk by the way. PUI is not so great.

[PMDRACER]

I'll give ya all the kudos and atta-boys you want (now that I'm here).

Yes, it's a big job, and major-league frustrating at times when the simplest things go awry. Outer fuzzies should be 5 screws each side, done deal. But, when you have to drill holes in the body, bend, twist and partially re-shape the item, it takes all day.

Just do yuorself a favor and don't rush it or put the completion on a deadline (like I did). Plan a route of attack and follow it. If it takes two days to do a simple job, so be it. You're still one step closer. Enjoy the journey.

Oh and one last thing - Take pictures and POST THEM!

[RAIVJUMB]

I also lived the dream with the quarter window sweeps, the holes did not line up and the contour was not right (for a 69 Conv). I think my 71 was a little better but still was not fun. I think the first time (the 69) was when I stopped buying from year one as they had me so frustrated. The guy was like well just bend the thing to fit, It needed enough bending that I know it would have kinked. I asked if after taking his advice and it failing like I knew it would were they willing to take the damn things back? You can guess the answer to that one.

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Well it looks like we have some hand picked and test fitted quarter window sweeps on the way after a lengthy phone conversation with the supplier, so we decided to install the seal channel onto the quarter windows. You get one shot with the black material for setting the channel to the window, if you don’t get it right the first time the material is toast. We tried 4 times and we might have gotten one of the two windows done. It seems that if you wet the material with soapy water, wrap it around the glass and then press the trim onto the material and the glass, the material will form into the channel but because of the soap wont grip the window, so we rinsed the soap off while leaving the material in the channel and then whacked the channel back on the window. Previous attempts without lube tore the material. I will check with the local windshield replacement store to see if they have the material. (went thru 4 feet, need more) We are now looking for a replacement chrome channel for one side as I got too carried away (frustrated) with the mallet. (glad the window didn’t break) That was Friday, with a bunch of errands in the early day.

Saturday I decided to just clean parts so I didn’t break or ruin anything else, while dad decided to put his cam timing back to +4 degrees. (the engine builder set it at 0 degrees) Our timing chain set has provisions for -4, 0 or +4, after reading Jim’s book, dad is setting up for that bottom end power. That all went smooth as there is no front clip on the car, just the core support. We got the window regulators cleaned up and re-greased, installed the quarter window regulators and guides into the car minus the windows. One or the door window guide rods had the stud at the top broken off so I ground, drilled and taped it for a new stud. We then moved on to the A/C and heater boxes, these mounted right up with no issues. (say hallelujah) At the end of the day, I decided the power steering pump looked way to shiny with the POR finish, so I sanded it a little and coated it with flat black to match all the brackets and pulleys.

Sunday was puzzle day; we embarked on the task of hanging all the accessories on the motor. Our A/C system was sent out to Classic Auto Air a few months ago for upgrade and restoration, it’s beautiful! So, with all the parts laid out on the bench and two restoration manuals in front of us, we started hanging brackets and parts, the hardest part was trying to find all the correct nuts and bolts. (I took this car apart 24 years ago) It helps to have the head bolts with the stud in the proper locations! With everything loosely hung with whatever bolts we could find, we went about listing all the correct bolts and nuts with the GM part #’s and today I have two GM parts guys cross referencing the old #’s to new #’s and hopefully I can get all the proper fasteners in all the proper places. Later in the day on Sunday we cleaned up the rear arm rest panels and coated them with the same landau black vinyl paint I used to re-coat the console a few weeks ago. I want to re-coat the seat backs and skirts but dad is resisting, they are the only black interior parts that deviate in color with a slight dullness, the vinyl paint looks really good.

[bigborehunter]

It looks good,what a nice car that will be when done. The old classics can drive you nuts sometimes. That's when you walk away from it, give it a rest. I'm doing that with mine now. Been on a 2 year journey rounding up parts to re do it the way it should be. It's a nice Day Two car. One day I'll tackle the engine and get it properly sorted. Then watch out!

[PMDRACER]

Looks REALLY nice!!!

You may want to attach heater hoses onto the heater core ends before putting the fenders on, or at least before attaching the hood hinges. Getting them on and the clamps tight is always a bear.

Do not overtighten the clamps! Ask me how I know...

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Ya, I know better than to overtighten those babies! She will be running before the front clip is put on, or at least ready to run.

[78 GHOST]

Check your window thread about the quarter glass stainless trim installation.

Good job and keep at it.

By the time I'm done with any aspect of my project, I'm usually familiar with 2-3 ways NOT to do it and at least 1 way TO do it. It's super easy to get frustrated.

-Matt

[OrbitOrange]

Sounds like your moving right along on your project there. My quarter glass felt wipes have the same problem you describe but they were installed when I got the car and I will deal with them later on.

But now I gotta ask, because I put my heater core hoses on yesterday. I dont believe I have over tightened them but whats the risk you guys are worried about? Is it the fact they are hell to take off once that rubber sticks to the copper, and usually that leads to breaking the heater core? I have a fix for that.

[lamans71]

Looks awesome, love a thread with pics .

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Originally Posted by OrbitOrange

But now I gotta ask, because I put my heater core hoses on yesterday. I dont believe I have over tightened them but whats the risk you guys are worried about? Is it the fact they are hell to take off once that rubber sticks to the copper, and usually that leads to breaking the heater core? I have a fix for that.

The risk in over-tightening is the copper tube can crush inward and cause a leak where the hose wont seal.

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Well, it has been a few weekends since I posted any progress, so here goes. A couple of weekends ago dad and I went about installing our dash, This is the original dash with no cracks, one of dads neighbors told him about 8 months ago to continually coat the dash with baby oil and that would soften up the vinyl, so dad did that and coverd it with plastic. It did seem to soften it up a bit and it wiped off with grease and wax remover and looked really good. After getting the wiring harness all hooked up and the new (looks like old) radio installed and wired, we carefully lifted the dash assy off of the bench and into the car, it slid right into place but seemed to have some type of interferance in the center. We bolted it in and then noticed a hole in the passenger side top, like it got set down on a 3/8ths nut or bolt head or something. (argh!) we scratched our heads on how that happened for two days and dad has decided to replace the dash pad so out comes the dash. Well it was a good thing we took it back out because that interferance that we felt was the dash smashing up against the new duel dash speaker that we installed and pinched the wires up against the magnets. (fit on speaker is not the best!) Now the dash is back on the bench and the quest for a quality dash pad has begun.

I wont even talk about the seat fiasco.

The body shop that we had do the body didnt paint the cowl area black originally so they had to re-do that and we had them hang the doors at that time (last week). Last weekend I installed the rear quarter windows and found that the window sweeps dont contact the window in some places (about a .040 gap). I also found the rock hard rubber seals that go inboard at the rear quarter window radius are un-obtainable, so we are wondering what to do there. We were able to install the door seals without too much massaging but the fit at the front upper corner of the door was sketchy. The trunk seal went in with no resistance what so ever.

We purchased a replacement wiper motor from our local parts supplier and it doesnt look like the original, it is probably for a chevelle or something. I am leaning towards cleaning up the original and re-using it. Dad wants to "find" the correct one in re-maned. Any advice?

[F ROCK]

wow, you sure make some long posts!
thats cool, good fun reading.
sure is coming along nicely!

[Goat & Chicken Farmer]

Sorry about the long posts. She is coming along nicely but there is a-lot of frustration with sub-standard parts, (mostly just dont fit right) it seems like everything needs a massage...the rear trunk seal went in with no hang-ups!

[F ROCK]

we dont mind the long posts. i like to hear someone is making progress.
more pics would be cool.

[monsterflake]

i like that 24 years after it was taken apart, it's actually going back together. so many of these 'i'm gonna get to that one day' projects never actually see that day!

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by 78 GHOST

...Check your window thread about the quarter glass stainless trim installation... -Matt

I'm curious, since I'll be doing this on both my driver and clone, but couldn't find the other thread. There's a trick?

.