[njsteve]

The really clean ones were the belts that were inside the long black plastic sleeves (front male end belts). The others had some discoloration. The purple stuff got rid of about 75% of the grime. I didnt want to scrub too hard since they are very fragile labels.

[njsteve]

Here are some more of the latest body shop photos. The bodyman is spending a lot of time sanding, priming, resanding, repriming...He's not gonna stop til it's to his satisfaction, despite all my harassment about getting the car done quickly. (which I do appreciate. Though I want to get this car on the road before 2008, which is 173 days away).

[ErikW]

He's not gonna stop til it's to his satisfaction, despite all my harassment about getting the car done quickly.

Sounds like you found the right guy for the job. Nice work. It will look fabulous when he is done. Hey, at least he is working on it.

[njsteve]

Originally Posted by Geeto Tiger

I've seen you restore alot of things but how are you going to restore the 8-Track tape?

LOL, Yee of little faith! ;-)

How's this for start! I scanned in the three surfaces of the 8 track tape, converted it to a jpeg and spent 6 hours at 800% magnification changing the background from stained yellow/tan to white. I had to do it pixel by pixel. Kind of like playing Pac-Man on a massive scale. This is the preliminary 1/2 label. The other side has a ton of text and will take a few days work. Then all I have to do is print it out and apply it to a nice 8-track tape housing. Once it's done, if anyone else is interested, they can have a copy of the file.

before...and after

[keith k]

Originally Posted by njsteve

LOL, Yee of little faith! ;-)

How's this for start! I scanned in the three surfaces of the 8 track tape, converted it to a jpeg and spent 6 hours at 800% magnification changing the background from stained yellow/tan to white. I had to do it pixel by pixel. Kind of like playing Pac-Man on a massive scale. This is the preliminary 1/2 label. The other side has a ton of text and will take a few days work. Then all I have to do is print it out and apply it to a nice 8-track tape housing. Once it's done, if anyone else is interested, they can have a copy of the file.

before...and after

Bravo !!!

[Jim Robertson]

Way cool Steve. Nice job...
Gathering parts for my 72 and the tape label would be a nice addition.
Thanks for posting pics and tech advice.
Jim

[Geeto Tiger]

Very Nice, I am impressed. I did the same with my 8-Track, which is in worse condition...but I think it turned out ok, but not as good as yours (I dont have photoshop, only MS Paint, so it was kinda hard). I just wanted the guys name off of it, if you can tell me how to do the rest that would be a great help.

[njsteve]

So after spending a total of 10 hours on the Microsoft Paint program at 800% magnification, erasing all the yellow from the background and from between every single letter, here it is. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a wonderful thing.

The next fun was the 2 hours of adjusting the size so it printed out in the exact same size as the original decal. I had to keep adding to the length of the image to get it to center properly on paper with the right width and length. Here is the final version. Now all I need is a nice clean blank 8-track to put it on.

[keith k]

Originally Posted by njsteve

So after spending a total of 10 hours on the Microsoft Paint program at 800% magnification, erasing all the yellow from the background and from between every single letter, here it is. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a wonderful thing.

The next fun was the 2 hours of adjusting the size so it printed out in the exact same size as the original decal. I had to keep adding to the length of the image to get it to center properly on paper with the right width and length. Here is the final version. Now all I need is a nice clean blank 8-track to put it on.

So at the typical resto shop labor rate... that would be a $750+ 8 track tape!

[njsteve]

The bodyman came over on Sunday to pull the rear window out so I could clean out the butyl weatherstripping in preparation for bringing the body to him. We used the old, 2-man welding wire method to saw through the rubber seal and then lift out the window.

[njsteve]

Cleaned up the window channel area this afternoon. All the orginal yellow clips came out unscathed. It didn't take much time, I used a metal gasket scraper and slid it under the butyl bead and it came up in one piece - and this was the original 1972 material, too. No rust underneath, just some flakey red oxide primer and original blackout paint. I then used a rotary wire brush to get any rubber residue out. Just trying to save a few bucks (and hours of the bodyman's time) off my bill. I'll see about removing the trunk weatherstripping next. I have to hit the auto parts store tomorrow to see if they have some weatherstrip remover spray to loosen it up.

BTW, gotta love the typical 1970's hacksaw job on the speaker holes. Why the heck didnt people just mount the damn speakers under the panel instead of sawing a gigantic hole through the rear deck to bolt them on the top of the package tray. What were we thinking back then???

[njsteve]

While I was at it, I cleaned the front window channel too...

[njsteve]

Found some of the 3M "Adhesive Cleaner" at the local auto parts store. 3M doesn't make the Weatherstrip Adhesive Remover anymore, and it superceded to this stuff. I guess it was just too effective so they had to take it off the market. This stuff didn't do a whole lot to existing trunk weatherstripping because it can't really get down under the rubber and into the channel, so you still have to rip, peel and scrape your way down to the channel. Once you get the majority of the old weatherstripping out you can then spray this stuff on and let it soak in. I then used a wire wheel on a hand drill and the rest of the adhesive and weatherstripping residue came out.

[njsteve]

Here are the latest photos of the body work.

After about a dozen stages of sanding/priming/sanding, the doors looking very smooth:
He's also been working on the the front bumper/bird beak.

[njsteve]

The painted surface of the shaker was getting wet sanded away by hand:

[njsteve]

Many, Many thanks to Mr70, one of the guys on the www.Yenko.net website who donated a pristine white 8-track housing along with the original cardboard wrapper. Here is the finished product.

I ended up printing the label on a large piece of 8-1/2 by 11 photo paper. I then cut it out and used spray adhesive (the kind designed for mounting photos in scrap books) on the back of the photo and the sides of the tape. It stuck perfectly and the photo paper gloss matches the original label perfectly. Thanks to all who helped during this chapter of the ongoing novel, especially Mr70!


P.S. I am still trying to figure out why the lady in the photo is sitting on a green bench seat in the middle of a tropical rain forest. Where the heck is the rest of the car? or is this some clue to the next episode of "Lost?"

[weranc55]

Steve,

What kind of paint are you going to use on the car?

[njsteve]

We are going to use a single stage color (no clear coat), in order to more closely replicate the factory look - not too glossy/plastic looking. Other than that I let my expert paint guy choose what he is confortable with, brandwise.

[weranc55]

Steve,

I'm in the process of getting my 70 painted right now and am in the same boat. I dont want the car to look overrestored. Base clear looks great but there is just to much depth in in and for me it does not look correct. I though about a single stage paint but that also looks different than the factory lacquer. To me the a single stage paint just looks thick. So I guess I'm going with the lacquer and so what happens. My car should be painted in three weeks so I will let you know how it turns out. We did paint my 72 in a base clear and the paint does look great. Good luck.

[njsteve]

More bodyshop progress. Discovered some interesting discrepencies in how the underside of the shaker is supposed to be painted. Here is a shot of an original one with the natural finish showing on the fiberglass: