[Scarebird]

That interior is awesome looking!

But you are sanding again...

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

That interior is awesome looking!
But you are sanding again...

It does look great. I'm lucky he will still do work for me. He doesn't take on much any more. The wait is well worth it too.
Color sanding? Yes more to do but it won't take me that long.

[roger1]

I found the A/C leak. What I did to do that was to remove the micron gauge and hook the yellow hose up to an air compressor with a fitting that I had to make. I put 90 psi positive pressure on it and I could hear where the leak was.
It was coming from his crimped fitting:



Why this leaked, I have no idea but no other good choice but to build a complete new hose.



The hose and fittings with the leak is #8 reduced. Since I didn't want to order the exact same parts again, I decided to go with the standard hose and fittings this time. This hose doesn't really benefit with the reduced size anyway since it doesn't have to bend much from the compressor to the condenser. Here is the new hose installed:



I do believe it has no leaks now but I ran out of time yesterday to pump it down for as long as I should. This photo that shows 440 microns was a few minutes after I shut the gauge valves and pump down and it did seem to be holding at that. But the owner needed to close up his shop for the day so I will go through this process again allowing for more time for both the vacuuming and watching after shut down. I also want to remove the fan belt so I can turn the compressor by hand to disperse the oil inside some.



The top install isn't complete yet but he's getting there. He says it's kind of a trial and error process to get the wrinkles out in the rear corners and takes a lot of time. He said at this point he needs to get it out in the sun on a hot day and that will allow it to stretch easier for the final adjustments. But we've had mostly cloudy and rainy days for the past week and cooler temperatures. Still rain in the forecast too.

[roger1]

The top is done and interior installed! I brought the car home this morning. 3 1/2 months total at the interior shop. He felt bad it took him that long but he had many unforeseen things going on that took his time away from my car. However, I had to be out of state part of the time anyway. Plus, I feel lucky that he will still do work for me since he's mostly retired and has been for 10 years or so now.
It looks great! I couldn't be any happier with it. Same result as all the other jobs I had him do for me over the years.

























So he had no lack of hot days here to put the car out in the sun to help him get the top hot like he wanted to. The all-time high for the City of San Angelo was 111° set in 1960. We tied that record on Monday and then smashed it with a 114° on Tuesday and backed it up with another 114° day yesterday. Needless to say, I'm glad I can finish the car up in my shop with the A/C on.

The list is not long. More color sanding, polishing, installing the trim and several little odds and ends. A few things mechanically too. I haven't finished all the setup procedures for the Edelbrock FI and I need to check the adjustment of the throttle valve cable. The 2-3 shift on the transmission seems late when driving in town normally. I need to program the Dakota Digital speedometer as well.
I will say that I am super happy with how the car drives. Ride is excellent as is the steering and brakes. Engine seems to idle and run real smoothly too.

[kingbuzzo]

lookin good for summer...

[Mickey66]

It just looks great. I also like to thank you for posting those detailed photos because as I do my restoration/mod, some of the items, like the door panels, previously, have been very useful, especially when there isn't detailed information out there on how and where stuff goes. Are those window cranks the originals? I have 3 out of 4 of my originals and decided to buy the repo ones from Ames and the fit is terrible. I have to use a file to increase the inside spline area and its taking forever. Anyway, thanks again.

[Scarebird]

Very nice, the almost lack of puckers in the rear corner has me envious!

I have not observed any better fitment personally.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by kingbuzzo

lookin good for summer...

Thanks! I am looking forward to some cruzin.

Originally Posted by Mickey66

It just looks great. I also like to thank you for posting those detailed photos because as I do my restoration/mod, some of the items, like the door panels, previously, have been very useful, especially when there isn't detailed information out there on how and where stuff goes. Are those window cranks the originals? I have 3 out of 4 of my originals and decided to buy the repo ones from Ames and the fit is terrible. I have to use a file to increase the inside spline area and its taking forever. Anyway, thanks again.

Thanks!
I ordered all 4 of my handles from Ames and they fit fine. This is what I ordered back in December of '21, 2 of J133AD and 2 of F184KD. I did have to replace both door window regulators and one of the rears although I don't know if that makes any difference or not.

Originally Posted by Scarebird

Very nice, the almost lack of puckers in the rear corner has me envious!
I have not observed any better fitment personally.

Yup. The guy is really amazing. Although I don't think perfection is attainable with these tops, I think it's as close as it gets. He is 84 years old and probably been doing interiors for 65 of those. He did mention these tops are very hard ones to do and it was taxing on his body at his age. I am grateful he was willing to do it for me.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by roger1

...The guy is really amazing. Although I don't think perfection is attainable with these tops, I think it's as close as it gets...

The 69-72's have a single floating trimstick.

As far as I can tell these were done in a fixture at the factory then transferred to the car - not a process easily replicated!

I have not seen your top's level of work here; none of the local talent seen to do tops worthy of the price they charge.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Scarebird

The 69-72's have a single floating trimstick.

As far as I can tell these were done in a fixture at the factory then transferred to the car - not a process easily replicated!

I have not seen your top's level of work here; none of the local talent seen to do tops worthy of the price they charge.

That's exactly what he said. He calls it a floating bow. And had to be done on a fixture at the factory.

[roger1]

Btw, what brand of top did you put on yours? Mine is a Robbins that he purchased. He said it's a heavier material than what the factory used. He also said that they fit the best too. But, he still struggled with it. Not totally unexpected though.

[MUSLCAH]

I imagine you’ll tuck those seat belts in....

[MUSLCAH]

And I really like the ( No raised white letter ) look !

[roger1]

Originally Posted by MUSLCAH

I imagine you’ll tuck those seat belts in....
And I really like the ( No raised white letter ) look !

I hadn't thought about tucking them in like that. Thanks for the photo. I may do that.

Yeah, I like the black wall look better too. These Coopers are RWL but I turned them in. They are designed with that in mind though as the black sides look exactly the same except without the white borders on the letters. I did brush black epoxy prime on the white letters though so they wouldn't show when looking underneath the car. The SPI primer stays fairly flexible so I think it will stay on there but time will tell.

[Andretti]

Everything is looking fantastic. A perfectionist just like you and now I can understand why you didn't want to tackle that part of the restoration. With the very warm weather there maybe they'll be less wear/creasing on the top when lowering/storing/raising. Have you actually pressed that switch yet?

- that door fitment turned out great, so much better than stock.

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Andretti

Everything is looking fantastic. A perfectionist just like you and now I can understand why you didn't want to tackle that part of the restoration. With the very warm weather there maybe they'll be less wear/creasing on the top when lowering/storing/raising. Have you actually pressed that switch yet?
- that door fitment turned out great, so much better than stock.

Thanks for the compliments!
Yeah, upholstery work is not my thing and never would have considered trying it myself on this car. My interior guy said he put the top up and down about 5 times just to make sure everything was good. He and I did it together once so he could show me how to be careful while doing it. We put the boot in place to and attached the snaps to make sure that was all good too. Haven't done it again since I got the car home. He did say don't leave the top in the down position any longer than necessary. He said he's always recommended to customers to never put the top down but smiled and said he knows that's not what's going to happen.

I've been working on the car a bit here and there. I color sanded the entire car using those polycarbonate sanding blocks by Linear Blocking Tools I bought. As you might recall, much of the car was already color sanded but I didn't get the urethane wave out then. The new sanding blocks worked well. I believe I was able to remove all of it. I used the blocks with 800 grit followed by 1200 grit and then ended with 1500.

I started some polishing on the rear of the car and so far have the trunk lid and both quarter panels completed. I did some experimenting on the process and what I find works really well is doing 2-3 passes with a denim pad on the rotary with Menzerna 400 compound. Then 2 passes with a wool bonnet on the rotary with the Menzerna. Then 1 to 2 passes with a microfiber disc on the orbital with Mequiars 205 Ultra Finishing polish.
I'm posting this first photo of the trunk lid full-size to show a reflection of the trees and sky on the top of the trunk lid well:



Here's a couple of the left quarter panel I completed polishing today:

[Skidmark]

Hey Roger, How's it going? Are you still finishing your car?

[roger1]

Originally Posted by Skidmark

Hey Roger, How's it going? Are you still finishing your car?

I was wondering if you guys were thinking that I was on the home stretch with the car but then dropped of the face of the earth!
Been busy doing other stuff. Major stuff.

The car is exactly where it was after my last post. What I didn't share then was that I color sanded through the driver door edge and then grabbed an edge with my wool bonnet buffer on the other door and went through. So I'm going to have spray a bit of base and re-clear both doors. The hood is buffed out fine but there are a couple of low spots I missed. But I'm going to take it to a paintless dent removal shop and see if they can push them up from underneath. I believe they will be able to but if not, I may choose to take the hood off, correct and re-paint it.
Anyway decided to put it aside for awhile and we both spent time up at our condo in Boulder over the summer to get out of the heat. I figured I'd wait and get back on the car after the weather cooled down back home which it is just starting to do now.

Now the big stuff. We had been talking about moving permanently from Texas to Colorado for a couple of years now.
When we were up there in July, we decided put the condo on the market. We had no intention of doing that this summer so it was kind of a spur of the moment decision. Then the first day it went live on MLS, it got a showing and we had an signed contract by late that evening! Closed in late August. In between, we went house hunting. Looked at a couple but figured it might take a good long time to find the "right" house. We did look enough to decide we wanted to be in the Fort Collins - Loveland area of the front range.
Then right before we were planning on going back to Texas, a new listing came on the market in the Fort Collins area. We fell in love, made an offer and they accepted. We closed on the that purchase about 10 days ago.

With so much happening over this short time period, we will need time before we are ready to list our Texas property. We need to get some repairs done on the house and I need time to finish up the car. Right now we are thinking we will put it on the market some time in February of next year. We've already been doing quite a few things with the house preparing and I plan on getting back to the car in a couple of more weeks. After I get it done, I'm planning on trailering it up to the new house. Too long of a drive when I will not have had enough driving time with it to consider the car all de-bugged.

Btw, the house we are buying has a 40' X 80' detached workshop with a 16' ceiling and 2 - 14ft high doors. Also has gas radiant heating built into the floor slab and a 3/4 bath in the rear corner. Yup, I could fit two 18-wheel semi trucks inside. Needless to say, I'm excited!

[bluejudge]

Wow that was a lot in a few weeks. Good luck with everything Roger, and glad you posted all those pictures and took the time to show us all your 69 Conv. Restoration. Thanks, Marc.

[Greg Reid]

Awesome shop/garage space.