Ah, the alternator rebuild....it is one project I wish I would have forced myself to do when I rebuilt the car....instead, I just cheated and bought a Powermaster. Sold the original on the forum or Ebay. Seeing your pictures make me wish I would have restored the alternator, just because. Its not a big project. I just got to the point in the last year of the project I was anxious to drive!!!

 

I wouldn't say that it is cheating. Buying a replacement makes perfect sense in some cases. For me, I am trying to save a few bucks where I can so I opted to rebuild it plus I was going to powder coat it anyway which requires disassembly (and bearing replacement at a minimum) so rebuilding just made sense.




Well it took me forever with 1 hand but I did get it done. It was actually a very easy job if I had 2 hands and I absolutely encourage people to give it a shot. A complete rebuild kit for these can be had for around $40 or bearings and brushes for $15 if going cheap.









I also received a bunch of small parts that I had been waiting on to finish a few things up.

Pedal covers for my 4spd conversion set





The shift boot for my shift trim plate...it's already dusty!





Finally I discovered that I can actually clean and paint stuff with one hand so since I had already started on the interior previously I figured I would just knock out one piece a day.

The process is pretty simple: clean, SEM plastic prep, SEM plastic adhesion promoter, and SEM topcoat...in this case, satin black to match the rest of the interior.

Original





Cleaned and plastic prepped





Adhesion promoter and several light coats of dye until the color is uniform.





A quick note about cleaning and prepping interior stuff: unless you are the original owner, you never know what the interior was subjected to. One coat of Armor All back in 1975 is enough to make paint fisheye in 2018. The prep is specifically designed to remove silicone (which is what most interior products contain) but you have to do a small section at a time and constantly turn the rag to make sure that you are always wiping with a clean cloth. Also do not rub it in; wipe in one direction, turn the cloth, wipe again.

 

Nice work PS. Great tip on refinish of dash pod,

 

The interior piece refinish du jour...

 

Just scrolled through this entire thread....you're doing an excellent job!! Looks like you'll be done in time for summer cruising

 

I'd love if that were the case but very unlikely. I am hoping to get it done before next winter but even that I feel will be a huge stretch.

 

At least your getting things done !

Your accomplishing more with one hand than I am with two right now !

Your attention to the details is incredible!

I've been in stop for almost three weeks because of my work schedule!

Got some new parts though !

 

Some say attention to detail, other say obsessive compulsive behavior...who am I to judge


Sorry to hear that your work schedule is so difficult and I remember the frustration of wanting to do something in my shop but having to be at the office. Allow me to offer some food for thought: it could be worse and you could be out of a job. Trust me, I would much rather be working.

Glad you got some new parts. That is always one of the most fun parts of the day is unboxing something that we have been waiting for



On to the parts of the day. I just grabbed two random interior parts and did the usual treatment; plastic prep, adhesion promoter, topcoat. This is the stuff in case anyone is interested. It works very well.





Oh, and it should go without saying however for the sake of redundancy: be sure to wear a respirator when using these chemicals as they can be quite noxious.



Cleaned and waiting for the adhesion promoter to dry.







and topcoated...







I am also starting to work on restoring my sill plates which are pretty badly scarred/scuffed. Yeah, I know they are only $20@ but I decided when I started this project that if I could save something, I would and since my time is effectively worthless right now, $40 saved is $40 saved. Not to mention these are the high quality, thick aluminum originals and from what I hear the replacements are not high quality.

I am going to start by sanding with 220 to remove as much of the scarring as possible (some are too deep for it to be perfect but hey, it is going to be a driver) and progress through the grades until I get the finish that I want.

I am unable to hold the piece steady for sanding with my left hand so I am working around it by placing a 2x4 in a vice and using the screw holes in the piece to attach it to the wood. It should work...I will let you know in a bit.

They are in pretty rough shape...

 

Well I know who to ask for advice now on interior work- looks good.

 

Hi PS,
Very nice use of the SEM products!!!!

The quality of the reproduction sill plates is actually quite good... but they're just VERY slightly different than the originals... at least the 68-72 originals.
I think what stops some folks from trying to restore the originals is duplicating the extruded surface of the aluminum and then the clear anodizing.
The anodizing can be done but you have to find a shop willing to do just a couple of pieces.
I'll be interested to see what you're able to do with them!!!
Regards,
Alan

I 'believe' it's the quality of the currently available rocker trim panels that is somewhat lacking.

 

I will trade you for steering/rear diff advice

Thank you for the correction Alan. My memory is absolutely terrible and I had thought that I had read that the reproduction sills were not all that good. I saw the $20 price tag and just assumed that was the case.

In any case, I will continue to try to restore these as best I can and if the final product does not pass muster I will simply replace them.

I can ship these out for clear anodizing but since I am not going for a NCRS build, I was simply going to use a matte clear powder coat on them and see what the end results looked like. I doubt that I would be able to make them look like they were original, but I would be happy if they simply looked good and not completely beat up.

 

I went from 220> 400 > 600 > 1200 > 2000 and this is where I am at so far. I probably have about 2 hours of time into this one panel. Absolutely not worth it if the repop units are decent but hey, I am having fun =)









I am going to hit it with some compound and a buffing wheel and see what it looks like, then strip and repaint the piece. It is already a massive improvement over the original piece and it should be good enough for a driver quality part.

 

You are ambitious my friend!

 

Brother, you are a testament to perseverance! Love seeing what you are doing, and love the passion you bring to it! Thanks for letting us come along for the ride.

 

Mostly just bored...there are limited things that I can do with the state my hands are in.

Thanks! Again, it is very easy to persevere when you have literally nothing else going on. If I wasn't working on stuff for the car I would be eating Dorito's and watching daytime TV and let me tell you, that gets old really, REALLY fast!

 

Annnnnnnnnd how, Spanky!

 

Back into the shop this morning to work on that sill plate a little bit more. I finished it up after about 3 total hours of labor. Again, really not worth the effort since replacements are so inexpensive but I am already this far into it. I am considering modifying the 2nd one just to see how it could come out. I have some ideas but still undecided.

Anyway, stripped all the old paint.





Masked everything off...





Self-etching primer...





And then the color coat in satin black. The trick here is to not apply the paint and primer so thick as to obscure the very fine extrusions in the piece.





And a quick shot of the refinished piece next to the other side. It should be noted that the one that I refinished was in MUCH worse shape than the one shown here. There were some very deep scratches and gouges in the piece. I would say that I got rid of about 90% of them. It is far from perfect but for a driver I think it will do just fine.

I still have to buff this out and then apply the matte clear coat.

 

Painfully Slow, I found this thread yesterday and have been reading through it as time allowed, just finishing now. It's an amazing thread. What you are doing is educational, entertaining and downright inspirational. (You may recall you posted a very helpful response to a previous thread that I started, and after realizing that I'm a Kawasaki guy, you posted an awesome picture of you racing.)

I don't have to tell you this, but there's plenty of intangibles about Corvettes, all centering around emotion. That's why guys like us will walk into their garages and just stare at their vehicles. (My wife thinks I'm nuts when I've walked out and just stared at my ZRX.) This forum gives those of us that love Corvettes the opportunity to indulge our passion, connect with others who share that passion and to grow that passion. I've only been a forum member since December, but I've been a Corvette lover for over 35 years. In the short time I've spent on this site, I've seen so many people like you: willing to share their knowlege, experience and wisdom with others. How cool is that?

You are obviously an exceptional person and through this thread, you've managed to inspire lots of people like me that are just beginning their journey. I'm looking forward to your progress and have also subscribed to your thread.

My best thoughts and wishes go out to you and everything you have been through and are going through. I hope both you and your son are recovering well from your recent surgeries; and I'm one of those guys that wishes he lived closer to you, too.

 

I vote for an illuminated sill of some type. Maybe a nice backlit "Corvette" script or something like that.

 

PS, great step bt step process of the sill plates. Hopefully soon I will being using that process to clean up mine and get them on the car. Let's keep it going,

RVZIO