As long as you didn't bleed on that new carpet, all is good.

 

You chuckle but that was indeed my immediate reaction... get the hell out of the car.

 

Getting familiar with the HVLP

 

Oh man, I just read this whole thread and it brings back a lot of memories from restoring my 69 over the years. I ran into many of the same problems as you (mostly related to similar bubba work). I also found one of the very early owners (1973-75) of my car, He wrote his name and address on the inside of the door panel...and he still lives at the same address! He sent me some nice old pics of the car. I will be driving it out to give him a ride in it this summer. I love all the pictures and frankness of your posts. Keep fixing things the right way. Even though you have had to fix a lot of Bubba's work, you will love the car more and more as you fix things. It's a great car!

 

Thanks A C. I really appreciate the feedback. It helps. Sometimes this project can get discouraging. I also found some papers belonging to some previous owners. Once this car is buttoned back together I plan to search for them.

 

Right. It was a little bit of a learning curve. I unfortunately burned through most of my paint, and yet I still have to do the seats and door panels. I hope the dye stretches that far. A second quart would be way too much and expensive.








Last pic is a map pouch from Wilcox, bright blue. The left is the old dark blue seat back. Quite nasty.

 

The next day I had learned and used far less paint. But the damage was done. The parts look awesome... but very low on dye.







Of course I HAD to mock it up. Who could resist that.

 

The steering column was a pleasant surprise. Under the old paint, I found a neat sticker in great shape. I decided to try and preserve it by masking. That worked well. Horn button is a huge improvement as well.













Just need to polish the lens a bit.

 

And finally - time to get rid of the T-top rattle. It just makes the car feel cheap.





I found 8 9f them in there. I snapped everything back together and sure enough here was one more left.

Too the time to polish the brightware.

 

Before I start reinstalling the trim and final reassembly of the interior it is a good idea to start hunting for leaks... water was getting in when I last drove it.

I found to biggest leak which was between the firewall and the cage. There was a gap all along it. That seems simple enough to fix.

Other places that I have read about and need to check:
- rivets in the wiper valley and assorted holes
- holes in the firewall where cables, wires and tubes are (or were) going through
- behind the door (door removed) the body needs to be sealed against the birdcage
- drainage holes must be cleared behind the kick panel vents; leaves and debris get down there from the wiper valley. (See pic below.)
- kick panel screw hole (which purportedly exists, bu I have never found it.)
- Pedal assembly, 4 bolts to fire wall
- clutch boot
- fender wing tip by windshield and door - needs to be bonded to the birdcage. A lot of dry caulking there need to be dug out and replaced somehow. There is some sort of drainage going on there too that needs to be channeled out of the car.

I think that's it...

Please feel free to add to the list or correct me if I am wrong.


One of the leafed up drainage holes to be checked is here, right ?

 

Spent an hour vacuuming leaves out. Found back a clip for wiper door trim. It looks in perfect shape.

Hm. I suspect where this car was... there wasn’t a lot of rain. In the other hand the mesh catches on both sides were missing. Once again, if you remove those, why not put them back ????

 

Did other T-top. There was only one plastic rivet in there

Time to reassemble these. They look reasonably good.





Fitting and testing

 

If you look closer at the big air vent that's behind the kick panel you will see that one of the pins is spring loaded so you can pull the whole thing out (control cable might have to come off first ) makes it easier to get access to the rubbish at the bottom. Also to replace the seal if needed .

Certainly a nasty cut on your hand, these cars aren't worth loosing blood over .

Love that your restoring the bright blue interior , mine was lemans blue, bright blue but previous owners painted it all black.

Carry on the great work but buy a safety blade please.

 

Haha, I always wondered what that sound was coming from the tops when I took them off. I am going to have to do some forensics on mine too.

 

safety razors from here on out. (I just nicked myself again cutting some butyl tape.)

Ha ! I saw that spring. It should have occurred to me that was to remove the vent. Thanks !!!

What’s with the black interiors already?

Yep. I figured I have been spending so much time sound proofing... i need to get rid of the rattle. It detracts from the solid feel of the car... and is embarrassing when you take them off and there are folks around.

 

Time to take this one on. As the interior gets back together, it is probably best to get the shifter rebuilt and back in there. The last thing I want to do is damage the freshly rebuilt console.








I think most of the job was cleaning the parts. Gunk was seriously caked on. I needed a screwdriver to chip it off. Solvent and gloves.

Putting it it back together was quite easy. I put in the thicker shim. The thin one was too loose IMHO. The thick one was a tiny bit tight... but I suspect that will free itself up over time. It feels satisfyingly solid and mechanical.





The alignment too is in there. As I understand it stays there until all the linkages to the transmission are connected.

I put the old shifter ball back on. That can go on at the very end. The last thing I want to do is damage the new one.

Hmm. I’m on the fence about connecting the linkages. They seem to be easy to snap together from under the car. What is recommended ?

 

Better in daylight

 

Got some work done today. Panels are slowly going back in.

The panels gaps are huuuuuge !!! I suspect this was typical for 1969. Nice to see it starting to look like a car again.



And Bubba strikes again as well. On only one spring.




How could I have not seen this till now?

I was on the fence for new coils... I just got brutally punted off of it.

 

Sooooo. I decided to take on the suspension ...and that was a good thing. I learned a lot about its condition. It needs a full rebuild, but so far I found nothing of grave concern.

First I got rid of the twist in wedges. I lifted the car and they pretty much fell out. I didn’t even need a tool. The were rattling around in there. This also leads me to believe that the passenger side simply fell out.

The fresh, bright metal seems to suggest rubbing.



Next was the shock absorbers. I am glad I dropped them. The have some rebound, but next to know compression. I mean seriously toast. The bushings were done as well. I wonder how old they are. I’ll bet these are the second set this car ever had. Closer look at the control arm bushings

 

Rivets. Ergo original ball joints. One ball joint looks in particularly sorry shape.




Off comes sway bar. Scrawny looking thing.