Deja Vu: 1971 Restoration

[Careless]

RE: Quarter window install

On 8/30/2017 at 11:45 PM, motorman7 said:

 I remembered to paint the  inside frame area satin black before installing the window (I forgot to do this on my '71 and it looks goofy, one of those things I need to go back and fix).

 

I was looking at photos of the two cars that are here... 1969 and 1970. I don't see any painting of the body contour/lip that holds the window frame in, though the tabs that the screws bolt through are not visible on the 1971 so they may be painted black on that year- that particular 1971 car has been painted at least once...

is that something they did on the 71's or late 70's, perhaps- or it just a recommended thing to do for aesthetic reasons if anyone happens to take the windows off to replace the seals?

 

Within the early 1970 pictures that were provided to me as it was delivered, there are a lot of things that are different as far as black paint goes for hiding bright body colour portions that show through on the interior/exterior. I think I am going to go with the photos provided at the time of disassembly for this particular case/car. When I get around to the 1969 car, that one will have a bit more attention put towards the body/finishes. The 1970 has had some weird stuff done to it.

 

I like what I see here, motorman7! lookin pretty damn noiiiiiiice!

Edited September 15, 2017 by Careless

[motorman7]

7 hours ago, Careless said:

RE: Quarter window install

 

I was looking at photos of the two cars that are here... 1969 and 1970. I don't see any painting of the body contour/lip that holds the window frame in, though the tabs that the screws bolt through are not visible on the 1971 so they may be painted black on that year- that particular 1971 car has been painted at least once...

is that something they did on the 71's or late 70's, perhaps- or it just a recommended thing to do for aesthetic reasons if anyone happens to take the windows off to replace the seals?

So this is an interesting item.  I checked the area on my '70 and there is really no need for black paint in this area as the interior plastic panels are all the way up against the window frame.  There is no gap, so I cannot see the area that I painted at all.  On my '71, there is a significant gap, maybe half an inch, and you can clearly see this area.  Now I am wondering why the gap at the window.  I will check my '72 when I get home, but that one may have been painted so I am not sure if it is a good reference.  My bigger concern now is the gap.  Why does the '71 have a gap at the window frame?  Did I install the wrong panel? (I do have several sets at home).  I was under the impression that the gap was normal as Jay Ataka was the one that brought it to my attention at one of the car shows.  Anyway, will have to look into this further.  

[Careless]

In your photos of your quarter windows- the top-rear "corner" of the installed passenger side looks like the seal is folded in behind the corner piece.

 

 

Looking at the '71 I have here, I don't even see the screw tabs, and there is no gap whatsoever- and the seal is even all the way around.

Did you put the little rubber shims in that area to puff it up and get a good seal there? Perhaps your seal bunched up in the corner and now the window won't fully seat.

Doesn't the interior panel kind of sneak over the tabs anyways, and but up close to the window to cover them?

I haven't taken the '71 interior panel off yet, so I won't know for sure if it's painted until I do (maybe tonight).

Edited September 15, 2017 by Careless

[motorman7]

23 hours ago, Careless said:

In your photos of your quarter windows- the top-rear "corner" of the installed passenger side looks like the seal is folded in behind the corner piece.

 

          I looked at that corner piece again as the outside gasket did look a bit 'thin' in that area.  It looked like the corner piece needed to be inserted a bit more into the frame so I tapped it in and re-assembled and it looks better. I took a pic and added it below.

          I checked the gap between the window frame and inside panel on my '72 and there looks to be about an 1/8 inch gap between the panel and the frame.  As I mentioned before, there is zero gap on my '70.  I am wondering if heat and sun exposure causes the panel to either shrink or deform and cause the gap.  That might explain why my '70 has no gap and the '72 has a gap as that car has obviously been in the sun.

 

        Also, I chickened out on doing the spindle pins myself and took it to the machine shop.  I also had them undo the 4 large bolts on the lower A arms.  (Those are the ones I broke my torque wrench on so I am guessing I hit them with over 200 foot-lbs without success).  They were able to get everything off, but said it was really a pain in the arse and it took some time.  Bill, the machine shop lead said they had the metal red hot and put it in a 50 ton press to help with the removal.  I asked him what the charge was and he said "you couldn't pay me enough to do that again".  He charged just $60 for the work so I went back later and brought him a 6 pack of beer for the extra effort.  Just glad I didn't have to do it.   I don't have the tools.   Anyway, the nice thing is I can get the parts all off to the powder coater and plater this Monday and should have it all installed by next weekend.  If I can get that done, it will be time to drop in the motor.  I am looking forward to that

You can see how torched the large bolts are in the picture below.  I will get those cleaned up and replated.  Will also order new spindle pins from zcarparts.com

[grannyknot]

54 minutes ago, motorman7 said:

That might explain why my '70 has no gap and the '72 has a gap as that car has obviously been in the sun.

My 70 Z never had a gap either but the 72 does, I can push the panel from inside the car and close the gap up easily so maybe it is just the sun.

[motorman7]

I drilled out the old bushings on the mustache bar and lower control arms.  I used a small wire wheel to clean up the inside.  Also scraped off the old undercoating from the suspension parts.  I will drop these all off at the powder-coater tomorrow AM.  I cleaned the outside of the fuel and brake lines in prep for plating.  I cleaned the tubes by sanding with 220 sand paper and finishing up with steel wool.  That makes for a pretty nice plating surface.  Then I add several large radius bends so that the lines will fit in the 40" long plating tanks.   Took pics of all the tubes before bending so I can get them back to the correct shape.  the long runs needed just 2 bends to fit within the 40" constraint.  These should look very nice once they are plated.

[Careless]

I did the same thing with the lines/

you'll probably want to cap the lines off with rubber vacuum caps.

[motorman7]

17 hours ago, Careless said:

I did the same thing with the lines/

you'll probably want to cap the lines off with rubber vacuum caps.

Yes, thanks for the reminder.

[motorman7]

I re-wrapped the engine harness and am starting to change out the visible connectors.  I have the bullet connectors, so I have changed those out but need to get the blade connectors and connector housings.   I will get the housings from http://vintageconnections.com/.  I ordered 4.8mm blades from Amazon.   I also started installing the harness in the engine bay.  It is easy enough to change out the connectors with the harness installed so I figured I would put it in.  Pics below.  Also, one before and after pic.

I picked up the rear suspension parts from the powder coater yesterday (sorry no pics yet, they are still in the protective wrapping).  Will get the zinc fasteners, brackets and tubes tomorrow.  Wife will be gone on Sunday and Monday so should be able to get a lot done.  Looking forward to that.  Should have lots of pics. 

[motorman7]

Wife is out for the next couple days so should be able to get lots done.  Should have some nice pics by the end of the day, WooHoo! 

Edited September 24, 2017 by motorman7

[Dave WM]

I almost get depressed every time I look at this thread and wonder why I can't make my car look this good, then I think maybe I can! what an inspiration to see such nice work.

[motorman7]

               So I cleaned up the rear shock towers and got one completely assembled.  Will finish the second tomorrow.  The old shock was stuck in the strut and was a challenge to get out.  The picture is a bit blurry, but I held the shock is my vise and put my slide hammer on the other end.  I ended up pounding on the slide hammer with a 4 lb hammer.  I soaked the strut in PB Blaster and Kroll for a couple hours.  Eventually I heated up the strut and pounded the strut off.  There was a lot of rust on the shock.

     I got the brake and fuel lines back from the plater and got those installed.  Will tackle the rear suspension tomorrow.   Pics are below