1973 Torino Tribute Restoration

Hey, you mind if I just start sending you all the brightwork off my cars? Hahaha.

 

Stainless steel. Aluminum is inert and won't grip the wheel to hold the cap on. Nice work! You can get any scratches out with Jeweler's Rouge (red buffing stick used in chroming shops - hardware store item.) You just rub it on a buffing wheel (disc type) and a drop of water and watch her shine right up!

 

Again thanks guys for the kudos! I did a lil more work yesterday. I finished removing all the interior plastic panels, dash board, and misc. odds and ends to clean and get ready for paint (dye). In case you don't remember I am also changing the interior color from tan to blue. I have managed to locate some pieces that were deteriorated (the already blue panels), but it looks like at least on one panel I may have to try and repair it because the sun has dry rotted the top exposed portion. (Any ideas how to somewhat match the texture when I get ready to do this???) Just another thing on the list of things to do. I was careful to bag and tag every panel's screws separately so when it comes time to re-install them I have some sort of idea where everything goes again. This is kinda intimidating if you ask me, but I am taking my time and making sure everything is accounted for.

I also started removing the trim pieces around the windows. The plan is to get the Wagon prepped and hopefully painted as well during the summer.

Today I'll take the vacuum and a bucket of hot soapy water and wipe down some of the caked on dust/dirt and see if I can get some of the other exterior window trim off as well.

I'll keep yall posted.

 

Here are few more photos:

 

Man, wish my window channels looked that good!

 

What I saw on the SEMS' Vinyl dye site, to texture it, is to use a cheese cloth (finer for small grain, coarser for more open grain) and tamp the dye while its still wet.

http://sem.ws/

 

Hey Guys, well I was able to get quite a bit done today. I removed the trim around the rest of the side windows and windshield along with the trim around the back glass and tailgate. ( I used light pressure and a spatula and luckily I was able to remove all the trim without any damage.) All of the trim is now removed as is the side marker lights and back tail lights. All that is left to do is the interior door panels, which is next on the list. It's time to start getting quotes on the body work and paint. I'm not sure if I am gonna have the shop remove the windows or not, but to be honest I would rather they did remove them to remove the old "goo-eee" black window sealant that gets everywhere if you touch it. Paint thinner seems to clean it up nicely, but I don't want the kids to touch it later and then get it all over my freshly painted interior panels. I remember our wagon as a kid always had this black sealant somewhere in the interior. ( With 5 boys... what do you expect??? ...we were curious...)

Anyway I did some cleaning up as well on the dash and around the window channels. Now I know why there was some sort of sealant on top of the window channels. Apparently there were some leaks, which were obvious from surface rust seen in the photos.

Well I have plenty of things to clean now so that should keep me busy for a little while. I still have a few more items to remove before she's ready to go to a body shop. ( Exterior - Remove the bumpers, door locks, door handles, and the front end pieces. Interior - Remove the door panels and the other misc. dash items)

 

Not a speck of snow!?!

Yeah, I'd get the old sealants off the windows. A lot of the new compounds handle the kind of heat you get down there. Make sure they use the 'good stuff' for your climate.

 

Will do! Thanks Norm...I felt obligated to get some things done in this low 60's weather. If not, I would be just plain LAZY! After seeing your photos of your "El Fresco" Shop I have NO excuses. (Although technically my shop is outdoors as well, but just with no snow...as a kid I do remember what snow was up in Indiana....I specifically remember the Blizzard of '79)

I looked into the SEMS website and I am gonna practice the repair on the extra panel I have to make sure I get pretty close to what I need. Wish me luck. By the way thanks for all the good advice and website referrals you have provided on this site when someone gets "stumped", believe me they do come in handy.

 

This is a bodyshop supplier for the shops, here. This is his list of major brands that he handles. Many have Canadian pages (.ca), but you can change that to (.com) for US sites.
http://www.rondex.ca/products.html

The 'good stuff' for window sealant is from SIKA. Here's their US website. SikaFlex is their window brand. The front windshield product is a bit tougher, and takes windspeed impact into account:
http://www.sikaautomotive.com/ind-auto/auto-product.htm

 

The black flies were a bit of a pain. When they landed on freshly rolled on paint, I'd just wetsand the little beggers off!

 

I took a half day off of work yesterday to get some things done due to it was gonna be raining today. Well there's no rain yet, but I did manage to get the front end pieces off along with the door panels. Luckily the door panels are in pretty good shape so I will just need to clean them up and get them ready for paint/dye. The paper backing was still there and in decent shape, but I would like to replace it. Does anyone know where I can find some of this "weather protector paper" for the door panels? I would just use the originals as templates to cut out the new ones. I also discovered that the front door speakers were completely dry rotted as well, which really wasn't a surprise. They were screwed in with drywall screws !:banghead3: I'm sure they didn't come from the factory that way. Next to do is removing the door weatherstripping along with the door window "fuzzies".

The last photo is what she looked like when I went to pick her up. So far it's been fun!

 

Drywall screws, eh? That's just for extra hold.

 

Hey Guys although the Mrs. is not really on board....yet....She did let me use the guest Bathroom tub as a cleaning station today with the condition that I would have to clean it up once I was done. You're probably gonna laugh Norm, but the high today was only 44 and in Texas terms thats kinda chilly so I didn't want to use the garden hose outside . So anyway, I got the windshield trim and side back window trim cleaned up along with the tail light assemblies. I started re-painting the flat black accent colors on the back window trim, tail light assemblies and instrument cluster, but I ran out of paint so I'm gonna have to swing by the hardware store this week to get some more flat black and semi-gloss black paint for the headlight buckets. I'll let those items dry over night and then go over them with the steel wool to highlight the accents. I probably need to invest in a bench grinder/polisher at some point and try and polish these items with some compound as previously suggested to get them to shine a better.

 

Weather Protecting Paper is fine for a museum resto, but for durability I'd use 6 mm plastic. If you have to get it, go to a bakery shop and ask for their cookie sheet parchment paper - its waxed and comes in 24" rolls.

Then here's a trick I learned about door speakers. Mopars started to install amplified speakers in their 1984 models, so they used rain shields above the speakers to deflect the rain and dust away from them. Think of a beach sun visor on a baseball cap.

Yeah, I lived in Guadalajara for 5 years, so I know that those chilly days are bone-chillers down south. Downright nice of your wife. Did a super job too!

A Dremel does a great job and its easier getting some of the tight corners with their finer pointed buffing wheel spindles.