1973 Torino Tribute Restoration

I'll bet your excited! This is a big step in the process. The temptation is to hurry and get it done once it's all painted up pretty.

I know I can speak for everyone on this...we can't wait to see it done but we can.

 

'tend to ride everything like a horse'. The Horse is simpler to reassemble.

Yep, tBird, we can wait. It's like the painful patience when you're changing the heater core in a Fox wagon. So many details and hours looking for the right clip or cleaning up the fasteners you found in a can under a pile of stuff. But that's where the Detail tells the tale.

You know, since restoring my wagon, I've realized that I have more confidence in it than any other of the 77 cars that I've owned. I know every nut, bolt, screw, wire and clip, and how to fix a squeak or a rattle.

Glad that the City helped the project along.

Just remember that she's bigger than a mustang, and they take you for a wild ride without being whispered to a lot.

 

Thanks guys. I am really excited to finally have her off to the paint shop. I haven't had a car painted since high school and even then it was a quickie chain store paint job that was not much more than a few hundred bucks. Let's just say this is no hundred dollar paint job. I just hope the quality matches.

 

Well...I am EXTREMELY impressed with the detail, tenacity and quality of the work being done on this car, GPD. The floors are perfect...I hope you did the bottoms as well. With your detail oriented work mode...I'm sure you did. People tease me about my detail on cars but I'm not teasing you at all. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right. You are leaving no detail un-noticed. Great job. Your dad is smiling.

 

Why thank you very much Silver! I really do hope my Dad is looking down smiling, cause I know if he were here he'd tell me to stop spending money. My Dad was sort of a thrifty fellow if you know what I mean.

 

I know EXACTLY what you mean...my dad was the same way. I think it was coming through the depression that made them frugal.

 

I spoke to my painter this week and he's working slowly, but surely. (Working on getting all the woodgrain off, very difficult he says). That seems to be the way things go. I am really in no hurry since the drive train is next and funds are slow coming in. I spent the day cleaning up all my weatherstripping. Unfortunately my tailgate weatherstripping is in need of repair. The door weatherstripping is very nice considering it's age. I sent a request to steele rubber parts to see what it would cost to reproduce this piece, I also asked a fellow member about this as he posted this same question some time ago and advised that he had sent all his wetherstripping to Class-Tech-Cars for reproduction. Hopefully one or the other will respond.

Now that my weatherstripping is clean what should I use to keep it soft and pliable? I have heard that Mineral oil or Armour All is good, but I don't want anything to eat at this stuff because as far as I know they don't reproduce these pieces.

Thanks Guys, I'll keep yall posted with the progress.

 

Mcquires makes a bunch of rubber/vinyl conditioners.
I just spray some on a shop rag or paper towel and give 'em a wipe down.

 

I'm with Andy on that. ArmorAll has its place on hard plastic, but vinyl and rubber don't get a longer life with the silicone content that's in it. It will harden it over a couple years and you'd be replacing again.

 

Bought some McGuires Rubber and Vinyl conditioner this weekend and it worked well. I have all my weatherstripping hanging from the rafters in the garage. It looks good. I figure prior to re-installing I will re-condition it again. Thank yall for the help.

 

I spent the first day of my vacation cleaning, painting, and reparing some of the interior plastic panels. I used POR-15 Marine Clean to thoroughly wash every thing and then used wax and grease remover prior to spraying the pieces with Klean Strip Bull Dog paint adhesion promoter and then finally the dark blue Dearborn Classics spray can paint. Everything seemed to work well. There was only one panel that needed sanding and some texture spray paint. I have a couple more to do along with repairing the crack in the dash pad prior to painting them, but that will come later in the week. I am going to go see my wagon at the paint shop tomorrow so I should be able to update the thread with more photos. Thanks for the continued interest.

 

That Bulldog stuff sounds and looks like a great product. I'm happy with my SEMS finish, but I could have used the texturing product. Is that a second product? Sure looks classy.

 

I only used the texture spray on only one panel so far. ( I'm gonna have to use it on one of the bigger back cargo area panels as well, but I practiced on this smaller one first.) It was the one where the seatbelt beat it all up and it was also somewhat sundried. (The plastic panel just above the Driver's left shoulder that covers the upper seatbelt assembly) I sanded down all the dry rot which left some of the panel smooth. I sprayed the Bulldog stuff then some Krylon texture spray then the blue paint. It was a small process, but it came out looking pretty good. On the bigger panel I think I'm gonna use some plastic body filler to fill in the pin holes and roughness the sanding leaves behind because this panel has a bigger dry rot section, then spray it with the texture spray. We'll see how that works.

I went and paid the wagon a visit at the body shop. She is looking good. She is taken a part and the rust issues are being delt with along with getting everything nice and straight. Here are a few photos.

 

I forgot that Krylon made that stuff. Do you recall the old Roxotone paint? It had those pale flecks that dried faster than the rest of the paint. It made a nice pebble finish. I wonder if there's anything like that around. Ah yes... Stone Guard!!! Inspiration again. Thanks for sparking my mojo.

 

Worked on a few more pieces today. I painted all the door panels and a couple of the odds and ends. My fingers are hurtin' with the repair I had to do on the bigger back cargo area panel. I haven't painted it yet, but the wrinkle finish is looking pretty good. I started out cleaning the panel then I used some Bondo glaze/spot putty to fill in all the pin holes and deep scratches. I sanded, then filled in the grooves (twice), then cleaned with wax and grease remover, then sprayed with The Bull Dog spray, then the Krylon wrinkle finish spray. It was looking kinda rough at first, but then it started setting up. ( I did 3 heavy coats) It's looking pretty good. Tommorrow I'll spray the BullDog spray again then the final paint. We'll see how it looks after everything.