72 TA : New Project

[njsteve]

I spent a few hours today ironing out the fold marks and creases in the new headliner I bought. My wife laughed, of course, since this was the first time in 15 years of marriage that she ever saw me put an iron to an ironing board.

When she finally stopped laughing, she was a tremendous help though, telling me I needed to set the iron to full steam and set it to the lowest heat setting, and then place a beach towel over the headliner and iron through it to prevent melting the material.

She really knows her home-tech, that woman of mine! She is the Ms.Gyver of Household Drudgery.

[njsteve]

I found a pair of 15 inch rally rims on craigslist for $30 and was able to mount a pair of the 20 year-old Comp T/A/s on them. They are hard as rock but will work fine as bodyshop rollers. I need to find two more 15 inchers to replace the mismatched front 14 inch rims with 2 different 60's on them. At least I'm halfway there.

I have been starting her up and (allegedly) driving her around the cul-de-sac every few days just to warm the drivetrain up and to get all the dust out of the ductwork.







The things on the doors are a couple of pieces of roll bar padding to protect nearby stuff from those 100 pound, wide-swingin' doors.

[mockingbird812]

See MacGyver, all you had to do was post an update here and wa-la your stars are back!!

[njsteve]

I figured out a way to paint the new fender flare welting. Everybody who restores these cars tends to paint them the same color as the body which is incorrect. The welting material was originally supplied in bulk as a white latex-like material (on the white cars). They were installed at the factory that way, unpainted.

Since my old welting is petrified beyond useability, (that's them on the right, in the photos), and the new welting comes light grey, I ended up using white interior vinyl due. I cut the pieces to the correct lengtths, trial fitted them on the flairs, then removed them and over a period of several days I lightly misted the individual sections of welting until they were very thinly covered in white. They are now extremely flexible and should work out fine. The problem with painting the welting (other than being incorrect) is that even with flex agent, they will crack at the severe angles the welting has to conform to.

Here they are just temporarily press fit to the flares for storage purposes, and so they get a "set" for their final positioning.

[njsteve]

[ QUOTE ]
See MacGyver, all you had to do was post an update here and wa-la your stars are back!!

[/ QUOTE ]

If only everything was that simple!

[njsteve]

I also used up a four cans of Plastikote dark green/aqua trunk paint to get a preliminary coating on the primered trunk floor. On the sides, I was careful to cover the same areas, including the original undercoating/sound deadener that the original trunk paint was sprayed over.

I will probably end up using the Eastwood black/aqua stuff unless anyone has a better recomendation of something that comes in a spray can form.

[x Baldwin Motion]

[ QUOTE ]
I spent a few hours today ironing out the fold marks and creases in the new headliner I bought. My wife laughed, of course, since this was the first time in 15 years of marriage that she ever saw me put an iron to an ironing board..........

[/ QUOTE ]

[firstgenaddict]

I don't know what I like more... the T/A in general or the fact that you are using the PIT VIPER's Hood as a Work Bench!!!

[njsteve]

Ye Olde Project Pit Viper is hibernating in my above-ground, New Jersey time capsule. It's 15 years old now (and so is my marriage) .

I think the unveiling is in another 10 years or so, when it might be worth something as a historical former magazine project car. Then I can sell it to a crazy vintage Viper collector along with the 100 pounds of documentation cluttering up the house. With the sale revenue I could then afford a tank of year 2018 gasoline and take my wife out for our 25th wedding anniversary dinner at the Golden Arches Country Club!

At least I didn't store it under water in an Oklahoman time capsule.

[njsteve]

Well, I brought the car up to the bodyshop today to start the final body work and paint after sitting two months or so to settle, shrink and partially reassemble. We'll see how it progresses in the next month or so. Here it is getting dropped off: