Doug's Journal

Today I took a morning drive with a couple buddies. We went to Bass Lake for breakfast. Weather was great and the company was better!

When I got back out in the garage, I started the carpet installation. I was a bit nervous gluing in the sills with only 2-hands but it all turned out great. I don't know how anyone else does it but I used the 3M 90 High Strength spray adhesive. First I dry fit the pieces and masked around the spray area. Then I would spray both the metal panel as well as the rubberized side of the carpet. While I waited for that to tack up, I would remove the masking tape so it wouldn't get stuck underneath the carpet. Then carefully fit the carpet.

The dry fit was a great step as there were many times I was trimming the pieces to get a better fit. As I look at tomorrow's work, a few of the pieces have me scratching my head. I can't figure out how to fit the carpet over the "Starter Cover" in the passenger's footwell - unless there is WAAY too much carpet and I just have to trim it down.

Also, this car had the stiff heel board on the passenger side, but not on the drivers side. I guess I'll just have to screw it directly to the footwell.

Lastly, I cleaned up the handbrake as well as the vinyl backer that was all dirty and curled up. After cleaning, I glued it down and then hit it with some vinyl paint.

Today I thought I would install the carpets. But a naked floorboard just annoyed me. My plan is to sell this car, so it would be understandable if I did the absolute minimum. But part of the fun (for me) is doing things the right way. I enjoy the work and I DO NOT want to be a future DPO.

So I visited my local Lowes and picked up a roll of Peel & Seal (roofing sealer). But for all intents and purposes - it was exactly what I wanted to reduce some of the road noise through the floorboards. All of the original mastic "buffer" was gone. So I spent the day measuring and cutting and ultimately taping all the seams. The roll of Peel & Seal was about $17 for a 6" x 25' roll.

It only took about half of the roll and was relatively cheap (compared to some other products). I am really happy with the results.

I also removed the transmission access panel, cleaned it up, painted and replaced with new fasteners. I am very happy with today's progress.

So today I took the wire wheel to the bottom side of the floorpan to clean of the surface rust, Afterwards I coated it with some primer. After that dried I put the seam sealer on. After that dried - I sprayed a topcoat on it.

In the morning sun, the trunk had a lot more color than I could see at dusk. I am pretty certain a single can of Damask Red single-stage spray paint is NOT going to fully cover. As you can see the difference between the previously black trunk and the seam sealer. I'm planning on putting some carpet in the bottom, so I'll focus on the non-carpeted areas.

I top coated the floorboards and tunnel, Removed the transmission access cover and painted it. I have some bubble heat shield for the tunnel, but I may skip it since the molded carpet tunnel piece has pretty heavy insulation. In my previous 1966 (Nigel), I used too much insulation - as a result it was very quiet but the seats wouldn't adjust fully because the width of the tunnel had increased with the extra insulation.

I moved to the window regulators, both windows were pretty stiff, but after some light lithium grease, they freed right up. So I installed the vapor barriers on the doors. The passenger side window scraper was deteriorated badly. I had an extra so installing that was much easier than I anticipated thanks to a tip on the board about removing the bottom stop to allow the window to drop another inch allowing removal and installation of the window scraper without removing the window.

Tomorrow I'll start the installation of the carpet.

What a stinking mess this is to clean up!! It was incredible how much adhesive some DPO had poured into this floorboard. Most of it had become hard, but some of the thicker spots had softened the adhesive so it became gummy. The die grinder with wire wheel worked great on the lighter areas, but really bogged down when it got thick. So I eventually broke out my grinder with a twisted wire wheel and that was the big gun I should have started with.

The passenger side had some surface rust that was covered with very thick adhesive. I think the DPO thought the adhesive would "cure" the rust. Anyways, I got the rust cleaned out (below is a picture of the passengers side that isn't quite finished yet - I was just updating my dad with a photo of the progress). Then sprayed it with a light coat of Rustoleum primer/paint.

The drivers floorboard was replaced by a local British Specialty Shop, but they did not deliver the complete job my son had paid for. They had left unpainted bare metal after floorboard installation and had never put any kind of seam sealer. So after cleaning both sides and priming with Rustoleum, I applied seam sealer. After this dries I will paint the floorboards again and then we're on to carpet.

I had also cleaned out the trunk with the wire wheel. Some of the factory seam sealer had been removed as a result so I put the seam sealer back here as well. I have a can of single stage Damask Red that I will use to paint the trunk. The DPO had cut speaker holes in the bulkhead. I hate that it looks butchered but will leave it for now.

After removing the tail lights and masking off the trunk I gave it a light first coat. It doesn't appear to be throwing a LOT of color. Of course, it is over a black, so there's that.

This car belonged to my son and it really is a sweet car. He lost the desire to work on it and so now it is in my stable. I tried selling it last year, because it has such great bones, it just needs finishing. Which I thought would be a PLUS for anyone out there as they could finish it according to their own tastes - but I was unsuccessful. This is really okay with me because I've had a hankering to get my hands back some restoration work.

Last spring during Moss's annual upholstery sale I purchased a new interior and I'm looking forward to installing it. I have new carpet, new door cards, new door caps, new seat covers, new steering wheel as well as door handles & cranks.

First step is removal of what is there, then repair what's needed and prepare for installation. Lastly is installation.

The seats were really ugly Naugahyde and you can see the original color on the back bulkhead. We had used vinyl paint to paint them tan. Anyways, the seats were removed for refurbishing while the interior is prepped.

As you can see in the photos, it is incredible how much petrified glue is stuck on these panels. I tried using some Acetone to remove it, but it was caked waay too thick. I had to resort to using a die grinder with a wire brush. That works pretty well but is very messy with glue dust flying everywhere.

I also have an issue with a drivers side floorboard. I had paid a local British Specialty shop to replace the rusted floor panel with a brand new Heritage panel. They welded it in, but didn't finish well. So I will be removing the surface rust where they ground off for clean welds, priming them, applying seam sealer, and lastly painting with a top coat. This will happen prior to installation of the new carpet. Unfortunately, I have to do these same repairs on the underside of the car.

I plan on detailing this process in my journal.

NOTE: This work was done in July, August & September of 2018

I bought this car from my dad, a Wire Wheel conversion kit had been installed but the tires always rubbed. When I sold my previous '66 (Nigel) to my buddy Scott - I moved the 14" Chrome Wires off of this car and included them in the sale. I purchased brand new 15" Chrome Wires and tried to use them, but there was not enough clearance. So I happened to have a spare WW tube axle from an older car I cut up. So I got about cleaning it up and refurbishing it. Although the pics don't show, I did replace the copper and fiber washers in the spider gears. This process took longer than I thought.

I purchased new drums, shoes, springs, adjusters, wheel cylinders and a new emergency brake cable. One think I didn't account for was the hard brake lines. So I had to just bend them so they'd fit. I will be replacing them in the near future when I convert this system from DOT-3 to DOT-5. This will happen when I pull the engine to paint the engine bay Tartan Red to match the body. Shout out to my son Joseph and my Dad and buds Scott and Keith for helping.

One last thing, the previous 14" wheels experienced grease creep from the hub through to the top of the spokes. To prevent this I coated the inside of the spokes with silicone to hopefully prevent this.

The new 15" wheels fit perfectly, .75" clearance on both sides. Definitely a worth-while conversion.