Fixed The Door Handle...

Yea, I know, it may not seem like a big project, but if you had to reach in through the window to open the door every time, it would start to seem awfully important to you, I bet.

Anyhow, today was the day to fix the door handle on the driver's door, and while I have it apart, insulate the door, clean it out, and grease the window tracks. The button from the handle was completely gone, however the inside handle fortunately still functions normally.

After removing both window cranks (yes, you read that correctly, the vent uses a crank) the door handle, arm rest, mirror adjuster bezel, lower trim, lock pull knob, and one mounting screw at the top, I popped the 6 door panel clips and removed the panel.

The factory tar-coated craft paper "seal" was still intact and in pretty good shape, all things considered. But, I'm upgrading, so off to the trash it went revealing avery nice door with a pile of spray-on sound deadener in a pile of the inside of the door. It tends to dry up and release from the door skin over time adding rattles to the door, and plugging up the drains on the bottom of the door.

Note: the redish color at the center of the door is the factory red-oxide primer, not rust. Fortunately, rust is pretty hard to come by on this car. There are a couple places, but we'll address those in the future.

Anyhow, the door handle removes with two nuts from inside the door and pops right out. Easy to do. Sure enough, the button was gone and nowhere to be found in the pile of rubble at the bottom of the door. I cleaned and vacuumed out the bottom of the door, then turned back to the repair. I already had purchased a handle from a '67 Monterey for a donor. The handle itself was in fair condition, but the button only had a couple pits on the bottom, so I removed the button and installed it onto my handle.

Reinstalling it was almost as easy as removal. The only tricky part was making sure the handle gaskets stayed in their proper orientation which really isn't that hard to do. They run between the handle and the door face and you can see the thin black line at the perimeter.

A quick open and close test confirmed success! Before going any further I went ahead and hit the tracks with white lithium grease to help keep operation smooth.

Now all I needed to do before reassembly was add my new insulation. I am using the same material that I did on the floor (bubble wrap with aluminum facing). I have a 2 foot wide roll which is perfect for the door completely covering it top-to-bottom leaving a small amount of room to trim to fit.

I lined it up on the door, presses where the handle and cranks go to mark it and then punched holes with a screwdriver. From there I used a couple pieces of the aluminum tape to hold it in place and cut an "X" for the window adjuster to poke through. Finally I trimmed to fit while on the door and taped it down as I went.

From there I just reassembled the door. Although the insulation is thicker than the factory tar paper, if you keep it cut back just a touch, it will have almost zero affect on how your door panel lays when installed.

Seat Repairs...

I have three broken springs: one in the front, and two on the outboard side of the base. For a while now I have been trying to find seat springs or a donor seat base to repair it, but to no avail. One guy on eBay wanted $35 a spring while another person I contacted offered me 2 springs for $50, but I just can't justify it after only spending $185 for the buckets, console and shifter.

So, today was the day to fix the seat. The front spring I just welded up. Done and done.

The second one was a little more work, but still pretty easy. Since both pieces were there, I just used a couple of hog-nose rings tie them together and then welded them together. Worked just fine.

The third spring, on the other hand, was broken beyond repair. Fortunately I remembered that I have a 1968 Mustang bucket seat that I had picked up for about $20 a while back, so I thought I would check to see if there might be a spare on the base. No luck, but I did notice that the spring coils were the same.

Time to break out the pliers, a hammer and a vice and see if we can bend the spring to match. It was little bit of work, but I managed to get it bent and to get it pretty darn close without any concern of snapping the spring.

Once installed you almost couldn't tell it from original. A cheap fix, and it feels just like the opposite side of the seat. Now I need to address the upper seat backs as the driver's side latch isn't working properly, and it will need a couple spot repairs due to rust. More to come!

Carpet Installation, part 2

Taking advantage of the sunshine and hot weather, I spent a little more time working on the carpet install Saturday and Sunday. I started by digging out the remaining old seam sealer that was left in the back seat area, Cleaned it up, and finished putting down a new coat of seam sealer that will hopefully last for many years to come. Following that, I finished up laying down the new insulation/sound deadener.

All said and done, I probably have less than $75 into the entire deal with enough leftover material to just about do a second vehicle.

Next up I started the carpet install. Starting with the back seat and working my way forward, the fit was pretty good. But, a couple points of note:

1) The pans are quite deep which mean you will have bunching in the corners as the carpet comes out of the wells and transitions into the rocker area. No avoiding it, just minimizing it.

2) Because the carpet is for a 4-door, and this is a wagon, the carpet is too short in the back corners next to the second-row seat hinge. It's an easy enough fix with the excess that will be trimmed away.

I let the carpet warm up on the blazing hot asphalt before fitting it to the pan. This seemed to help some with getting it to lay right. But, like every other set of carpet I have installed, noting is quite 100%, so a fair amount of stretching and fitting is required prior to trimming. Do not expect to just drop this in place.

The front is a bit more work to fit. I did get it most of the way in and cut the hole for the shifter. Fortunately this doesn't have to be to machining tolerances since I will be using a center console. Just the same, I kept it pretty darn close.

Next time out I will have to finish up fitting/trimming it and cut the hole for the high-beams switch. Tomorrow night after the kids are off to bed I will probably stack up some books in the corners to help the carpet relax into the correct form. A nice, easy project.

Prep For Carpet Installation

Spent a little time working on the wagon today after taking several days off from it due to my busy schedule this week. Today I decided to get the shifter in the car.

But, before I could do that, I wanted to redo the seam seals along the toe boards and floor pan edges up front. And, I also wanted to start the insulation on the floor so I didn't have to work around the shifter for either process.

I highly recommend redoing the seam seals in any of these old cars. Mine looked nearly flawless with only a small amount of surface rust at the seam, but any rust means moisture is leaking past the seal. As it turns out, you could pick better than half of the seal out of the joint with your finger and it would come off in large chunks. After this much time, the caulk they use has all but released and the area is very porous.

It took me literally 15 minutes to pick out 98% of the caulk and vacuum it up. Anything that wouldn't pick out of deep grooves easily that was still soft I just left. Otherwise it was just some very light duty scraping with a putty knife.

Once that was cleared out I washed everything with Simple Green and let it dry. At 90+ degrees and light clouds dry time was quick. Next I hit all of the seams with DupliColor Rust Fix. It will convert exposed surface rust to a black oxide substance on the surface and should significantly slow any rust processes down. And since this car won't see salt, the treatment might very well outlast me.

Next, after allowing enough time for the Rust Fix to flash dry I stuffed the seams with strip caulk so they were filled and covered. It will remain pliable for about the next 40 years, so once again, this should be a one-time fix. Then to complete the seal I used Eastwood Products Seam Sealer. It comes in a quart can is is brushable. I use a 2" stiff China brush.

The consistency is pretty much exactly the same as Bondo. So is the smell. So is the color. And I have a sneaking suspicion, so is the chemical make-up. I will investigate further to satisfy my own curiosity, but for now we'll pretend I didn't spend $20+ on a $8 can of Bondo.

Anyhow, the sealer bushes on a bit messy looking, but do your best not to dab. It will lay down and smooth out to a great extent all on it's own.

This will start to set up pretty quickly and the surface will dry to the point that you can work over it or even paint on it within probably 30 minutes. The odor will last much longer. After 7 hours it is still strong.

Next up I started to lay in the new floor insulation. The original asphalt insulation is very heavy, and not nearly as effective as many newer options. I have also heard that it can sweat and trap moisture between it and the floor pan when changing temps or humidity quickly such as we get when night falls and temps can drop 30+ degrees in the evening creating large amounts of condensation on vehicles.I can't personally confirm this claim, but again, the threat alone is reason enough in my opinion.

So with all of the different options out there, what I have opted to use is what many guys I know are using as well and that is, as Home Depot markets it, barn insulation. Basically its a roll of bubble wrap with a very thin foil surface on either side so it will reflect heat, and insulate noise.

I have used this in my basement to insulate the heat ducts for years, so I know it works. It's also very easy to work with, and a LOT LESS EXPENSIVE than other products such as Dynamat. It forms and contours to the floor quite well. It cuts with scissors, and you use aluminum duct tape to tape it down. The results speak for themselves.

Once I got to this point it was time to install the shifter. I punched a hole in the insulation, drilled my mounting holes, added the strip caulk to the bottom of the shift hump, and then ... scratched my head. The shifter mounts to a reinforcement stamping the bolts up from the bottom of the vehicle, and the bolts go in through the top, through the floor pan, and into the reinforcement plate. This left me without an ability to hold the plate in place while trying to bolt the shifter in place.

I ended up having to wedge a board up under the car to prop it up in place so I could get the first bolt to catch. After that it was smooth sailing. I got everything bolted into place and filled in the entire perimeter with strip caulk to seal it off. And, it looks great! But, when I went to shift into another gear I discovered the that my '67 shifter I am installing fits differently than the '68 shifter I used to cut my hole.

I had purchased a '68 console originally that came with the shifter and the section of the floor pan that was cut out as well. I used that as a template to cut the new hole which turns out to be too small for a '67 since the shifter now hits the floor pan. Doh! This will be correct next time out with the nibbler from the underside, raining tiny crescents of sharp metal down. Oh well, a small price to pay to have it right.

Seat Covers Are Delayed!

Well, I just got off the phone with my upholstery guy and it looks like my seat covers are going to delayed. Apparently while working on another seat he fell off of his workbench and may have broken his arm.

Now I'm looking at 4-7 weeks, so we are into August before I will be able to drive it. Very disappointing, but I guess that gives me a window to finish everything else up. Time for a full-court press on finishing the rest of the work that needs to be completed before the seats go in, not that I have run out of things to do yet.