Started The Bodywork!

Just set things into high gear and got a great jump on the bodywork today, and there are plenty of dents to address! It looks like someone drove this drunk down a street with cars parked up and down it, or they were playing tag, because both sides of the wagon are dented up front to back. But, with a little help from my friend Tim, and a bunch of hammering on sheet metal, I am almost ready to start putting down a layer of filler to true up the panels.

We got the windows, hardware and trim removed from all 4 doors, and in the next couple of days I will be sending my dew wipes from the doors and the tailgate out to be redone. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this goes smoothly. If so, I will be set for about $150 which is pretty awesome.

The rear tire is off the car because, unfortunately at some point, someone thought it would be a good idea to flatten out the lip of the wheel well with a set of pliers. I straightened it out as best as I could, but I couldn't true the underside up 100%. I guess if it has to be off, that is the place to do it. The wheel well trim is quite rough, but I picked a decent set up some time back. I will have to see if thwy are a correct fir now since they are off a full-size Merc, but not a wagon. I hope so, because finding even those was almost impossible.

I also got to spend a little time yesterday working on the second header and have the first tube's run tacked up. That's the hardest part, but now that it is done, I can run the other three around it down to the collector. Should be interesting since I will need to work around the steering.

More to come soon...

Door Panel Restoration...

OK, so this is a bit more of an overhaul than a true restoration, but the first panel is done and it looks sooooo much better than before.

This first picture shows the complete panel with a spare used that is very similar in condition to where the completed panel started.

What a difference! But these aren't going to be perfect. The vinyl is 46 years old and has cracks, chips and other imperfections, and this isn't going to be show care, so I'm cleaning these up only so far, and I drew the line at actually repairing the vinyl.

I started by giving the panel a good wash. From an appearance standpoint, it really didn't have much an affect, but was critical to prep for the dye. I opted to use my old standby, Simple Green, to clean the panel.

Next, I carefully removed the backerboard. It was warped (like almost all of this age) and starting to deteriorate. The lower section of the panel was glued down to the backerboard where the lines are. I carefully separated it using a putty knife, and that seemed to work reasonably well. The staples at the edges came out easily, but the vinyl at the edge is very brittle, so care when working with it for all processes was important.

The last step in removing the backerboard with popping it free of the top steel panel. 22 holes were punched through and the points were stamped flat. I used a long, wide-bladed screwdriver to pop these free. It did damage the board at the holes, but left plenty intact for use as a template.

Once off, I had to decide what to use for the new backerboard. I knew I didn't want to use fiberboard of any kind, so I did some looking. Home Depot had a plastic panel smooth on one side, and pebbled on the other that was slightly thinner than the original board and $25 a 4' x 8' sheet. One sheet is all that is needed.

Probably the biggest impact on the appearance was redying the panel. It was already cleaned, so now I had to remove the old "chrome" finish on the thin rule trim. A little quality time with a flat razor blade and it all came off. Then I taped it off. Using SEM Color Coat in medium heavy coats, the dye covered nicely after just two coats without plugging the pattern, running or sagging.

I carefully traced the old panel onto the new material taking care to flatten it out as I worked, and then cut out the perimeter using tin snips. I could have used a saw, but with a little care I could trim out the panel and make a much smaller mess without having to clear an area and set up with tools. I suspect from the way the material cut it is made with fiberglass. It did score and crack pretty easily and cleanly.

Next, I measured out and drilled the holes for where the panel attaches to the metal cap. 20 of the 22 were in line and evenly space. The last two had roughly 1/8" and 1/4" run out. I drilled the holes to be almost exactly the size of the part that would poke through them. They fit very tightly. To keep from cracking the board, I placed a small deepwell socket over the hole and gently (relatively speaking) tapped them down. Then, using a punch, I flattened the tips back over then panel where I could. As tight as the holes were, I have little fear of the panel popping loose.

Here is a close up of the two holes that were out of line from the others.

The holes for the door handles and window cranks I actually waited to drill out until after I mounted the panel. It seems like I was doing it out of order, but it helped me make certain the holes weren't off. They were 1" dia, so I used a paddle bit which made clean holes with a support board behind the to prevent tear-out.

The holes for the door clips were drilled, and then square cuts were made by scoring and snapping small areas out. They aren't as pretty as the factory, but they work well, and the door clips aren't loose.

Next, using double stick foam tape, I cut thin strips and applied it to the back of the vinyl where it glued originally. We'll see how it holds up over time. The edges got the same treatment with a slightly wider slice and seems to hold quite well. If it holds until they are hung, great!

The last thing I needed to complete was the trim. It needed to math the factory chrome trim, but without having to be removed, and it had to be affordable. After trying a couple of options, I ended up with a sealant tape. The chrome isn't quite a bright as some other options, but it performs much better for my purposes, and is a close match on brightness.

I cut 7/16" strips that I laid after supplying a small amount of water to the trim with a spray bottle first. this makes it easier to reposition if need be without trashing the tape.

The end result? I'm happy. I just need to get started on the next three...

You Know You Buy A Lot On eBay When...

With three projects going, I buy and sell a fair amount on eBay, so it isn't uncommon to come home to find a package or two on the porch. That is, unless I haven't purchased anything, and then it's really odd.

In the past week that has happened twice from people that I have never purchased from, nor have I sold to. I didn't realize the first package was sent in error as I hadn't had a chance to open it and it sat for several days before I did. What gave me concern was when I had everything I had ordered, or so I thought, and two more packages showed up. Very strange!

So I did the honest thing and contacted eBay. Their customer service rep listened to my story carefully, and then asked to put me on hold. When he returned I was informed that he could neither confirm who the seller was, nor the buyer. Further, they had no policy on record to address this scenario as they have "never had anyone call to say they received something they didn't pay for," so their position was this: I could keep the items, or I could try to figure out who the sellers were and talk to them.

Morally, I can't (and won't) keep them, but now the burden of finding where these belong has fallen on me. Fortunately there were enough clues for me to locate the original auctions and sellers without having to chase them down via their return addresses. I have contacted both. The problem with this is this only gets me half way there. The items are no longer legally theirs. They belong to the buyers.

Further, I have to hope that both items were purchased by the same person, that they weren't using my name and address intentionally to commit fraud, or in an attempt to defraud me, and convince them that my shipping address is showing up in their account through no action on my part.

Fun.

And if it's two different buyers, I now have a whole host of potential issues to worry about.

On the bright side, at least I don't have to worry about eBay coming after me. They could care less.

Many happy returns!

P.S. More on wagon progress soon (now that I finished redoing my daughters bedroom set!)

Replaced the Rear Springs...

Got a little time out in the garage today, so I replaced the rear springs. I bought them over 6 months ago, but they haven't been a priority. While cleaning the office today I had to keep moving them, so they moved up the list. Easy project to take from start to finish and the car sits level again.

A Little Interior Work...

Been a little while since my last update, but in my defense, I have been non-stop around the house getting the Spring cleaning done early. Anyhow, on to the updates!

Today I was able to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather (we hit 60s in early March!) and do some work on interior trim. I need to get it all pulled, painted or reupholstered so I can pull the dash pad and replace it with the new one, and I need to paint the lower dash. I'm hoping to do that one without removing it, but we will have to see if I can pull that on off.

First off, the pillar trim is padded. I stripped the old covers off and this is what I had left (note original cover still on lower pad):

Unfortunately, the vinyl they used to cover the pad is quite thin, while I had to use the same material as I did for the seats. This made it much more challenging. Hopefully everything fits when done. Spray-mount, press, trim, and work it into place trying to get the adhesive to stick and you get this (original still below):

Much better, but I have some wrinkles I will need to try to work out. The thicker material really makes this a challenge, but it looks a thousand times better and it will match the rest of the interior.

I also redid the spare tire access cover. Resisting instinct to do it my way, I applied adhesive the same way as the factory did. The net result is I ended up with a couple bubbles that will be difficult to do. Hopefully I can get them, but in the meantime, what a difference!

I still need to reinstall the bar at the bottom, and the hook on the inside by the handle hole, but much better.

I also sprayed about a half dozen pieces of trim and then ordered more SEM Super White (which is really an off white, and sorry, no pic yet) because I am going to at a minimum do the door panels as well, and may spray the last two larger interior panels that go in the back of the vehicle. Plus, I need to do ALL of the third row seat assemblies, minus the upholstery. The big panels are upholstered, but it is just going to be way to much work to have new ones sewn up.

Once the trim and dash are set, I can reassemble the interior, and add the console back in. I still need to redo the seat tracks, but I bought a 5 gallon bucket of EvapoRust to soak them, rather than trying to disassemble them and blast them. If my gamble pays off, I can eliminate the rust, paint them and put them back into service while saving myself a ton of added labor, and ultimately end up with a better product.

I found one picture I have of the windlace from the driver's door. It looked rough, but after cleaning with Simple Green and then lacquer thinner and them a fairly heavy couple of coats of SEM Color Coat, and they look almost new!

That's all for now. I'll try to get a pic of the trim for my next post, but there won't be much to tell other than it worked and it was easy, or otherwise.Now to pull all of the third row seats so I can have them soda blasted...