Friday 30 August 2013

Windscreen finished

Hi
Long day and my arm is aching but the windscreen is lovingly hand polished.

My first job this morning was to get the wheels out of the way and onto the car.
And don't they look nice, not an exact match as they don't have any pearl in them so you don't get the slight flip but still look good.

Most of the rest of the day has been spent on the windscreen, yesterdays efforts turned out great so I had to do the same on the other upright. 

This side had the same pitting on the top edge as the other.

I started rubbing by hand then turned to my DA sander and put a 320 grit on for the main removal of the paint.
This took the main of but left 320 marks so I put a 500 on the DA.
This took out the main scratches but time to have a go by hand, I started with 400 dry in straight lines before moving onto 400 wet.
Starting to look good, then moved onto 600 wet.
Then onto 800 wet.
Then onto 1200 wet.
And 1500 wet.
Then onto 3500 diamond cloth wet.
By this time around 90% of any scratches where gone so it was time for the polish.
I gave it 3 polishes with the fine cutting compound before moving onto the metal polish.
This is after 3 polishes with the Autosol metal polish.
It was a bit premature as there was still a lot of work to do but I gave it a coat of wax and let it set for 15 mins then a good polish.
I shall redo the wax when I am ready to fit and then out with the white gloves.
The rest of the frame has the brush effect. The top rail is an extrusion as opposed to the cast sides and has no paint on so I gave that a sanding at 400 and 600 dry by hand to replicate the brushed look.
I'm not too sure about the bottom rail although I think it may also be cast as it also had a coat of paint or lacquer on it that took a bit of work to remove.
It all came up nice.
The inside had the brushed finish so again with the 400 then 600 dry.



Once I sanded everything in sight I mixed up a concoction to clean the glass, I new white vinegar cleans glass and I also had a packet of fine lime polishing powder so I mixed the 2 together, got a nice bubbly reaction as the acetic acid and the lime mixed.
That should lift any residue from years of road dirt, sneezes and sap and it worked a treat, I had to use the flat of a razor blade on the inside screen as all of those sneezes left a few lumpy bits.
I did clean it after with glass cleaner to help neutralise any acids I may have left on the rubber.
One refurbished screen, Terry has wrote saying that the damage to the rubber is more than likely caused by the windscreen wipers, other than that small damage the rubber has come up nice so I shall return the spare inner seal to Bruno.
Terry also mentioned the danger of not fitting the correct size rivets when replacing the windscreen fittings so I was extra careful as these are perhaps the main cause of windscreen cracks.
Anyway everything went according to plan and hopefully when I hit my first speed bump it will stay that way.
Now it is finished I shall bubble wrap it and put it under the bed as I still need it off for fitting the dash demisters when the dash is re-fitted.
But of course I couldn't resist having a look, so I loosely fitted it to the car.


Love the way it tapers in.

I shall get new seals for the quarter light and Terry has put me on to where I can buy them from.

I also recieved my new indicator light for the dash from CBS, I only ordered yesterday morning and it was here by 1400 still for £7 postage I would hope so.
I don't know whether its good or bad that they only had the double indicator in black and not chrome, you get a nice contrast to the chrome but not the match, O well its done now.
Terry also explained how to connect from the flasher unit in the fuse box which I shall look into, I can always then put it back the way it was, although I do quite like the new look.

See ya Paul

Thursday 29 August 2013

Windscreen start

Hi
Finished the 2 day course yesterday afternoon and it was quite interesting, nothing to do with what my job will be on the ship but you get a good insight into the wind generators that the ship will be erecting and the best bit was I got to jump out of a training tower to practise escaping.


Funs over, back to work.
I have done a little more on the dash and that is fitting the wiring loom, I unplugged it from the car a while ago and left it there out of the way, Terry suggested I fit it now which is a good idea as I have found a bit of a problem,

and that basically is my lack of car electrical knowledge. The problem is that I have fitted 2 indicator lamps were originally there was one and I'm not too sure about the wiring up of a second, I originally thought it would be easy but after a good look I thought no way so I ordered a single larger lamp from CBS that indicates as the original and have made a plate with a single larger hole for the new lamp which should arrive tomorrow.
Just have to be very careful removing the other plate.
I have had a couple of deliveries today the main one being the chrome demister escutcheons from SVC.
Very nice, the width of the holes are a little shorter so I shall have to carefully fill one of the holes on each side and try and paint them in, £26 inc postage and very well made.
I have been expecting the wheels to arrive sometime today so I started on the wheel nuts, these had not been polished in a number of years.
So I put them first on the wire wheel to remove all of the loose rust and then onto my polishing wheel.
A little pitted in places but will do for the time being.
The wheels arrived just as I was finishing for the day and they look great, I did not have them done in the pearlescent paint but a close match as this will be easier to touch up.
I shall get them fitted tomorrow and see what they look like.

The main job today and for the next couple will be the windscreen.
I have been in touch with Bruno and Terry B concerning the refurbishment of the windscreen and the general opinion is if it ain't broke don't touch it. I have bought a new seal from Bruno but he say's that I can return it if not used so I shall try my hardest not to damage the glass.
The reason for wanting to strip it and replace the inner seal was the damage to the bottom section.

It has two chips out of it, I don't know; but don't think that it leaks just by going from the lack of water damage to the inside of the dash where any water would have accumulated so fingers crossed.
The frame surround is, as I would image, is in the same condition as any other 26 year old frame that hasn't been particularly well looked after.
Not too bad but needs a good clean and polish, I started by stripping all of the riveted parts.
Then had a look at the worst parts which are the top corner sections.
These are showing signs of pitting in the aluminium, after giving it a good wash down I tried to polish out the pitting unfortunately the frame is painted silver and the paint rubbed off with the pitting so I put it on the polishing machine and up came the most lovely polished aluminium. So I just carried on with the polishing, unfortunately half the way through, my polishing machine decided to die and popped the RCD on the fuse box, I re-set and had another go but it looks like the motor has gone to earth. Bit of a problem half way through a job so I got stuck in the old fashioned way and had a go by hand.
While I was working on it Ant arrived with the wheels and he took it away for his electrician to look at, if I'm lucky he may be able to find the problem.
Anyway I started with 400 grit and worked my way up to 1500 wet then my 3" polisher and it has come up fantastic.
This is the painted finish.
This is the hand polished finish which I am no where near finished, once it is all polished then a couple of coats of wax should keep it nice and shiny.
So lots of elbow grease tomorrow.

see ya Paul


Monday 26 August 2013

Center Console Complete

Hi
Nice quiet day yesterday, the sun was out so it was driving, visiting and shopping although I did manage to get a few hours work in. 
The lacquering has been my main job, every six hours I have been sanding down and spraying, I was even up at 0430 on Sunday morning sitting in the kitchen rubbing down with 600 grit then giving it a spray ready for the morning feed. I mean lacquering. The work has payed off as after around 10 coats it is looking great even though I had to hand sand as I could not use the flat block because of the inlay around the edges.

In between sprays I labeled the dial gauge wiring and transferred the gauges over to the dash.
Looking pretty good, I also cut the hole for the courtesy light and fit that, I was going to reposition it but thought what the hell its on the wrong side to see the keyhole for starting the car so it won't make any difference where I put it.
You may also notice the small Panther winged badge very well stuck on above the radio, well I had a little oops! with that, it was supposed to be positioned on the dash central to the radio. I had it all measured where to go, put the superglue on the badge went to position it and dropped it, luckily it was close to where I wanted it, I tried to get it of but only just managed to straighten it before it was stuck and impossible to remove. O well.

I bought this badge on eBay along with another when I first bought the Kallista, the other badge is a 1st prize medal for section 11 for the 1984 International Coachworks Competition.
I have tried to do a search for more information to be certain that it was for a Panther and for which model and the only reference I can come up with is from a chap called John McEneff from the Irish Jag club.
The picture shows the badge in a J72 so was it for the J72 or the Kallista I don't know.
What I do know is that the J72 was in production from 1972 to 1982 and the Kallista from 1982 to 1990 and this was a 1984 competition, anyway if anybody has the info then please let me know.

Today was my 20th wedding anniversary so we had the morning in Durham with a nice breakfast and a walk along the river.
But the afternoon has been spent on the car.
I had finished the lacquer at 0800 this morning and it was ready for sanding.
The error I made on it is mostly hidden and I put it down to over enthusiastic sanding with a heavy grit on my sander. The top fillet was a little higher at one end than the other which put the centre switches out of alignment. I did a little fiddling with the holes and with the addition of the trim you can hardly notice.
You can just see it tapering down from left to right.
I rubbed it down with 1500 then polished and glazed it ready for the wax.
Before waxing I wanted to stick on the Panther logo I had carved from a piece of buffalo horn, it still had some small scratches from the sanding so I very carefully used the 3" sanding machine and buffed it up, I had difficulty getting into the tight areas but it mostly had a good polish.
I marked off where it was to go and put the superglue on the back, only this time I had more to grip than the little badge and managed to get it in the correct position.
I then gave it 2 coats of wax and a good buffing and it has come up quite nice.
I have fitted it to the console and fit all of the pieces into their holes.
Doesn't look much from the back. but the front looks great.
I shall buy a couple of mirror screws for the vent adjuster, these have the chrome covers that screw in the screw head.
The edging hides the plywood nicely.
I could not resist putting it all together to get an idea of the final look.
I have also managed a couple of other jobs today.
The main one I have been looking forward to since day one was the fitting on the nose badge.
Thanks Val if you are reading this it does look good.
I had one other job to do today and that was on the tie rod washers, I had a mail from Terry B the other day who pointed out I had them back to front and he wasn't wrong. I had a look at the pictures I took at the time and the cup goes to the nut side, all changed now.
Well that all for a few days as I am off to Middlesbrough tomorrow for a 2 day course to get ready for my new job which I start on the 11 Sept.

see ya Paul