time for another biggish update. Well, one with lots of pics.
Drove her down the road back to george's two weeks ago for the black paint, glass and some trim. One eye watching for the local bobby, it was good to drive her on an actual road and even with a lot of choke, she had that sprint "kick" when the throttle is given a tickle. Tested the OD and that worked, so good news there.
I fitted up the tunnel after fixing up the clutch master, which had for some inexplicable reason, thrown the master rod back into the drivers compartment. Bled it again and made sure the circlip was properly seated. I had cut a section out of the passenger side of the tunnel and for sound/thermal insulation used a mousemat, which provided a nice tight seal. More insulation goes over the top, inside the car. Fitting it back proved to be one of those 5 hour jobs. I have a theory that every job on the sprint takes 5 hours, from 1pm until 6pm, no matter how apparently trivial or how complex. Refit the engine, 5 hours, refit the rear lights, 5 hours. All the same.
anywho, onto the first of the pics:
the hole, for accessing the clutch slave, should I need to do so
with plate over, showing the mousemat insulation (more on mousemats later)
down at George's, fitting the rear screen. Good seals (from Vangaurd spares in melbourne, $100 each). George was very patient and the screens slid in like magic, with his tricksy rope thing. Silastic seal underneath.
taping up for the black. Bootlid fitted up well and bonnet likewise. Nervous moments wondering if the bonnet would open up, but steady, logical steps building up to the "shut it" moment proved successful.
George didn't take any chances of getting black in the wrong spots
sprayed and glass in.
satin black used on the sills and back.
I tried the dishwasher trick on the tail light lenses.
more mousemat goodness. Ideal stuff as far as I can tell, for the gaskets around the tail lights and front indicators. Cuts easily, stays in place well, correct thickness and gives a great seal.
tail lights in
after a bit of debate, we fitted back the bottom weatherstrips, using the correct clips. We broke 3 clips and didn't use any glue. Hoping that keeping the car in the shed and out of rain/salt air will prevent rust in this area (that and a lot of fish oil in the sills)
boot lock, greased up, grease was later cleaned up a bit. The lock actually fouled the latch, so the boot lid was moved forward a few mm. It still sits well, but a little high on the left side front. maybe 2mm.
onto bumpers, another 5 hour job. Wire brushed back on the inside, masked up, hit with rust eater then sprayed with black zinc. From the treasure trove that came with Thomas' sprint, I was able to find some good bumpers, not perfect, but not too bad. I had thrown the overiders into the rubbish skip at Darwin naval base in 1988 when I put the spotlights on, thinking I'd never need them again ! Luckily a pair came up on ebay for $20 and they were in excellent condition.
rear bumper fitted up, a bit of faffing around here. I managed to drop the mounting bolt behind the petrol tank and it slid out of reach. Needed to take the petrol tank out (drain etc) to retrieve it
In the end, we attached the side points first over some rubber gaskets, finding the caged nuts (all treated with never seize) with the bolts. then using vinyl gaskets on the rear mounts, swung the bumper into place.
front bumper was easy. same rubber gaskets on the sides, fitted the mounting brackets to the bumper, then fitted the bumper to the car.
Son's sprint in the background. This was an ebay purchase for $1400. Absolute bargain and in really good condition. It is still waiting for Thomas to get busy with the angle grinder to remove the rust around the brake servo area. I wish my sprint had been as good as that. George had apoplexy when he saw it. called me all sorts of rude names for being stupid enough to work on a sprint that was so badly rusted when good shells can be picked up for not much money. I think Mark lamour said something similar on about page 4 of this resto thread.
now the bad parts. No matter how I do it, these air bubbles undeer the vinyl just won't go away. I lifted the vinyl and reapplied contact, but it just won't sit down.
I was worried about the chrome locking trim fitting the rubber windscreen seals after talk elsewhere on the forum. Luckily it seems the rubber supplied in Oz has the correct channel for the locking strip I got. Fitting it in was a pain though (yup, 5 hours) and I eventually settled on painting the strip with soapy water to help ease it in (lacerating my fingers doing so). A wooden pressing tool was good, but put very small dents in the strip.
pretty tight at the trailing edge of the bonnet. That is the best adjustment we can get, any further forward and it fouls the front as it opens.
Next step is waiting for historic rego check/verification. Passenger seat in, exhaust made up and fitted, fan blower back in, parcel shelf back in, windscreen wipers, chin spoiler, stereo, door cards and a tune.
Aaron, I've got my eye on a white dolly front passenger door at Newport, if you are up there and have space to lug it back to the SE, that would be teh awesome. He's holding it for me, I'll need to slip him the cash though. thanks for the offer. If you need any chrome trim, I have a bit surplus !
stu
Temp was run up so that radiator top hose got warm and therefore thermostat had opened. Blowing smoke out of the hole I made in the exhaust manifold for the O2 sensor.
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Sorted out a problem with the rear lights, down to a faulty connector which turned off the tail light when the brake was used, and didn't turn the brake light on either. Discovered I need to revisit the interior light wiring and get a 12V supply up to it somehow, I'm thinking this will be first investigation tomorrow. The original 12V feed is currently isolated.