garth66

Remaining items on the punch list...

• Monday evening (tonight)
  • Pressure wash the undercarriage and engine compartment
  • Install new sparkplugs, new MSD Blaster 2 coil, and Pertronix 2 distributor/ignition kit
  • Clean some overspray off of wiper arms
• Tuesday evening
  • Repaint the engine
  • Repaint exhaust manifolds
  • Repaint wheel wells, and possibly suspension components
• Wednesday evening
  • Dinner with friends, unveiling the car, and pack for Monterey

If anyone on this list is going to the Monterey Historic Races this weekend, let me know. I'll be camping at the track and would love to meet you.

Cheers!
Garth

garth66

Latest update on the punch list...

• Pressure wash the undercarriage and engine compartment - DONE
• Install new sparkplugs, new MSD Blaster 2 coil, and Pertronix ignition kit - DONE
• Clean some overspray off of wiper arms - DONE
• Repaint the engine - Incomplete; Duplicolor universal gold engine paint that looked like a pretty close match in another thread is way off. Need to order some Fusicks.
• Repaint exhaust manifolds - Incomplete; quick spray with hi-temp exhaust paint, but color is too bright. Will properly detail when new engine paint arrives.
• Repaint wheel wells, and possibly suspension components - Ran out of time before taking the car to Monterey for the Historic Automobile Weekend; will be done this weekend.
• Install new trunk felt and rubber trunk lid bumpers - DONE
• Dinner with friends, unveiling the car, and pack for Monterey - Everyone loves the car. Among the guests was the 2nd owner of the car, whom my brother bought it from 17 years ago. He said it looks better than he's ever seen look before!

New things to add to the punch list...

• Find electrical issue that causes engine to die immediately upon starting the car, when the key is released to the 'run' position. I suspect it to be a ground issue since it never had this symptom before being painted.
• Thoroughly clean convertible top - appears to have fine mist of primer overspray. Any suggestions for what to use to clean it?

cheven

Post plenty of detailed pictures for others to admire .....

TenMidgets

Yes pics are best. Also Garth, how did you go about pressure washing the engine compartment? ie some instructions on what/how you covered the carb and other components cause I'd like to do the same thing.

Thanks!
Bill

garth66

I haven't accomplished much more on the punch list since my last update. I've been too busy driving the car! Our weather here has been in the 80's for the last couple weeks so I've been driving the car regularly. Monday night was such a beautiful evening that I insisted the whole family go out for ice cream after dinner, top down of course! Perfect convertible weather! Every day I drive the car I meet excited admirers trying to catch up to me on the road to get a better look, honking and holding out enthusiastic thumbs up, strolling over to ask about the car at gas stations, admiring it in the parking garage at the office, taking pictures as I drive by, calling out questions and praises at stop lights, etc. People LOVE seeing this car out on the road! If you're not driving yours, dust it off and get out there and DRIVE!!! It is the great pleasure of owning a classic.

As for updates, the only thing I've done lately is paint the frame rails and underside of the side rockers/body which were covered in light primer over spray. This really cleaned up the appearance of the car.

Here are the steps I followed to pressure wash the engine compartment and underside of the car:

1. Drove the car onto ramps so I could get under it with the pressure wand easier.
2. Laid heavy towels/blankets over the front fenders to protect them from any greasy splash or over spray.
3. Covered the distributor - wraped/squeezed aluminum foil on it for protection, then wrapped a plastic grocery bag around it to help keep water out. I didn't bother to wrap the carb as it has the stock air cleaner on it.
4. Sprayed an engine degreaser on the engine and oil/grease laden cross member and anything else covered in greasy grime, including the rear axle housing. Let the degreaser soak in for 30 minutes to do it's job.
5. Fired up the pressure washer and began to blast. Applied pressure to the heaviest greasy build up first. The worse the spot was, the more I sprayed it. Note that I didn't directly spray at the carburetor or any PCV valves or vent tubes/hoses. You don't want to blow those off and put water inside your engine.
6. I then got on my back on the wet driveway and sprayed the underside of the engine, transmission, floorpans, and rear end. Anything that looked dirty got a once over from the pressure sprayer. The rear end was quite greasy, so it got a little more attention. I also sprayed the inside of the wheel wells to get them good and clean.
7. I then returned to the engine compartment from the top side to wash off anything I blew up there from below, and also to apply more attention to any spots of stubborn build up. I think I did a second application of engine degreaser to a few selective spots before spraying again.
8. Blow dried the engine compartment with compressed air to remove any standing water in on the engine or engine compartment.
9. Let everything dry out thoroughly for a warm day before painting anything.

Things came out remarkably well. There were a number of spots on the engine which were missing paint altogether, either eaten away by oily build up or burned off over the years. I was planning to detail the entire engine at this point but discovered that the Universal Gold recommended in another thread is nothing like the original gold. So, I just selectively sprayed the universal gold on the bare spots on the block and intake to protect the bare iron. I need to order a can of Fusicks gold to properly detail the engine. I also sprayed the bare exhaust manifolds with a light coat of phosphoric acid to protect against rust, and then silver ceramic header paint to protect and seal them until I properly detail the engine, at which time I'll use a darker correct cast gray manifold paint.


More pictures to come soon.



Anyway, get out and DRIVE.

oldsguybry

Wow , sounds great ! I would be very happy .... as for the overspray on the top , I'm not sure what to use , but someone should hopefully chime in with a answer for ya .