67 Mk1 GT6 restoration

[byakk0]

Abby decided to try her hand at measuring. All she had to say was "Seven!"





Made some seat foams for the back. The old ones are in excellent shape, amazing considering the seat base itself had turned to powder. (Just enough was left of those get an idea of how to construct the new ones.)
3M 77 spray glue on two blocks of 2" foam got me where I needed. I marked up the OEM foam with 1" increments so I could mark the center-line as well as transfer the upper an lower contours, for all four sides.
I used an electric breadknife. Not one from the kitchen. I got this for $11 on Amazon just for this job. Maybe I shoulda bought 2 as we don't have a kitchen one.







Started in on the armrest as it looked simple enough-and it was bugging me.


Didn't get a shot of the metal, but it was black and a little rusty with old foam glued to it in places. Stripped, primed and painted it in body color, then glued on 1/4" foam.


Laid out the old pieces on the new vinyl and used them as a pattern. Made up some
black piping and stitched it around one side. Looks pretty good.

and the nearly final product. I have it slipped over the armrest here. Still need to cut out the hole and glue the vinyl in place, so it looks very baggy right now.


Then I turned my attention to the seat base. I completed the other side of it the other day.


Discovered I need to narrow it. It should run right along the yard stick, but instead it turns out just a bit. Pick out stitching and adjust.



I didn't take any pics for the rest of the night. I made up most of the seat back and adjusted the base and then called it quits. Here is the result.
Sitting loosely in a spare frame. Please note this is not a high back. The vinyl is just loose and sticking up high. It will be pulled down later.


And then roughly installed in my car. Not ideal, but you get the idea, and that is the point.




And then, just for kicks, here is a shot my original attempt at my interior (20-ish years ago). Custom cut door cards with extra cheap automotive carpet glued on, plus a heat reflective bubble wrap. It started balling nearly right away. What was I thinking?

[BiTurbo228]

Nice work looking good. An electric bread knife is a genius idea for cutting seat foams

[byakk0]

Thanks. I don't recall where I got the tip for the bread knife, but it works wonders. Much quicker and more accurate than hacking away with a knife.

[byakk0]

Started welding on the passenger side rear wing but ran out of gas. No pics, sorry. They're just boring plug welds anyway.

Finished up the work on my armrest.
I was ready to glue the cover to the housing when I realized my car never had a boot on the e-brake handle, and I don't recall seeing them on any Mk1's--not that I have ever looked. I recovered one many years ago using that nasty cheap automotive carpet, and even then, no boot. So I got to asking around and got some pics.
In the mean time I was searching through my spares looking for the parts for my front parking lamps (Lucas L594 clear beehive lenses) as I found a handful of the U-clips. Good time to do it as Abby was napping and it was something quiet. While searching I found what I have always thought as a shift boot from a different model and have never given it any consideration, but it was smaller and some hard board that had at one been rectangular in shape stapled to it. It then occured to me the hardboard matched the 6 anchor tabs on the inside front of the housing. (I'll have to snap a pic of this setup later). Here was my missing shift boot. Thank goodness I didn't have to rely on photos and measurements to reconstruct it.



This is the final product.


I added some additional padding to the top of the armrest, mostly to compensate for the seam along the black piping. It added extra thickness to the top side along the edges and left a dip the full length. But, the extra padding will add extra comfort too


That job done I glued to the cover to the housing and clamped it up, using two yard sticks to protect the vinyl from the clamps.
Then I turned my attention to the shift boot, getting it installed and bending the anchor tabs over to secure it.


I completed the upper seat and the started LH side bolster. It was sewed only in only location. The rest is stretched to fit, so I didn't trim extra vinyl.
In this shot I have the base, the back, and the LH bolster, though it is just loose fit, as you can see by the wrinkles. I need to recreate the foam underneath before I can finish this part of the job.
As for the nasty RH side, I am out of grey vinyl and this job will have to wait.


And a shot of the armrest in place, plus the seat base. The back is just resting in front of the other. You get a good idea of how it is starting to shape up, finally.

[byakk0]

stripped and prepped the floor of the passenger side for paint. Used up the last of my POR-15. I've only got the foot-well of the passenger side left, so I'll likely go another route.

POR-15


Primed and ready for topcoat



Also finished everything I can do with the seat at this point. Haven't been able to get new vinyl yet.
Stripped and painted the frame. I don't have any good diaphragms but I have lots of extra Pirelli straps, so I drilled holes and used those instead. Not sure yet, but I may need to add one more in each direction.


Made some adjustments to the seat cushion-ie fix some sewing errors, and added the attachment snaps.


and with one side bolster roughly in place. I heated it up with a hairdryer to get it to stretch and have let it sit for a few days, clamped in place with c-clamps and vice grips. Now the only question is, bite the bullet and glue the vinyl in place, or wait for more and redo the bolster. I'm really in no rush so I should probably redo it as the stitching is visible and though it is somewhat hidden is not the best. I need to figure out how to adjust the speed control range on the foot pedal of the sewing machine, or build some sort of stop. It has a wide range of motion but a very narrow range of actual control. If I'm not careful it will go from no speed to full speed in less than an instant, and that makes it hard to control and yields terrible stitching.

[byakk0]

got much much closer this week.

First of all, this is how it looked back in 2011. This is what I uncovered years prior due to a rear-end accident. In fact, it looks much better at this point as I had done a lot of reshaping in an attempt to keep from having to cut out any metal.



2012 I fashioned a repair panel with my benchtop English wheel


Which got me to this point


I did some more digging this week and discovered the reason for the passenger side lower corner of the tailgate sitting high. Bear in mind this is with the rubber seal installed. Previous attempts I did not have the seal in place.


An idea running through my head for the past few weeks has been to put in some spacers between the hatch hinge and the roof of the car, to bring the corner of the tailgate down, so I gave that an attempt. I have heard of the springs breaking if put under the wrong stress so I was crossing my fingers I wouldn't break mine. However, I have heard of this being done so I was cautiously optimistic.
You can see the two washers I used on each bolt.

Well, that didn't go as planned. I didn't break the spring--thank goodness there. All it did was cause more pressure when I latched the hatch, and it made a loud pop when I released it. The corner was still lifted.
Back to square one, and I had to remove the washers.

But then I discovered the culprit was the rain channel itself. At first I though I'd need to bend it down, so I made an attempt with my door skin pliers. I didn't accomplish much beyond buggering the little flange that sticks up, the bit the seal fixes to. It did tell me that if I wanted to continue with this particular attempt, I'd need to get another cheap channel-lock pliers like these and modify them to fit the rain channel.
Fortunately I didn't need to bother as I discovered the flange needed to bend more outward. The seal was coming in contact with the wrong part of the hatch causing it to bind up.

So, I tapped the inside of the seal flange, flaring it outward a few degrees. Then install the seal and test the hatch. Success this time!...well, nearly. I got closer. So I kept tapping the flange inward and retesting the hatch until I got it close enough.

In the mean time, Abby tried her hand at bodywork. Contour gauge, a sheet of sandpaper, and my longboard.




So, that bit sorted properly I  was able move on to completing the metalwork on the backend-well, nearly complete.
Due to my oversight of not using the seal when I first welded the new panel in I had it too low, ie the hatch sits too high in the middle compared with the emblem panel.
You can also see the hatch corner and how it now sits nearly flush.



I then cut the slit I made the other day longer on both ends, adjusted the shape, and started stitch welding it back together. I truly ran out of gas in the bottle this time, and I only had 2 spots left.
I completed this about 3 am, and all I dared use was my metal file so I could at least check the contour. Much nicer. Later in the morning when everyone else was awake I finished grinding the welds flush. All that remains is the two 1" spots.
The big question now is, should I try my hand at lead finishing or load the sucker up with bondo?

[John Bonnett]

A very nice piece of work there Hazen. A tribute to your patience and attention to detail. Nice to have a bit of help eh? 🙂

[RobPearce]

Nice work. I'd say definitely have a go at lead - even if you don't get a perfect finish, a mostly lead job with a tiny bit of bondo is much preferable to all bondo. My first attempt at lead loading was the roof front repair on my GT6, which is still spot on 20 years later (the rest of the car needed a full rebuild in between...)

[byakk0]

Thanks guys.
Abby was wanting to write on it. I made the mistake of lettering her doodle on the door with a sharpie once-the primer I have on it now is coming off later down the road as it is just a protective layer, so I don't so much mind. She quickly changed her mind when she saw the longboard.

In a nutshell, and from what small amount of research I have done up to this point, lead filling is basically smearing the flux on, melting the lead in place, and then spreading it around like putty to where you want. Anything to it beyond that I may be missing?

[RobPearce]

Well, that's about it in principle...

The flux can be a bit awkward to apply. It's acidic (non-acid flux doesn't work well with steel) and has powdered lead in emulsion... which doesn't stay suspended for very long. You need to apply it to the bare metal then heat until it bonds - pre-warming the steel certainly helps - and smear it around to get a good even wetting. Then you need to wipe/wash off all the acid!

Once you've got your nicely flux'd panel, heat and dab the solder bar, heat and squish with a paddle, repeat until evenly built up. You can't heat too much because if you actually melt the lead it will run straight off - you're aiming to heat until it's soft but not quite molten. You need to apply tallow to the paddle so it doesn't stick but then you need to clean all the tallow off the repair before adding more lead.

Final shaping with a coarse file, then finish with progressively finer. I never quite got good enough to paint straight onto the lead but a thin skim of standard filler is fine.

So it's not as easy as putty/bondo/isopon by any means, and it will take some practice to get it right, but it's a much better repair so worth the effort.

[byakk0]

Thanks for the primer. It certainly helps. I wasn't aware of the tallow on the paddle bit. Watching George Barris do it, he doesn't explain any of that. He just sucks on his cigar and schmears the lead down like its cream cheese on bagel. 🙂( Must be breakfast time or something.)

Sounds like test panels are in order. I have plenty of those!

Would repurposing lead wheel weights (melting into long sticks) be sufficient or is it better to buy the pre-formed sticks from the various supply houses?

[RobPearce]

You want the proper sticks. They're made of a particular tin/lead alloy that has the right soften-before-melt behaviour. I bought mine from Eastwood many years back and still haven't got through them all.

[drofgum]

Hazen,
Due to environmental regulations there may not be much lead in wheel weights. You are probably doubly better off with preformed bars of lead filler. You will know you have the right alloy and it will be clean. If you can't find it anywhere else Eastwood probably still sells body solder.
                                                                                               All the best,
                                                                                               Paul

[Jonny-Jimbo]

Yeah - Eastwood still sells the leading kit. There's a good video about it on the Eastwood products website presented by Gene Winfield.

[byakk0]

Sounds good. I thought as much, just had to address that stray though. 😀

[efp]

Hazen. Random thought and slight thread drift, but by any chance do you have any more pix of the cardboardy bits backing your handbrake gaiter?  Got a recovering kit from Newton Commercial for the armrest which includes the bare gaiter but the base(s) I have dont have the backing bits. Sure i can work it out to codge something but a few more reference pix would be a help. What you have posted already has been a big help already in getting my plan together so yet again I thank you.
As far as the lead loading goes, again, I'll be following your experience with interest. So far on my rebuild I'm rather smug to say I havent used a single dab of filler but as I start my bonnet rebuild the point of the nose could do with a tad of reshaping beyond my dollying skills. Like you I guess, I've absorbed a few YouTube vids, but seeing and doing are different things...

Best
John

[byakk0]

Thanks John.
I can take some more detailed pix of the backing and do a write-up on it here for you, including measurements. I found it is actually slightly less than 1/8" hardboard. I just used a thin plywood panel as I had it on hand and it will hopefully be stronger and have longer longevity than hardboard.

as far as filler goes, I've removed a lot, and surprised to find much of it is quite unneccesary. You see the orange? It's about 3/16" thick across the entire top and not a single dent, aside from self inflicted wounds. Not sure what the PO was thinking there. Must have been a bondo sales rep.


The dollying skills, well, you get there. I figure I'll be using some filler in the end, so I may as well have a go at fixing it as best I can. I've certainly minimized the amount needed.

[byakk0]

Quoted from efp

Hazen. Random thought and slight thread drift, but by any chance do you have any more pix of the cardboardy bits backing your handbrake gaiter?  Got a recovering kit from Newton Commercial for the armrest which includes the bare gaiter but the base(s) I have dont have the backing bits. Sure i can work it out to codge something but a few more reference pix would be a help. What you have posted already has been a big help already in getting my plan together so yet again I thank you.
As far as the lead loading goes, again, I'll be following your experience with interest. So far on my rebuild I'm rather smug to say I havent used a single dab of filler but as I start my bonnet rebuild the point of the nose could do with a tad of reshaping beyond my dollying skills. Like you I guess, I've absorbed a few YouTube vids, but seeing and doing are different things...

Best
John

Here you go.

Backing/attachment card for the handbrake gaiter.

Original construction looks to be about 3/32” hardboard construction. It consists of 2 pieces, a C-shaped one that mounts to the front of the handbrake tunnel and a straight one that mounts to the side. I’ve tried to photograph the original as well as I can but the as you can see it has deteriorated. Mostly it has broken right at the spots the metal mounting tabs on the housing itself poke through the backer.


I reconstructed the backer out 1/16” plywood. This plywood happens to have one side faced with melamine (something I had on hand), but really anything would work. I just went with this as it was thin enough plus the multi-ply vs hardboard may prevent similar deterioration as the OEM one. Anything much thicker will need be sanded thinner.

These are the approximate measurements of the one I made.


Easiest method to get it fine-tuned is make a copy in some stiff paper and lay it over the 6 mounting tabs and push the paper over the tabs (you may need to straighten the tabs).
I forget the size of drill bit I used. Just use one of appropriate size. Adjust the inner and outer dimensions as needed.

I then transferred the measurements to the board, cut it out and drilled the holes. Then I test fit to the inside of the housing, making note of orientation.

Final assembly I inserted the gaiter and pressed the tabs through the vinyl. You may need to mark the locations and carefully cut slits in the vinyl so the tabs will poke through.
I used contact cement on both the vinyl and the backer. With the vinyl in place, insert the backer pieces. I clamped them together, in place, using C-clamps. You’ll want to protect the new vinyl on the exterior with something so the clamp doesn’t mar it.

Once the glue was dried I removed gaiter and stapled the backer to the vinyl. I just used a common Bostich hand stapler with a 9/16” staple.

I held the piece down on the edge of the table and stapled it such that the staples went though the piece but not into the table. The staples go all the way through, and then I just bent the protruding legs over.




At this point I reinserted the gaiter and had to clamp it in place, and then use another c-clamp to bend and flatten the retaining tabs. At this point you can tell why the thinner backer the better.
Just remove the clamps and stand back admire your work. 

[efp]

Absolutely brilliant Hazen. Many thanks. You have a rare gift for clear and comprehensive description

[byakk0]

Thanks.
I had my share of unclear how-to's--that and I'm a trainer at work, write specs sometimes, and do a little novel writing on the side.

[efp]

It shows

[RedRooster]

That would be a fairly easy lead job, smallish area, not vertical, convex, just be sure you get all the flux off otherwise it will rust underneath, found that one out the hard way.

[byakk0]

Thing about leading. Getting the supplies is not cheap, but so far I've only looked at Eastwood. I may go the route of aluminum filled body filler instead, but I'm still open for other places to source the lead filler from.

[byakk0]

Strapped Abby and her carseat into my truck and headed off to swap out my empty gas bottle, only to realize halfway there I left the bottle at home. >_<

Anyway, I finally got the major metalwork on the back end wrapped up. Needs some finishing, but everything lines up fairly well. Just need to grind the welds smooth.



Now just to complete the pass side rear wing and tend to the door gaps...

[BiTurbo228]

Just weighing in to say that as always I'm thoroughly impressed by your panel repairing skills. Having done a fair bit of welding pressed-steel panels recently it's an utter ballache and a real learning curve to stop them warping.

Yeah. Very impressed