Its a big learning curve for me, but I just wing it. This site is AMAZING! All the information, and finding very inexpensive ways to do things. I didnt know about it for the first few months, and everytime I kept googling things, there was always info here.
Nice thread. Some questions, since I am almost finished pulling the convertible apart and ready to start back. Are you doing all this body work yourself? First time for you or have you done body/paint before? On the quarter panel rust. What did you do to fix that? Did you cut a section and put a patch on? Seat belts, how did you restore that? Looks good. Seat. Did you recover that seat? Did you do it yourself? It is an encouraging thread. I'm ready to get back going on the convertible.
Body work: I have a friend of the family helping/teaching me. He used to teach auto body at a college. The rust holes were patched/welded, we just sanded the car down, blasted in the creases around the windows and other awkward areas... Seatbelts: I boiled the seat belts for 1 hour in a giant pot like this: Then I dumped the water out (it was REALLLLLY nasty). I started boiling the seat belts again with new water. Then added a bottle of Rit Dye, slowly over 5minutes. Stirred it all around really really well, and continued to boil it for 1hour. I purchased the old pot at a thrift store for $2, and used an old wooden spoon. I would NOT use these items for food after.The rit dye says "1/2 bottle, boil for 30minutes" but that is for new light fabrics. So I doubled both and used the whole bottle, for 1 hour. They came out great! Even the blue ones!
Seats: Since my original bench seat was in such good condition. I didn't need to get them recovered. I took off all the hardware, headrests etc.. and cleaned them REALLY good with Simple Green, and scrub brush, and a magic eraser. After allowing ample time to dry, I used DuPont vinyl and fabric dye. $10 per can, and just make sure to get into all the seems really well, and tight areas. It took about 6-7 cans of spray dye, and a bit of cleaner. Cost me less then $80 and the seats looks BRAN NEW!
very inspiring everytime i see a redo.. i'm especially interested in the hood and if you do a graft.. keep the photos comin.. dan c....:kodak:
