And We’re Off

The day of work at Mustang Maniac couldn’t come round quick enough for me, clock watching only seemed to make the time go slower. Why was I more eager this week than previously? The simple answer is that I would be working on my freshly painted new shell fitting new parts. I wasn’t sure exactly what I would be doing as that was down to Yogi to let me know.

Before I get onto the day’s events I have to make a statement “I am a doughnut!” Happy now Yogi? I had to put that statement within the first paragraph or Yogi was gonna tell everybody about my daft as I was getting tired school boy error. It was one of those funny moments shared between a professional and his apprentice! I may explain it later depends how this write-up goes. 🙂

I arrived at the offices early to find Yogi with a fancy wipe clean Snap On board with a list of parts on it. We had our usual chat and listened to the conversation taking place. The list was new parts for my car and I was asked about what I wanted to do with the car stance. More of that a bit later. The important parts were going to be the upper and lower control arms which as the name suggests controls the efficiency and operation of the suspension. Old worn parts here could cause problems when it goes to the Geo Workshop later for tracking, camber and toe set ups. New parts it was to be especially around the suspension and steering. I walked into Al’s (Yogi’s) workshop and there was car still covered and looking very peaceful under her cover. I was informed that the fuel line has been fitted first as it’s a major pain to fit after the parts are fitted. The line hasn’t been fastened properly yet as the brake lines will need to go on as well at the same clips, but you get the idea anyway.

We discussed the plan of action and what we were going to do, shortly after we planned the day the parts turned up fresh from Mustang Maniacs stores.

leaf springs and all parts

upper control arms

lower control arms

The first job was to lift the car of the trolley, This was done via large axle stands and a large lengths of wood that would be supported under the car. The ramp was lowered until the strain was taken up, slowly the clamp bolts were undone and the trolley lifted away. The supporting blocks of rubber were mounted onto the ramps and another milestone was reached. No photo’s at this point as it was all hands to each corner and simultaneous actions required to prevent damage. This can be done in front and back but takes a while. A celebratory smile from myself was brighter than the sun that just started to show through the clouds. We (being Yogi and me), got a work table out and unwrapped by refurbished spindles, tie rods and their relevant bolts. Things were getting really exciting.

The bottom control arms were fitted into place via the single heavy bolt and left to dangle, these were the first parts to be bolted back onto the car and I couldn’t believe that I was actually doing it. Yogi was prepping the bits showing me what to do and then letting me get on with it. I learned a little saying that is so true: “Finger tight, until you know it’s right.” This was the order of the day that allows you to move things around to fit should you need too.

The top control arms were fitted into the inner wing mounts and the spindles bolted into place. This joined up the two control arms. The Tie rods were next to be bolted into place which linked the control arms to the front of the chassis.

We decided it was time to bring in the axle over from the panel shop where I had been working for the previous couple of weeks. The main axle shaft was black and the diff painted to the original Red Oxide primer colour scheme as it would have been straight from the factory.

The stainless steel shackles for the leaf springs were mounted to the rear chassis legs. The front of the leaf springs were lifted into place and lightly bolted lightly into place, the rear bushes were fitted into the chassis legs and the back of the of the leaf springs also lifted up into place, a little joggling around to get the bolts aligned through the holes to hold it all in place.

What followed was a complicated procedure of resting the axle on a support and lifting one side over the leaf springs to be seated correctly on the top of the leaf springs locating lug. The shock mounting plates were then clamped to the leaf springs and axle via the large U-bolts and tightened up, hard. The rest of the rear suspension bolts were now tightened up as well.

axle on leaf springs

shock plates & u brackets

After lunch it was back to the front again, we were going to fit up the new spring perches that were a couple of bolts onto the lower control arm.

The uprated 1″ anti-roll bar will make a big difference to the handling of the car as well as the Export brace and Monte Carlo bars that will be fitted. Due to the size of the anti-roll bar this now runs very close to the tie rods and is a two-man job to fit with damaging any paintwork on components. The anti roll bar U-clamps were put into place to hold the bar and then the bottom mounting arms and bushing fitted to the lower control arms. Once we were happy with the alignment we bolted it up properly.

During this point of fitting the anti-roll bar bushing kit I had a couple of the rubbers in my hand and noticed they were different. I started to panic having a senior moment thinking that I had fitted the wrong parts somewhere. I held my hand out to Yogi with the parts to show him the different parts. He looked at them, turned one over and it was of course the same, simultaneously he laughing out “doughnut”. A few minutes of laughing followed with me saying “I can assume that this will not be mentioned outside these walls then”. To which Yogi laughed back with “not if you mention that you are a doughnut in the first paragraph of your blog!” I agreed. But, as I have called myself a doughnut and ‘fessed up to my school boy error, I needn’t of mentioned it earlier, does that make me a double doughnut? But it was worth it and I thoroughly enjoyed the banter. The final quick job rather than the fitting the front springs and shocks was to hook up the hand brake cables to the tunnel brackets so that they didn’t get in the way.

Now it was almost time to put the car away and Terry and John popped in to see how progress was getting on. But before we covered her back up I bestowed a little prezzie on the car my lovely wife got for me:

It was a great day, and I loved every minute of it, thanks to the MM guys.

Previously posts I mentioned that I would get some pics of the inside of the car, I haven’t forgotten:

roof

spare paint for any emrgencies

I can’t wait for next week. 🙂

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Ready To Rock

I’m back!

I know I haven’t posted for a while, but there was and still are very good personal reasons why. So far it has taken me a few days to create this post on and off, that’s when I can even get round to doing it. Rest assured though, I am still here and I will continue updating my little ol’ blog as and when I can, hopefully things will slowly get back to normal then I should be posting more regularly and then back normal. Thanks to those of you that have kindly taken time to email me to ask how things are, I apologise for not posting sooner and disappearing without any warning, but the circumstances prevented me from do so, it was all rather sudden to say the least.

I could have named this post “New Shell” as the car is at a point now where she is ready to go to the paint shop within the next week or so. Compared to the original rusty or distorted metal work, this could almost be classed as a new shell. The Mustang Maniac guys have been keeping me fully updated while I haven’t been able to get down there to do my duties and help out. Thanks very much guys for the updates.

The last piece of work I had done was the hood which took an age to complete. The guys assembled the front of the car and the hood was re-fitted up. Now there was a problem, the leading edge of the hood had been bent down and was hitting the headlight buckets preventing the correct alignment and closure. The hood was adjusted but the fenders and cowling looked very strange regarding the gaps. The hood was taken off and the guys tried to straighten out the bend with partial success, and on the odd occasion it was quite brutally adjusted to align it all back up. But the hood was now sitting to high and it turned out to be quite obvious that the hood was distorted beyond an economical repair. When you are at this high level of restoration you want it to look right especially on such a large panel of metal that you will be looking at all the time you are driving. So a difficult decision was made – it was a new hood to be fitted, it’s a shame the original couldn’t be used. But I fully understand that these things happen during classic car restorations, the guys did try to rescue the hood before it was replaced. Yes I could have kept the original that sort of fitted and I doubt that many would have noticed, but it would have played on my mind knowing that it didn’t fit 100% correctly with the gaps, I just knew I wouldn’t be happy with it. Like the driver door, it was an awful lot of hard work, but at least I am happy nothing more could have been done to make it fit perfectly. Come to think of it I have seen the odd restored car with worse looking alignments, I dare say some other restorers would have been happy with it. I now have a rather large bare metal piece of scrap.

However, on the plus side it means that my car is now ready to go to the paint shop with new metal that has already been protected from rust. Adam is now just waiting for the paint shop slot to become free in order for my car to go in and be transformed over the next month or six weeks before I see her back. Such an exciting time. I have potentially got the last set of pictures of the car in bare metal before she gets her new colour scheme.

angry face?

As the car stands the filler work is pretty good, but has been left in a state where the body shop can see what has been done and what needs a final filler coat. Standard practice for the Mustang Maniac guys who seem to do just that little bit more to make sure all the gaps were correct. When the car is back from the paint shop I will then Red Oxide the inside parts that need doing over the black floor pans and the rear chassis legs before the work starts in earnest to put her back together again. I seriously just can’t wait to see her in the new colour.

Photo Menu:

I have tidied up the photo menus to group them together in order to make it more logical to find stuff.

I have added the following these large photo step by steps under the Photo Menu – Bodywork Section:

Rear Quarter Panel restoration work, click here for the quick link. (A very detailed step by step)
Hood Restoration Work, click here for the quick link
Trunk & Tail Light Restoration, click here for the quick link (A very detailed step by step)

I have also updated the Fender Work sections under a single heading to bring it all right back back up to date.

Reviews:

I have added a review of a Neilsen Slide hammer tool, or click here for the quick link.

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Some You Win…

I try to post on a Sunday evening so I can give an update on the work completed by Mustang Maniac during the week and the work I do at the weekends. The reason I haven’t posted is quite simple. Trying to catch-up on the huge amount of I have taken and the huge amount to work the MM (Mustang Maniac) guys have done. Most of the photo work has been completed now and hopefully the delay will be worth it. Where do I start?

The first thing I noticed when I turned up was the back of the car was sitting in a white primer where Terry had cleaned and seam sealed it up.

The back of the trunk is to get blown over of the Acapulco Blue when the car goes for the full paint job. In the mean time a couple of light undercoats of colour will be applied to the areas that you can’t paint once the rear quarter panels are welded in place, such as the chassis drop off points and the top of the rear arches that can be seen when you open up the trunk. The hinges I prepared last week were cleaned up and given a spray and hung up to dry.

The next part to be spotted was the upper cowl that had been fitted in place and welded to the lower cowl. The Black resin coated parts in black are now all welded in place and brazed as they should be. Tape was placed over the vents and masking paper placed in the vents to avoid any and dust and rubbish getting into the fresh paint. The paper will be pulled out at the time of fitting up the rest of the car.

As I wanted an export brace on the front of the car going from the fire wall to the shock towers this one was going to be fitted correctly. What I mean here is that the export brace was fitted to a thick piece of plate also welded onto the top of the fire wall to add the required strength. Many export braces fitter later in life are just bolted into the original shock tower bolt holes and the fire wall. Under load the firewall will bend and give which defeats the whole point of the export brace being fitted. The welding you see here is exactly how it was when they were first fitted, no neat seam all round welding, just the little lines of weld you see in the close up. The brace is only resting in place as its not needed at this point of the restoration.

When I arrived on Saturday Terry was competing the repair plate to the roof and quarter panel lead area. Yes you read that correctly – lead, not filler and welds as modern restorations will do for you, but this lucky little lady was going to get the forgotten art of leading and brazing the quarters in place. The filler and welding are not ideal and could blow through with damp and rust at a later date. The Common place to have the rust appear is at the top of the B pillar as the water runs down and sits at the back of the strengthening sections and so it will eventually rot. Welding and filler will be especially susceptible to the damp. Red oxide paint was applied to prevent any more rust. The replacement plates in this area are common and the secret is make sure the plate are lower than the rest of the roof in order for the lead to run into any holes and fill the cavity up with strength. It’s this attention to detail that sets these guys apart from everybody else.

before the plate

sunken plate

Anyway, I was given my task to strip the doors down to find any of Adam’s nasty little surprises as he likes to call them. The door, oh yes the lovely left side drivers door. The stripper was applied to door and the first layers of paint was removed no problem. Then I spotted it – filler. Ok, the filler was to mend any cosmetic issues for paint, so I kept telling myself. So the door got more stripper and more scrapping. The filler patch got bigger and bigger until it was across three quarters of the door. I asked Terry to take a look who said “You have to get it all out to see what is behind it”. So the door got more stripper applied to loosen the filler, then more and more. The scrapping knife was lifting the filler out like a spread of butter until the next layer of filler needed to be softened. Now I was going through the stripper like you wouldn’t believe as the filler was soaking it all up. The breakthrough to the metal was a good moment to behold and I thought I had cracked it, but no. The filler was about half an inch thick in some places, then I found out why. The car has had a knock in the door. There was regular holes in the door skin to pull the dents back out again with a slide hammer. At this point Adam was called down to survey the damage. Then he said “all the filler has to come out to see the full damage”, that’s consistency. Two hours later the filler was all out. The door panel was now fully exposed and any pressure on the door and the door popped inwards as the metal was stretched beyond repair, the filler was holding it tight. If I had of known this then we would have replaced the skin in the first place on the outside of the door.

before we started

The door had to come of to strip the skin. Adam went and got a skin and brought it over “it’s your lucky day – it’s the last one.” The door was mounted and the skin was knocked away from the door by breaking the spot welds. The inside of the door would show the damage if any done to the structural part of the door. The skin was popped off a little while later being careful as they were trying not wanting to damage the door frame. The skin was lifted off and with the inside exposed we could see the heavy rust at the bottom of the door and the thin metal about to break away. Not good. The side strengthening bar part of the frame had been bent on the initial impact and had not been straightened out at the time. Even worse. The arrows in the pictures show the areas of concern, the bent frame and rust holes.

arrows show the rust

line shows the damage

In case you are wondering how much came out of the door? This much.

The decision was made the door could not be salvaged with the amount of rust inside and the damaged bar. Yes, of course they could fabricate new parts and weld in place, but the man hours would out way the cost of the door. Terry went and got a new door. I had spots before my eyes or was it “£” signs, i’m not sure now??? Terry then offered up the door and fitted it along the B pillar and the sills. Adjustments had to be made with the door catch to make it shut correctly.

So to sum up:

1 x 5ltr od paint stripper = £30

8 hours stripping time

1 x door skin = £120

Terry’s time – a lot!

1 x new door = £400

1 x scrap cart full of my nice clean, paint free, bent door skin that has more bullet holes than Al Capone’s getaway car! One man was not impressed. BUT, some you win – some you loose, the original drivers door was a write off and that is the chance you take with old cars unless you know the history. I soon got over it once I had seen the new door in place. Oh, yeah it looked good. The other door Adam stripped down for me, that one was fine and OK to prep for paint. I think he was feeling sorry for me at this point, I did give him his door skin back though!! AND it only took him an hour or so to get this far.

The door surround was cleaned up while Terry was prepping the door for fitting, this part of the bodywork came up pretty clean all round the inside and I was pleased with the results.

The door fitted with the clean pillar and inner door frame cleaned up looks amazing.

new door

aligned to b pillar

It was a silly long day and I would a special thanks to Terry, Adam & Frank for helping me out. I had a good laugh and it was great to see the new metal on the car and some colour.

I hope the wait for the post was worth it, it was for me. 🙂

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Big Step Forward

Another week has gone, and this week for various reasons I haven’t been able to get down to the car, but Mustang Maniac guys have been busy. With the car being red oxided last week it was down to time and effort from the guys what they wanted to do to it. Yogi made a good job of welding up the remaining parts as ever for the rusty bits that needed cutting out and replacing with fresh metal, welding in and grinding down flat. With the welding done Yogi run over the car with seam sealer which you can see in white. This will stop water ingress under the car and cause outside in rust issues.

OK, you think it looks odd in relation to the red oxide. It’s true it does, however it was always my plan to cover the red oxide with stone chip after final painting of the bodywork metal. You will not see the sealer or the red oxide but I know the car will be protected to the worst the UK weather may throw at it. I hear you say that the original spec was red oxide only! True, it was, nothing else except the red oxide paint. As I will be using this car to enjoy it, I don’t want to panic if I get caught in a rain shower for some reason so a little more than red oxide was for me.

They guys wasted no time in taking my car of the spit and mounting the car on the jig, the automotive version of the rack. The car was bolted down and within minutes the guys were checking the often overlooked and critical part of the car, the cowl to see just how bad it was. When it rains the water gets in the cowl and should drain out. Obviously over time this will rust away and the any water will run inside the car and ruin the carpets, electrics and sound proof that may be there. To replace it will be a major upheaval once the car is put back together again, but the guys can do it without damaging the original paint job that is on the car for the 64 – 66 that were welded in place. The fact my car has to be repainted makes it a lot easier for them to work on so it was off in minutes, drilling the old welds out and separating the parts. You can see it on their own blog http://mustangmaniac.org where they show the process in stages.
Car is mounted on the jig.

The front plates to the engine bay were removed as they were going rotten and they also hold a crucial part of the car to stop twisting from the doors forward and should only be replaced while on a proper supporting jig. With these small critical plates removed the cowl was exposed to be removed. The spot welds were removed via a special spot weld removal bit for their drills. With all the spot welds removed they lifted of the upper section to expose the inside. As they suspected it was shot and need to be replaced. While you are at this stage it could be repaired, but it’s simpler to replace with fresh clean metal to be safe not sorry when another part of the cowl fails in a few years time. The cowl was offered up, adjusted, fitted and welded into place.

With the old section removed the new one would outlast me now.

The second day the guys decided that the battery inner wing was too much to save as there was massive amount of filler hidden under the plate. More than they suspected after original inspection. The front part of the radiator mount on the right hand side has a grill to allow the cool air onto the battery, on mine the inner very thin bar had broken away and was a little rusty around the edges at the bottom. Again the guys decided rather than repair the front with plates and there was no numbers on this section they would replace it to make a longer lasting job. This need to be aligned up with the rest of the body work and took a little fiddling around before Yogi went at it with the welder again.

All of a sudden things have started to happen. New metal going in moves the car on at such a rate. Me? I am delighted with the work as I knew I would be. Thanks Guys.

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Flaming Nice Surprise(s)

In the UK we moan about bad weather then we moan about hot weather. Me I love the hot weather and it makes a change to have a few days of nice weather. The only bit I’m not to keen on is when the multitude of bugs decide that my flesh is A la Carte on the menu, prime nose bag material. Everything that can bite has tried to take lumps out of me all weekend. Still at least it’s warm and not chucking it down with rain. Friday I had my bags packed and ready for the start to Mustang Maniac. Earlier in the week I had a cryptic message sent to me by Adam to say they had a surprise for me. Saturday and I was out the door in record time and everything was goin’ great guns until I was about six miles from Mustang Maniac. A country lane had a tree that had come down from the storm early in the mornings and partially blocked the road, note the word partially. The point is I pulled up to get by and the police car that was there had parked across the road so nobody could get past. Now, anybody with a little sense would have moved some of the branches out the way with a borrowed saw from one of the houses opposite, cut a few away, then traffic moves again, nope, not this clown. He just stood at the back of his car swirling his finger in the air like he was stirring a cup upside down with his finger. I think this was his Neanderthal attempt to signal me to turn around, I wouldn’t want him to walk or verbally communicate or anything. I sat there for a while and so this lunatic just stood there, the neighbours were now out in force and all looking at said tree and fine figure of authority who had all the gear, but no idea! When I say tree, I have seen bigger indoor Christmas trees if you get me? The plus point is was sitting comfortably in my airconditioned car and this herbert was standing in the heat with his hat on and high vis jacket. So, it was inevitable that I had to do a seventeen point turn in the road which included collecting some hedgerow in the rear bumper while I was at it. I had to go all the way back where I had just come from and go the long way round, it took me what seemed like an age to get to my final destination. I parked up at Mustang Maniac and was greeted by Adam who took me straight to my car, the surprise was obviously to do with my car. Adam showed me the work Al or Yogi as he is known, had done to my car. A lot of the holes had been welded up, the old rotten floor support brackets were taken off and the new ones put back on. The rear chassis leg was repaired and the hand brake bracket put back in place and the holes around it repaired. Yogi had done some brilliant spot welds that I liked so much I left them on there as a feature to be seen. The attention to detail is amazing, as I knew it would be. Yogi had taken some pics for me so thanks to him and Mustang Maniac for letting me use them.

old floor supports and pan

support removed

different angle

treated inside

welded up and re-ground

The bodywork on the inside of the supports was in good condition and needed no additional work. The area was carefully marked up and a single support was changed at a time. The guys were happy nothing moved and continued to fix the supports in place. Check out Yogi’s spot welds that were just to good to grind down or cover up, they were different and I wanted them to stay.

left side

right side

inside welds

Spot detail at the front of support

more inside

hand brake bracket

With the parts welded in place Yogi gave the floor and welds a generous helping of filler. which was soon to be rubbed down by me.

By the time the filler had been rubbed down I looked a little white should we say. The Dewalt sander had gone through my supply of 80grit discs and made light work of getting it down to almost smooth. I didn’t worry about the very fine grade as the slightly roughed up surface gave the red oxide a good key point. I used my angle grinder to then go over the pans one last time to remove any hint of surface rust. Here was where my second surprise got me, after about ten minutes the angle grinder suddenly got warm, ground to a halt and flames were licking out he front of it like a dragon with a bad cough. I was wearing welding gloves and goggles so I put it on the floor rather quickly and unplugged it, it was left to fizzle, crackle and smoke having its own little melt down, literally. What do you expect from a cheap angle grinder? I am surprised it lasted this long. Adam did say to me it wouldn’t last long, he was right.

hand brake bracket in correct position

note the build up of powder

right side rear chassi leg repaired

With everything wiped down, dusted and cleaned up with thinners I then started work with the red oxide to the point where I had got to with the angle grinder. I think you will agree it has made a huge difference. Once it has come back from paint the underside will be coated with some stone chip in black to protect it even more.

After the angle grinder had cooled down I tried to move it, all moving parts had welded themselves together by the feel of it. Guess what is going in Adams scrap pile?

Sunday was a day I usually do a bit in the man cave. Today I was asked to hang a garden gate, fix a fence panel and couple of other little jobs. So I didn’t manage to get stuff done that I wanted. The only thing I managed to do was clean up my sander and put it away. Oh, I did order a new angle grinder so hopefully it will be here by the time I go back next weekend.

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Looking Good

A long week and the weekend couldn’t get here fast enough so I can get down to Mustang Maniac. I arrived with change of clothes and a packed lunch. The dogs were in high spirits and enjoying the sun running around the now spacious yard. Adam looked over the car with me and gave me my instructions for the day. Final clean up of the left side and remove the shock tower bracket that had been badly welded on. I wanted to replace the brakes with a nice smart export brace so they needed to come of anyway. I have seen some were the export brace sits over the top of the brackets and it looks a poor job. So while I was at this stage it was an ideal time to remove the first one. It was a case of the angle grinder to reduce the weld to as thin as possible then lever the old bracket off the shock tower. With the bracket off I was able to grind down the weld almost flat. I have become a lot better at using the angle grinder with finesse and can grind away quite accurately now with only the bits I want removed.

Bracket in place

Bracket removed to leave the old welds

Cleaning up the metal to make sure no rust was about and wire wool the tight spaces to leave a fresh bare surface.

With my ears still ringing from the whine of the angle grinder it was time for some peace and quiet and start the stipple of the red oxide. This was to continue to edges where I didn’t need welding and again stop about an inch in to allow welding to be done. Of course there will be some bits that I may have to go over again when the repair welds start, but that can’t be helped. I completed the complete left hand side inner fenders and the fire wall now. Adam came to give me a hand a little later so we could roll the car over ready for next week’s more of the same all be it on he other side. What a difference it makes to see the red oxide on there. The pictures here were taken as soon as I had finished, so it was a little wet in some places.

Sunday the wife wanted me to give her a hand with the garden as she wanted to get our lovely bamboos out the garden, as they were start in to go a bit mental. I came home Saturday evening to find the big bushes cut down but the stumps or shoots still in the ground. The ground was soaked by the rain in the morning so it wasn’t to bad to dig. What I wasn’t expecting was the shoots to travel as far sideways as they did. Under the loose laid patio in the corner, and to the fences. We lifted the slabs up to find a find a complex web of infiltration from the roots that was more complex than a cold war spy drama, it was everywhere. We eventually got it all up but it was a pain. Tip: Don’t plant bamboo in the ground unless you have a couple of giant pandas coming to stay to keep it under control.

In case you are wondering, I did manage to sneak a couple of hours in at the man cave while she was out. I started to clean up and strip down down the steering setup. But shoosh, don’t tell the wife! I will create a step by step process and add it soon. I can’t do a Sunday without a little tinkering on the car or car bits now can I?

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Blowing Hot & Cold

Weekend has arrived and with it a nice dose of sunshine, along with it came the pollen and misery. Hay fever is something I have learned to live with for years now. I love the countryside and the flowers, unfortunately they don’t love me. I had a nice trip to Mustang Maniac with the aircon on full blast trying to keep cool and giving myself the metal bubble sanctuary from the pollen. I arrived to see a fairly empty yard and Adam moving a couple of cars around. Holiday season for them and they still managed to finish a couple of cars. I have seen a car down there that was “restored” by another specialist Mustang restorer and it was being sorted out properly by guys. I got changed and Adam gave me my list of jobs to do on my little lady. It was a final tidy up and rust removal, then out with the paint brush for the Red Oxide again. I have left some spaces where there needs to be a little bit of welding to be done.

before

tunnel before

inner shock tower

all completed

tunnel painted

inner shock red oxide

front rad panel

There was also the issue of the body filler that was there from a couple of weeks ago too. I still had my Dewalt dual action sander (review here), with me and used that to take it down to flat and almost smooth with the 100grit disc. I left it a little rough on purpose in order to give the paint a good key to stick too. It looks pretty good around the tunnel area now I must say.

Sunday was lazy day as I was having feeling sorry for myself with the hay fever thing – did I mention that? Sympathy vote being looked for here by the way. Seriously I decided to clean the heater controls from the car that blow the hot and cold about the car and demist the screen. The chrome was pretty poor looking and the cables not working very well. I took the whole thing apart and cleaned it while sitting in the garden subjecting myself to more pollen. The lever mechanism was degreased and all the chrome was polished. The only thing there was an issue with was the grub screws that tiny that hold the knobs on the from of the levers that allow you to remove the chrome plate. All were fine except one that was tight and I didn’t want to round the grub screw off. I cleaned the grub out with a needle that allowed the Allen key to fit all the way in and it cracked free. The results are pretty good I must say. I have posted the full walk-through process here or click on the quick link at the bottom.

The before shots of the controller looking worse for 48 years of grime.