Rust E?

[RSTarga]

What happens when you try to take it off?
Also dirt starts to accumulate along the edges, reminds me of how people used to vinyl wrap their furniture.

[MoparBoy72]

David,

Your concerns are on removal are valid; it is not if you remove but when; it seems the materials and adhesives have improved a lot for these clear films but there is a life to them. When this time comes I hope Larry is still around...

It seems there is a technique to wrapping the edges when applying the film to ensure adhesion and the film does not lift later. I have only applied this to partial panels on one of my other cars and there is no contamination at the edges.

I was also surprised to learn that one can "buff" many of the clear film products when they get scratched/stuffed or hazy. I am not trying to get to crazy with this, just trying to protect some "green" while also not worrying too much about "road rash"

[MoparBoy72]

As one thing leads to another... I was just going to take a look at my taillights...

With school out of the way I can jump into this with some funds in hand. This is very exciting for me as it has been one of my sore spots for a long time...

It has only been nine years since starting this thread/endeavor, progress has slowed a bit as life and other projects get in the way...I did have to shuffle the garage a bit this fall, it was nice to remove the cover. Maybe one day soon I will get my priority's in order.

Thanks for the continued support via this board and especially the Midwest crew.

First photo is me setting the ignition timing circa 2005; The second photo is somewhat current.

[merbesfield]

Patience is a virtue. Family is most important and cars will follow. Enjoy the road.

[MoparBoy72]

Thanks Mark

I had some time after the Thanksgiving holiday and set out to remake a set of oil tank buffers (911.207.307.00) on my 3d printer for the "E". Another Early S member had made some but I could not find the thread. This was a nice project to try and get the ball rolling again. After a few tweaks these printed out reasonably well and I was able to cross one small item off my list.

[MoparBoy72]

New year with new goals. I have two goals, the goal to actually begin reassembly and the goal to complete assembly. My living room will thank me.

Progress on the first goal:

Another cleaning of body shop dust. Fixed the dash vinyl with a little contact adhesive. I did some light touch up on the door black out masking in the upper lock area where the original had been masked. I cleaned up the driver’s side foot well, a light surface rust was present from the master cylinder failing (you know over ten years ago). Scuffed and painted with a POR15 like product.

As I have been cleaning I have noticed green overspray on some rubber trim. Leading me to believe that early in its life there was some kind of repair, maybe a low speed parking lot event. There is no green overspray on the makeshift fuel vapor tank (74+ type) in the left wheel well but there is red overspray on it. In addition one of the banjo horns in missing with the wiring harness just hung bare. Not to mention the front bumper trim being changed out to the larger “S” type trim. I am still trying to put these clues together.

There is red overspray certainly a chore to clean off parts. I have been working to clean and reuse as many original parts as possible. I was able to refit the smugglers box lid after spending about an hour cleaning the red paint out of the multiple folds in the lids’ seal. I was quite surprised at the resiliency of the seal. My main tools for this were a plastic razor blade and some 3M adhesive remover where needed.

I do enjoy finding all of the date codes on the original parts which seem to mostly be 3.72 for a 4.72 built chassis.

My next steps are some masking/painting the interior for the black out paint at the seat rails and center tunnel. Once this is done I will need to plan for the chassis black out. I have seen many different takes on this and luckily one a “sister” car to mine was at auction on BaT (9112200726 and there were a significant amount photos taken. I have used these along with many others I had collected over the years to work on formulating a plan on what to paint and where (chassis wise).

PS- As time allows I plan to fix some of the older linked files which had been hosted elsewhere to be hosted on this site.

[MoparBoy72]

Lots of cleaning over the past few weeks. It is amazing where over spray can reach. I have been reviewing a few small detail parts which I had removed and was curious about their originality.

(photos are seemingly in a mixed order)

#1

Strips of black fiber board under the batteries, these were under each battery, like little skids.

#2

Fabric (maybe nylon) tape on the sheet metal of the fresh air vent, possibly masking the opening to be black or maybe helping seal the opening somehow. My reference photo shows that this tape had red over spray on it meaning it was on my car for a good period of time.

#2a

Looking at an older parts diagram I noticed that there is a "spacer" (901-559-491-20) called out in the area of the fresh air vent. this looks to support the grille mesh in the center points. I found a seller online who looks to sell a modern version, this looks to just be a piece of black foam. If so does anyone have the dimensions or a photos showing the original in place?

Thank you,

-Andrew

[MoparBoy72]

It has been nice to dig through a number of the threads on this board and research a number of the details I still need to iron out.

Lots of cleaning still taking place, the amount of patience it takes to clean old red paint off of plastic parts and the wiring harness is just immense.

I fixed a number of the photos in the beginning of the thread until I reached a point where the linked file names were altered and enumerated such that I have to match the photo and not the name...a fun game.

Last week's questions #2 and #2a were answered by the board in a thread here.

Throughout this week I have been trying to figure out if there were ever body plugs in the rear gas tank support bracket/braces or front pan legs (adjacent to battery boxes). The RH rear tank brace would be where the fuel line for a Webasto heater would route through; the upper sheet metal has a body plug (next to VIN stamp)...so why not the lower? Well after finding out that 18mm plug (999.703.057.40) was NLA, I made a CAD model of one I had and printed out a few (via the 3D printer, have I told you all how awesome this is ). The gas tank support holes are two different sizes, so I adjusted my CAD model slightly and made a plug for each tank support so I could sleep.

[MoparBoy72]

I have been a bit deficient on keeping things updated but I have been moving forward on reassembly. Not in a "hurry up and get it done" way but slow and methodical. I was able to refit most of the interior sound deadening for the rear wheel housings but the rear interior foam section was toast. I made a template of the original as best I could and made a replacement from standard 1/4" upholstery foam.

The engine sound pad was a bit of a project in and of itself, I posted the details on another thread (here);

Right now I have been painting the chassis and fixing a few undercoating spots that did not blend very well. I am not sure what kind of application gun was used by the factory but the orifice must have been huge. I am using a Wurth applicator just about fully open just to get it to look "close". Then again the materials are different as well (PVC v. SKS).

[MoparBoy72]

A few progress updates, Floor pan/rocker black masking is complete, I have just about wrapped up cleaning the front harness and spent about five hours yesterday cleaning and fixing the rear harness.

The old sheathing had fallen apart and with a few tugs it came apart. I recalled and note from Ed Mayo citing that a bicycle tube worked for this purpose...so I had one that I was saving for this along with a clear but aged T&B zip tie (Ty Rap). This worked out quite well as the inner tube was lined with talc or a mild release agent, this gave reasonable lubrication over the snug sections (connector ends). I thought the section over the torsion tube would be the hardest but it was rather simple.

I also learned if you don't mask it yourself, it will get painted at the body shop. I think part of my starter cable will stay green for now...