Replacement car cover from CarCovers.ca. Fits perfect and no flaws this time:-)
My QuickJack unit is giving me grief. One side doesn’t want to lower. I had to get the car off the QuickJack and on jack stands which isn’t easy with the QuickJack under the side frame rails where normal jacking takes place. Got her down safely, but I will loose garage time finding the problem and fixing it!
Rear window trim came off without too much work. I was able to release the clips using a plastic trim tool and a dental pick. I didn’t break any that I removed, but five were already broken. I will have to see if I can get new clips fitted with the window in place. I really don’t want to r&r the rear window.
Meanwhile, a little Spray ( to clean the inside of the rocker panel trim before I go on the sanding.
Removed the rocker cover trim for repaint. They are aluminum and had the paint sanded off. They will need a finish sanding prior to prime and paint. I’ll be doing them over in VW reflex silver and clear coat. I’ll also add a black pin pin stripe in the upper groove.
The rocker panels are for the most part good. The side frame is now exposed. It only has light surface rusting. I’ll clean them up a bit and coat them with heavy Rust Check.
A little hard to make out, but the front end of the right rocker panel has been broken off where the rocker panel front bolt is located. I’ll need to do a repair here before re-installing the rocker.
Most of the rocker bolts came out OK. I used a dental pick to clean out the screw head grooves and then used a philips head socket and a 3/8″ drive to snap them loose. Only a couple needed to have the nuts held in place on the back for removal. Only one had to be drilled out. They are specially formed machine screws with small heads. I’ll pick up a new set for the re-install. They come in black and will blend in nicely with the black pin striping.
There are three screw fittings on each side in the centre of the panels. Fortunately they area all in good shape. It would be a real problem if they are damaged as it would be very hard to get a nut in back to secure the screw. The two front and one rear screws are accessible from the back to use nuts.
Next I’ll need to remove the rear window aluminum trim. It also needs to be sanded, primed painted and clear coated. Hopefully all the clips are in good shape as I believe the window has to be removed to install new clips.
Had the Chevy out for a last drive. A bit of salt on the road and it looks like the fall rains are starting. So time to take the L48 off the road and get at the winter work. I have trim work, dash work and ‘donor’ engine work to get done. I’ll also fit in some Studebaker work as I can.
First things first. Grease job and tire rotation. I won’t be changing oil or filter. No need as they engine will be coming out. It’s using about a quart every 100 kms or so, but not showing up as blue smoke thankfully.
When removing the rear tires I noticed an access plate on the front side of the wheel well. I decided to open them up to check for rust on the body mounts.
What I did find was the remains of a mouse nest. Fortunately the body mounts and rear bird cage assembly had only surface rusting.
I gave the cavity a good coating of the heavy duty (green can) rust check.
The inside of the access plates where somewhat rusted – bare metal from the factory. So I gave them a quick going over in the bead blast cabinet.
I gave them a coat of Rock Guard spray undercoating. I find it stands up well. I like to use it on the front end A arms, etc.
Next: my first bit of restoration will be the rocker panel trim and the rear window trim. Both are aluminum and were sanded off for the quickie paint job to sell the car. I found out the car came into the province in 1988. It apparently sat for 20 years before the sale – from 2003. So it was driven for about 24 years. which works out to about 6,000 km’s per year with 144,000 showing on the odometer. Definitely time for a complete overhaul!
Painting trim with primer and VW reflex silver. Unfortunately I ran out of reflex silver, but I did get the four door trim strips done.
These are the four door strips. They’ve been primed and sprayed with reflex silver. I’ve applied 1/8″ black decal stripe to three. I think the black stripes set off the trim nicely. I’ll do them all and then give them a couple of coats of clear coat before setting them aside until I get the winter work on the rear doors done.
Next : I’m expecting the paint to arrive by next Monday and will continue with this job.
Meanwhile back with the C3, I bought an interior car cover from CarCover.ca. The red thing in the background is the tray from a used wheel barrow given to me by a friend. I’m restoring that to 🙂
It fits rather nice and is made of some man-made breathable fabric. I wanted something to cover the car when I get into painting parts in my garage over the winter.
It came with a storage bag and a kit to position an opening for the antenna.
It also has a feature to allow you to lock the cover to prevent casual theft. There is a reinforced grommet on the middle of either side that you can use to attach a cable and lock.
Unfortunately it came with a defect just behind one of the outside mirror pockets. I sent CarCovers.ca a photo and they are sending me a new one free of charge and I don’t have to send the old one back – good service!
I decided to fit the trim to the car before painting it. That way there will be less chance of messing it up. The vertical tape strips are the location of the trim clips. After a lot of adjusting I managed to get the four pieces in a smooth line. The front and back strips have a slight downward curve to them.
I marked the top and bottom of the trim on each of the vertical strips. The centre between the top and bottom lines would be where the hole for the trim strip mounting clip would be located.
I drilled the holes using two sizes of bits. At each end of the moulding I drilled using a 5/16″ bit. This hole is just big enough for the clip and does not allow for any vertical movement – all clips can move horizontally within the moulding. I wanted the end clips to hold the trim in an exact position – especially at the joins at the door edges. For the rest I used a 11/32″ bit. This allows for the clip to move a bit vertically. The end clips will hold the trim in its proper position and the middle clips can float a little so that the trim is not forced to bend.
I’m happy with this side. Now to do the right side.
The right side was a lot easier to put in place. Looks OK to me 🙂
I also have stainless trim mouldings for the rocker panels and stone shields for the front of the rear wheel well opening. Together they should look very nice I think.
Next: Painting the trim and applying the 1/8″ black decal.
I have a complete set of wide trim for my ’66 commander. Not year correct, but I think it will give the 4 door car a longer lower look.
I’ll use the same procedure on the aluminum rocker panel covers and the trim around the back window on the ’79 Chevy.
My plan is to sand the aluminum trim and paint with a black pinstripe. Hard to see but the bottom piece buffed up nicely, the middle one buffed up not so nice as the original aluminum anodizing was corroded. So this meant that I couldn’t easily buff to a nice finish. The top piece has been sanded.
I did the same with the trim on my formerly owned ’74 Dodge. In that case I painted the centre of the aluminum and cast trim sections first in a metal flake wheel silver and then the centre section in black and finished with clear coat.
I started with 600 grit, but it wasn’t enough to easily remove rust stains and left over masking tape glue. The 400 grit worked much better. Both papers are wet sanding type which I find better than regular paper for this type of work.
I also needed to use my body hammer and wooded blocks to take out any dings as I went along.
With all the trim sanded it was time to get the clips organized – the first photo in this post actually shows the trim after it has been sanded.
In my collection of parts for the ’66 I did have some new clips. Each clip has a rubber-like seal to fill the mounting hole so that water, mud, etc doesn’t flow out and down the outside of the fender – the front an back sections of the trim’s clips pass into the wheel wells.
I had lots of other used clips where the rubber seals were deteriorated. So I cut out some softer rubber about the same thickness and width of the originals, punched holes in them using a leather punch and slipped them in place. Should work OK I hope. I think I will add a bit of silicone to each also to help get a good seal.
I’m using nails to hold the trim strips up from the inside. This way I should be able to paint around the edges of each strip.
Next: Since I don’t have a warm painting area I’ll have to way for a warmish day to get the trim painted. I’ve ordered the 1/8″ black trim tape and hope to see it within a week.
A new photo of the L48. Still driving it with the burnt valve. Soon time to take it off the road and start on the winter work. Lots of dash work to be done, trim painting and when the donor engine arrives, lots to do there too 🙂
After more that a few tries I finally got the right combinations of shims under the rear pinion bearing race (cup) to give me a reasonable wear pattern on the crown gear.
Lacking a race extraction tool I used the brass bar on the left and a small maul to remove and install the race. Not the best, but there are crescent shaped cutouts in the differential casting for this type of removal. I used the same tools to replace the differential side bearings which I also had to do a number of times to get the spacing right for a good wear pattern and the correct backlash.
I picked up this unit to remove the side bearings on Amazon. I had to remove the bearings a number of times before I got the wear pattern and backlash right.
It is recommended that the housing be only spread apart .020. Rather than open it up to the .020 I decided to just do the minimum by only going enough to cover the .008 side bearing preload required
With .045 shims on the left and .015 on the right I was just able to slip the TT unit in the housing (without the spreader) – snug enough that it took a pry bar to get it out. I figure there was likely .002 clearance. Just enough to allow the unit to slip in place with a few taps from a rubber dead blow hammer. The manual calls for .008 preload on the side bearings. So I added .010 (.002 plus the .008) to the left side and then had to move .005 from the left side and move it to the right side to get a good backlash. I needed to spread the housing a little over the .010 for the TT unit to slip in. That would be less of a spread than the .020 recommended.
The TT unit slipped in with some help from the dead blow hammer and a final check on the backlash showed about .004 – recommended between .003 and .006.
Believe it or not the next thing I did was to dissemble the TT unit and the pinion. With all the work I did I expected that there would be some brass, metal and paint slivers throughout the assembly. Also I used a lot of chassis grease to hold things in place during the operations.
I cleaned everything up using brake clean and a tub of clean parts cleaner and then blew it all dry.
Same for the housing.
Pinion back in place with lots of hypoid gear oil over everything to stop the raw metal from flash rusting.
The TT unit being reassembled with hypoid gear oil over all and in the side bearings.
These are the two thrust blocks that fit in a hole in the centre of the cross arms. I was at a loss as to how to hold them in place until I realized that they are held together with a 1\8″ roll pin. No worry about them falling out when the axles are finally put in place.
A fine bead of sealant for both sides of the gasket.
Gasket and cover both in place aided by two guide bolts.
Bolts in finger tight. Tomorrow I’ll torque them to spec and touch up the paint ready for install over the winter sometime.
Meantime I’m hoping to see my donor engine soon 🙂
My cup shims have arrived. Everything I need to finish the Dana 44 rear end I now have – I hope! I need to finish up adjusting the driver’s door on the Chevy before I can get back to the rear end.
The sound deadening mat can be cut and fitted any old way – good coverage is better than look because only you will get to see it. I found the small roller very helpful especially when flattening overlapping joints.
One thing I discovered about Kilmat is that it is made in Russia. I’ll not be buying any for of it for sure – I’m not going to give Putin any more money to do the evil things he is up to!
I scraped off the factory sealing compound from the inside of the door before applying the sound deadening mat. I ended up with a ball about half the size of a golf ball. The thickness of the mat plus the factory sealant might have kept the door panel from sitting flat.
I finally got the door window to fit. It still won’t go all the way up. I’m hoping that the window rubbers will take a set and squish a bit flatter to allow the window the go all the way up – but then I may need a new motor. I adjusted the front track as far back as I could by using a dremel to oval all the two inner bolt openings. It was then a job to adjust the track stops (at the top of each track) and the tilting adjustment. I also had to flatten the front windshield side moulding that holds the front window seal and move it out as far as possible. There is something basically wrong with the door, but I can’t figure it out – very frustrating!
It’s near the end of the driving season and I’m expecting my donor motor any day now. So I’ll not start any new fix-it projects for the next little while.
L-R transducer mount, throttle link and servo mounting bracket all cleaned up, painted and ready to be installed. Still need my transducer. Seems there is a mix up with the seller and I didn’t get the money to him.
Spent a couple of days on the doors getting the new rollers and anti-rattle bumpers in place. Then I’ve being adjusting everything trying to get the windows to fit properly in the door frame.
My biggest problem with the window was to get it back enough to fit in the frame opening. The front/rear movement of the window is controlled by the front vertical track I moved the top as far back as I could even to using a dremel grinder to oval the bolt openings and the frame itself.
I also ovaled out the lower track mounting bolt. In the end I got just enough rear movement to allow the window to just fit. Even so the window front edge doesn’t fit the frame rubber properly. I’ll put that down to the difference between the original frame rubber and the aftermarket ones I used.
I picked up these hole plugs for the doors thinking it was a good idea, but they really didn’t want to go in and I didn’t try to force them.
In the end the plugs really weren’t needed as I decided to cover the door in sound proofing Kilmat. Hopefully this will improve the sound of the door closing and also cut back on the road noise getting into the cabin.
