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69 SC Journey

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purple72Gremlin View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote purple72Gremlin Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/15/2018 at 9:31am
Awesome.....
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote amxdreamer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/15/2018 at 11:52am
My favourite thread here, love all the details Kevin. Can't wait to see the car n person one day!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Steve_P Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/16/2018 at 10:33pm
No idea if they have what will work for this window project, but AMK sells screws with one size smaller head than standard for the thread size. All mfgs used these in the 60s-70s for trim pieces.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kcsamc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Jul/17/2018 at 9:53pm
Originally posted by Steve_P Steve_P wrote:

No idea if they have what will work for this window project, but AMK sells screws with one size smaller head than standard for the thread size. All mfgs used these in the 60s-70s for trim pieces.


I had checked AMK, Totally Stainless and others no dice. Length makes it very special. Found stainless (which I wanted due to original rust issues) in thread and length just had standard head to mod.
Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kcsamc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/04/2018 at 10:59pm
Time marches on and the calendar is speaking louder and louder all the time.  Working many things at one time now.  I had dad down the other week and put him to work polishing the tempered glass.  Hefinished the rear window and the 1/4 windows, still has the doors to do on another trip down soon.  He has also taken on the project of restoring the seat belts as required at home.  I caught him working the glass one of the evenings - I think he spent about 7 or 8 hours just on the rear glass.  He is having a lot of knee and back trouble so this wore him out each day.  Still so privileged to have my mentor around to help out when he visits!


About 7 weeks ago I decided to send my shifter and linkage off to Hurst Online for full rebuild and replating.  The cost of sourcing components and plating myself and the tear down and assembly of something I've never done before just didn't add up cost wise.  They came back this week and I have to say as far as outsourcing work on this project is concerned - these guys exceeded my expectations, and that's not an easy task with me.  Besides the work done - they sent me Hurst stickers and an awesome T-shirt as swag!!!  Well done Hurst Online!!


These days, I feel like my main job is "turd polishing".  I am now regretting being a cheap skate on some pieces that I should have tried to source as rust free of pieces as I could even though I had a part to restore.  This week's example is the air cleaner base - not terrible but after bead blasting this, there is a lot of sanding to get rid of all the rust pits - a time drain on an already tight timeline.  Take note though of the gloss level on the bottom of this air cleaner - a strong semi gloss.



The finished bellhousing and other bigger parts have become temporary wall art in the shop as places to put all the pieces right now is getting tight.  It's nice though to look up and see something done and waiting.



Another project on the house back porch is the cleaning the restoration of a very rare and delicate piece - an original trunk mat.  Courtesy of one of our forum members, I will be able to install an NOS jack assembly, along side an original 1969 Goodyear redline spare and this original trunk mate.  But a lot of gentle work is required - I usually work on this late at night for an hour or so at a time as a side project.



Last week, the blue stripes went down on the back of the car (hood will come later), to be able to prep for the front and rear glass install.  Betsy Ross is finally getting her colors back now!



There have been a lot of little elements getting worked on as well.  Here is an example of just one.  Even NOS needs some help sometimes, especially things that were zinc plated.  This NOS speedo cable had bad zinc plating on the transmission end and needed a restoration before install.  I have said it before, and I say it again here, if you are doing your own car, then get an Eastwood plating kit for tin-zinc.  There is NO other way to fix something like this.  Strip the bad plating or bead blast, then dip just the section in the plating bath that needs a new coat, pull out and clean up the haze and you are back in business.  I finished detailing it and now it is ready to install in the firewall this coming week.



My upper control arms are back from another talented forum member with new bushings and washer re-install, and this week I will finish painting those and have ready to go.

The radiator shop has finished the 3 core job on my SC/R blackstone radiator and I will be picking up on Monday, that will need painted in the next week or two.

The wheels are now in play, with (2) blasted and primed and the next two in the blast cabinet.  A good deal of paint work is coming up fast on those.

Rear 1/4 windows are stainless polished, and new rubber installed and ready to bolt into the 1/4's this week.

The roof rail rubber is installed as of today, and the wiper motor assembly is 75% in, if I can just get the left pivot head to pull through its hole we are home free - but it has kicked my butt twice now, so a bit worried.....

The left vent wing assembly is about 50% restored now (an interesting little project on that to document in the near future).

The (5) pieces of rechroming that I needed done for the car are finished and are headed my way this next week from Qual Krom - anxious to see how they look.  One piece is the left vent wing pivot hinge I need to re-assemble the left vent assembly.

I think that's about it, I'm sure I forgot something - oh yes, the glass guys come August 25th to install the front and rear windows, and the motor I think is just days away from coming to the house after it's test fire and cam break-in - I saw a picture of the assembled motor last week!

Whew!

Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote kcsamc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/19/2018 at 10:30pm
Since I took the evening off, I decided I better take the opportunity to write a post on the progress.  Time has been short and the hours long and there is still along ways to go.

Shortly after the last post, I got the radiator back from my local shop.  Notice - this is not 100% factory original - I allowed myself a factory deviation on this part with an original 3194331 top tank mated with a AMC Blackstone 3 core bottom - giving me a 3 core radiator stuffed in the original package.  I doubt that anyone would see it right away - but I have disclosed it here as "not original"! LOL


I save some special 1970s lead based black lacquer and R-M PNT90 top grade thinner for my radiator jobs and this radiator definitely qualified for this obsolete paint system.  Lacquer is best for heat transfer and also for heat durability, and well, lead just makes it better!  It was a sweet smelling night in the shop that night.  After taking this photo, overnight the gloss level dropped to a perfect satin sheen that looks factory stock.  Ready to install!



After dad polished the rear quarter glass, I got busy polishing the stainless, installing new vertical sealing rubber, and installing the 1/4 panel fuzzies, and Eric and I got the glass installed in the rear quarters before anything bad could happen to them.  Boy these things fit close and tight!  Very specific way you have to install them.  I now have to wait until the door glass is in to be able to adjust the rear glass position and button up the rear quarters.



The transmission final detailing is complete, the shifter installed and the rear cross-member and NOS trans mount are subassembled on.  Too bad no one will really see this - it is sweet looking!  It is fully ready to bolt to the bellhousing at this time.



Here is a close-up of why the SC/R cross-member is cut out and reinforced with a plate - the Hurst Competition shifter needs more reverse linkage room than with the American cross-member originally provided.  If you are planning a Hurst shifter conversion on your American, you will want to do this.



Off and on, I have continued working on the trunk mat on the back porch.  The top side is fully cleaned and ready for next steps.  Time to flip over and figure out what to do with the foam deterioration:







Sitting and thinking about what to use...  I decided that I wanted to try the open can of Plastic Dip I had out in the garage.  i would brush it on and try to provide a flexible backer where it was totally missing and skim coat cracked and compromised spots elsewhere.  Once starting - there wasn't much going back...



All in all, without a playbook of what to do with this, I think the solution is as cheap and good as it gets.  It is time-consuming, but what isn't?  It is flexible enough, but not as flexible as the foam, it locks in compromised spots and does a good job of backing up the fragile top surface.  It won't look pretty on the back - but it was already ugly, so....  I will continue on this, and fix the rip using this as part of that solution as well, then flip back over and touch up some holes/tears with some latex caulking before taking it to the paint supply shop for color scanning and paint dye matching.  Hoping to paint by mid-September.  I will have at least done it justice and given it a new life of displaying what a REAL American trunk looked like in 1969...

I have learned that upper control arms are a challenge to properly restore.  Thankfully a fellow forum member offered to help to press in new bushings and to re-swage the original washers (with fresh plating) into my refurbished control arms.  Shown below is the freshly detailed control arms, representing the very last of the front suspension / steering that needed to be readied for installation - everything is ready to go back on!



I saved the biggest and best report for last tonight - THE MOTOR IS IN THE HOUSE!

Forum member FASTNASH has been working on this motor all year, and has been racing the last several weeks to finalize the build and to build the engine test stand he always wanted to test run this engine before delivering.  The motor got wound up on the test stand for an hour or so on 8/9/18 and he personally delivered it on 8/11/18:



Since getting the engine, I have been working on putting on correct waterpump / bolting (thanks to some special help Wink), choke tubes, and cleaning all the bare metal surfaces and phosphate treating the metal to take it's fresh coat of aqua.  I am hoping that by week's end, it will be colorized and I will be starting to populate it with a lot of waiting NOS / restored components.  I am gunning hard right now to get this thing looking pretty!

We hope to have a motor build documentation report at a later time from FASTNASH's archives.



Outside of gunning on the motor, I am trying to get the wheels and tires done ASAP.  The first set of (2) wheels got semi-gloss black applied today and drying tonight.  I hope to have the second pair going through the booth by mid-week:



Hoping blue will go done next week then.

This will be a busy week.  Saturday is the scheduled day for the windshield and rear glass to get installed.  We will be getting ready for that throughout the week.  Fingers crossed that it goes well!




Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kcsamc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/27/2018 at 10:44pm
We delayed window install until the glass guy decides how he wants to proceed with the unorthodox rear window channel rubber being "too big".  Looks like we will have to just deal with it as Gordy Chilson described how it should work, but need the glass guy to get comfortable with the scenario.  We should be getting glass in before Sept 15th.

I forgot to mention that dad finished the refurbishment of all my available seat belts so I can pick the best.  I picked up some 1969 belts out of a 20k mile car that was smashed in the 80s or so and most of those belts just needed cleaning.  Dad detailed them, and dyed the shoulder belts in acid dye to bring back the color on those, the rest were good with a thorough cleaning in very warm Woolite solution.  These are ready to select and bolt in:



The motor and wheels have been a big focus these past couple weeks.  The motor was being treated to the KBS Motor Paint system and needed a full cleaning, zinc phosphating and the finally paint this past Saturday.  That's been a lot of work, but quite the transformation:


Above, I was using an old heat shield and 401MATCOUPE's handy little dip stick tool to get the tube installed - boy you don't know how important that tool is until you need to use it!!


After a number of minor setbacks and some scrambling for a correct waterpump casting and bolting, the motor was finally ready to paint - but wait - my paint booth door wasn't big enough to take an engine through!  No worries, since I need to resheet the walls now anyway, I just cut an opening in the left side, removed the floor level pipe and rolled the engine in and then retaped the wall and all set!

KBS paint is a little different than some paints but overall not to bad to work with.  You will need about all the pint of paint to cover well and I just kept going around and coating the motor until the mixed amount was gone then let it sit about 10 - 15 minutes while I reloaded with a last quantity to shoot on to get the gloss.  The first coat was all about coverage.  The second coat was to make it look pretty!  The color is spot on, gloss I guess is higher than factory but it presents very well.




To get the best paint job, I elected to paint the small pieces separately and touch up after bolting for any chips on the hardware.  The fun part however was that all these small pieces were like painting windchimes!  Sunday night I had most of the small pieces done as well:



I have the bellhousing / cover plate / starter to engine paint detail on Wed. and then the motor - clutch - trans is ready to bolt together.

Tonight I turned my attention to getting the wheels finished.  Last week the black on the backs was done, and today my local shop spun the tires on the wheels, but left them unsealed so I could paint the blue on without letting any edge marks happen.

to try not to over-restore these wheels, I did the extra step of painting on the charcoal glitter paint from the factory MOTOR WHEEL for '69 to get the "under-grit" look in the paint:


The good news - I processed these in a way that simulates what the factory did; the bad news - I still got the finish paint too smooth and looks like I buried the glitter grit finish under the second coat of bright blue on the wheels....ConfusedCry  I think they will have a little too restored look, but I don't know what I could have done differently.  I even thinned out the paint more than recommendations to not build it up.  Even so, they look awesome.  Two finished tonight - two more tomorrow.



Boy - when you open that bucket of Bright Blue for the first time - it really smacks you in the eye!!  Get out the sunglasses!


The wiper motor got fully installed finally with a little help from our local AMC - Rambler dealer mechanic here in town - Roy Bird - grateful to have his experience on that pain of a job and to get it off the too do list.

The weekend looks like a full plate of activity with dad coming down to finish polishing glass and painting the hood finally.  I will be pushing to get the motor dressed out for a date to install the weekend after Labor Day.
Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
67 Rogue 290-4V 4spd Conv
A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 71SC360 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/29/2018 at 5:54am
Kevin, you need to talk to Chuck Page about your trunk mat. He restored an NOS one for his AMX that had very dry rotted foam backing. Looked like new when he was finished...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote kcsamc Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/29/2018 at 7:21am
chuck probably followed this thread by Brooke Pitt that Brooke sent to me yesterday:


which should work for mats with a honest fabric on the front.  The American mat however is not an honest fabric and I'm not sure would survive the transplant effort.  The foam is 80% of the structure with about a 5oz burlap core and latex? overspray.

I'm a little too far down the path I am on with a solution to repair this, but my mind is already working on one of my next 2019 reproduction projects....  will see...
Kevin Shope
1964 Classic 660
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A-Scheme SC/Rambler (69 SC JOURNEY)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 6PakBee Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Aug/29/2018 at 9:45am
Originally posted by kcsamc kcsamc wrote:

Here is a close-up of why the SC/R cross-member is cut out and reinforced with a plate - the Hurst Competition shifter needs more reverse linkage room than with the American cross-member originally provided.  If you are planning a Hurst shifter conversion on your American, you will want to do this. 



Ah, ha!  A definitive answer on the difference between the SC/ transmission cross member and the standard American cross member.  Kevin, thanks for posting this.  A picture is truly worth 1k words. 
Roger Gazur
1969 'B' Scheme SC/Rambler
1970 RWB 4-spd Machine
1970 Sonic Silver auto AMX

All project cars.

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