Early HPE restoration

[SanRemo78]

Might that job be one you could delegate to a paintless dent removal body guy?  Unless you really know what you're doing it might end in tears? I guess finding a replacement will not be easy these days.
Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

An interesting option. I will see who is local.

Here is a photo of both the attic (dump room) and parts polished so far!

Petet

[SanRemo78]

Been there and done that Peter! Still got a few scratches but it's acceptable for me!

[peteracs]

So away in France and up popped on Ebay a new badge for the front grill at a seller in Italy. All the badges I have are pretty grim and will not come back regardless of how much polishing etc I give them. So pressed the button and 3 days later it arrived, really pleased with it and no taxes!

Peter

[deks]

Hi Guy

An interesting option. I will see who is local.

 

Petet

Ive got a guy from Grantham due to me today for pointless dent removal. I will ask him while he is here if he can deal with the chrome trims. I have his details if you want them for any ventless work.

[peteracs]

Hi Steve

Thanks.

FYI the trims are all Stainless, no chrome involved.

Peter

[deks]

Hi Steve

Thanks.

FYI the trims are all Stainless, no chrome involved.

Peter

I asked him while he was here. He said no it's not possible. His words were you'll have to buy new so I pointed out that isnt possible with these cars. I think because it's not a fixed panel he can get behind he cant push the dent out.

[peteracs]

Hi

Not a lot of progress as been out in France and some illness at home has meant I get limited time to do anything to the car. However managed a few hours recently and managed to address the main door glass where the glass is not too bad thankfully as probably difficult to find (plain glass), but the metal support had some rust showing. So I decided to rub it down, apply the rust treatment/primer and applied a coat of a zinc based paint to hopefully keep in decent condition. (Photo below)

I also manage do sort out the final stainless parts and started polishing it. One of the final parts I had been trying to find are a pair of external door window scraper trim. Most of these appear to separate the scraper from the main trim piece. I nearly bought a pair from a late HPE VX, but decided they were no better than the pair from the donor Coupe. Once cleaned up I need to attach the scraper to the main trim piece, some comments have suggested using bonding compound such as Sikaflex works, so will be giving that a go. Note these external scrapers are different to the original pre facelift ones and in my view are a better design to keep water out of the internals of the door.

Peter

[peteracs]

New toy arrived at 6:30 this morning, driver was glad to get it off the van…..

I decided to get this for the HPE as the dolly it is on at present just gets in the way of replacing all sorts and this should give me better access.

Eric, I took your comments onboard re weight and yes really heavy, so when finished with the rebuild may consider moving it on, though tempting to leave collapsed in place under car as will make lifting it so much easier than with trolley jacks.

One comment I will say is that I will be using multiple axle stands as wel, no chance on relying solely on this whilst I am under it!


Peter

[Ferrit]

I will look forward to seeing it under the car

[WestonE]

Hi Peter Good Luck and mind your back and toes moving it around. I think for your semi permanent under the car use it will do the job. It gets old quickly if you have to push roll the car over it when collapsed often.

[peteracs]

Hi Eric

Yes, probably not something I will hang on to after it has fulfilled its immediate use, just do not have the space.

Peter

[peteracs]

The rear badges on the Spider I managed to successfully polish and fill in with enamel black paint, they have weathered well. For the HPE the Lancia badge is a bit corroded and saw this what looked almost new one on Ebay with UK seller, so decided it would save a lot of work polishing etc, photo 1. The original size badge was 1600 which is no longer suitable so I had purchased a 2000 badge which I am well on the way polishing and due to the early rear hatch it needed a hole drilling to accommodate the lock. Photo 2 shows where I am at with it, still some polishing to go and then black paint infill. The seller of the Lancia badge also has a great looking 2000, but too far down the road to change now!

[peteracs]

One question I had been mulling over for a while now was how to install the long stainless strip on the door which includes the window scraper and how to attach the detached scraper from the stainless strip. Originally the scraper and strip are spot welded to each other and this very often fails. Suggestions are to use a modern bonding compound which appears to work, so that is on the list. The other issue was how to mount the strip without damaging the paintwork and leading to it all getting rusty again.  On later cars there was a moulded strip of plastic between the strip and the edge of the door, on earlier cars they used a fabric tape. I have one good condition plastic strip and a couple of mangled ones, but thought that some form of protective tape might do a better job, so after hunting for suitable tape, I came across

'PTFE Coated Fabric Tape Brown High Temperature Tape'

This seems to be used in various applications including food related.

I tried a quick test and it does appear to suit the job and it is a brown colour which also suits the car even though it should not be visible.

I may try it on some of the other stainless trim as well.

Peter

[JASPER_40]

I have also been searching and experimenting with alternatives for the moulded plastic strip that protects the door from the stainless steel strip. I think this molded strip is actually visible and bridges (almost) the gap between the bottom of the strip and the top of the door ledge. The original seems to have a bead running along the bottom edge which is difficult to replicate.

Other manufacturers must surely have similar ?

Interested to know how you go with this 


Cheers

Steve

[peteracs]

Hi Steve

You are correct that the plastic protrudes below the stainless, I am not so keen on using it tbh as it does allow moisture to be trapped between it and the painted door as there are two hard surfaces pressing against each other. I prefer the original tape solution, albeit the original tape does not appear to be greatly waterproof, whereas this ptfe tape is supposed to be. The thickness of the tape is much less than the plastic, so some adjustment to the gap of the stainless is required, but should be simple enough to achieve a tight fit.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

How about a sealant? Tigerseal or Sikaflex might be too permanent but would prevent moisture attacking the steel underneath? Maybe a non curing type mastic/silicone sealant would work?

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

I was trying to keep it simple, will see how the tape works out.

Peter

[peteracs]

A rare, at present, day out collecting bits.

First to the trimmer to collect a pair of footwell covers he has had sitting waiting for me for about 2 years I think! Also picked up some of the brown vinyl which will be for the pillars etc.

Then on to Rugby to meet Carl of YouTube fame!  He kindly collected some Spider rear lights I bought from a guy who Carl visited to collect some other parts.

Finally to near Leicester where I collected a VX gearbox which came from the car being parted out on the South Coast. Good to see it had the dipstick with it. I already have one, but having never run it, I thought prudent to have a spare around so hopefully can get a good one out of the two at the least.

[Nigel]

Nice trip Peter.

Are you going to fit one of the gearboxes as is, and see how it goes?
I think that's what I'd do, as swopping later is not that difficult.

Nigel