Breathing Life Into a Neglected '75

Looking good. What are you using for 'rust encapsulator"? On the recommendation of others I have used POR15 in the past in some areas - however in my experience it's no good for any panels that may experience flex as it is a hard shell that will crack - zero elasticity.
 
Looking good. What are you using for 'rust encapsulator"? On the recommendation of others I have used POR15 in the past in some areas - however in my experience it's no good for any panels that may experience flex as it is a hard shell that will crack - zero elasticity.
I don't use POR15 just for those reasons. I use Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. It can be brushed on for things like floors, but it can be thinned by 20% with lacquer thinner for spraying. It lays down, and has flexibility just like normal primer. I'm not a big fan of brushing it on, but for floor panels it would be a massive undertaking to spray it with the interior in place. On a bare shell I would definitely spray rather than brush it on. On outer panels, I spray any area with even a hint of rust residue followed by 2k primer. Any filler goes over the 2K so the the filler has a barrier between it and the base metal. Unfortunately, unless a panel is media blasted it is impossible to remove all traces of rust with a wire wheel or sanding. I have a friend that does very high line paint and body restoration that has used this method for many years and has not experienced any issues to any treated area yet.
 
All the floor work is finally done!

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Got the cap welded in, ground, coated, seam sealed and hit with some festive green paint. Not a beauty to behold so lucky that no one will ever see it. If it lasts half as long as the original I'm happy....

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What is that black rectangular section on the shifter tunnel in front of the gas pedal?
 
In the past I have used dry ice to remove the sound deadening material. Sprinkle it on the and material becomes brittle. Couple of hits with a rubber mallet and the stuff comes right off. Quick and no mess
 
In the past I have used dry ice to remove the sound deadening material. Sprinkle it on the and material becomes brittle. Couple of hits with a rubber mallet and the stuff comes right off. Quick and no mess
For this one I used a heat gun set at about 800 degrees. Comes off very quickly with a stiff metal scraper and leaves no residue. Total removal took about 10 minutes per pan.
 
I really like these badges, it was a good graphic and nicely detailed. The letter and numbers ‘sliding’ on the bar is a nice allusion. I also really like the original Bertone vents on the side without the ‘base’, just the Bertone b floating and lower case bertone

Nice job. The little details are have an outsized effect on the overall perception of a car.
 
In the thread’s very first picture - how is that radio bracket attached to the dash? Is it metal, fiberglass, plastic - kinda looks like the one available at MWB?
 
In the thread’s very first picture - how is that radio bracket attached to the dash? Is it metal, fiberglass, plastic - kinda looks like the one available at MWB?
The radio bracket is metal and screwed into the base of the dash. The "pod" is vacuum formed plastic that slides over the radio and is held on by nothing more than the radio shaft nuts. The one MWB has is similar, but you need to fabricate a radio bracket to use it.
 
The radio bracket is metal and screwed into the base of the dash. The "pod" is vacuum formed plastic that slides over the radio and is held on by nothing more than the radio shaft nuts. The one MWB has is similar, but you need to fabricate a radio bracket to use it.
Weird. If you ever take it apart, post a couple of disassembly photos if possible :)
 
Figured I better poke around on the left side rocker area and sure as heck there is tin worm. Luckily, the damage was limited to the outer skin and won't require the inner fab work like the right side. This car was stored indoors for 17 years, but the final 3 years were outside. Looks like a fine silt got blown in between the inner and outer structure over time and all it takes is a little moisture to make mud. Had this stayed indoors, highly doubtful it would have suffered this type of damage. Better to fix it right rather than ruin new paint later.

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Weird. If you ever take it apart, post a couple of disassembly photos if possible :)
This is the original radio bracket (I'm assuming early model version is similar)

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it goes this area- further back - there are two captive nuts welded into the dash support (covered with the wiring on mine)

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This is the original radio bracket (I'm assuming early model version is similar)

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it goes this area- further back - there are two captive nuts welded into the dash support (covered with the wiring on mine)

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The early mounts vary depending on what radio kit was fitted. On my '75 it is a rectangular base plate about the width of the radio. It has 2 curved tabs on the front edge. The radio shafts go through the tabs and are secured by the shaft nuts. The plate is screwed to the bottom "shelf" portion of the dash. The plastic "pod" slides over everything along with the faceplate and secured with another set of shaft nuts. Early cars had no provision for a radio so you can find a wide variation of mountings even within the same model year depending on who manufactured the radio kit. I would have posted a picture but I cut the tabs off mine and repurposed the bracket to fit one of Henk's metal radio enclosures. The pic below is how 99% of the early radios look when mounted.

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To find a crack free dash in an early X is quite the rare occurrence. My '77 has one that was never cut for a radio, unlike this '75 that has. I'm not a radio guy. I'd rather listen to mechanical sounds in an X and save the tunes for the family appliances that's only purpose is to get from point A to point B. I'm not convinced that radios in early cars was ever a design consideration. If it was, there were various design workarounds that could have been employed to free up space and not significantly alter the basic dash design, but the factory must have had other ideas. This car had the obligatory dealer installed radio with the all too common plastic monolith hanging off the center of the dash. It would be nice to simply throw it all in the trash, but the cut out at the rear of the dash and the screw holes for the base mount require some sort of concealment. I picked up a metal "short" housing from Henk awhile back for my '74 dash that is being refinished because that one also has the rear cut out of it. Henk's solution while not optimal is far more substantial and has a little more pleasing look than the usual plastic extrusions. The housing comes powder coated in black. Mine had a weak spot-weld at the right front lower corner that broke, so the powder coat had to be removed to repair it. The slick powder coat made it look too "plastic" anyway so I decided to redo it in black wrinkle. I found this Pioneer head a couple of years ago for my '74 and need to go on the hunt for another to replace it. The key to this one is the 4" chassis depth that makes this shorter install easy. Henk's mount uses one screw on each side for mounting which is marginal at best when the base you are attaching it to is foam and vinyl. I modified the original radio bracket (more cutting, welding, and grinding) which is mounted to the bottom shelf of the dash and serves as a base plate for the new metal housing. The four original mounting screws went into the dash as originally installed, but the new radio mount was screwed into the metal base which allowed it to be pulled down tightly to the dash. The overall fit of any of these radio pods are mediocre at best so if you have a pristine dash to begin with, find another way to add sound if you really need it. Still wish the dash was uncut and sans radio, but I guess this will have to do.....

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