Janice's 1974 Persian Lime Firemist Eldo Convertible

[hornetball]

Interior is out, dismantled and washed.  Barry (Fibrenew franchisee in Burleson, TX) is scheduled to pick these up this week from minor repairs and redye.  He seems on the ball, so I'm hoping for a nice result.  I found it interesting that the GM Medium Lime interior actually darkens, rather than lightens, in the Sun.  You can definitely see the difference in the second picture, in both the dash pieces and the two steering wheel halves.  I picked up a second upper dash to have as a spare.

[MaR]

I have found on my Cranberry '74, some of the parts have faded lighter and some of them (particularly the steering wheel parts) have gotten darker. Are you replacing the carpets also?

[hornetball]

Yes, I got new ACC carpets with the "mass backing."  The carpets had already been replaced once, but then some braineack hit them with gray paint (you can see some of the gray paint on the kick panels -- WTF?!?).

I'm planning to follow your lead and paint the floors with POR-15 followed by the Noico butyl sound deadener material that you linked.  Jute and the "mass backing" carpet will go on top of that.

The OEM sound deadener (at least on the front floor) consisted of three layers -- Asphaltic Mastic + Jute + Asphaltic Mastic.  Unfortunately, the OEM Asphaltic Mastic crumbles.  My thought is that Noico + Jute + "mass backing" will mimic the OEM effect pretty closely (maybe even better) while doing a good waterproofing job to preserve the floors.  Planning on Noico + Felt for the trunk.

[MaR]

Yes, I got new ACC carpets with the "mass backing."  The carpets had already been replaced once, but then some braineack hit them with gray paint (you can see some of the gray paint on the kick panels -- WTF?!?).

I'm planning to follow your lead and paint the floors with POR-15 followed by the Noico butyl sound deadener material that you linked.  Jute and the "mass backing" carpet will go on top of that.

The OEM sound deadener (at least on the front floor) consisted of three layers -- Asphaltic Mastic + Jute + Asphaltic Mastic.  Unfortunately, the OEM Asphaltic Mastic crumbles.  My thought is that Noico + Jute + "mass backing" will mimic the OEM effect pretty closely (maybe even better) while doing a good waterproofing job to preserve the floors.  Planning on Noico + Felt for the trunk.

Yep, my mastic layers were the same: very crumbly and mine were damp. The material that is on the underside of the firewall/cowl and in a few other areas is actually a form of rockwool. I'm just replacing that with more of the Noico and some 3/4" jute. Something that is interesting, in my '74 CDV, I distinctly remember that there was a layer of either horsehair or something very similar to horsehair between the massbacking and the carpet. That car was a d'Elegance trimmed car so it had some of the features of the Talisman trim package like the wider lower door panel trim and the thicker carpet so I wonder of the changes to the carpet padding were in the Talisman trim also.

[hornetball]

I'm looking forward to your "Talisman" Eldorado!

BTW, I keep getting lucky.  Just scored a Persian Lime dealer promo model!

[hornetball]

Worked on the steering wheel last night.  It had two cracks, a large one on top and a smaller one on the bottom.  I hogged them out, filled with JB Plastic Weld and profiled them with a file.




I then covered with a white Wheelskins leather cover.  The Wheelskins product is excellent, I've used them on many other cars.  This cover will be dyed lime along with the other lime items by my Fibrenew guy (he requested white as being easier to dye).

[MaR]

I used a similar leather wrap on my '74 CDV long ago. It held up well, as should yours. I'm eager to see the finished result of your interior. I've always like the Persian Lime cars.

[hornetball]

No cool pictures.  Just getting excited.  Car is at the paint shop and has already been stripped and primered.  I can tell from the questions I'm being asked that the person overseeing the work gives a darn!  They also thanked me for bringing them a rust-free car "for a change."  LOL.

Interior is with the Fibrenew guy.

So, just planning next steps.  It's going to be awesome to finally be assembling instead of disassembling.

BTW, for anyone following the thread, I found a source of the spring-steel splash shield clips here:

https://www.rubbertherightway.com/clips-multi-purpose-clip-fits-54052-prd1.htm

They seem to have lots of the harder to find clips/fasteners.

[MaR]

No cool pictures.  Just getting excited.  Car is at the paint shop and has already been stripped and primered.  I can tell from the questions I'm being asked that the person overseeing the work gives a darn!  They also thanked me for bringing them a rust-free car "for a change."  LOL.

Interior is with the Fibrenew guy.

So, just planning next steps.  It's going to be awesome to finally be assembling instead of disassembling.

BTW, for anyone following the thread, I found a source of the spring-steel splash shield clips here:

https://www.rubbertherightway.com/clips-multi-purpose-clip-fits-54052-prd1.htm

They seem to have lots of the harder to find clips/fasteners.

Nice find on those clips. I was about to ask you about them but I managed to harvest all I needed from a local junkyard.

[SixDucks]

Without a doubt these two 74 Eldorado restoration threads are among the BEST on the forums. I always look forward to a new post. Excellent work.

Terry

[35-709]

I used a Wheelskins leather wrap on my '73s steering wheel with a baseball stitch, not bothersome at all and the wheel has a nice feel to it.

[hornetball]

Body shop pictures:






They painted the door edges to test paint match against the 1974 spray.  Looks darn close to me:

[MaR]

Looking great

[hornetball]

It's sprayed!








Janice is happy!


Body shop still needs to give it a final buff and apply pin stripes.  Should be coming home sometime next week and then I'll need to get busy again.

[35-709]

Super nice looking job!

[MaR]

That looks awesome!

[hornetball]

So, the other day, Janice told me why she is so infatuated with large, green luxury rides.  This cigarette ad campaign really made an impression on 10 year old Janice.  We don't even smoke.  LOL.

I'll take a Caddy over a Rolls any day . . . .

[MaR]

I wish I had all of my new 3D printed fillers ready so you could put them on your car. It's going to look so good when you have it finished.

[hornetball]

Got the car and interior back.  Now the re-assembly process begins.

I polished my trim.  One of the issues here is the painted centers (painted to match the top color) of the side trim.  When polishing, you inevitably wear through the nearly 50 year old paint.  I tried a few times to repaint the centers, but was unable to get a clean edge that I liked.  Some paint would always pull up with the tape as polished stainless is hardly a great surface for adhesion.  The solution for me was 3M striping tape in 1/4" width.  It turned out really nice:




Also, began preparing the floors for insulation and carpeting.  I started with wire brushing and sealing with a Marine-rated primer.  I had gone back and forth on POR-15.  In the end, I thought I would prefer something removable in the future.  The car didn't have any rust in the floors to begin with, so I figured this would be plenty (and more than the factory put it):


I've started on laying down the Noico.  First time I've ever done this.  It was straightforward:


Also, put in new, correct trunk weatherstrip.  Began by cleaning and sealing the channel using the same Marine primer I used on the floors:


I then glued in the new weatherstrip with masking tape in place.  Once the masking tape was pulled up, it was a neat job.  The trunk closes well.




I ordered restored lower door panels from Cadillac King.  They're nice, but I specifically asked for ACC "Willow Green" lower carpet.  Oh well:


The incorrect carpet came up easily with a heat gun and some mineral spirits for final cleanup.


Also pulled the rear bumper for chrome (5mph bumpers are a PITA!).  It was badly scratched around the fuel filler and also had sanding scratches in the top surface from prior paint.  Some pitting was beginning also.  Dropped it off yesterday.  Dang, chrome is expensive these days!

[MaR]

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the rechroming?