1968 DeVille Convertible - Restoration

[Ralph Messina CLC 4937]

Nicolas,

Try Jim Osborn Reproductions: http://osborn-reproduction.com/. They have a 100 page catalog of engine compartment labels. Excellent quality and service.

HTH

[spolij]

Here is the dent puller i was thinking of.  https://bit.ly/3bq8REu

[DeVille68]

Hi John,

Thanks for the links! That might work. However, I don't know if it can pull the dent out because the dent is not only on the flat part but also on the reinforcement dimple.
Well, today I gave the tank to a body man, he tries to push or pull it out. Let's see if he is able to do it.
The repair does not need to be perfect, since it is not readily be seen.

Thanks Ralph for the link. It seems that the website is asleep since 2015. Well, I gave them a call and it seems that they have the correct decal with the blue crest and blue gm logo. Well...lets see...what arrives in the mail.

Another issue that I am facing is with the glove box lock. I wanted to adjust the door, because the door would not shut right anymore and open it was even more difficult. Well, turns out that the three screws holding the door have loosened up and caused a slight misalignment.
I had a ton of troubles removing the lock cylinder, somehow after fielding for a half an hour it suddenly dropped out.  Well, turned out that the misalignment caused the catch arm to break of, this might caused the difficulties opening the glove box.
So, now I need to either fix that broken arm or find a new glove box housing. Anyone?

Best regards,
Nicolas

[spolij]

The  locks are cheap on the Internet.  Your only problem is the key will be different than the ignition. Personally i don't care if i can lock the glove box.

[DeVille68]

I have only found two items on ebay that are the correct housing for a 68 glove box. Prices start at around 50$ so that going to be close to 120$ till this item makes to my home.
I decided to glue the pieces together.
Unfortunately, it broke again and was in three pieces. I used JB weld first. But then while sanding the excess the one piece on the side fell off again. So I drilled a small hole through the pieces and used a small wire to give it strength against bending.
Then I used some superglue because this stuff will find its was into the smallest cracks unlike to epoxy.

So far so good, glove box lock is fixed and adjusted.
Meanwhile, I was again cleaning the underside with my wirewheels.

Best regards,
Nicoals

[Roger Zimmermann]

Should be easy to make one such piece with brass! (and for less money)

[spolij]

Nicoals "The repair does not need to be perfect, since it is not readily be seen. " Body filler?

120$ till this item makes to my home.  Where do you live?

[sturner50502]

I also removed all the brackets I could unbolt, those for the handbrake, brake line, wheel covers, tank etc.
Now the complete floor is ready to be cleaned, with will take forever, I wonder how I can keep the motivation up to work from underneath the car with all the junk falling down on me....well we see...

I also cleaned the gas tank, it is in surprisingly good state. Just one dent that someone has put into it. My plans are now halted, since I want to remove this dent first. I somehow need to find someone that can weld on studs and then pull on them.

The work will go on.

Nicholas,

I was thumbing through some of my repair manuals and saw a method for removing dents from gas tanks, It says to fill the tank with water, put on a non vented cap and add compressed air. The air pressure will push the dent out.

The manual warns not to do this with air only as it will cause the tank to explode. I guess the water makes a difference?

I never heard of this before and I offer it only because I read it the other night. Proceed at your own risk, if you try it. Also, I can send you the instructions if you are interested.

Steve

[Roger Zimmermann]

120$ till this item makes to my home.  Where do you live?

Nicolas is in Switzerland. Shipping is always expensive!

[DeVille68]

Hi Guys,

uh, the method with inflating the tank is too risky to me. Well, pressure acts on any surface, so also the water surface. Don't know what the water should do expect for decreasing the necessary air volume to create sufficient pressure. Water is not compressible, so its volume counts 1:1, but air is compressible and you would need a significant amount of air to have a (probably?) slighter higher than atmosphere pressure.

Well, for me the guesswork is over. The tank is already at the body shop.

As if I did not have enough projects - I added another one! 
I was looking at all those sad body bushing underneath  the car while cleaning the underbody with my wire wheels. I then remember having read an article by Scot Minesinger, it is attached to this post. So then I searched for rubber parts and found some generic ones on the website of metro moulded parts: https://www.metrommp.com/index.cfm.
Since this list is not easy to read I created an excel table with all the relevant bushings they have. It is attached to this post.

There you can see, that you need an upper and an lower bushing, which are slightly different. The exact drawing are given in the shop manual. Also attached.

I looked at them and decided that there is really no difference in the rubber, but only in how those mount. So you can or I hope - let's see - buy only a bunch of each kind. This is also the way that Scot did his rebuild.
So I ordered a bunch of BC-5E and BC-4 bushings. Cost was over 400.- $ 

Attached are also a few pictures of the bushings, No 7,6,5. I have yet to fully remove the upper part of those bushings.

Progress on the cleaning and de-rusting is slow, but I am getting there. I am about half way through now. I'll post a picture, but it is not able to tell the story..

P.S: Regarding the excel file that I mentioned. It is uploaded as a .pdf, so when you download it, you have to rename the file from ending .pdf to .xlsx
This was necessary, because the forum prevent you from uploading a excel file. I hope this trick works!

Best regards,
Nicolas

[sturner50502]

Hi Guys,

uh, the method with inflating the tank is too risky to me. Well, pressure acts on any surface, so also the water surface. Don't know what the water should do expect for decreasing the necessary air volume to create sufficient pressure. Water is not compressible, to its volume counts 1:1, but with air it is compressible and you would need a significant amount of air to have a (probably?) slighter higher than atmosphere pressure.

Well, for me the guesswork is over. The tank is already at the body shop.

As if I did not have enough projects - I added another one! 
I was looking at all those sad body bushing underneath  the car while cleaning the underbody with my wire wheels. I then remember having read an article by Scot Minesinger, it is attached to this post. So then I searched for rubber parts and found some generic ones on the website of metro moulded parts: https://www.metrommp.com/index.cfm.
Since this list is not easy to read I created an excel table with all the relevant bushings they have. It is attached to this post.

There you can see, that you need an upper and an lower bushing, which are slightly different. The exact drawing are given in the shop manual. Also attached.

I looked at them and decided that there is really no difference in the rubber, but only in how those mount. So you can or I hope - let's see - buy only a bunch of each kind. This is also the way that Scot did his rebuild.
So I ordered a bunch of BC-5E and BC-4 bushings. Cost was over 400.- $ 

Attached are also a few pictures of the bushings, No 7,6,5. I have yet to fully remove the upper part of those bushings.

Progress on the cleaning and de-rusting is slow, but I am getting there. I am about half way through now. I'll post a picture, but it is not able to tell the story..

P.S: Regarding the excel file that I mentioned. It is uploaded as a .pdf, so when you download it, you have to rename the file from ending .pdf to .xlsx
This was necessary, because the forum prevent you from uploading a excel file. I hope this trick works!

Best regards,
Nicolas

Nicolas,

I dont blame you one bit for not trying the water/compressed air method! I thought it sounded dangerous too. Sounds like you are getting it fixed using much less dangerous method.

[DeVille68]

Hello Guys,

I hope you had a safe Easter. Thanks to the staying home policy I got much done on the car. The undercarriage and frame is all painted now. Check out the sequence of pictures below.
I used POR-15 semi gloss black. The probably original primer on the floor was somewhat anthracite but really dark. There is not a single drop of red oxide primer anywhere. Why? Did they really use red oxide from the factory? Where there different primers used?

After having scraped of the undercoating, I continued with the wire wheel. I think I went through a set of at least 10 pieces. I did not remove completely all of the rust, because it is not necessary. First of all, there is an other side or a hidden side of the metal that I can't reach. And then there is also the inside of the frame. So it made not much sense to have it perfectly clean when the next rust spot is just inches away. Then I cleaned everything with Aceton and Brake Cleaner. Then I used a full bottle of POR Metal Ready. This is basically a Phosphate coating which stops the rust and improves adhesion. I then cleaned everything again with Aceton and Brake Cleaner. Then I used a combination of spray can and brush to apply the POR15.
I think it came out pretty nicely. Not a show car but something I can drive for another 50 years.

This means that I can now start reassembling some stuff, like the fuel system and brake line.
I will need to completely rebuild the rear axle though - have not yet stated on this big project yet...

Next up will hopefully be the install of the freshly restored gas tank.

Best regards,
Nicolas

[Roger Zimmermann]

Looks good!

[DeVille68]

Hello,

some various updates.

First, about 4 years ago I rebuild my Quadrajet and I sealed the fuel well plugs with epoxy. Well that epoxy deteriorated due to heat and gasoline. So during last summer I bought the kit from cliffhighperformance.com
https://cliffshighperformance.com/Quadrajet-rebuild-kits-and-quadrajet-parts/bottom-plug-kit
Now, it was time to finally do this repair. See below, there are a few pictures. Actually, it is quite simple, one just has to work slowly because damage to the quadrajet can easily happen. I was able to seal the two main plugs and four other plugs without issue.
I also replaced the primary metering rod from 44B to 43B because I noticed that part throttle on the highway was a bit lean.
One trick to get the tap straight is to lay a level-gauge on top of it.

The gastank returned perfectly fixed, I can't find the location of the dent anymore! They used weld-on-studs.

When doing the underbody, I noticed that the plates used for lifting the body where deteriorated. Meaning that the sealant became brittle over time. Actually the two one in the floor looked sad from the bottom but inside the trunk they were still perfect. So I left those in. But the two under the rear seat were removed. The sealant was very brittle. I will repaint the plates and reseal those.

I also created new rubber strips for mounting the gastank. There are four rubber strip, on each tank strap and also above the tank. All four pieces were missing on my tank! I cut the rubber just a bit too large was is noted in the Authenticity Manual.
Also the Authenticity Manual states that the primer of the underbody was black or dark anthracite. So that means that all the underbody of my car was still original along with the original primer. It does not mention undercoating - so maybe this was added later.

Hopefully, I am able to coat and paint the gas tank through next week.
I'll keep you updated.

Best regards,
Nicolas

[klinebau]

First, about 4 years ago I rebuild my Quadrajet and I sealed the fuel well plugs with epoxy. Well that epoxy deteriorated due to heat and gasoline. So during last summer I bought the kit from cliffhighperformance.com
https://cliffshighperformance.com/Quadrajet-rebuild-kits-and-quadrajet-parts/bottom-plug-kit
Now, it was time to finally do this repair. See below, there are a few pictures. Actually, it is quite simple, one just has to work slowly because damage to the quadrajet can easily happen. I was able to seal the two main plugs and four other plugs without issue.

I am glad that you performed this repair.  That is truly a permanent fix.  This is a nice kit and price is reasonable.  I am sure you could piece it together individually, but it nice to get everything together without having to hunt everything down.  I also found that it was not that hard to do and turned out to be not as scary as I thought.

[Roger Zimmermann]

If I'm understanding correctly: you are removing the original plugs and install threaded plugs with a sealer? Who knows, I may have to do that one day on my '72!
About the gas tank: you will have to ground it, otherwise the fuel gauge will not work.

[DeVille68]

Yes, one could piece it together. But just figuring out which diameters and which epoxy will work takes time. I already tried one epoxy that did not hold up.

Yes, I already created a new ground wire.
I also opened up the level sender. It is quite a complicated piece. It is held together with three taps.
On the inside there is a lever with a delicate spring and slider. On the outside there is a very thin resistor wire wound around what seem to be some sort of insulation. It is also insulated against the housing.

I used some sandpaper and very gently sanded the wire and slider, just a bit to remove oxidation.
New the ohm meter showed nice steady reading.
I also checked the height of the level gauge. My tank is almost exactly 13,5cm deep (5,3''). And the float and intake screen are properly located. I also glued the intake screen to the line because it was not a very tight fit. I did not want to risk to have it fall of the line.

I also examined and cleaned the tank on the inside. It is looking so nicely and fresh inside that I think I am going to skip the sealing step on the inside and just pour some metal ready in it to have the seams protected. After that I will paint the tank on the outside.

Does anyone know what the dimensions of an original tank are?
Maybe this tank was already replaced some time ago. I can hardly believe that an original piece would still look so nice.

Best regards,
Nicolas

[spolij]

Nick Is shipping so expensive because of it comming from a retailer? Would a person not retailer be cheaper?

[Roger Zimmermann]

My experience is that most retailers are making more money with the "shipping & handling" as with the parts.

[spolij]

Ralph is it cheaper for some body to buy it have it delivered here and then ship it over?