1961 Series 62 Convertible Restoration

[dbzsjones]

I owe the community this restoration story, because I've been asking questions and getting great help for a year now with no context.  I greatly appreciate all the information and advice I've received and enjoy being part of it.  Without further delay, welcome to the saga of my restoration. 
  Back in the late 80s as a college student I became the proud owner of my grandmother's 1961 Series 62 Bristol Blue Convertible.  I drove it for a few years before the transmission front seal fluid leak became to significant to ignore.  That was followed by the start of my active duty Air Force career. I moved it from CA to CO to OK to NE to AL, doing minor work on it along the way, waiting to have the time and money to address the transmission. Finally in AL I became friends with the manager of a restoration shop what was going out on his own.  I know that sounds dodgy, but I knew his history and capability and I wasn't worried.  He agreed to keep my car and work on it as I had "spare" money to send him.  We put together a contract because he said the best way to ruin a friendship is to involve money without clear expectations, and I agreed.  We made it all legal and we were off.
  I pulled the engine and rebuilt it, sent the trans to a shop and had it rebuilt, and left the engine, trans, and car in the care of my friend.
  Over the next 2 decades he kept me posted on progress.  Mailed pictures and updates.  Disassembled the car, striped and primed the body, got a donor car with A/C and moved all the dash and firewall components over and repainted the dash.  Finally after a long pause caused by retiring from active duty and moving, I called and we were making plans to finish the restoration, but then I quit hearing from him.  He was always busy and I was a side job so I didn't worry, it happened before. My wife and kids tried to contact him to surprise me by finishing the car.  After they couldn't get him they asked me about his contact info.  I called, left a message, no response.  Couple days later texted, no response.  Finally I searched the internet for his obituary and found one and he'd been gone for months. 
  Now panic sets in, how did I not know, and where's the car?  A card to his wife, went unanswered, as did a letter a few months later.  He was working out of a big warehouse in Montgomery AL, restoring train cars for a guy that made his money in railroad industry.  I was finally able to remember his name, Royce Kershaw.  A few more months of work I was able to make contact and he had the car!  About 2 weeks before I was supposed to pick up the car, he quit answering my calls about logistics.  You guessed it, he passed away.  I finally got in touch with his heirs and made arrangements to collect the car.  Not knowing what I was getting into or how many pieces it may or may not be in, I reserved a rental truck and trailer and suckered a friend into a road trip.  Sitting for a few years in a warehouse where other people had access was probably not the best situation.  Also found out over the years the roof had fallen into disrepair and leaked.  The car was not as far along as I had pictured, based on my last call, but I found it and loaded it up.  Then went on a scavenger hunt for all the parts. Spent all day loading up everything we could find and, and hit the road the next morning.

[dbzsjones]

It spent the night in front of the house and then off to the body shop with it.  I live south of Los Angeles and found a great place through my neighbor called Sterling of Lomita.  Manny the manger, and Eddie the painter did an amazing job, starting with taking it down to bare metal, fixing a rocker panel, putting in new front floors, and they even found an old wrinkle in the trunk that must have been from an accident long before I had it, and they fixed that as well.  Then primed and blocked it.  Here it is ready for paint.  If anyone needs a classic pained in the Los Angeles area, I'm happy to provide contact info for the shop. 

[dbzsjones]

Once the primer was done it was time to finalize the color.  Of course, we started with the color code, plugged it into the PPG computer and it spit out a color matched to a modern VW vehicle, with a name nowhere near Bristol Blue.  They sprayed a little test square and in some lighting it looked like an exact match and in other lighting it looked too gray or too green.  Without me even asking the shop brought in a PPG rep to do a camera color match.  Luckily the underside of the hood was still Bristol Blue.  Color came out closer but it was still off just a bit.  To get a better feel of the color the shop pained 1/2 of a rocker patch panel with each of the two colors, computer match and the camera match.  The way the new 2 stage paints look compared to the original single stage make's judging the match a little challenging.  I was talking to they painter about what I was seeing and how it wasn't really looking blue, and he said I have an idea come back tomorrow.  When I came back he had painted a full rocker patch panel with his modified color, and I thought it was perfect.  He took the camera match and removed the toner from the recipe and it brought out the blue a little bit more an made the metallic flake a little less pronounced.  It's a little hard to tell in the photos. 
  If you look at the photos, the rocker panels are sitting on the underside of the hood.  The back panel has the computer (right) and camera (left) generated formulas and the front one is the painter modified version.  The fact the painter grew up in a family that owned a body shop shows, he has a real talent for understanding the chemistry in this process.  They're going to give me a sample card and the formula so I'll post it here when I get it in case it helps anyone else.

[dbzsjones]

With the paint under control and some time to kill before it was done, it was time to turn my attention to the engine.  I had rebuilt it before it went into storage and been very generous with the assembly lube, so I hope I would just be able to turn it over with a wrench.  I did notice when I picked the engine up on AL it was still on the stand, but the oil drain plug was out.  I thought that was odd since I'm sure I had left it in but didn't give it much thought.  I put a nice long wrench on the front crank nut and tried to turn the engine over but nothing moved.  Decided I didn't need to fight the compression so pulled the spark plugs and that's when I knew I was in trouble.  One was wet and rusty?  So off come the heads and this is what I found.

[The Tassie Devil(le)]

That is sickening.   Looks like the storeage was compromised very badly with water ingress.

Bruce.

[dogbergs]

Really sorry for you, we never have to worry where to put our time and money..

Bryt ihop och kom igen, as we say in Sweden

/ Johan

[dbzsjones]

So I found out the hard way why the drain plug was missing. someone must have noticed a roof leak in the building allowed water into the intake.  So I assume they pulled the drain plug, but didn't take the extra step of pulling the plugs, or throwing some oil in to prevent rust. 
  I tore down the engine and took it to the machine shop.  Cam was good, pistons and rings were good.  Lifters were a loss and the cylinder was going to need to go 60 over and still no guarantee.  The machinists first reaction was, new block.  Once I said numbers matching car, we opted to sleeve it.  New sleeves bored 30 over so I can use my existing pistons, and turned the crank as well.  Couple weeks in the shop, took a while for the sleeves to arrive and we were back in business.  When I got the block home and started to assemble I realized the alignment dowels were missing for the head gaskets.  I tried to buy new, but they are not to be found.  After talking to a few machinists, I ended up turning the old ones over and tapping them back in and they worked.  The other option I found out about was to buy .5" OD steal tubing and cut them yourself.  Got the parts back, picked up some Cadillac blue engine enamel from Hirsch and got to work with my son.  I was really impressed at how well the Hirsch enamel went on with a foam brush.

[dbzsjones]

Waiting for the car to come back from paint, I finally had time to start doing some inventory.  Trying to find all the pieces of a car scattered throughout a huge dimly lit warehouse space in one afternoon was a challenge.  I thought I had most everything but I know I'm missing some parts.  After sorting through everything I think I've compiled a full list of missing parts.  I'd appreciate any suggestions on cost effective sources for the missing items. 

ENGINE PARTS
 

•    Radiator - I know there are low cost aluminum ones out there, but I'd like that part to look more original.
•    Engine Oil Dipstick
•    Breather from top of oil filler tube - the one that's sort of shaped like a hand grenade

EXTERIOR PARTS
   

• RH fender mounted turn indicator, mounting/bulb bracket (I have lens and chrome top, I need the part under the fender)

• Trunk V insignia
•    Power Antenna

INTERIOR PARTS
   

• Center portion of front bench seat that armrest folds into
•     Seat protectors (metal shields on side of seat backs and bench, I have the chrome inserts)
•     Dash Pad in usable condition - my good one went missing and the one I have is going to have to go to just dashes for complete rebuild

•     Guidematic (Autronic) Eye for dash - John Oldenburg to the rescue here, he has my amp and floor switch and is putting together a full system for me.  He's been a great source of information in this hunt.
•     Good Condition Steering wheel, I have the chrome just need the wheel, my plastic is cracked in several places.  I'm probably going to go with a cover until I can afford to get it recast.

Technically I need a full interior.  I have the seat frames, window switches, and interior door handles and that's about it.  I assume once I find the missing parts above, a company like SMS can fabricate the interior for me.  Would like to hear any lessons learned on this topic.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

Hirsch paint is superior.  Doesnt take much to apply and when it dries its brilliant.  Wish they still made the rattle cans for touch up. 

[dbzsjones]

I tried to order a rattle can about 2 weeks ago and found out they didn't sell them any more, but the suggested a Preval sprayer.  I picked one up at my local Home Depot, thinned the paint 25% with xylene, and it worked great.  That's the way I painted my transmission and touched up the bolt heads on the engine. 

[dbzsjones]

I was thinking about rebuilding my water pump, but I'm concerned about the look of the weep hole. It looks a bit ragged, and I'm not sure if that's normal, or anything I should be concerned about. If it's only purpose is to let you know when the seal is failing its shape probably isn't important but I'd be interested to hear what others think.  Is this normalish or cause for concern?

[Clewisiii]

I was thinking about rebuilding my water pump, but I'm concerned about the look of the weep hole. It looks a bit ragged, and I'm not sure if that's normal, or anything I should be concerned about. If it's only purpose is to let you know when the seal is failing its shape probably isn't important but I'd be interested to hear what others think.  Is this normalish or cause for concern?

It is normal. Mine was the same. I will look for a picture after work.

[Clewisiii]

I thought my casting was damaged at first. This was my waterpump after coming back from Arthur Gould Rebuilders.

[dbzsjones]

I thought my casting was damaged at first. This was my waterpump after coming back from Arthur Gould Rebuilders.

Thank you,  not nearly the finished hole I was expecting.

[dbzsjones]

Big day, the car is back from paint.  Eddy and Manny at Sterling of Lomita did a great job, apparently in the excitement I forgot to take many pictures, but the car came out great.
I took a look at the firewall where the new paint on the side meets the original paint on the front and I think that's a pretty good match.

Couldn't be happier with the way it turned out, now I "just" need to put it back together.

[dbzsjones]

I asked the shop for the paint formula and they sent me a picture of their computer with the amounts for a 10oz batch.  The logic being that was a good number to scale up and down from.  It's for PPG paint.  I assume if you take it to a body shop they'll be able to recreate the color.  It is no the formula their computer will give them if they enter paint code 22, and it isn't even the camera match exactly.  We started with the camera match and then tweaked it a bit to bring out the blue a bit and reduce the intensity of the metallic to be more appropriate for a 60s car.  Did I mention the dedication of Eddy at Sterling of Lomita really impressed me?!



If you need more than this to use the formula, please let me know and I can get the missing info.

[Cadillac Jack 82]

Gorgeous 61!

[Clewisiii]

Can I ask how much you spent. Because my quote was $35,000. But the fleetwood does have more surface on it.

[dbzsjones]

Can I ask how much you spent. Because my quote was $35,000. But the fleetwood does have more surface on it.

PM sent with details.  30-40K was what I was getting for frame off quotes,I took the on frame route to stay in budget.

[dbzsjones]

With the paint done, and the car back in my garage it was time to start putting things together.  First thing I had to do was get some of the big things off the top of my parts bins.


So seat frames go in the car.


and I put the convertible frame back on.  I didn't hook up the hydraulics yet, but decided to put it up by hand and realized just how small my garage really is.


At least in LA, I can open the door most days and get a little more room that way.  Engine and Trans are going in soon, but it's not a Cadillac without chrome so I need to get some shiny bits on next while I wait for my son to come help with the engine.