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Polar White and Rust - a restoration epic, can it even be done?


IanMc
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Two small things achieved this morning:

1) I established that I have every length of staple in the garage, except the one I want of course (4 mm) - so I got some good quality (Bosch) ones on order.

2) Got the basic shape of both door 'wood' strips cut out:

 

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Now they need:

a) Detail sanding and adding of the necessary chamfers etc

b) Sealing and priming to keep any moisture out of them

c) The new self adhesive vinyl wood effect added.

 

We are off out soon, so some of those might get done today, not sure...

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Just added a quick coat of primer to seal the grains a bit.

 

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Once that is dry, I will sand it back and then use some wood filler to smooth out some of the imperfections - for example where some of the top layer has split when I was cutting them with my jigsaw. Hopefully this will give it a nice smooth, flat surface for the vinyl to go over - fingers crossed anyway!

Then another coat of primer will be applied.

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Just got a tiny bit more done:

1) Added some wood filler to a few areas that had split/delaminated slightly during the cutting earlier.

 

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2) Remembered to transfer over the small foam 'thing' that sits at the from area, in the region of the door mirror. As you will see I managed to carefully remove this with a thin sharp blade, then attached it to the new door card by using a hot glue gun.

 

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30 minutes ago, Jessopia74 said:

Those have gone really well mate, are you going to use the iron on stuff to laminate them?

No, the wood effect vinyl I have is self adhesive. My plan is to wrap it around the back of the plywood, then keep it in place with a combination of the (stapled on) chrome ‘frame’ and some dabs of hot glue.

We shall see...

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This evening I decided to try to finish most of the work on the OS door 'wood' trim strip.

After sanding the chamfers around the two slots, t was time to try to apply the vinyl cover.

Firstly, I made sure that I had ordered the right length...

 

 

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Then make sure you know which side you have to apply it to and orientate it accordingly:

 

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Next I trimmed off excess material to make it easier to handle/apply - with hindsight I took way too much off as I struggled to get the edges to stick to the strip when I had wrapped them round. I will double this 'border' for the other side.

 

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Peel off the vinyl backing and lay the plywood strip over the top - push it down to make it stick. Then trim the corners to make them much easier to wrap around andf look neat:

 

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Then you can turn your attention to the two cut outs/windows. I decided to remove some of the center, then slice out to each corner with a razor blade. I would describe the finish on mine here as 'OK' - no better...

 

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After wrapping everything around and a couple of pieces of strategically placed tape on the back (to stop it peeling at the edges!), we have this:

 

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Then a quick test in the frame shows that it should be OK to finish up when the staples arrive:

 

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Marks out of ten? - I would give myself a strong 6 - probably...  :unsure:

Edited by IanMc
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Some decent progress was possible this evening as the staples have arrived:

 

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This allowed me to tackle the NS 'wood' door strip, after the lessons learned doing the OS last night. I allowed a much bigger overlap on the back, which helped the self adhesive vinyl stick much easier.

 

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In fact, it was so much easier and neater in general, I stripped the OS one down again and did it again...

Armed with the newly delivered staples, it was then time to see how everything looked with the chrome frame back on the OS strip:

 

 

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I'm fairly pleased with those to be honest.

Now where is that vinyl I ordered for the door caps, so I can press on?!

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Lola is wondering when will daddy finish this project so that i can go for a ride.

 

BTW, I saw a pair of Manta B front wings going for sale on Shpock.com

 

here is the link to it if not  type Opel manta in the above site in its search bar

https://www.shpock.com/en-gb/search?q=opel Manta  spread the word if anyone is seeking a pair of wings for just £50.00 in a what seems pretty good nick.

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Still no Leatherette samples for the door caps to try, so instead I had an even easier evening...

All I did was to place a few more staples in the back of both door strips to make them a little stronger/more durable, then straightened the 'tangs' of the chrome frame on the OS strip. Once that had been sorted out, I thought that it would be a good idea to see if it fitted the new cards that I had made a couple of weeks ago - it did!

 

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Have a nice evening everyone  :thumbup

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The Leatherette samples arrived today - hooray!

 

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But now I am left with a bit of a dilemma. Do I go with the colour that best matches the arm rest, existing door caps and door pocket?

 

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Or instead choose the one that blends in best with the dashboard?

 

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At the moment, I am erring very much towards matching with the dash as of course when the doors are closed the caps will be right next to it.

The I thought that I should see how that particular colour worked with my new door strips - I think that looks quite classy too:

 

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As always your thought and comments are appreciated.

Edited by IanMc
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Thanks to everyone for their input - its always nice to get second opinions  :thumbup

This morning I have ordered enough of the Burgandy, grained Leatherette to do the door caps and the back and side panels of both seats. I thought about also doing the parcel shelf, but I think that I night to to recolour that if it doesn't clean up properly.

Now the door cap colour is sorted, I can move down the door and get the cloth material chosen and on order...

Thanks again people.

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On the assumption that my newly selected Burgundy Leatherette would be here in a few days, I decided that I should start to prepare the 'top rail' that it is attached to.

First job was to carefully remove the old material as I would need to use that as a template. At the same time a few reference photos were taken to allow me to see how it was attached, tucked in/around etc:

 

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Once the metal rail was removed, it was time to start straighten any kinks, clean off all of the old adhesive and surface rust etc. These should hopefully be repainted later today:

 

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In a little while I will be grinding off all of the original metal fixing tangs - instead I will be following the advice of another member (thanks again for this excellent tip!) and riveting these to the new door cards:

 

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After the paint on the rail has dried I am then waiting on the Leatherette to arrive. In the mean time I am going to wander into the material shop in town again and (armed with the Leatherette sample), hopefully select a suitable material and colour for the bulk of the door card facings... That colour and material will then also be used on the seats!

 

 

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1 hour ago, Jessopia74 said:

Is it just ordinary pop rivets you will use?

 

Probably, I'm going to do a test on some sample material first though.

My thoughts are that the hardboard might be a bit soft, so perhaps some small reinforcing washers might be needed. We shall see...

 

 

A trip to the material shop seems to have gone pretty well.

After much deliberation, we settled on a material who's colour is described as 'Brick'.

My selection criteria was as follows:

- it needs to work with the Burgundy Leatherette that will be on the door caps.

- It needs to work with the existing door handle and pocket (which are more Red)

- It needs to work with the existing carpet on the floor and at the base of the door itself

- It needs to work with the new door 'wood' strips

- It needs to carry across to the front and rear seats

- It needs to be flame retardant, washable, stain resistant and suitable for upholstery use

- It needs to have the same quality feel as the original material

 

So not too much to worry about then  :lol:

 

Anyway, in this photo you can see my Burgundy Leatherette sample, the Brick material in the center and a piece of the existing door material on the left hand side.

Hopefully you will agree that this is a pretty good compromise?

 

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Have a nice weekend everyone.

Edited by IanMc
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