Off to the Sandblaster

[Sparky73]

Wow. Anxiously waiting the finished product.

[markandson]

Update: Flash.....I didn't make it to Charlotte with my GT.....what a surprise . I finally finished the install of the headliner, what a PITA, it came out very good but I would not say excellent, for those with a critical eye there will be spots that are not perfect, but it is the best I can do. This Wednesday I am bringing the car to the glass shop to have the front and rear windows installed, then I will go back to tuning the 2.2 since it is running way to rich to be able to take it on the road at all, I also still seem to have a vacuum issue, I think I will disconnect the vapor canister and see if that makes a difference. Anyway as many of you know my next target is Carlisle and I see no reason that the car will not be there . There is an outside chance that it may not have an interior by then but.....who needs an interior .

[neuropel]

Well Jeff, hopefully you'll have it ready before Carlisle...God forbid you'd have to be stuck driving that M3!

Looking forward to seeing your finished pics!
Todd

[jlthunder]

Originally Posted by markandson Update: Flash.....I didn't make it to Charlotte with my GT.....what a surprise .

I love your sense of humor. Keep us updated.

[markandson]

Glass is in but no aluminum trim around any of the side windows yet, all the seals under the fenders have been replaced, seam sealed, undercoated, and then shot with gloss black. Seat belts are in along with the drivers seat. I put a bunch of pictures in my gallery here is one of them

[opelenvy]

Looking good Jeff! I know I, for one, have been waiting for some more pictures of that paint job. I like it!

[Dennis Texas]

Originally Posted by caramiciu Good luck,Looks good, I sent my car to the blaster for some serioous cleaning a few weeks ago.I had a visit the other day..LOLA looks good.Can't wait to get her back

thats an interesting rim you have on the front passenger side do you know what it is off of or is it aftermarket?

[jlthunder]

Looking good Jeff. I see you painted the words Opel GT in the same color as the paint job. Did you do the gauges too like Vicki did?

[dallasmanta]

What a sweet paint job. Should make you feel like King Midas with all the gold. I love the details Ron

[namba209]

That really looks good Jeff. Got a question for you. Could you reply back with the paint mfg. and color number? I would like to use it on the monza when I start its restoration. The original color is Bronze, but with a Silver GT I think a Gold monza would be just perfect.

[opelenvy]

Originally Posted by namba209 That really looks good Jeff. Got a question for you. Could you reply back with the paint mfg. and color number? I would like to use it on the monza when I start its restoration. The original color is Bronze, but with a Silver GT I think a Gold monza would be just perfect.

Ron, in his signature Jeff says, "House of Colors-Kandy Pagan Gold"
I found this at HOK website. House of Kolor custom paints for custom cars and automotive painters
Pagan Gold is the far right column.
HTH

[markandson]

Originally Posted by namba209 That really looks good Jeff. Got a question for you. Could you reply back with the paint mfg. and color number? I would like to use it on the monza when I start its restoration. The original color is Bronze, but with a Silver GT I think a Gold monza would be just perfect.

First I want to say thanks to everyone for their support, this project has taken much longer than I ever believed it would, and it's not done yet.

Paint.......well it goes like this..I have 6 samples that were done for me and then I picked the color. With Kandy translucent paint the more coats you put on the darker it gets. They did spray outs for me with 4,5,6,7,8, and 10
coats so that I could decide. The final decisions was 6.....so...as stated somewhere here before....3 basecoats of silver...6 coats of Kandy Pagan Gold..3 coats of Clear...then you get what you see. I have the paint codes at home if you would like them I will dig them out.

[markandson]

Originally Posted by jlthunder Looking good Jeff. I see you painted the words Opel GT in the same color as the paint job. Did you do the gauges too like Vicki did?

The gauges are all stock, they were all disassembled and the glass was cleaned to get rid of 40 years of fog. The only change I made was the removal of the clock where I put in the Air/Fuel Ratio gauge that I bought along with the oxygen sensor controller from DIYAutotune that way I can monitor the mixture without having to attach my laptop to the MegaSquirt. Sure don't want to melt a piston .

[Phoenix]

Looks great, can't wait to see it in person.

[tomking]

Jeff how did you recrimp the trim ring when putting the glass back on? If you did it in spots then it is no longer smooth around?? And were you able to get it tight? I have taken rings off, but getting them back tight I havent accomplished to my satisfaction.

Originally Posted by markandson The gauges are all stock, they were all disassembled and the glass was cleaned to get rid of 40 years of fog. The only change I made was the removal of the clock where I put in the Air/Fuel Ratio gauge that I bought along with the oxygen sensor controller from DIYAutotune that way I can monitor the mixture without having to attach my laptop to the MegaSquirt. Sure don't want to melt a piston .

[markandson]

Originally Posted by tomking Jeff how did you recrimp the trim ring when putting the glass back on? If you did it in spots then it is no longer smooth around?? And were you able to get it tight? I have taken rings off, but getting them back tight I havent accomplished to my satisfaction.

Tom,
Did you ever do work on a window screen around your house and use a tool that sort of looks like a small pizza cutter that has a groove in the center of the wheel for installing the rubber screen retainer? That is what I used to "re-roll" the crimp, if you look at my gauges from the front you can't tell that they were ever taken apart. I'll admit it is a very tedious time consuming job to do it correctly, the more difficult part I think is getting them apart without damaging anything, I used a modified screw driver and a butter knife to un-crimp the rings, I only went far enough to just be able to take them apart which left a very slight crimp in place so when I rolled them back they bent nicely at the original corner.

[tomking]

Thanks. Yes I have done the window screen crimp thing. Will try that next time.

Originally Posted by markandson Tom, Did you ever do work on a window screen around your house and use a tool that sort of looks like a small pizza cutter that has a groove in the center of the wheel for installing the rubber screen retainer? That is what I used to "re-roll" the crimp, if you look at my gauges from the front you can't tell that they were ever taken apart. I'll admit it is a very tedious time consuming job to do it correctly, the more difficult part I think is getting them apart without damaging anything, I used a modified screw driver and a butter knife to un-crimp the rings, I only went far enough to just be able to take them apart which left a very slight crimp in place so when I rolled them back they bent nicely at the original corner.

[jlthunder]

Originally Posted by markandson Tom, I'll admit it is a very tedious time consuming job to do it correctly, the more difficult part I think is getting them apart without damaging anything, I used a modified screw driver and a butter knife to un-crimp the rings, I only went far enough to just be able to take them apart which left a very slight crimp in place so when I rolled them back they bent nicely at the original corner.

I did this too. Yes it is very time consuming, but the results are great when it doesn't even look like the glass is even there.

Remember, if you are in a rush, it will show, so take your time.

[namba209]

I found, you don't have to uncrimp the whole chrome bezel, just enuff so that you can twist and pull it off, carefully, so you don't drop the glass and break it. Putting it on is almost as easy, just twist and push, then is should slide over the housing and look as if it hasn't been taken apart. Emphasis is on the carefully.

[markandson]

Originally Posted by tomking Thanks. Yes I have done the window screen crimp thing. Will try that next time.

I think I also used a wallpaper seam roller, one of the wood ones to do the final roll down to make it tight, I did all this so long ago it is sort of hard for my old brain to remember.

[markandson]

9-25-08 The day I got the plates for my Opel GT , time for a test run....

[jlthunder]

Congrats!! I hope the rain holds off.

[markandson]

No rain this morning yet so I couldn't resist a first quick test ride, the car ran pretty well considering no tuning yet and under load does not run rich or too lean either so I have a good starting point, when I got to the gas station it even stayed idling so maybe it needs to be run a little in order to be able to tune it properly. One big mistake as described here. I have to set up the electric fan controller before I can go for a longer ride, the fan is not coming on when the temp starts to go too high so it is a programming thing. Also for some reason my speedo is not registering at all, I have a new cable and new blue gear inside the getrag so I am not sure where the problem is yet.

[jlthunder]

Jeff;

Disconnect the speedo cable from the transmission. Hook up a drill to your speedo cable. If the speedo works, the problem is in your transmission if the speedo comes alive. Otherwise, it is the cable or speedo itself.

If it is the speedo, take it apart, it is a very simple mechanism. Just make sure everything is in its place. The speedo in "the stinger" which sat for 20 years initially didn't work. I took it apart, gave it a quick cleaning and it came back to life.

[markandson]

Originally Posted by jlthunder Jeff; Disconnect the speedo cable from the transmission. Hook up a drill to your speedo cable. If the speedo works, the problem is in your transmission if the speedo comes alive. Otherwise, it is the cable or speedo itself. If it is the speedo, take it apart, it is a very simple mechanism. Just make sure everything is in its place. The speedo in "the stinger" which sat for 20 years initially didn't work. I took it apart, gave it a quick cleaning and it came back to life.

Thanks for the suggestion, I was going to do it the other way around, take the car out on the road and keep my fingers under the dash to feel for the turning cable, but I like your way better. Took the car out again yesterday, had it out on the interstate for a short time, it is cruising great, but I still have a lot of tuning to do. I also just ordered a different muffler, I can't hear myself think the way it is now.