Still in the Family

[sfdaugherty]

Dana:

You have a very restorable car. Nothing but surface rust and, from what you told me, a good running U20 (no death rattle).

Let me know what I can do to help.

Shannon

[earthallen]

Hello All,
Just thought I would give a quick update on the old girl. Brakes have been rebuilt, new pads are on the way this week. Fuel tank is in and getting filled this week. Parts car is arriving this week with a few donor parts I've been searching for. Making good progress. I need to replace the two heater hoses and find some radiator caps that will work on the original radiator and the overflow and I'm close to being in business. Tossed in a pair of Miata seats (with speakers), not yet wired but going to be heading that way soon. I may actually be able to drive it to a body shop to get a little body work and some paint on it very soon.

My dad is also coming to town at the end of the month and has not actually seen the engine running since before I was born in 1980. It's going to be pretty exciting!

I'll post more pics before I send it for body and paint work, and of course right after.
Following that will be new rubber on the rims, some electrical, including hooking up the headrest speakers and lights. Then interior carpeting and a new dash cap. That will likely blow my roadster cash for a while, but I may be able to drive it after that.

Another Roadster almost back from the brink...
Dana

[earthallen]

I'm leaning towards grabbing some new tires for on my Mags sooner rather than later. I've been reading the tire and wheel thread and haven't found exactly what I'm looking for. I want plain old black tires that will hold up well to heat and spirited driving. I'm leaning towards a 185/65/14, probably the Michelin Defender (Discount tire is starting a $70 rebate on michelins on the 20th). Does anyone have any thoughts? Do it, reconsider...
Also if anyone sees that I'm doing this in the wrong order, please let me know! I don't know for sure what I'm doing here...

[Linda]

There is no right order, really, just moving forward is great!
I have the PO1 Sumitomo 185/65/14 which works well enough for me and were pretty cheap. If you don't drive alot the tires will not get any wear before you have to toss them.

Linda

[earthallen]

Fun stuff! If you want to keep those wheels, try hitting them with some Easy-off oven cleaner, let them sit for about 10 minutes until it bubbles up nice, then scrup them some with metal polishing (light to medium) steel wool, and buff with a buffing wheel chucked in a drill with some Mothers or other such metal polish. I think you'll be very happy with the result. Beware that oven cleaner can remove some paints and will remove clear coats, but the black can be sprayed on again if it removes some. You can reclear it if you want, or just polish them a few times a year to keep them nice and shiny/protected.

Hey Greg, I appreciated the pointers on how to get my mags up to snuff, thought I would share a pic of what they are starting to look like. One done, and the others coming along nicely. I've got 195/60/r14 BFG super sports arriving this week, so I'm being pushed a little to get the rims cleaned up and ready.


Looks like It may not like the pic sitting in my dropbox, suggestions?
Dana

[pebbles]

Save it from the drop box.
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Wheel looks nice

[earthallen]

So, in the past few weeks we have made some real progress. The biggest piece was that my dad, who is visiting from France got to drive the car. This is a big step since it hasn't moved under its own power since 1976, back when it was his car. Only took 39 years. Just got a new fan and have a non-leaking cooling system. Only a few months and a few bucks away from being able to drive it to the MVD to register it. A quick thank you to everyone that has given advice and help so far from this forum. We also had a chance to dig through the car and find quite a few things that I can sell from the stockpile of parts, emptying out the trunk it a nice step.