January 10 update... We are going to replace the "Soffseal" deck lid weatherstrip; it is so thick it is holding the decklid up about 1/4" above the quarters. When we re-installed the original weatherstrip, the fit was perfect... Compared the cross-section and found that the Soffseal part is more than 1/4" taller than the original part. Left the trunk closed for a week and it still didn't collapse enough to allow reasonable opening and closing efforts. The weatherstrip is pushing the decklid up with so much force, it was impossible to open the trunk with a key. I'm going to try the weatherstrip from Inline Tube; they tooled that part themselves and it is supposed to be identical to the original section. Here you can see the same seal issue with the door. The SoffSeal part is harder and taller than the original seal. This is how the door fit looks after a full week of compressing the seal with the door closed. It's held out about 1/4" beyond the quarter surface. Without the new seal, the fit is perfect. We are going to give this some additional time; if it doesn't compress enough, I might be replacing the door seals, too. Hood & bumper will be last. The hood has some low areas that need to be corrected: The body has been cleared, but still needs to be blocked and polished. More to come!
Looks good! Sure are a lot of parts you can get for those now, there was nothing around when I did mine back in the mid 90's, luckily it didn't have any rust or damage so I didn't have to deal with body panels. The new cowl seals can be a problem too, they hold it up way too high and no hinge adjustment will fix it. I went through a few of the things from different companies before I took the original one off another goat I had and used that, maybe they're better now. I sold the other goat after I swapped every good part I could to the convertible, it looked good when I sold it but that's one car I'd never want to buy back.
Updated 2013.01.21 Visited the body shop today. First base coat is on the fenders and hood. Started blocking this morning:
Nice. A body shop is restoring my 1969 LeMans and it is at about the same stage as yours. We found rust unexpectedly hidden under the lower windshield, which you apparently found on yours, too.
Two weeks of updates - posted January 28, 2013 UPDATE January 25, 2013 While the car is at the body shop, I have been working on the seats and other parts to get them ready for installation. The seats didn't look too bad, but when I pulled them out of the car I found a lot of rotten seams and some old rust stains. The foam was obviously in bad shape; it felt like you were sitting in the seat frame instead of a foam cushion. When I took them apart, I found the typical rusty springs and some rust on the metal frames: Got the frames and springs bead-blasted and painted them: Re-installed the springs into the frames: Sewed up new suspension units to replace the old, tattered burlap: Front seat: Rear seat: Installed replacement felt underneath the new urethane foam buns: Then added soft, non-woven pads and slip-sheets before installing the covers: Then, after a lot of stretching and hog-ringing, I ended up with this: I still have to re-install the plastic covers, but I think the seats turned out great! These were ACI foam buns and Legendary covers.
Updated 2013.01.28 Seats are finally DONE! The top of the rear seat back has a few small waves along the emboss lines, but I think they will smooth out when they warm up. All in all, I'm happy with the results.
UPDATE - Feb. 4, 2013 I've installed the gauges and woodgrain on the dash bezel...looks pretty good! Here is the dash bezel with the woodgrain applied: And some pics of the installed gauges: There are some dark spots on the tach face in this is close-up, but it must just be a reflection; the part looks great
