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tony barnhill
Great Pumpkin - R.I.P
Offline
A few weeks ago I bought an old factory hardtop that was in sad shape...it had been poorly painted - several times - by PO's, the fiberglass was cracking, the weatherstripping was shot, the side windows were glazed & cracking and a PO somewhere in the past had painted the headliner black.
It was a hard choice whether to sell it 'as is' or restore it...as I only paid $100 for it, I decided to go through it & paint it Old English White in the event I ever come up with an Iris Blue pull handle car!
The first thing we had to do was get down to the gelcoat. That meant removing 2 layers of PO black paint & associated primer & then the factory paint & its thick, red oxide primer, which we did with chemicals (aircraft stripper). We also found one corner that had been cracked & repaired with obndo; we'll 'stitch' it back together & properly fiberglass the repair.
As we were getting to the white gelcoat, we ran through places where PO's had used bondo to 'fix' problems. When we finally got down to the gelcoat, we found lots of spider cracks, some places where PO's had gouged the gelcoat, & places where the gelcoat itself was beginning to separate and flake off (all those tan spots in the photos are where the gelcoat was either separating/flaking due to age or where PO's had gouged it).
I didn't take any photos through that process but, instead, started today as we begin the repair process. In the photos below, you'll see some of the spider cracks in the gelcoat; then, you'll see where we rolled a new layer of fiberglass resin over the entire top, repairing flaking or gouged fiberglass as we went; and, finally, you'll see the black headliner.
Next, we'll sand the entire top to get a smooth surface, identifying any possible remaining problems in the gelcoat itself. After achieving a smooth surface, we'll primer with white epoxy primer.
Next, we'll turn it over & clean the black paint off the headliner without damaging the grain itself. We'll check all the places where bolts have to go into the top for hold downs & then primer & spray the headliner with the correct factory interior color.
Flipping the top back over, we'll again smooth it and spray at least 1 coat of gray primer. After we ensure that the top is smooth, we'll paint it the original Old English White color that some of the early tops came in.
Then, new weatherstripping, new rear glass window, new Lexan side windows, and new clamps/hold downs and, finally, storage in bubble wrap awaiting a car to go on.
I'll keep you guys appraised of our progress through this thread - with photos as we move along. We'll be slow but steady in our progress....but, I thought it might be of some help to somebody to do this.
I've gotta say, this is the worst hardtop I've ever attempted to restore &, were it not for my initial low outlay, I wouldn't have attempted it; I'd have left that to someone who needed just 1 top.
It was a hard choice whether to sell it 'as is' or restore it...as I only paid $100 for it, I decided to go through it & paint it Old English White in the event I ever come up with an Iris Blue pull handle car!
The first thing we had to do was get down to the gelcoat. That meant removing 2 layers of PO black paint & associated primer & then the factory paint & its thick, red oxide primer, which we did with chemicals (aircraft stripper). We also found one corner that had been cracked & repaired with obndo; we'll 'stitch' it back together & properly fiberglass the repair.
As we were getting to the white gelcoat, we ran through places where PO's had used bondo to 'fix' problems. When we finally got down to the gelcoat, we found lots of spider cracks, some places where PO's had gouged the gelcoat, & places where the gelcoat itself was beginning to separate and flake off (all those tan spots in the photos are where the gelcoat was either separating/flaking due to age or where PO's had gouged it).
I didn't take any photos through that process but, instead, started today as we begin the repair process. In the photos below, you'll see some of the spider cracks in the gelcoat; then, you'll see where we rolled a new layer of fiberglass resin over the entire top, repairing flaking or gouged fiberglass as we went; and, finally, you'll see the black headliner.
Next, we'll sand the entire top to get a smooth surface, identifying any possible remaining problems in the gelcoat itself. After achieving a smooth surface, we'll primer with white epoxy primer.
Next, we'll turn it over & clean the black paint off the headliner without damaging the grain itself. We'll check all the places where bolts have to go into the top for hold downs & then primer & spray the headliner with the correct factory interior color.
Flipping the top back over, we'll again smooth it and spray at least 1 coat of gray primer. After we ensure that the top is smooth, we'll paint it the original Old English White color that some of the early tops came in.
Then, new weatherstripping, new rear glass window, new Lexan side windows, and new clamps/hold downs and, finally, storage in bubble wrap awaiting a car to go on.
I'll keep you guys appraised of our progress through this thread - with photos as we move along. We'll be slow but steady in our progress....but, I thought it might be of some help to somebody to do this.
I've gotta say, this is the worst hardtop I've ever attempted to restore &, were it not for my initial low outlay, I wouldn't have attempted it; I'd have left that to someone who needed just 1 top.
Good series of video's....my bodyman does lots of fiberglass work &, though his technique is somewhat modified from the video, he pretty much follows the same procedures...funny, the little tool he was using on the cracks looks sorta like a beer can/bottle opener...& where there were larger areas that were flaking, he uses a dremel tool.
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