I put a little bend in the spring and this kept it in place through multiple cycles of opening/closing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I repainted the lever with Krylon gloss black and put things back together. Getting the panel off to see the mechanism requires removing the lock mechaninsm. But the lock mechanism does not come off with the panel in place. Needless to say this is a somewhat difficult task. Getting the little 7mm nuts off of the locking mechanism is difficult also. Now the door opens and closes as it should and the lock works as it should. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I also removed and cleaned the ends of each fuse in the fuse box. I have had many cars with these colored plastic fuses throughout the years and probably won't change out the fusebox (though I may buy a 'Birdman' fusebox to have as a spare). The trim cover for the fuse area was cleaned also. Each relay was removed and the plug contacts were fine on all of them. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beta Scorpian great work. Thanks for sharing with us but I have a question....Do you have a job? Wife? Children? or any of these kinds of time demanding obligations? Just wondering how you're finding the time to do this. I'm impressed..perhaps you simply have superior time management skills...if so tips?
I think I have pretty horrible time management skills. When I'm in the manic phase I just drop everything to get a single task accomplished. Actually, it just happens that I am currently on 2 weeks of paternety leave and am trying to get as much done as I can in the short time I have. Otherwise, I usually don't watch TV (except the F1 races) and do a little each day when I get home from work. It's also a father/son project with my 4 year old. Just today he said 'daddy go out and work on my car' but I found out it was because he wanted to go out in the garage and play with his toys. It really is great, as he said to me, while playing with his toy cars, 'look daddy my car is jacked up in the air bacause I am bleeding the brakes like you.' I had some of the best times growing up working on cars with my father and brother. This whole project is probably also the result of being frustrated with my lousy job of 50 to 70 hours per week and miserable pay. This car is my time machine. When it is finished I can get in it and go back to 1978 when I was in high school...
I removed the brake fluid from the reservoir and it was kind of greenish. I had never really seen green brake fluid before, my experience has been that it gets yellow/amber. Anyway I filled it up again with DOT 3. I used Prestone for no other reason as that was what they had at Autozone at 8:30 pm. I have used just a tube on the end on the bleeder valve for years and never had a problem with sucked air when bleeding solo, but I always worry about it. Maybe someday someone will get me that fancy pressure bleeder for my birthday.... Notes to myself: The front bleeders were 10mm and the rears were 7mm. Both had intact but hardened original ATE rubber caps. Also, I put some black tape on the end of my wheel bolt socket to keep if from damaging the wheels. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I did some cleaning while under the front bonet. The pipe for the front radiator hose had some bad overspray that I removed. I was trying some things to the radiator core to improve the appearance. Paint in one area and 409 cleaner in another. The spare wheel and tire was cleaned up, though, I may get another XWX and have Transwheel do the spare like the other wheels. The spare was the best of the five, but now it is the worst. The black plastic around the spare had been Armorall'd right over years of dirt. You can see in the picture how much nicer it looks after getting the dirt off first. I used a toothbrush to get the dirt out of the textured surface. A) in the picture shows what it looks like after cleaning and then Armorall. B) in the picture shows Armorall right over years of dirt buildup. After cleaning the black plastic it is FLAT BLACK so it will need Armorall for the rest of it's life. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Love your pictures! They encourage me to get back on my 308 project. BTW, do you have a picture of your Lotus to post - just to show that you are multi-faceted? rick
Well, no new pictures for today, as the computer would not mount the camera when connected, forcing me to disconnect the camera which erases the camera's memory card. Anyway todays project involved the front wheel bearings. While taking the wheels off to bleed the brakes I noticed too much play in the front wheel bearings. So off to the tool store to buy a grease cap puller, however, I could not find one. So I used a screwdriver to pry the cap off. Once inside I could easily turn the axle nut with my fingers. The nut is 27mm and I wound up tightening it about on eighth of a turn and using a punch to re-affix the nut. Curious how the axle nut on the driver's side goes CLOCKWISE to tighten (whereas knock off wheel nuts on the driver's side of the testarossa go ANTI-CLOCKWISE to tighten.) And it was the reverse on the passenger side nut, where it went ANTI-CLOCKWISE to tighten. Maybe it is this way so they don't accidentally tighten and bind up. Anyway, the passenger side axle nut was also loose to the same extent and was again tightened about one eighth of a turn and re-affixed. The grease caps were cleaned and re-installed with a plastic headed hammer.
This area of carpet has rubbed through. I can't just replace this carpet piece because it won't match, I'd have to replace everything. I thought I would try some 'carpet paint' I found at the auto parts store. I did not want to spray in the car so I sprayed some in a can and used a brush. Came out a little too light, but better than nothing. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I think there is supposed to be a cover over this linkage (one is shown in the parts manual). I cleaned this up. There was a lot of debris under the pedal mechanism. The area under the pedal had exposed and decaying thin foam for some reason. I painted the exposed area with Krylon Acrylic enamel, but it does not look black to me. Will see what it looks like after drying. May need to be repainted with oil based paint. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Does not look too bad with the carpet back in place. While poking around under the seats I have again noticed that there are places where the carpet looks soo dark I sometimes wonder if these carpets were originally Black and have faded to blue. Perhaps they were just a deep shade of blue originally. I really don't know. If they are supposed to be black then I may go ahead and replace them with black ones. The heritage certificate indicates a Pelle Nera interior which translates to Black Skin. It does not mention the carpet color. Still waiting for my steering wheel screws! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Black carpets won't fade to blue... just dark grey I'd imagine. Your blue carpets are the exact same shade as in my '78 euro GT4 which was origionaly silver with blue carpets, black/blue seats. Lovin the thread though, do keep it up.
Thanks for the info. this helps alot. It just must be the poor light under that seat that makes the carpet seem so dark. I kind of felt it would be embaressing to call the carpets blue all along then find out they are faded black. I think it is harder to restore the original carpets...the easy way out is just going to the ICP site and ordering the carpet set. I imagine the replacement carpets are not the identical weave. I have a few areas that have bad binding around the edge and I want to have this redone and preserve the carpet.
Shipped the old tires off to a fellow f-chatter. The Michelin Pilots are no longer made in that size. Image Unavailable, Please Login
It looks like ABA is a parent company for both Gemi and Serflex. I contacted ABA USA and they indicated that they don't deal with the Serflex clamps. I guess these need to come right from France. They did indicated that McMaster Carr carries the Gemi clamps (they call them 'Type 316') and I think this has been posted previously. The Gemi clamps are the non-perforation type, however, the Serflex use the standard perforatoins. Here is a link to ABA/Serflex:http://www.abagroup.com/ABATemplates/Page____303.aspx
This is taken from a post on a Mercedes restoration site:http://pagoda113.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2076001521/m/3981092531. "First, let's review a typical American hose clamp, since this is what we DON'T want on our cars. They typically have a stainless steel band, but NOT a stainless screw, though you can find them in all stainless if you look. This band is flat; typically 1/2" in width; and perforated with screw threads. The worm-drive screw runs in those perforations. And, therein lies the "problem" with these: the perforated band damages the end of the hose; the flat edge of the band does the same; and the 1/2" width isn't attractive or appropriate, but yes it does work and is fine if "inexpensive, easy and working" are your primary concerns." "The Eurostyle (my word) clamps are similar but with improvements: first, they are generally 9MM in width which gives a nicer look; the band is not perforated but rather embossed; and often times the edge of the clamp is rolled. These kinds of clamps provide a nicer look; and they don't damage the hose." "Wurth sells a variety of these Eurostyle hose clamps. Zebra is one of their brand names and features the items I listed above. Most foreign auto parts stores, even those here in the land of Detroit Muscle, stock these kind of clamps. Any independent Mercedes, Porsche or VW repair facility should probably have them too." "Other brand names of clamps are Gemi and Norma. Norma clamps typically retain their circular form throughout the clamping range, and they don't use a worm-drive screw, but rather a screw on the top. Gemi clamps are quite similar. There are other brands out there, such as Serflex, and ABA. All of these are reusable. There is another style that is probably more typically an OEM rather then aftermarket, and that is the kind where the banding material is sold by the foot er meter, and the actual clamping mechanism is sold separately. If one is "making" a lot of clamps I believe this would be less costly and typically why it might be OEM used in the factory. If I am not mistaken these are a "use once and throw out" kind of clamp--which is why you often see a mix in older cars. The original OEM clamps made from this banding, and then when one has to change a hose or a clamp, it is replaced with a reusable clamp." "There's always been quite a debate as to which is the "correct" clamp to use. The best answer to that is first, don't use the American-style clamps as they are certainly NOT correct! Other then that, I believe any of the German clamps as noted would be acceptable for Concours and also be acceptable as original style. I believe that any of the usual suppliers--the dealers, Miller's, Bud's, BenzBarn and the rest of them should be able to sell or get the proper clamps. Lo and behold they are not expensive." "Note of course that there are now Chinese exporters making German style clamps so Caveat Emptor." "Some useful links: http://www.wurthusa.com http://www.abaofamerica.com/ http://www.norma.de/ http://www.belmetric.com/ "This message has been edited. Last edited by: mdsalemi, March 09, 2006 12:40 PM " "Michael Salemi 1969 280SL Signal Red/Black Leather Restored."
For my future reference:http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136368125&postcount=62 First I am going to try just removing all the 'bumper black' and whatever is on the bumpers and see how they look. If the underlying rubber does not look good I will re-paint them as described above. Her is the link to the SEM bumer coating described in the above link: http://www.sem.ws/product.php?product_id=135, although, on second view, this does not link to any means to obtain the product. Here is a link to a place that sells the product:http://goferauto.com/sem-39104.html
My '79 308GTB has black carpets. Everything but the removable floor pieces were black. The removable bits faded to a little blue, just like your car. Well, they look blue-ish in some light. I am convinced that they are original. My guess is that there are some black dyes that fade differently.
Way back in June when I got the car I found the idle jets were marked 45 or 50 and had been drilled to 60. I then drilled them out all to 62 just so I knew they would be the same. The method in the Weber books for testing the idle jet is to slowly increase throttle opening from idle (where the idle mixture jet controls the mixture) to when the progression holes start to open up. If it runs rough during this transition then you are to either lean or richen the mixture screws to make it better. This will give you a handle on if the idle mixture jets are too rich or too lean. Another rule of thumb I found was if the mixture screws (with 'Non-Smog' taper) are less than one turn out when idling correctly then the idle jets may to too rich. Back in June I had thought that I can always correct 'too big' idle jets by just screwing in the idle mixture screws. This is actually correct, however, the progression holes are not controlled by the mixture screw. So I think my idle mixture is Ok but I think my progression mixture is too rich. Anyway, I ordered eight number 55 idle jets. I can't install them and test them now because (in spite of all the global warming) it is cold and snowy outside. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Beta, You are correct, the mixture screws on the carbs only affect the first progression hole (idle orifice). The remaining progression holes, which supply most of the fuel supply in around town driving (up to about 3000 RPM) are metered directly from the jet. The screw does not affect them. Someplace I have a diagram. Let me see if I can find it. Birdman
This is a pic I worked up that is from a simplified diagram of the idle circuit from the GT4 service manual. Birdman Image Unavailable, Please Login
