Ok got some pictures of the newly mount Goodyear tires on the polished Forged Aluminum wheels with NOS center caps. I use SS screws to mount the caps with never seize on the threads. The original screws were self tapping so they broke lots of times when trying to remove them. Self tapping wedges there way into the hole like the door hinge bolts do. The holes are 8-32 size so I used a GH-3 8-32 tap to clean out the holes. The GH is the amount of oversize the tap is. GH-3 is .0015" oversize. When doing tool work if you do not use oversize taps the holes shrink in heat treat and you cannot get the screws in or very tight.
So got the trim for the honey comb panel polished, the trim for the 3/4 vinyl roof and one tail light and the gas cap done. Will spray some clear on them today if it is warm outside.
On the vinyl roof trim. Ford assembly line worker must have dropped one of the clips on the way to the car so one is missing. This is the first time the trim was taken off so has never been there. Does anyone have one clip they can spare? See the pic.
The Goodyear Polyglas RWL tires went on easy. Took to a friends tire shop and he took extra care lubing the beads and indesing all the tires the same. So Goodyear is up and tire valve next to the floor. These tires will never see a road but we did put one on the balance machine and it needed 8 OZ to balance. So we did not balance them. Will just be sitting there in the museuem on them.
The tail lights are always a bear to get apart with that darn sticky orange glue that Ford put on. I will go back with Daniel Carpenter seals they are much better than the Ford sponge ones. Can't see them so nobody knows what is in there. I did clean the housings and sprayed the inside with Satin White to improve the lights. Left the outside of the housings as they came with the over spray from the trunk paint on them.
I got the other tail light out and apart and cleaned. Started taking the roof rail trim off you can see in the pics how the polished vinyl trim next to the roof rail looks.
You cannot polish aluminum to be really shiny. There are soft and hard spots in aluminum and the soft will wear down first making it look like an orange peel. This also happens if you polish a plastic mold incorrectly. You pull the carbon particles out of the steel and it will not go to a mirror finish. The Forged Aluminum wheels do better because of the forging process.
When I did the gas cap I did go find an example of an Autolite and also my car had the Motorcraft replacement with the cable on it. I put that on to prevent theft of the cap. If you zoom in on the two gas caps you can see that the lift one is Motorcraft and the right is Autolite. Ford was forced to sell off Autolite government said it was a monopoly making your own parts, lol. Good old government. So a 71 & 72 would need the Autolite cap and 73 the Motorcraft. I doubt that MCA checks that.
So today to get the roof rail trim off and soaking in oven cleaner.
The trim for the rocker boxes does not have anodize on it so it does better polishing. I used pedestal buffer and couple different compounds. Red to rough it down and white to get a little better then the paste with pad in cordless drill then hand polish. To get into the groves in the rocker box trim I used pieces of a sham, which is like felt, and a flat blade screw drive the get into the low places. Those are the original parts not new ones. An easy one day thing anyone can do at home. I was always careful not to drag my shoes on the trim or paint.
I have lined up a two car enclosed trailer and my nephew has a dually diesel Ford pu and will haul the Mach 2 and the 73 Vert to the museum at same time. I will dolly the vert back after the show and the Mach 1 will stay, how long I do not know.
Should receive a bunch of stuff today from NPD and Daniel Carpenter to keep things moving April will be here too soon.
The honey comb panel is still in one piece most break in the middle. I washed it good and will blast with walnut shells to make it look new. Same with the grill. Both parts were molded with a frosty finish not shiny.
My help to remove the hood did not show on Saturday so I did not get the engine out as planned.
Will keep pushing to get this car taken apart, detailed and put back together.
The picture of the old Goodyear is one I took off the car. It was NOS and never was on the road just rotted sitting there.
When I was in my stash of NOS parts I did find the NOS ram air flappers. One of the members had a question about them once and I do not remember who. I think it was the Pastel Blue in Canada. Anyway there are some pictures of a NOS one. The box has a D3 part number so must have been some change in 73 do not know what it was. I should have bought more of them and put up. There is a used ram air on ebay now and start bid is $3,500, lol. Car did not cost that much.
BTW I used headlight lens polish on the gas cap center and the lens for tail light. The two different cream polishes I used are about the same. Could not tell any difference in look.
If you are doing buffing you never mix the compounds on one wheel. I keep each wheel in a zip lock bag with the compound. You will never gain if you mix them. I did sand the trim with 1,200 grit before any polish and then used fine steel wool to get and even surface. If you fix dents you have to file the surface back flat before polish.
Most people do not get any closer that maybe 5 feet so do not be too critical when you polish or you will never get done. Remember they get $37.00 a foot to polish the trim.
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