Do It Yourself?

[R.White]

We know that there are some enthusiasts who for various reasons buy an old car and have it professionally restored. Then there are those who are mechanically minded and will happily return their car to a roadworthy state but feel less confident about tackling the bodywork; much less the paintwork. Others have an understanding of auto electrics, while a few have honed their engineering skills to the level where they can handle lathe work and perhaps use other useful tools like a milling machine. With an old car, there is often the need for welding but for many, this seems like a step too far and they will avoid a car altogether if it is rusty. One thing which many restorers tend to leave to the experts, is upholstery and interior work in general. Also, I have hardly ever come accross anyone who is prepared to try their hand at brightwork even though small parts can be restored with one of the D.I.Y. plating kits now available.

For me, car restoration is all about doing as much of it myself as I can and if the end result is not quite as professional as it could be, then that is not going to trouble me. I like to do a good job; and I will give it my best shot - but my aim is to return a car to the road; not to win prizes. One thing; I try to keep things original if possible and if the original is beyond repair then I like it to be as authentic as possible.

Perhaps some of you guys would like to chip in with your experiences in doing it yourself - what you prefer NOT to hand over to the experts and what new skills you have taught yourself?

Ray.

Edited May 25, 2012 by R.White (see edit history)

[Dodgy6]

For me, car restoration is all about doing as much of it myself as I can and if the end result is not quite as professional as it could be, then that is not going to trouble me. I like to do a good job; and I will give it my best shot - but my aim is to return a car to the road; not to win prizes. One thing; I try to keep things original if possible and if the original is beyond repair then I like it to be as authentic as possible.

Ray.

I'm in this camp Ray. Anything that doesn't require specialised equipment I'll have a crack at. A great way to learn and appreciate how the things were done in the first place.

I recently restored an old wool bale stencil that was made by my great, great Grandfather. I made a duplicate copy so I could stencil a few things of my own. In making the new one I really put myself in his shoes and wondered how he managed to achieve the result he did with the materials and hand tools of the day.

[billstewart]

ray, just finish restoring a 24 sedan, The only help I had was lifting the top on and boring the engine, It may not be a show car, but everybody so far like it .Bill

[budd28]

I restored a model t coupe 4 years ago and I did everything on the car except the engine and transmission. I learned a lot from a gentleman named Ted Glenn(he has since passed). If I'd get stuck he'd help me out ,and show me how to do something. He didn't no the word can't I told him one time I can't do something, and he said why can't you. You have 2 hands, 2 eyes, and a brain you can do anything.

[MikeC5]

I agree Ray, the satisfaction comes from doing it ones self. I plan to take a crack at upholstery and the top eventually.

[R.White]

Dodgy, you might have guessed, this silly old Pom has no idea what a wool bale stencil is except it must have something to do with sheep!! I will have to go look it up somewhere unless you give me a bit more to go on - I'm intrigued !!

Bill - it's finished!? any chance of some pictures? You must be feeling proud as punch especially as you did it yourself - that's what it's always been about. By the way, did you know that in the old days you could get a machine that bolted onto the block and did a rebore with the engine in situ!! I have a picture in an old book somewhere. Maybe next time, heh?

Bud. or should that be buddy, 'cos we have much in common. My Dad was my mentor and he had that 'can do' attitude too. I would love to have had a model T as a project car. They seem so simple, yet in reality must be a proper challenge! How did you get on with the electrics - don't they have trembler coils or something? Good to hear from you.

Mike, you are going to do the interior. Good to hear it. I really enjoy that work; but it can be a challenge if you have to start from scratch. So far, all the cars I have worked on have had upholstery which needed restoring so I have always had a pattern to work to. The biggest difficulty for me so far was trying to repair the front seat is my Austin Swallow saloon. There, the leather had some 30 tears and holes in it and it took me many,many hours but the pattern is unique and new leather would not match the existing and that only needed re-stitching; which I did by hand!:

[Guest 1930]

Quote...........Bill - it's finished!? any chance of some pictures? You must be feeling proud as punch especially as you did it yourself - that's what it's always been about................Ty this post...........http://forums.aaca.org/f143/restoring-24-bd-sedan-327412.html

Maybe some of you guys dont realize that if you hover over a persons screen-name and left click you will get an option to see all of their old posts, never too late to add something nice to a post and bring it back to the top for others too see

Edited May 26, 2012 by 1930 (see edit history)

[Dodgy6]

Dodgy, you might have guessed, this silly old Pom has no idea what a wool bale stencil is except it must have something to do with sheep!! I will have to go look it up somewhere unless you give me a bit more to go on - I'm intrigued !!

So basically after the sheep are shorn the wool is classed for strength, colour and crimp then put into a wool baling press with similar fleeces of the same class. The baling press then compresses the wool into a large, square, sack material bale a bit over a meter cubed in size. All this is done on-site in the shearing shed. The bale is then taken to a wool buyers market and auctioned for a price.

So how do you keep track of which bale comes from which farm so the grower can be paid after the bale has been auctioned off? The grower marks the bale with a stencil and paint. Usally a property name is used as was done in the case of my Great, great Grandfather. I have called my place the same name as his property and am using the original stencil as a name plaque on the front wall.

[R.White]

Thanks, Dodgy. That is a great story of family tradition - you must feel a real sense of pride. I come from a farming family but in dairy. Sadly, the farm which was a truly beautiful place where I spent a lot of my childhood, has all been sold off.

[R.White]

ray, just finish restoring a 24 sedan, The only help I had was lifting the top on and boring the engine, It may not be a show car, but everybody so far like it .Bill

Of course! Sorry, I saw those photos you posted and I should have responded at the time. That's exactly what I admire. The car looks GREAT!. When you compare the before and after pictures it really is a fine achievement .

Ray.

[Dodgy6]

Sadly, the farm which was a truly beautiful place where I spent a lot of my childhood, has all been sold off.

Sounds all too familiar. The farm is unfortunately on the market right now. My Uncle, who is 70 now, can no longer keep the place going and there is no alternative but to sell up. I would love to take it over but $1.25 million is a bit of a stretch! Very sad, as my family on that side were one of the pioneering families of the area and built the place from scratch.

[Guest Larry12]

hi

I am new on here and not that puter savvy I am looking for bearings and seals for a 1931 dodge transmission can you advise me on how to go about it or a number that i can call of a antique parts supplier .

Thanks

Larry

my email is marya@eastlink.ca

[R.White]

One thing that I mentioned at the start was D.I.Y. plating kits. I think it would help restorers if they could do their own bright work of small items. Here is an example of 'replica chrome' . It is an interior light bezel which I did a while ago. The kits give pretty good results on brass and copper items but the trick is to get the item highly polished. I have not had very good results on steel; but it is more difficult to burnish to a brilliant shine than non ferous. You have a variety of finishes to choose from;replica chrome, zink, brass, bronze, tin, cobalt, copper, nickel, even gold and silver!

Has anyone here had a try with one of these kits and given up? This process requires a fair amount of patience and a lot of practise to get the hang of it. I eventually made up my own anodes/wands.

All existing chrome plate must first be removed. You can do this with the electro cleaner. Once you have a highly burnished item, you need to de-grease; either by soaking or electro clean. The next stage is to use the acid etch activator. You simply pass a small current, via a 6-12 volt transformer and 'wipe' the item with a wand soaked in the etch solution then rinse in de-ionised water.

The next step is to apply the plating by soaking a 'wand' or anode, in the solution provided. The metal is applied slowly and evenly and then carefully buffed to a high shine. Job done.

Ray

[billstewart]

The bezel loooked good, might try that sometime,glad you liked the pictures of the old dodge.It needed washing but I didn't have time, Bill

[keiser31]

hi

I am new on here and not that puter savvy I am looking for bearings and seals for a 1931 dodge transmission can you advise me on how to go about it or a number that i can call of a antique parts supplier .

Thanks

Larry

my email is marya@eastlink.ca

Try Egge Machine in California. They may have some of what you need.

EGGE Machine Company - Parts and Services for Nostalgic Motors

[billstewart]

Mike, this is how I done my top,don't know if this is the wat it is supposed to been done , but it worked fine, BIll

[Guest Killerbunny]

Try Egge Machine in California. They may have some of what you need.

EGGE Machine Company - Parts and Services for Nostalgic Motors

Thanks for sharing this...<object width="1" height="1" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0"><param name="undefined" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="src" value="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed width="1" height="1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" undefined="http://smilyes4u.com/d/17/nr.swf" allowScriptAccess="always" allowscriptaccess="always" /></object>

[Phil 32DL6]

One thing that I mentioned at the start was D.I.Y. plating kits. I think it would help restorers if they could do their own bright work of small items.

Has anyone here had a try with one of these kits and given up? This process requires a fair amount of patience and a lot of practice to get the hang of it.

Ray

I got curious about this and hunted up these videos. Interesting.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

[R.White]

Gateros Plating, Zinc plating kits, Nickle plating kits, Chrome plating kits, Cleaning kits, Aluminium plating and all your plating supplies.

Hi Phil. Unless you want to do a lot of items, then the above clip shows the cheap and easy way. Brush plating. If your car is 6 volts, you could do this using its own battery. How about that! - a car that does it's own re-plating!

You have to remove any old chrome first; either by burnishing, or electro cleaning. I have only had really good results on brass or copper; whatever you plate, the trick is to burnish as brilliant as possible. This is why some professional platers can reduce the thickness of brass radiator shells and loose detailing on some of your nicer items that they are entrusted with.

For any large items, I go to my local platers who are the preferred choice for the Rolls Royce enthusiasts and many other clubs. Expensive, :eek: but If it's O.K. for them......

[MikeC5]

That's a nice piece of work Bill. What is the white stuff?

[billstewart]

Mike, the white stuff is sailclothe,Bll

[Guest DodgeKCL]

Bill ,make sure you have it TIGHT. I found out the hard way that the sun baking down at car shows relaxed the cloth and showed sags. The sags disappeared once it was taken home and put in the garage. Apparently the installed ambient temperature was too 'cold'. It was only tight when it was back in the original installed temperature and contracted once again.

I may of mentioned this before but I used the Caswell home chroming kit on my KCL instrument bezels and it worked just as well as Mr. White shows in his photo. Much,much cheaper than taking it to a shop. The rings are brass so they are VERY easy to plate once cleaned down to bright brass. The only thing I recommend is using a 6 volt battery charger or a variable battery eliminator that was used to run car radios on a repair bench years ago. They appear at flea markets every once in a while for $25 or so. The little modern black blob power supply they supply I didn't find was near fast enough. (Some one told me I'm getting older by the day.)

Although I have no complaint about the chemicals or the finish. Caswell is available in Canada and the U.S. (I have all the bills for my KCL and I see they have hit just this side of $13,000 Cdn. not including my time to do the work and time and travel costs to fleamarkets over the years. So I highly recommend anything you can do yourself to cut costs.)

Edited May 27, 2012 by DodgeKCL (see edit history)

[billstewart]

KCl, no sags so far, I hope the chicken wire stop that, Bill

[MikeC5]

Would sail cloth work for a folding top I wonder...

[billstewart]

Mike, I don't think that sailclothe would work very good on folding top,Bill

[R.White]

What was used on the folding top originally? Was it canvas?