DIY Car Restoration Tips

By Rick Garner

Restoration isn’t just a hobby, something to dabble in from time to time when you’re bored ~ It’s a full-on way of life for gearheads and car enthusiasts the world over.  Whether you just bought a classic that needs only a few touch-ups and repairs here and there and are lovingly protecting it with a car cover or have something closer to a skeletal eye-sore up sitting up on blocks in the scorching sunlight, beginning a restoration job can be more than a bit daunting.  But, as with most jobs, things will go a lot more smoothly if you create a list that prioritizes what you need to do.

Tip 1: Restoring a car is like building a house or undertaking any project. There’s a logical order to it ~ for instance, you wouldn’t build the roof before the foundation. So, the first step in any restoration is to plan out exactly what you’ll need to do, making a complete list of every part of the project ~ no matter how small ~ to avoid overlooking something major or risk damaging a  fresh paint job. Once you have an overview, organize it into a strategic game plan. Depending on the repairs you’re making, you might want to proceed in the following order: transmission, engine, electrical, suspension, interior, body and wheels.

Tip 2: A lot of older cars were built like tanks (part of the reason they last so long), but the downside is that they often sounds like one too, especially on the open highway (some vibrate so loudly that you’ll notice car alarms going on in your neighborhood as you drive by). If your restoration includes stripping the vehicle down to its undercarriage, take the time to sound-proof with reflective insulating wrap, spray undercoating, or insulating foam. Undercoating helps minimize vibration through sheet metal and is great when you need to reduce noise coming through metal air ducts or fender voids. Expanding foam is perfect for filling cavities in car bodies and holes in firewalls. Keep in mind, it’s called expanding foam for a reason ~ it expands! So, be sure to leave some extra room, or you’ll wind up with a fender that swells up like a Botox treatment gone awry.  Your third option, reflective insulating wrap, is sold on both two and four foot wide rolls. It installs with spray adhesive and is thin enough that it doesn’t require any modifications to upholstery or trim, making it really well suited as a liner for doors, hard tops, or over flooring.

Tip 3: The words auto repair and steel well aren’t often used together in a sentence ~ unless it’s a sentence about a polishing job gone terribly, terribly wrong. But there are different grades of steel wool intended for different uses. Very fine grade 0000 (available in most hardware or DIY stores) can be used on a variety of auto parts and car accessories including chrome, glass, stainless steel and other delicate materials and it won’t scratch the surface.  Use it with chrome polish to brighten stainless to a high luster, polish chrome trim like molding or wheels, and clean around your headlights or rocker-panels. Best rule of thumb for using it (or any product, for that matter) for the first time is start small! Try it first on a hidden part of the car (the underside, for example), or in a corner, and then work your way out. It’s the best way to avoid disaster just in case the surface you’re working on decides it doesn’t like the grade of or chemicals in the polishing pad.  Start on a side panel and if things go south, you’re going to really regret your choice.

Tip 4: If you tape off an area you’re going to paint, you’re protecting your windows and trim, but you’re also leaving yourself open to problems tearing off a freshly painted surface if you’re used the wrong tape.  Ideally, use masking tape designed especially for your application from the word go.  If you don’t, and find yourself mid-project and about to shred your new paint job, here’s an easy way to get masking tape off without ruining your finish and being overwhelmed by the urge to throw yourself into traffic:  use your hair dryer.  GENTLY heat the tape as you peel it off the painted surface…gently. If you’re a pro and have a heat gun, that works too, but keep the temperature LOW. The tape will pull right up. It may leave a slight residue but it’s easily removed with a mild solvent or a variety of car waxes like Zymol wax.

Tip 5: Gluing vinyl or leather material onto panels or seats can result in splotches of contact cement on the visible side. Cleaning products like 409, Mr. Clean, or other solvents may indeed remove the glue, but chances are they will also discolor the vinyl or leather in the process. Better, grab some vinyl or aluminum duct tape and wrap a length around your index and middle fingers with the adhesive side facing out. Then it’s just like removing fuzz from a sweater:  pat the glue spots with tape and the glue will come right up. This technique also works on sewed seams and seat covers, a tedious task that’s nearly impossible to accomplish with cleaners.

Special thanks to Andrew Bernhardt.

The World’s Strangest Car Was Built Right Here in Worcester!

Walter C. Jerome of Worcester was obsessed with making the world’s safest car. Ultimately, he failed to reach that goal, but his odd segmented sedan might just qualify as the world’s strangest car.

Concerned mostly with head-on collisions, Jones split his car in two, hoping the front section would absorb collisions, leaving the passenger cabin untouched. Using a significantly modified 1948 Hudson sedan as the rear section, he built a raised turret to provide the driver with maximum visibility, a feature he upgraded with a 360 degree wrap-around screen that continuously rotated past built-in squeegees that kept it clean.

Wrap-around rubber bumpers protected the Sir Vival’s (Get it?  Safety? Survival?) bodywork from bumps and dings in slow speed collisions, but they were just one of Jerome’s ahead-of-his-time ideas: the Sir Vival was also equipped with seat belts, a padded interior, and built-in roll bars.

Auto safety has two elements: passive safety, which concerns passenger protection once a collision occurs, and active safety, or a car’s ability to avoid accidents with exceptional handling and braking. Jerome focused only on passive safety, ignoring the fact that the Sir Vival’s less than graceful separation into dual modules came at the price of atrocious handling.

The car appeared on magazine covers. Jerome had fancy two-color sales brochures printed that extolled its virtues, and that earned the car appearances on several magazine covers ~ but its time in the spotlight was brief and the Sir Vival went no-where.  Well, that’s not completely true ~ the one extant Sir Vival remains in the care of Bellingham Auto Sales in Bellingham, Massachusetts.

There’s a [Car] App for That

“Screen Hopping” Comes to the Honda Fit

By Rick Garner

In a ground-breaking campaign, Honda has merged the worlds of iPhone Apps with traditional commercials on your TV, computer screen, and mobile phone. Created to celebrate the launch of the revamped Honda Fit, the new interactive app allows iPhone users to virtually catch animated characters as they appear on screen in the company’s new TV ad “This Unpredictable Life” and drop them into their phones, more or less in the same way you’d use a PS3 Move or Nintendo wii motion-controller.

Honda said it’s the first time the so-called screen-hopping technology has been used with a commercial.

The App is called “Honda Jazz – This Unpredictable Life” (The Jazz is what they call The Fit in Japan) and can be downloaded for free from Apple’s iTunes store. Once installed, iPhone users can begin watching the spot from their TV or on any other device, including a PC or even a second iPhone with the app installed, and collect up to four characters and three mystery objects. Honda said that users can then interact with each of the stars of the film ~ for example, the toy space monkey can be made to dance by singing into the phone.

The new advertising campaign was created by Wieden + Kennedy and Nexus, the team Japan’s “Hate Something, Change Something” commercial for its cleaner diesel engines in 2004.

The TV spot debuted in the UK in February and is available in the US on YouTube.

Your Ultimate Ride Deserves the Ultimate Storage Facility

You’ve spent years restoring your muscle car.  Years and thousands of dollars ~ not to mention all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into the project.  Your masterpiece is now back to her original pristine condition inside and out.  The paint job and the chrome are spotless.  The engine is beautifully intimidating.  She oozes sex appeal and horsepower.  She’s a showpiece to be taken out only in the late spring and summer when conditions are perfect.

So are you really going to store her in your dirty, damp garage or, even worse, in the yard under a tarp for the other seasons?  No way.  Your machine deserves much better.  She deserves to be stored at Armory Motor Storage in climate-controlled, secure surroundings.

AMS doesn’t leave anything to guesswork ~ they provide you with a complete list of how to prepare your vehicle (they store cars ~ new, restored, antique, but they also accept motorcycles, jet skis and ATVs)  for storage (tips like raising the tire pressure to 38-40 psi to avoid flats, adding fuel preservative to prevent gum and  varnish formation, and running your engine fully warm right before storing to evaporate any moisture from the oil pan and exhaust system) so that it will be in peak condition when the two of you are reunited for those glorious summer drives.

Their storage area fills up fast, so if you’re interested in reserving a space, call them NOW!

Armory Motor Storage

69 Armory Street

Worcester, MA  01603

508-791-8400

www.armorymotorstorage.com