Oh yes another 1973 rhd 2.4E

[Bigfoot]

Great idea, what did he use to distribute cold ice?

[964RS]

I'll find out...you gormless ape.


(making up for being nice previously)

[smallspeed]

Apologies, I was hibernating (for like 12months)

Bigfoot, not sure where you're based, but I'm in Leicester and brought the dry ice from a company called dioxice / clean surface who are in troon ind est in Leicester. I want to say it was about 15-20 quid for 20kg of ice and another fiver for the box (which you can reuse as a "swamp cooler" for bbq's or if you need more ice!

I was stripping a swb Quattro and an e36 BMW, both have old tar but not as old as your car, and I did most with the first box and the small bits with an additional 5-10kg

First get some decent gloves - rubber thick ones from screwfix work well. I wore wolly ones underneath too but it was about -2 when I did it anyway!

Also wear a jumper so your arms are covered

I tipped 1/2 into the footwell of the car, left it for 5-10mins and then shovelled it across into the other footwell and gave the first a whack with a rubber mallet.. It literally came off in one frozen sheet which I put in the bin

5-10mins later, same again - shovelled it into the rear footwell, whack, remove..

I managed to get the 4 floor areas done but the last one took 10-15mins - you really start to loose the potency as it evaporates..

Onto the 2nd half, and I did the rear under seat area, rear parcel shelf and the rear wheel arches, then shovelled the whole bloody lot into the spare wheel well and left for about 25mins while I had some lunch, whack, remove..

Couple of things I learned -

Work fast; make sure the ice is doing stuff first then remove what you froze because it looses its mojo quite fast
Dry ice is FRICKIN COLD! if you use a dustpan to do the shovelling the rubber strip on the front will be destroyed in 5mins!
Dry ice is frickin cold but doesn't take much energy to evaporate it and it doesn't have much penetrating power - if you put it in a bin bag to keep it neat and tidy it wont do anything! Just makes the bag a bit cold and frosty..
Dry ice is dry - it doesn't stick to you so you can shovel with your hands
Dry ice is dry and it goes from ice to gas (co2) so work outside where there's ventilation, and there should be no wet muck to clear up after

So round 2 - the techie bit!

I had sound deadening to remove on vertical faces - trans tunnel, heel boards wheel arches, kick panels, etc and my initial plan of using "ice packs" made from bin bags was a no go.. Even cheap bin bags are thick enough to insulate too much..

What I did was make loads of "fences" from cardboard stuck to the shell with duck tape. This gave me a space to fill with ice to hold the ice against the tar directly and stop it spilling out everywhere. I actually experimented using an old shelf and some "stuff" but it just didn't work.. Do some oragami and it will work much better!

So again, shove ice in there, leave 5-10mins, remove and move on.. Then whack and remove

I found doing small areas worked best then shift the dry ice and make a new fence where you just froze (ie alternating from one side to the other of the trans tunnel).


Couple of other things..

- you can hear the tar pinging and cracking as it freezes and releases, once its been doing that for a min or two move the ice - don't waste the power! Once it releases move on!
- dioxice do contract dry ice blasting, they will also rent out their blasting room for about £50 an hour all in.. I did a set of split rims and a whole engine worth of components in an hour, awesome value

Hth - will add some pics tomorrow when I'm back af a computer rather than using a stupid phone

[smallspeed]

Ps..

If you shovel with hands wear gloves - the stuff doesn't feel cold but it really really is

People talk about stripping cars in 20mins and other super short time spans.. I can only assume they filled the car with dry ice and did it all in one! Took me about 4hrs all in per car but it only cost me 40 - 50 quid all in. If you can get s**t loads for cheap then you will be able to work faster

When you're done there will be a residue - if you want to remove that without screwing the paint under neath too badly then you can remove it really quickly with evostick solvent remover from b&q.. Wear a mask though, it STINKS!! or better still get your mrs to do it like I did :D

[Bigfoot]

Many thanks Smallspeed but whilst you were writing that extremely comprehensive post i was busy....... feel terrible but I really know for next time and so do a whole load more people, including Jason!!!

So I started by taking Darrens fantastic advice tonight and heating from behind (obvious really as heat is transferred much quicker to glue through metal). Thanks Darren as you cut the time by 2 hrs!!!



Heated up half and straight round to inside and scraped it off real easy with the 'wood' chisel....



After literally 20 minutes the parcel shelf was done and another 30mins and complete rear cleaned off!!



Then moved onto the other footwell and cleared up the mess





Clearly it has had floor plan repaired, un nerving how it has gone again so badly! front inner wings have had several bodge repairs too...

Anyway, just got ignition barrel to remove, sunroof, door, boot and bonnet catches and then media blasting Thursday

PS: Thanks again Smallspeed!!

[hot66]

Ready for the blasters

[Bigfoot]

Just before I took the car to the blasters I rang Barry and given that the sills were going to be replaced I thought maybe I should cut into them to get internals blasted..... Conversation went
"an inch back from the top of the sill". I drew a line and sent Barry the picture and he either replied "go for it!!" or "NOOOOOO not there!!!!"









This was my favourite "NOOOO, crikey Adam you haven't cut that one out have you!!!!????"



Anyway off it went......



Blaster rang today telling me it would be ready to collect tomorrow. When I asked if everything was ok the response was "Mind you, its had some repairs over the years....." So to say Im a little nervous tomorrow is an understatement. Barry quite happily told me that when he comes up to view the shell "it will be the lowest point of your restoration...."

[Darren65]

Every step is a step forwards

[johnM]

Exciting day ahead. Like Barry said it will be the lowest point in your restoration. From now on the car will begin its reincarnation.

Kind regards.

[murph2309]

Yes - but brace yourself....it really does start to get better from here. As soon as you can see what's there you know what it will take to fix it. And you might find a lot of bits and pieces you weren't expecting, but it won't be as bad as some of them out there - there is nothing that time and money can't fix....

But onwards, the road to recovery and brilliant driving begins.

Enjoying it?

[Bigfoot]

Yes I am really enjoying it!! Next bit is the nervous bit as depending upon Barrys view can be £1000's either way. Tempting to bodge welding myself and buy a big tub of catty!!!!

Well the car is back and Barry requested in a perfect world he would rather an unpainted shell so here we have it......



Dangerously Im going to say its not as bad as I thought...... however on close inspection the roof and rear outer wings are 'rippled' in areas. I questioned this with the blaster and he showed me pictures of part removal and layers upon layers of paint and filler in these areas.













It may not be as rotted as I was suspecting but due to the car being covered with little repairs and new panels Im suspecting Barry is going to want the all off anyway by the sounds of it. Im bracing myself.....££££££££££

I bouight a pair of new wings from Adam at Porsche Bolton last year, ones on the car are in good condition apart from a little rust at bottom so will be selling these at some point. Doors, bonnet and boot all rust free by the looks but probably going to be replaced too as non appear to be original and just want to ensure the car remains rust free for as long as possible....will await Barrys visit before the decision is made

[haasad]

Just been catching up with this. Great progress its so good from hereon in since each step is an improvement. Oh and got the "pensioners" joke too albeit very late......

[sladey]

At first glance the shell looks to be the usual sort of stuff. Looking forward to seeing barrys repairs on it

[Bigfoot]

So Barry came up last weekend to give his assessment of the car. Think he (and I) were a little suprised as to how original the car was and how several of the usual areas of rot were in really good condition particularly the rear parcel shelf (being a sunroof car). The visit certainly wasnt the predicted low point, more so the anticipation of his arrival. It was amazing to hear about the detailed knowledge Barry has of every area of the car shell and really confirmed I had made the right choice for the restoration......yeah I know....."Told you so"!!! Ha Ha!!
One area that needs replacing are the two rear inner wings which aren't back into production as yet. If any one knows of any rust free examples for sale please email me. Apparently there also may be a foreign front damaged shell kicking around (no salt damage), again please email me if anyone hears of any...

Thanks
Adam

[Bigfoot]

Got a lovely parcel from Neil Bainbridge today, not only has he chromated my fan...







But also managed to source a replacement crown wheel and pinion!!!! Absolutely no pitting too, like new!



I tried absolutely everywhere to get one and Neil came up trumps! Great service!

Think Ive sourced a drivers Recareo Sports seat so will be selling a passenger (or drivers in a lhd) shortly when new one arrives if anyone interested?