Re: 1965 RHD 911 restoration started
Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2018 8:13 pm
I am very aware that it has been over half a year since I posted. I reckoned to have the Blue Belle on the road last summer but..........
One or two parts I was expecting did not materialize - and have not to date either and the whole project went onto the back burner for several reasons.
Anyway, I am back on the job. To take the basic reassembly part by part isn't interesting to many but certain things are worth mentioning and paying tribute to impressive suppliers is worthwhile.
One such is FDTS for their work on my seatbelts. I had the original Irvin as fitted to the car in '65 but they were in a dreadful state. But I wanted to keep them if I could.
The replacement material available these days is not to my liking, more a man-made fibre that is not really like the original. It was suggested by Sue Taylor at FDTS that I put my stained dirty yukey belts in the washing machine and see what happed. I did, after soaking them in Vanish (another plug?), and hey presto, the dark brown webbing changed into sliver grey like new! I was so surprised.
The re-chroming they had done for me also surprised me and now I have a set of belts, original to the car, that are as new. Complete with mini Irvin parachute badges.
The other items worth mention was the sunvisors. The original ones were perfect until the mice got at them years ago.
I hate mice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Repair seemed impossible so I searched the net. This was years ago. I found some on evilbay in New York (!) that were the same - a mirror in each visor - they were intact but in a poor state like so
The insides had disintegrated like they do
So, pinching a thread idea from the IB forum this is what I did. First, carefully slit along the top seam,
extract the insides, make new foam inserts
then slide them in with a thin semi-rigid plastic formers on each side.
Then carefully glue the seam together and spray with a spray dye - thanks to MT for giving me his experience. He was satisfied with one in particular and I found it just right for me too. Not cheap but one an is enough. It was sourced in France through Amazon and is called Saphir Tenax Off White leather dye spray. Here is one pre-work and its mate as a finished item.
More anon.
One or two parts I was expecting did not materialize - and have not to date either and the whole project went onto the back burner for several reasons.
Anyway, I am back on the job. To take the basic reassembly part by part isn't interesting to many but certain things are worth mentioning and paying tribute to impressive suppliers is worthwhile.
One such is FDTS for their work on my seatbelts. I had the original Irvin as fitted to the car in '65 but they were in a dreadful state. But I wanted to keep them if I could.
The replacement material available these days is not to my liking, more a man-made fibre that is not really like the original. It was suggested by Sue Taylor at FDTS that I put my stained dirty yukey belts in the washing machine and see what happed. I did, after soaking them in Vanish (another plug?), and hey presto, the dark brown webbing changed into sliver grey like new! I was so surprised.
The re-chroming they had done for me also surprised me and now I have a set of belts, original to the car, that are as new. Complete with mini Irvin parachute badges.
The other items worth mention was the sunvisors. The original ones were perfect until the mice got at them years ago.
I hate mice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Repair seemed impossible so I searched the net. This was years ago. I found some on evilbay in New York (!) that were the same - a mirror in each visor - they were intact but in a poor state like so
The insides had disintegrated like they do
So, pinching a thread idea from the IB forum this is what I did. First, carefully slit along the top seam,
extract the insides, make new foam inserts
then slide them in with a thin semi-rigid plastic formers on each side.
Then carefully glue the seam together and spray with a spray dye - thanks to MT for giving me his experience. He was satisfied with one in particular and I found it just right for me too. Not cheap but one an is enough. It was sourced in France through Amazon and is called Saphir Tenax Off White leather dye spray. Here is one pre-work and its mate as a finished item.
More anon.
.....class!
and every effort was being made to do it then but muggins 'ere went and bust the little yoke that holds the clutch lever in place on the fulcrum ball. Quick call to Aberdeen Porsche Centre at 3.00pm and they got one in for me this morning. Some service - brilliant.
