MGB Interior Panels - Part 2

Today, I continue on Oliver's (the MGB) interior because the weather remained a preventative from getting to the cars outside. Darn, have to work in the semi-heated garage.

High-Level Door Card

black door now out of place

By now, the door cards were looking completely out of place, as the only remaining all-black panels. These are a little more complicated than the front kick and rear quarter panels. First, there is a top padded section which holds the top of the door card in place. The padded section is held on by 4 screws (2 each front and rear) and is wrapped with black vinyl. The interior kit delivers with a section of cream-colored vinyl to replace it. Additionally complicating things, there are the window crank, and the door latch pull and lock. In my case, I removed the armrests shortly after buying Oliver, but there is the old blown speaker. Last, each door card is held to the door with 13 plastic clips. Since these are original 1978 plastic, I suggest having replacements on hand. The interior kit did not include these, but they are, like $0.50 each or less online.

 

I didn't take a picture of the driver card before I started, so here's a picture of the passenger side, from the open driver door. I leave that towel on the driver seat so I don't accidentally get grease or anything on there while I work on him. You may also notice I have omitted the center console. I think the interior looks less complicated this way and the console acts like a little wall between the driver and passenger, which neither Boo nor I liked. Either way, there's no place to put a beverage. I may solve for that one day.

 

Padded Section Reuse

after polishing

I considered re-covering the padded section along the top, but after removing it (4 Phillips screws), I decided not to. First, the wood inside the padding is starting to fail (see picture below). It's not totally bad, but bad enough to warrant replacing eventually. I figured that if I used the cream on that now, I would not have it when I replaced the wood. Second, the black vinyl, while also not perfect, could get cleaned up with some leather cleaner. Last, I already had a cream and black contracting interior so retaining the black long the top would help underscore that. Ultimately, I believe retaining the black just for that contrast reason was plenty of justification. I think it looks really good.

So, I cleaned the rust off the chrome ends with some Goof-Off, and polished the vinyl with leather cleaner. The window felt was fairly worm out, so I removed it with a slotted screw-driver. Rather than use a staple gun to install the new one, I used 5/8 inch #18 brads. When installing these, you will notice that the chrome/felt does not go all the way from the front rubber seal (sealing the flip-out window) to the rear-most point on the window. I taped the felt to the padded section with painter tape and held the unit against the door, shifting the felt side to side until it was where I liked it. Then, I sent half a dozen brads in to hold it firm.

 

Removing Rusted On Window Crank

backside of padded section

As easy as it was to remove the padded section, removing the window crank was the opposite. The Phillips head screw had fully rusted to the mechanism. I applied Kroil and let it set, but it couldn't effectively penetrate past the window crank. I had to resort to my set of "easy out's". I find these are neither easy, nor do they really get the stuck bolt out (could be user-error), but in this case they did what I needed. After stepping up the drill bit size a few times, the head of the bolt fell off and the window crank handle could be removed. Once out of the way, I just needed to pull the plastic retainers from around the door handle and the door card came right off. I removed the remainder of the bolt from the window crank with a big set of lock-pliers. While I had the Kroil in-hand, I lubricated the various moving parts of the window: the window control joints and the spring. Surprisingly, this reduced some of the clank-clank-clank noise when the window is raised and lowered.

 

Outer Scraper

torn down

The last bit of demo was removing the old outer scraper. This is that supposed-to-be pliable rubber that presses against the outside of your window, stripping off water, mist or fog when you roll down the window. More importantly, it reduces rain water from running to trickling into your door. My scrapers were hard and chipped, so they needed replacing. They are held to the inside of the door with 7 rivets. I set a slotted screw-driver blade against the rivet and smacked the handle with a hammer. The rivets pop right off, but the bits fall inside your door. Once free, the new scraper lines right up with the original holes, though on the very end there are a few different mounting holes, probably for use on different models. I needed to open the holes a little bit with a rat-tail file in order for the new rivet to easily fit through.

To mount, I set all of the rivets through the scraper and loosely set them into the holes in the door. With my riveter, I started on the ends, working my way towards the center. With each rivet, I would make sure that the rubber set up on top of the door, and did not disappear underneath / inside. I found that I had to press the riveter and the scraper hard against the door when pulling the trigger. With the scraper riveted in place, I checked the window action.

 

Noise Muffler

window crank and spring

With the scraper in, I cleaned up the inside of the door first with the shop-vac and then with spray cleaner. With the door cavity relatively clean, I applied some noise deadener. I realize this is a convertible, so there will always be noise. The door application is really about making the door sound solid when it closes rather than tiny and clanky. It doesn't take much to make a difference. I have read that as little as 50% steel coverage is sufficient. I am not sure I even got that much covered, though the door has a satisfying, solid "chunk" when it closes now. I ran a 4-inch tall strip from the outer rear view mirror to the door handle above the belt line (inside the door cavity, of course, but against the outer skin). Below, there are 2 front-to-back channels to which I applied 1-inch strips from the window regulator to the rear edge of the window. Below the channels, I applied a rectangle along the lower rear section. I found that the spring clank-clank-clank could be felt most on the steel directly beneath it on the inner skin, so I put a 4-inch square inside the door cavity on that section of steel. All sections were pressed down with the little roller application tool for a solid bond.

 

Plastic Sheeting

Originally, these doors had a vapor barrier. This door, however, did not, except for the small sections around the door handle and window crank. So, I made one out of a kitchen garbage bag. If I had thicker-mil plastic, I would have used that, but these bags are hard to cut, so I don't expect this to fail. I cut the bag so I could completely cover the door, and taped it in place with painter tape. With a Sharpie, I marked where I wanted the vapor barrier and then cut along the line. Since my furnace is in my garage, my options for adhesive were limited. I would have used spray adhesive or the brush-able epoxy, but both need ventilation and are explosive hazards. So, instead, I used Elmers Wood Glue. Yes, that's right: wood glue. It took longer to dry, but it held the plastic firm during the panel install. While it dried, I cut holes for the door latch and the window crank. I have found that applying adhesive on vertical angles creates a path for water droplets to follow if/when it gets between the plastic and the steel. On other words, don't apply adhesive straight across: it will only trap moisture against the door.

Panel Install

home-made vapor barrier

I could feel the end approaching. With the holes cut in the sheet, it was time to prepare the panel with the 13 clips. The card has 13 very obvious spots for the clips. They are shaped like a classic 2-ball snowman: large circle on top of a smaller circle. The clip slips into the larger circle and is then pressed into the smaller one. I could have re-used some of the clips from the original door, but after over 40 years, I was not sure they would not break during install, or shortly thereafter. With the clips in, the hole for the window crank needs to be cut next. Similar to the rear-quarter panels, the door card shows exactly where the hole needs to be. Unlike the holes for the rear quarter panel, though, the window crank hole needs to be cut almost all the way out to the hard-board edged circle. Also, the leather/vinyl has a padded backing that needs to be cut through.

I decided to not include the arm rest / door pull and I am not putting speakers back into the doors so this one hole was the only one I needed to cut. This greatly simplifies the look of the door card (see picture below), and even with the extra bounce from the thicker card, I can pull the door firmly shut simply from pulling on the padded section. The card did arrive with indications for both the arm rest and the speaker mounting locations, though.

With the hole cut and the clips in, I was ready to press it in. I started by aligning the bottom clips with the holes along the bottom of the door. Then, I clicked in the clip nearest the rear view mirror and then worked my way around, snapping the card into place. I trimmed and cleaned up the hole for the window crank (I had cut too conservatively beforehand) and then installed the crank. I again tested the window action.

Padded Section Install

so pretty

Last, the padded top goes back on. The new cards are more stiff and thicker than the ones that were just removed. It will be some time before these new cards settle in, and the original screws for the padded section were not long enough to bridge the gap, initially. So, I found a screw in my drawers that matched the thickness of the original screws, but was about 3/4-inch long. I set it aside for a moment and attached the front-edge of the padded section with the original (smaller pair) screws. I left them plenty loose so I could adjust and then grabbed that long screw. I sent it through the lower of the 2 holes in the rear mount and tightened until I could send one of the original rear screws into the door and have it grab. I checked the alignment and then snugged that original bolt. I pulled the long screw and sent the other original rear screw in. Last, I tightened the front mount screws.

Feeling quite satisfied, I shut the door... and it bounced back open. Ah yes, the cards are thicker. I closed the door hard and it held. I figure it will take some time for the rubber in the weather-seal and the door card to come to terms with one another. To help speed that, I will leave the door shut tight. Of course, the not-dry-nor-warm weather outside will help that door stay shut for a while.

Well, that's it for today. I need to do the other door, of course, but with the passenger door so close to the shelves in the garage, it will wait. Until then, well, I'll have to find other things to fix on the fleet. Like the clutch on Gramps, the rear wheel bearings on Nemo or maybe something I haven't discovered yet. We will see. As always, thanks for following along-

******

surround bits

UPDATE: I did the passenger door this past weekend (5-June), following these instructions. I had 2 additional observations. First, the replacement inner door felt scraper is about 1/2" shorter than the original. The missing 1/2" on my original did not have any felt left, and it was the section closest to the door handle, up against the chrome end. Second, I omitted the last step in the instruction above regarding the 2-piece plastic rounded-cornered rectangle that goes around the inner door pull. These are thin, and could be damaged upon removal. Fortunately, my old vinyl cards were not holding on too tightly, and they removed with ease. The top part slid right off, simply by pulling up. Once removed, the bottom came out easily.

Installing the Plastic Inner Door Pull Surround

I found the install to be much more difficult. The new vinyl has much more grip than the old vinyl. Also, the card wants to be flat, so there is natural pressure away from the curvature of the door. The plastic bits had 4 little bumps (one on each short side and 2 along the longer side) that need to get under the door pull. After multiple failed attempts, I found success. Starting with the bottom piece, I got the plastic wet. I set the 2 short sides on either side, below the pull, and while pressing against the card with one hand, pressed upwards on the corresponding corner of the surround. I moved from side to side, moving it a little at a time until the bottom edge clicked in.

halfway there

The top piece was harder to manage, in part because my card has a piping strip that runs right along the spot where the plastic bit needs to sit in order to install it using the same method. So, again, I got it wet (reducing friction) and rather than start at the uppermost corner, I lowered the plastic piece so it was just below the piping, with the leading edges on either side of the surround. This placed pressure on the piece, and this is where an original piece could break. With one hand pushing the card against the door, I pressed the little bump under the inner door pull. This was a little scary, but once the second side snapped in, I followed a similar effort of sliding it down a little bit at a time on either side. Eventually, the top and bottom pieces meet, and the cards are complete.

Again, thanks for following along. I hope this last bit helps you out. I found following these instructions really helped me out when I went after the second door.

MGB Interior Panels - Part 1

I spent a great deal of time working on Zed's body. Before and after that, I spent even more time on Hapy, with the wiring (both the re-wire and the P0121 code), the furnace and the heater. Around those efforts, I picked up and improved upon T's old Audi, Nemo. Today, I took a break from those other cars to return to Oliver, the 1978 MGB, to complete some interior things I had left undone. I was going to get after Nemo's rear wheel bearings, but honestly, I just want something in the warm garage and Oliver is the only car in a garage, so... off we go into another multi-part post.

Where Were We

Recall that I blew some manna-from-heaven on an interior refresh for Oliver two years ago (See New Seat, What a Treat Parts 1, 2, 3 and headrests). I completely restored his seats, replacing all of the foam and the covers. Out with the old black vinyl and in with new cream with black piping leather. The lighter color is really nice when the sun is super intense, like in the early Summer here. I put in seat-heating elements, but haven't wired them in yet. Instead, I focused on summer-supporting stuff, like the new stereo. This new stereo included front speakers attached to contoured plastic boxes mounted to the outer footwell sidewall (See MGB Gets Sound, Version 2), but the kick panels were not there, so I started with those.

Kick Panels

creating kick-panel pattern

The kick panels compliment the seats in that they are the same cream color. When I ordered these, I appear to have selected the option to include map pockets, which I guess are okay, but with the little speaker boxes, will not be terribly useful. Anyway, in order to pierce the kick panels in the exact right spot so I can mount the speaker boxes, I pulled a paper shopping bag and some cardboard out of the recycling. I traced the kick panel onto the paper and cut out the pattern. I removed the speaker box from the driver-side sidewall, set the paper against in it's place and found the mounting holes with a small nail. I transferred the holes onto cardboard to test the location, and they were a little off. So, I pushed the nails around until they were in the holes well and tried again. They were still a little off, but the third time they were perfect. I transferred the holes onto the rear of the kick panel and drove the nails through from behind with a framing hammer. I set the soft cream material onto a shop towel and set that on top of an old kitchen cabinet door so the nail could pierce without damaging the panel.

speaker box
attached to p-side panel

After presenting the speaker box to the panel, and pressing the mounting screws into their respective holes, I drove the screws into the panel and then held the pair against the side of the car. I needed to position the panel around things, so this actually happened more along the lines of... in, then out, then in then out a few times until the panel was tight against the leading edge of the door weather stripping, the holes were aligned and the screws were lightly threaded in. I verified the routing of the speaker wire and then set the screws all the way in into the speaker box was snug, but not overly compressing the panel. I re-mounted the speaker and turned to the passenger side. I followed was the same process, down to the multiple sheets of cardboard. Since there are fewer obstacles on the passenger side, it was easier, but only barely because I did the whole thing leaning across the transmission tunnel from the driver seat. I could still feel my ribs 2 days later, but they really look good. Pain is temporary; beautiful clean kick panels... well, they're kind of temporary too. Just not quite as temporary, I hope.

Rear Quarters

With the kick panels in, the door panels look that much more black. And wrong. So, I really needed to keep going, but I thought I would do the doors themselves last. There are 2 triangular-ish panels that sit just aft of the seats with the rear-most edge following the contour of the front of the rear tire well. So, I call these quarter panels; I'm sure they have another name, though. I thought they would be easier than the door cards, and with the location of the car so close to the wall on the passenger side, I'm not sure how I will get to the passenger door anyway.

ideal top orientation
to hit all 3 bolt heads

These need to fit under the convertible top mounts, but otherwise their positioning is fairly straightforward. The 3 bolt/screws are partially obstructed by the convertible top frame. So you cannot just lower the convertible top to remove the 3 bolts that hold the mount to the car. You can remove one, but to get to the other 2, the top needs to be partly open. This is where an extra hand is very helpful. I didn't have one, so I tried doing just the driver side first. I started by opening the top so it was sticking almost straight up. This exposed or unobstructed all 3 bolt heads.

When I removed the the rear-most bolt/screw on the driver side, the capture-nut inside the B-pillar fell off (30 year old weld failed). Also, one of the hinge-points on the passenger-side of my convertible top frame separated. The capture nut is easy: they are sold on Moss for around $18US. For the hinge-split, I literally held the pin where it was supposed to go and forced the pieces back together with channel-lock pliers. I looked around for repair kits or something, but I was unable to find anything. At this point, though, it is working.

To get a sense of the work, I did complete both sides (using only 2 screws/bolts on the driver side), one at a time, leaving the other side firmly attached. With the convertible top frame up, just like it is pictured above, remove the 3 bolts/screws. I completely removed one, and then moved back and forth on the other two, slowly removing them. With the frame lightly held in place, I shifted focus onto the panels.

 

The Doing

I tried 2 different approaches, and found the second approach works better. First, I tried to poke a tiny hole in the panel for each of the 3 bolts to pass through and then widened the hole with something so the screw/bolt can thread in without catching vinyl/leather on its way. Take care not to make it so large, however, that it is larger than the frame hole supports. On the passenger side, I used a razor knife to cut a small "X" for each of the 3 holes. Either way, set the panel nearby, and get yourself seated on the parcel shelf at the rear of the passenger area.

I completed the removing of the 2 final bolts while holding the frame steady with my head. Yeah, that's right. This is where having a helper would be very helpful. With the frame held steady (either with your head or by a helper), lift the mount up just enough to get the card in place. I set the rear-most corner in first, and then flexed the card to press the leading edge behind the weatherstripping. The holes for the frame will line right up, but I checked with a bolt to make sure first. Then, I lowered the frame down into place (optional tonneau cover mount held firmly against the top frame), and sent a bolt through, threading into the nut. With one fingered in, I sent the other two in, and then moved from bolt to bolt until they were all snug.

At this point, I have both of the front panels and both of the rear panels in. The doors are a little more complicated since the glass-scrapers need to be replaced, and the old cards are still in. Since the weather around here has been below freezing and wet (ice, freezing rain, sleet and snow), I will be continuing to play with Oliver since he is in the semi-heated garage until the weather changes.This means that my next post will probably include some work on the driver-side door card. The passenger side is trapped against a shelving unit, so I probably will not be getting to it for a while.

 

As always, thanks for following along-

Strip Tea Z

Okay, maybe that name is pushing the pun envelope a little too far. So what? I'm gonna push it a little more. Anyway, we're due for an update on the 280ZX project, so here it is.

Let's Strip
C and I increased our focus on the tear down of the donor car over the last few weeks. The seats came out with relative ease and they are sitting in the shedroom (see 280ZX * 2 = Y for an explanation) with the bare-steel front fenders from the keeper Zed. Next, C pulled the center console and radio/climate control console. These were held on with Phillip-head screws and removed fairly easily. Then, C pulled carpets. They don't look like they got much love over the years, but we are going to try to deep-clean them. We thought about just buying a new set for the front, but the newer carpet won't color-match the rear carpets perfectly. Worst case, we buy them anyway. First, we're going to try some cleaning tricks.

Plastic Surgery
Next came the plastic cards that cover the rear 1/2 of the interior. They are all held on with Phillips-head screws and pop-in tabs. Considering that these panels have never been removed, I expected all of the plastic tabs to break off (like they always do on VW's half this age). To my surprise, we only lost one or two tabs. But the plastic cards were filthy. An hour with the hose, soapy water and a scrubby solved that, though. Once dried, the plastic cards joined the growing pile of parts in the shedroom. We also pulled the rear speakerbox which the prior owner (PO) of the keeper Zed chose to remove for weight. Since it weighs less than 2 pounds and provides great utility both as a keeper of 2 plastic bins, but also retains the lines of the car, this decision seems especially dim-witted. No matter. The donor box was in pretty good shape with just a little surface rust around the bottom edge. Another hour of sand-prime-sand-paint, and it's ready to join the other parts in the shedroom.

Screw Holes, but No Screwing
C removed the after-market steering wheel so he could get after the dashboard. The dash should be held on with a handful of screws. As C went looking for them, he found the holes where they should be, but no screws, except for 2. So, the whole dash was held on with 2 screws and tension on the wires and speedometer cable. Zoiks. We removed 2 screws which held the defrost control cover plate to the dashboard from below. Then, we were able to pull the dashboard away enough to slip a hand behind and detach the speedometer cable. The dash then came out as one large piece, with a thick pigtail of wires running out the passenger side. C will need to decide whether he wants to try to get the newer dash components working with in the (slightly) older model or just remove bits down to the covers and swap them. The raw dash has a nearly flawless cover so either way the keeper Zed will be vastly improved by the swap.

We have also pulled the door cards, the wiring harnesses, power door lock motors, and the power window switches and motors from both doors. Since the door glass is so hard to come by, we are keeping those too. We are going to pull the outer scrapers from the doors as well, effectively gutting the doors of anything useful.

Grind Grind Grind
Meanwhile, the grinding on the keeper Zed paint continued with the rear-end almost complete. The rear tail lights are out and C is looking at the rear tail gate as the next, and final, piece to address before we make decisions about swapping in the T-top or restoring the moonroof. When we removed the rear bumper from keeper Zed, we discovered that it was more rust than steel, so we will be sourcing an after-market or salvage one. Unlike the MGB parts I've sourced lately, these Zed parts are hard to find and expensive when you do.

Rim Job
If you followed the Around the Rim saga (see parts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), you already know pretty well what's been going on in this space. I bought a set of mid-90's Honda rims and cleaned them up so I could put the nasty rims that came with the MGB onto the donor Zed. This frees ups the donor Zed rims to put on the keeper Zed; which was the whole reason for getting the donor car in the first place. Once the Honda rims were cleaned up and painted, an afternoon was spent rotating sets from one car to another.

That quick post covers many many hours of work. We are in the home stretch for getting the donor Zed out of our yard, though. I vacillated between keeping and not keeping the transmission, selling the engine or not, etc. In the end, it's just not worth it. I don't have another car to put them into, and I don't have the storage. Besides, someone else can really use them. So, we resolved to posting the car in its mostly-stripped condition, on craiglist. We figured that someone would pay the price of one core charge to get a working engine, transmission and various other parts we didn't need, but are serviceable.

Thanks, as always, for following along. More next time-

bump bump bump

Today is about getting the bumpers and some the lights working. Not terribly exciting stuff, but important.

Blinkers
With everything else going on, when I pulled off the old front blinkers, they were in dire shape. The lenses were filthy and the housings were really worn looking. I tossed the lenses into a "clean me" pile and looked closer at the housings. There was some rust, but behind the bulbs, the shiny stuff had fallen to bits. There wasn't really any "shiny" anymore. I figured I'd just get some new ones, and they were drop-shipped by BusDepot from somewhere in SoCal. The new housings look really nice.

cleaned up blinker

After about an hour with soapy water and a scrubby sponge, I had the orange and clear lenses almost as clean and clear as new ones. With new housing-to-body seals, they fit into place pretty well. The hardest part was getting the old bulbs into the new housing (it was a little tight).

Cabin Lights
As seems true with any re-install, things tend to go slower than during removal. With the interior lighting and secondary battery, this was just as true. Some of the fuses in the fusebox had shaken free. Two of the wires had come undone. One had a splicing completely separate. All easy to fix. Once the fusebox was ready, the grounding cable and red B+ were simple.

Rear Bumper

splash-guard

The rear bumper on the early bay window bus is held to the frame with 2 frame mounts which are held on with 2 15mm bolts each (at the frame:mount end) and 13mm 2 square-head bolts (at the bumper:mount end). These take the bulk of the weight. These mounts also tie into the engine support bar Hal fabricated for me. So, in order to put on / take off the bumper, I need to support the engine with a floor jack. Once supported, I pull the bolts, support one end of the bumper with my plastic (steel scratches) tool box, and thread in the bolts on the other end. Then, switch to the tool box -supported end, and hand thread those bolts in. This is all well and good... until you remember that the early bay rear bumper has splash-guards on the corners. These are lightweight steel panels that rest between the bus body and the bumper to keep tire-splashes from kicking up into the bumper. Or, at least that's the only purpose I can see other than helping to hold the ends of the bumpers up.

The splash-guards need to be installed before you put the bumper on the body, but after the bumper-mounts have been attached to the bumper. There's a small (less than 10mm) bolt that passes through the top of the splash guard into the top of the bumper mount. On the other end, another 13mm square-head bolt passes through the bumper into the splash-guard. There is also one last bolt that passes from under the battery tray into the splash-guard. This holds the ends of the bumper firm.

Last, though I haven't put mine on yet, these early bay buses have an additional strip of steel along the bottom of the bumper called a modesty skirt. It only hangs down about another inch, but it obstructs from view most of the muffler. It's real purpose is probably to reduce the amount of crap kicked up off the roadway by the bus, but it looks pretty silly. With all the weight of the bumper on the skirt, it will bend, so it is best to put this on last.

Front Bumper

still no window, mirror...

Like the rear bumper, the front bumper has 4 main bolts and some smaller bolts near the ends. While there is slightly less weight to manage if you install the bumper mounts to the body first, the whole unit fits better if you install the mounts to the bumper first. Then, as a unit, the bumper goes into place. Hold one end up with the old plastic tool box while you finger-in the other side. Switch. If you can wiggle the bumper, but it is held in the air by the bolts, they're the right tightness. Now, wiggle the bumper until the space between the bumper and the body is uniform at either end. Set the bolts so it can't wiggle as much and switch focus to the foot-step bolts.
These bolts are smaller (13mm. noting a pattern?), and one of mine broke off inside the frame when I removed the bumper before. This leaves 3 bolts to install. Like before, finger them in one at a time. Then tighten by hand. Verify the bumper-to-body spacing and then torque all of the bolts down.

That's it for today. Lots still in-flight, and Memorial Day is almost here! As always, thanks for following along,

Think, then Do

Quick post. I cleaned the garage and started exposing the interior of the bus. Today goes through some of that.

Think Once
I hadn't realized just how much think time I waste on some projects. Take cleaning the garage as an example. Usually, I'll just start at one end picking things up and putting them away until I'm either done or sick or doing it. Then, I'll sweep whatever I find and call it good. Net-net, its a crappy job of cleaning, but it looks better than before, so I'll call it clean. This takes a long time. I realized this past weekend why, I think. For each item I pick up, I have to think about where it goes or should go. I'll take it over to that spot, and then have to figure out whether there's room, etc. Lots of standing there thinking time. This weekend I tried a different approach: think once.

I went into my garage with no intention of starting anything cleaning-ish. I had my coffee in my hands and wool socks on my feet. I just surveyed. Sports equipment over there. Christmas decorations over there and there. Skateboards and snow equipment in little piles. And, of course, lots of bus parts. I took mental notes of what needed to go where and considered what-would-fit-where all at once.

Then Do
Like anything else, once a plan is set, just execute the plan. All this sounds simple and obvious, I'm sure, but I'd never gone after cleaning a garage that way. I had it organized in half the time. Following a quick sweep, I was able to shift focus onto the bus. First, there was the not-so-small matter of all the exterior parts. Since I'd planned for where all those parts were going to go, it took 15 minutes to empty the bus of stuff. Then, I simply removed the rest of the interior of the bus.

Removing the Interior

interior strip in progress

I started with the wall panel. It popped off with light tugging with my fingers. Choosing to use standard fasteners rather than bolts pays off in the removal step here. Once the MDF is covered with thin foam and vinyl, it will appear as an even better decision.
The Vanagon middle sliding bench that I installed a couple of years ago is held in place with 4 13mm bolts. Remove them and the seat easily slides out. So I don't lose the bolts, I fingered them back into their original holes.
I discovered that the refer cabinet that I converted into a storage cabinet (see: From Fridge to Storage) is not actually held down. Neat. The cabinet pulled out very easily (obviously), but I'll have to consider how to actually mount it to the bus. There is a bolt that should pass between it and the rock'n'roll bed that is missing. That's a start, but it will need something else at one end or the other... or both.
Next is the rock'n'roll bed. It is held to the bus with 4 different fasteners. Two are obvious: they are the 2 Phillips head bolts holding the upper back to the section on top of the fuel tank. One the right side (facing forward), under the seat there are 2 small (8mm) nuts which hold the folding bracket to the right wheel well. Last, there is a 13mm bolt under the front-center of the seat, bolting the floor of the seat to the floor of the bus.
Last, I removed some of the thin sections of the wood floor that is used to keep the floor level. I chose not to remove everything just yet. I left the middle seat rails, the rock'n'roll bed and some of the wood in place at this point. I'm not sure if I need to paint the steel floor, but I'd like to at least inspect it for rust. Frankly, if I'm going that far, I might as well fill any little holes and paint it too.

Rear Window
Great movie, not a good seal. I replaced the rear (as in the window pointing to the rear) window seal a few years ago with a BusDepot seal. Usually their seals are pretty good, but this one separated at the upper right corner a while ago. I should have replaced it when that happened, but there's lots of shoulda's out there. Anyway, I had rust under the old seal, but when I cut this seal off, there was water under it. Since the bus has been in the garage for quite some time, that water was quite alarming. Once I had the seal off and the window out (don't forget to unplug the defroster wires from your window before you start cutting your seal), I could see some new rust. Drat. More to fix. I'll just add that to the list of rust repairs I need to make before I paint anything. That list isn't too bad, but it is growing...

That's it for today. One last thing: I taped a piece of paper to the side of the bus for me to write down any parts that I need to replace. The list is too long for just having a pile of "replace these" parts. When many of the parts are seals that I need to cut off, there's nothing to throw into the pile that I could reference anyway. This week, when there's time, I'll be repairing small holes in the interior and getting the rock'n'roll bed and wood floor out so I can make steel floor decisions.

Thanks for following along...

Inside Out or Outside In?

The bus-painting saga has really bloomed. This all started with getting the paint on the nose near the washer nozzles a little better. Now, the front 1/3 of the interior is removed, the windscreen and half the windows are out and I'm trying to figure out how much farther this goes before it starts looking more done than undone. Today is a rough plan.

Start
I stood and looked at the bus last night, wrapping my head around how I should eat the elephant. I hadn't planned on painting any part of the inside when I started. But now, that seems like the right place to begin. Half of the windows are out, including the windshield, both fronts and one of the big rear ones. If I finish the front 1/3, I can use the partitions as the clean cut-off line with rust repair and paint.

playing around with colors

Option 1 - Inside Out
One option after getting the front 1/3 done is to complete the rest of the interior. I'll have the right paint color, and any over-spray or tape failures would appear on the inside (outside paint second -> unintended over-spray lands on finished interior color) rather than the outside. So this option is do the whole interior then do the whole exterior as 2 major steps.
Upside(s): when the inside is done, it's done. Once I've started on the interior, I can do it all at once, so it might be faster overall.
Downside(s): the rear 2/3 of the bus is currently where I'm storing all of the body bits, so I'd need to find them a new home. That makes for a bigger mess before it gets smaller. In order to really do the rear 2/3, the other big window needs to come out, as does the rear window, so, again, the mess grows.

Option 2 - Outside In
Another option is to just do the front 1/3 and then switch to the exterior that I'd started with in the first place. I'd come back around to the rest of the interior later.
Upside(s): I get the exterior done sooner. The stuff that's stored in the rear 2/3 wouldn't be there after the exterior is done, so getting after the interior later would just require removing the seats and cabinet.
Downside(s): I may not get back to the rear 2/3 of the interior for a while, so it would look crappy in between. If I re-install the removed windows because of delays or wanting to actually drive the bus once, I would have to re-remove them to do the interior or there would be a section of not-freshened paint under the inner side of the seals.

Conclusions
Its funny how just writing things down make a choice all the more obvious. While I will need to clean up the garage a little bit to fit the stuff from the back, it totally makes more sense to just do the whole interior at once. I found a bunch of rust under the front seats, making this decision all the more powerful. The exterior of the bus doesn't have much rust, but the rust that't there needs attention. At least one of the spots is a hole that I'll need to also treat from the inside, so, again, it makes sense to do the inside entirely first. Of course, that makes this a great deal more work. Better get crackin'!

To keep track of things, I'm playing with "a dark shade of cyan-blue" similar to that which appeared on the squareback in 1972 for the lower 2/3 of the exterior and a flat light/medium grey for the interior. Pantone detail for the similar blue follows. The pantone detail for the Enzian or gentian blue that matches the squareback blue is here.

R,G,B=0, 48, 92
Hex=#00305c
decimal=12380
CMY=cyan: 100 (1), magenta: 81 (0.8118), yellow: 64 (0.6392)
CMYK= cyan: 100 (1), magenta: 48 (0.4783), yellow: 0 (0), key: 64 (0.6392)

As always, thanks for following along...

A Couple Cards Short

Totally focused on bus stuff today.  I spent the weekend loving on the bus, mostly focused on cleaning.

Interior Plan, or Lack Thereof
In Setting and Resetting Expectations, I set a few goals for the Spring, including getting the front doors sealed up.  Before going too far down that path, I should have a plan.  Well, I really don't.  Still, there's lots of pre-work, so I focused on that while I thought about how this should go.  First, it's gotta be clean.

Goof Off and Rub
The inside skin of both front doors were gummy, and dirty.  Years of poor sealing plastic film allowed moisture in, destroying the original door cards, and leaving nastiness on the steel.  So, I started my Saturday with a tin of Goof Off and a roll of paper towels.  The driver door took 2 hours of effort, but the results are fantastic.  While it doesn't look like it was freshly painted, it does look better than most of the inside of my bus had looked up to that point.  The passenger door wasn't as bad, and only took about 90 minutes of effort to get to a better state.

native state

clean

While taking the passenger door bits apart to clean up, I discovered a few things that were not on the driver door.  First, around the window crank, a small piece (about 1-1/2 inches by 3 inches) of foam was glued to the door.  I figured that was to keep drafts out.  Then, between the crank handle and the foam, I found a small plastic ring (pn 111-837-595A).  Our friends at AirCooled.net and BusDepot have them.  Neat.  I'll need another one of those for the driver side.  Maybe I'll get a new crank too, since my driver's one is kind of broken.

More Sound Dampening

note black mat near front
foil-insulation in the middle

I had previously put vibration matting into the driver door and a few other areas around the bus (see More Sound Killing).  I have used 2 different types, they work pretty much the same, and they do work.  When I did the driver door a few years ago, I still had some of the foil-backed stuff.  By the time I got to the passenger door this weekend, though, I only had the McMaster-Carr stiff rubber sheet.  Still, I covered over half the steel with one or the other.  On top of that, I glued closed-cell shiny-foil insulation I got at Home Depot (like this) with spray epoxy-glue.  While it doesn't really have an R-value, it is effective at keeping noise down, and keep direct sun-heat down.

Roll Your Own Door Card?

Once the doors were clean, and sound-proofed, all that remained was applying the plastic and putting in the cards, right?  Well, what if you don't have any cards?  Or, in my case, just one ratty card?  Back to Home Depot for a 3' x 8' sheet of 1/8" MDF.  I had an adventure getting the sheet into the Jetta, but I'll go into that another day.  I simply laid the sheet on the garage floor and traced my ratty old card with a pencil.  With my Dremel, I cut along the line.  I should have used a different attachment, but I got it cut, and the primary holes (door pull, window crank & latch) created.  It took me about an hour, but I still need to place the mounting holes.  I could buy a pair of pre-cut MDF cards from BusDepot for $55 plus shipping (link here).  In the end, it will cost me more in time, but just barely.  I think the numbers really become interesting when I look at all of the missing interior bits.  BusDepot offers the full set of MDF for $200 plus shipping (link here) and shipping to the PacNW is quoted at only $15 by their site.  Compelling, but that shipping amount couldn't be right.  I may have to wait while I pull together the cabbage to do the full set.  Even then, the full set doesn't have bits for the sides in the storage area, so I'll be making my own with the leftover MDF I got at HomeDepot.

That's about all I have time for today.  I drove the bus to work today, and he ran like a champ.  The rains return tomorrow, but today, we can smile in the sunshine.  Thanks for following along...