Tag: Windlace

Model A Ford Sport Coupe Windlace Challenge Part 6 (added rear lamp bracket!)

Model A Ford Sport Coupe Windlace Challenge Part 6 (added rear lamp bracket!)

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Windscreen garnish mouldings now have the final finish applied and the windlace retainers are in primer.

In the meantime the edges of the A pillars were cleaned up and painted, ready for the windlace and the retainers to be installed

The right hand rear lamp bracket is ready to be fitted, but the incorrect bracket that was fitted also had the rubber pad between the bracket and the fender missing. The left hand bracket that was fitted can now be refurbished and be fitted to the left hand side in due course.

Left handed bracket and bolts sandblasted and  now in primer

Model A Ford Sport Coupe Windlace Challenge Part 3

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Before beginning the removal of the rest of the rivets, I found that the left A pillar windscreen moulding that we originally thought would be difficult to remove proved to be easier than expected, so no need to remove the header rail

Now  it was time to tackle all of the rivets on the left A pillar windlace retainer with the Dremel tool

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After masking everything as best possible it took around two hours to grind off the heads off the rivets and then driving out  the remains out with a centre punch. This enabled the removal of the retainer and the remains of the original windlace.

 

 

Model A Ford Sport Coupe Windlace Challenge Part 2

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Whilst the top coat was curing on the upper retainers work began on the front left hand side windlace.

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The next piece of work started at the front windscreen opening lever. Upon removing the lever to get access to the window frame trim which in turn allows access to the windlace retainer. The frame trim cannot be removed until the windscreen header bar is removed. To gain access to the header bar the rear view mirror and the header trim needs to be removed. Once the mirror and trim was removed it was found that the bolts were seized, these have been soaked in penetrating fluid and will be revisited after a few days soak. In the meantime the upper dash panel and the left hand kick panel were removed.

The A pillar windlace  retainers are held in place by a number of tubular rivets, these present a challenge. A number of methods have been tried across the Model A community, one of these is to use a carbide tipped tool on a Dremel to grind off  the head of the rivet. After applying some tape to protect the area around the test rivet, the method appears to work quite well.

Part 3 to follow

 

Model A Ford Sport Coupe Windlacing Challenge Part 1

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Been putting it off for some time but the time has come to get it done!

Windlace is the weatherstrip that fits around the door aperture.

On an older car the strip is fitted via a number of methods, nails, rivets and retaining strips and sometimes even glue.

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First job was to refurbish the upper retaining strips on both doors

A lot of old oddly coloured paint and two different sorts of windlace side to side was found.

First job was to start sanding the pieces down and treating them with Hammerite Direct to Rust paint on the rear.

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Next activity was to prep the front of the strips and apply four coats of filler primer. After the primer had dried for 24 hours it was then lightly flatted with 2500 wet and dry abrasive. After this the surfaces were cleaned with pre-painting wipes. Following this four coats of top coat were then applied.

Back soon with Part 2