Berlinetta restoration

[Neil Johm Kirk]

Re: Vinylkote

Today I tried vinylkote.
The seats in the Berli are nice enough and dont have any damage - maybe a few pressure marks form storage. However, they were badly faded from exposure to sunlight. The unexposed bits were bright red and the exposed bits orange.
The first stage is to disassemble as much as possible. Then you clean with vinylkleen. This is a strong detergent and is diluted 1:4 ish. I applied with an old tea towel and gave the seat a good old scrub, a nail brush might have worked better but it was amazing the grime that came out.
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and after
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Then I used the vinylPrep which is some sort of solvent as it leaves the surface tacky. I applied it with a bit of polishing cloth and kept turning it over, the amount of additional muck that came out was amazing.
I have spray equipment and so I used that but vinylkote comes in aerosols too. I bought 1 litre of matt charcoal/black and sprayed it at 30psi with a 1.4 jet. Lots of light coats - well about three is the result in this pic. I thinkI may give it another couple as well. I have to say I was doubtful of the claims but am eating my words - it really is an excellent finish.
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Impressive.... gives me a clue of the standard I should be aiming for with my seats resto.

[Cameron F]

Door gaps

Fitting the new doors today - what a palaver. I just cant seem to get a decent fit. Using the hinges and everything 'as is' means the door bottom hits the cill panel about 6" in from the hinge. Adding a shim between the lower hinge and the door about 4m thick gets the clearance on the cill even but brings the screen frame closer at the top than the bottom. And the rear top corner of the door is hitting the B post. The hinges are sound with marginal play.
Putting the car away now whilst I have a sulk and a think (or read...till one of the MOC crew tells me what I'm doing wrong!).

[scott h]

Re: Door gaps

You could try swapping the hinges around, top for bottom or on the other door, that's what I had to do. Also if you elongate the holes in the door just a touch it gives you a couple of mm vertical adjustment. The other thing is that the windscreen frame will move a small amount if you slacken the bolts (assuming that the glass is not fitted yet to avoid breaking it!). The last thing I can think of is to only tighten the hinge bolts to the chassis when the door is closed, to give smooth operation of the latch. I've just been doing all of the above in the last couple of weeks as I get mine ready for paint.

[Cameron F]

Re: Door gaps

Thanks Scott, I have tried swapping hinges but suspect that they are the problem. I am going to put the door in the gap tomorrow and square it up, and then see where the hinges come to. If there is too much leeway I will make some new ones - I have done this before with sintered bronze bushes to alleviate the seizure they so often suffer from. the Berli is a lovely car but the door hinges are a real design problem imho. I like the idea of tightening the chassis bolts when closed, hadn't thought of that.

[h_m_cumming]

Re: Door gaps

If it's like the Roadster you'll find a twist in the wing which brings the outer edge up and fouls the door bottoms. I put a bracket under the wing to pull it down, the N/S was the worst.

[Cameron F]

Re: Door gaps

Thanks Hugh, not like the roadster I'm afraid, much more complicated yet not as successful!
Today I wedged the door into the hole and found that the gap is not perfect - these are brand new doors so didn't come with the car originally, ... should have done this first I know!
there is a slightly wider gap at the bottom than the top on both ends so it will be what it will be! It is marginal however so I'm not too discouraged. The fault is indeed with the hinges (original) in so far as they have a bit of up and down movement thought hardly any wobble thank goodness. I will simply try drilling the holes in the door leading edge a bit longer and that could give me the adjustment I need. Hopefully the N/S will be better as I made new hinges already for that side - they are a bit tricky to get square so I would rather not make a new set unless I really have to.

Then its just a case of refitting the interior, make some new seat belt stalk mounts (I am moving the seat a tad), sort out the speedo drive, finish the wiring under the dash, and then MOT it. Shouldn't take long.

PS I noticed the hood's window has come adrift at the top seam - bother - something else to worry about!

[h_m_cumming]

Re: Door gaps

Don't worry, you'll never actually finish.

[Cameron F]

Re: Door gaps

Thanks Hugh
Finally it is starting to warm up so I have left all the work on the desk and got on to starting to fit up.

INterior.JPG

[Tony Stott]

Re: Door gaps

hi
when you replaced the timing belt was that with the rad in place etc, just starting to do mine and am needing so,e re assurance etc I am going about it correctly!

[Cameron F]

Re: Door gaps

HI Tony yes there is plenty of room. The hardest part is getting the cam belt cover off but its not actually difficult.
Some people like to cut the belt in half (longitudinally!) then slide on the new one before cutting off the remains of the old one, never done it myself that way but it does save retiming everything.
THe whole job only takes around 30 minutes.

[Cameron F]

Re: Berlinetta restoration

Beautiful day so drove the wee beast out into the sunshine. Need to fit the hinge cover panels next. But today it will be some 1200 and a bucket of soapy water before getting the mop out.
The NS door is a brand new item but I spent a long time fettling the OS so decided to keep it, as it is now a good door. This does mean I have a brand new (strengthened) driver side door if anyone needs one.

osrBerli.jpg

[Tony Stott]

Re: Berlinetta restoration

thanks for that, had a look at good 'ole u tube and am now reassembling it all -- been rolling for about an hour and a half so far, life is a voyage of discovery as my dad (now long gone) used to say! Hopefully all back by the end of the afternoon, its hot here, 25'c.

[Cameron F]

Re: Berlinetta restoration Question?

Quick question for other Berli owners, I dont want to put the mirrors on the door but if I place them on the screen frame the door will bash into them unless quite high. Do I see from the gallery that some have them on the door glass channels? If so what is the best way of fitting?
These are my mirrors...the base is narrow enough and has two 5mm holes 42mm apart

Vintage-Classic-Car-Desmo-Style-Oval-A-_57.jpg

[Cameron F]

Re: Berlinetta restoration Question?

sorted. Drilled and tapped the door window frames, Seems very secure.

[billjackson54]

Re: Berlinetta restoration Question?

I used a rivnuts into the sloping section below the window to fit the mirror to the n/s door of my Berli....and I see from the pictures on this forum of my car 11 years on that it's still on.