Project Bentley

Resounding lack of interest there, then. Maybe this'll get a response - disassembly time!

Started the strip-down to get the car painted. Turned up the usual mix of 'interesting' (read: boneheaded) design choices. Take the stainless steel trim that runs along the door at the bottom of the glass. Bentley decided that it would be a particularly corking idea to make this piece so that it could be moved upwards a few mm in order to change the rubber underneath it and between the trim and the glass itself. Noble thought, poorly executed. It might just be me, but I'm pretty sure that if I wanted people to be able to move that trim, I wouldn't use pop rivets and nylon collars. Because it just doesn't bloody work.

*breathe*

Aaaaaaaanyway, I've spent a few days here and there pulling the interior trim, door glass, bits of exterior trim and so on with Gary. The radiator shell is off the car again, the windscreen wipers are off, the cowl vents are off (amazing how expensive the gauze is for those, by the way....) and soon we'll have the rest of the trim removed.

Pictures

Radiator shell AWOL:



Cowl vents and wipers off:

http://img807.imageshack.us/i/dsc01463f.jpg/


Drivers door minus glass, trim:



Another door done:



Door mirror out of the way:



Me, trying to dig ancient rubber out of the trim:



Still going:



And going:



Going to be fun re-tensioning that lot:



Tomorrow, weather permitting, we'll pull the remainder of the trim off along with getting the headlights and front indicators out. The headlamps are being replaced with newer, better and spanglier ones which should improve both the look of the car and the night vision which is a bit poor.
 
Lordy. Easy to see why people accumulate massive bills for these when they're unable to do the work themselves. Massively time consuming, at best!

All these little jobs must be helping to bring the car up immensely, though :)

Keep up with the posts, though, I for one enjoy reading the latest trials and tribulations in Bentley land :D
 
I like whitewalls on those old Bentleys but only if they are clean, once they start looking grubby they look a bit ropey.

What colour you painting it? Who's prepping it and how much it costing to paint?

Im not sure i would spend the money that car deserves getting it painted properly.
 
Lashout_UK said:
Lordy. Easy to see why people accumulate massive bills for these when they're unable to do the work themselves. Massively time consuming, at best!
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Tell me about it!

Lashout_UK said:
All these little jobs must be helping to bring the car up immensely, though :)

Keep up with the posts, though, I for one enjoy reading the latest trials and tribulations in Bentley land :D
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Cheers mate, will certainly keep everyone updated through the summer rebuild.

DM said:
I like whitewalls on those old Bentleys but only if they are clean, once they start looking grubby they look a bit ropey.
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Yeah, they were looking pretty **** to be honest. Not finished yet, and we may still put the whitewalls back on.

DM said:
What colour you painting it? Who's prepping it and how much it costing to paint?
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Staying the same colour, just with fresh paint and lacquer. Damned thing looks like a patchwork quilt now, there's a few different shades on there. One of the local body 'n' fender shops is doing the work, did us a deal (given that we're doing the strip-down and re-fit, there's a few hours work saved for him!) so it's costing less than 2 grand.
 
JRS said:
Tell me about it!



Cheers mate, will certainly keep everyone updated through the summer rebuild.



Yeah, they were looking pretty **** to be honest. Not finished yet, and we may still put the whitewalls back on.



Staying the same colour, just with fresh paint and lacquer. Damned thing looks like a patchwork quilt now, there's a few different shades on there. One of the local body 'n' fender shops is doing the work, did us a deal (given that we're doing the strip-down and re-fit, there's a few hours work saved for him!) so it's costing less than 2 grand.
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You saved a nice few quid there, thats a 5k plus job with them doing all the work.
 
In terms of the whitewalls, do you have a picture of more than just the wheels i.e. a picture that gives a better idea of them in the context of the whole car? I can't speak for others but I find it difficult to get an appreciation of how good/bad it looks just seeing the wheels and tyre alone.

I've looked at the previous threads and never commented but it's damn good work you're doing in restoring that car.
 
semi-pro waster said:
In terms of the whitewalls, do you have a picture of more than just the wheels i.e. a picture that gives a better idea of them in the context of the whole car? I can't speak for others but I find it difficult to get an appreciation of how good/bad it looks just seeing the wheels and tyre alone.
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I'll see if I can find a shot in the library of pics we have.
 
Popping back round one night this week (weather permitting) to finish pulling stuff off the car. Gary's going to lead-load some of the grottier bits himself, saving us a bit more cash and meaning that there's a rather better chance that the job will be done to his satisfaction! Once we've done all we can, then we'll give the shop a weeks notice to clear the decks.

Going to be interesting when it comes to getting the car into town. Driving with no rear bumper, no window glass except the quarterlights, no headlamps, no front indicators, no radiator shell and grille....
 
Right, more trim off. The stainless steel bits from the B-pillars and the roof gutters are all off. Usual mix of bodges and nonsense found - missing sealant between body and trim so the body has corroded (way to go, prats!), missing screws, the screws that were there were cross-threaded, or corroded, or both, mismatching screws on the B-pillar trim.

Headlamps and front indicators are also off the car now. Piece of advice for whoever worked on the car before - when you fit the two large bolts that hold the headlamp surrounds on, it's generally a good idea to fit the longer one in the top hole. That way you can actually get a socket on it without having to **** about. It also means that the bottom one doesn't foul on a pipe for the god-damned air conditioning. Morons....

Would have some photos for you all, but Gary's camera has upped and died, and mine uses this marvellous device called 'film' rather than a memory card.
 
DM said:
More good work, your a better man than me.
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Don't know about that. I'm probably just a good deal more insane than you :o

One bit seems to have us defeated right now, and that's the trim on the A-pillars. I can get the interior trim bit off, but I can't see how the exterior trim attaches. Which is a bit of a problem, since it means that if I can't figure it out in an entire morning and with the aid of the RROCA's technical library then the paintshop's chances range from slim to bugger-all....I must be missing something obvious.
 
JRS said:
Don't know about that. I'm probably just a good deal more insane than you :o

One bit seems to have us defeated right now, and that's the trim on the A-pillars. I can get the interior trim bit off, but I can't see how the exterior trim attaches. Which is a bit of a problem, since it means that if I can't figure it out in an entire morning and with the aid of the RROCA's technical library then the paintshop's chances range from slim to bugger-all....I must be missing something obvious.
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Just tell them to mask it properly, if its that hard to get off it will be worse to get back on.

I just wish i wasnt so useless in a practical way, because something like this would be perfect now im retired and bored.

I know where there is a Rolls Royce Camargue sitting in a barn id love to have at a go at.

Also as an aside show your mate this http://www.hardtofindradiodashkits.com/

Im waiting for him to reply to my email about shipping costs, but im going to order one whatever then have it veneered to so it looks better.

That there is a break through for X308 Jags.
 
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DM said:
Just tell them to mask it properly, if its that hard to get off it will be worse to get back on.
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I guess. I just don't like leaving that job unfinished, you know? It has to come off at some point to renew the rubber seal behind it anyway. I'll figure it out.

DM said:
I just wish i wasnt so useless in a practical way, because something like this would be perfect now im retired and bored.

I know where there is a Rolls Royce Camargue sitting in a barn id love to have at a go at.
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The way I figure it is that you learn by doing. These can be the greatest cars to learn on - once you've fixed one of these, you can do anything! But you have to go in knowng that there will be days when you come away from the car after several hours and know, deep down, that you've managed to sort out **** all. Hours of toil, skinned knuckles, filthy and sweaty and nothing to show for it. Those are the days that can drive a man to drink, panic attacks, or both. I'm hoping that valium will keep Gary on an even keel until we can finish the car!

DM said:
Also as an aside show your mate this http://www.hardtofindradiodashkits.com/

Im waiting for him to reply to my email about shipping costs, but im going to order one whatever then have it veneered to so it looks better.

That there is a break through for X308 Jags.
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Wow....how long has the market been waiting for that? Nice find
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