Saga of a Mark I

[R. Button]

As some are aware I had a "minor" accident a while ago when I took out a deer late at night while crusing the interstate. My guardian angel took a beating as I was sure the deer turned too far toward me and it was going to be in my lap! Deer horns and all! But at the last few seconds as I had run out of road to avoid him he turned to go the other way. I hit him in the butt and spun him around right down the side of the car.
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I'll let you figure out what got "painted" all along the side of the car!

So my wife kept after me to just get a new body!
I kept working on the body and replacing all the broken parts so I could go to Ohio for the Cobra Show.

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That kept me on the road. But she kept saying she did not think the red stripes looked right and to just get a new body!
So FFR engineers, after discussions of what kind of doors, hinges etc that I had, said the Mark III would work.
The body was done but I was off traveling and wanted to come pick it up myself. Finally just called Steward Transport for a quote to just deliver a body. A deal was made and this past weekend the body arrived
This is my first encounter waiting for the parts to arrive on the BIG BLUE truck! I have often listened to others waiting for THE truck to arrive... pacing back and forth - first waiting for THE call … then the second call that the truck was just around the corner! I got to experience that too for the first time! He rolled the truck up into the GST BOCES complex and up to the door of the Auto Body Shop training building.
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The door opened and hidden under a coupe was a black body with my name on it.
Michael Everson saw the body at FFR earlier in the day so I got a clue to what it was going to look like BUT nothing like up close when it came out of the truck.
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First picture if what Michael sent to me of the body at FFR and the second one is after it was out of the truck, on the ground so we could look it over before it was rolled into the GST BOCES shop There it sat waiting for the high school students to arrive on Monday morning. Just so they could ask "We're getting to work on THAT!!!" Seems I had improved the desire to get to class for the next semester! :)

I have been asked on Facebook what color will it be, the same blue it is now (Chrysler PB3) OR a new color. It will be a NEW color! Again my wife thought it was time to upgrade the color also. She does great design work for both designing homes and colors designs for rooms etc. Short answer she won. Not white, green or bright reds.

You will just have to wait - like me and to see! :D

How good is this GST BOCES shop? In the entire nation a senior high school girl from THAT GST BOCES program won the CREF Collision Student of the Year award! And is receiving her aware at SEMA this next week!


https://www.repairerdrivennews.com/2019/10/24/n-y-high-school-senior-named-cref-collision-student-of-the-year/?fbclid=IwAR2sZMSJCeeqGQBgYkK2ycWUhrO9L9xa0P2lSTfB jD17dDOBfCp0dCnZ6vc

NY has a statewide program called BOCES. BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Educational Services. While the student attends high school they also attend classes in a trade, like electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, auto mechanics, and auto body repair.

[Erik W. Treves]

Nice! Congrats...

[phileas_fogg]

This is a great story. I definitely want to see pictures of these high schoolers getting dusty.


John

[bil1024]

So cool! Congrats Ralph

[Jeff Kleiner]

Cool Ralph! Great to get the younger folks involved---we're retiring the old guys like us at a faster rate than the new blood is coming in so we need them. I'll PM my number---tell them to call if they have questions.

Jeff

[Garry Bopp]

Ralph, it was great to meet you at LCS 2019. Great story and congrats on the new body for your road warrior.

Garry

[Derald Rice]

Congratulations. Now you'll be good for another 600,000.

I am definitely interested to see if there are any surprises when the MK3 body fits the MK1 frame.

Derald.

[R. Button]

Will keep an update on the status of a Mark III body onto the Mark I frame. I have received messages from a number of others whating to know how it goes.
Thanks Jeff!! I'll pass on your number to the instructor, Brian in case he has questions.

[R. Button]

A quick update... What I thought was going to be a quick unbolt process to remove the Mark I body has turned into a spray the bolts with WD-40 wait a day to remove the bolt! Bumper bolts, body attach bolts, etc. Soon I'll have one of the quick lift jacks to allow me to work under the car easier (waiting on package 2 of three to arrive).
I have some clean up of rust on the frame, under the seats on the front side of the frame. Most of the original powder coating is still good. The body replace has been a slow process! I bag all the sub sections of the body take offs. BUT as I look at them 99.9999% will be just replaced with stainless steel fasteners, washers, etc. As I work on the car it's more like taking in an old 1950's car for a rebuild! Remove rusted parts, then wire brush them to clean them up. Am considering a sand blasting box & powder coating system!

What does help is I have a new shop to work in - with HEAT! I set the thermostat to stay at 50 so that when I come out to the shop the tools are warmer as well as the shop! It's a new 24x24 shop. First pic is of the shop shell, then after the walls, ceiling were insulated, and the tools have begun to roll out of the old tiny garage to the new shop!

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[bil1024]

Getting there Ralph!

[John4337]

Great progress Ralph. Room to work helps a lot. Ran across this, see what FFR will https://www.google.com/amp/s/jalopnik.com/volkswagen-restores-womans-beloved-beetle-shes-had-for-1831055446/amp

Keep the updates coming

John

[R. Button]

I love the old beetles 1966-1967!
Taken care of they can last a long time!

I just keep working on my car a bolt at a time and if needed the Dremel tool comes out to cut the bolt! :)
This is what is on my list yet to be done to release the body:
1) tail lights
2) couple of rivets to be drilled out
3) pull the windscreen and support arms out - will do last
4) 2 bolts on the side of the body - other 6 bolts are out
5) rear bumper
6) gas filler pipe

[GWL]

I too have used a lot of stainless fasteners and have used, specific for stainless, anti-seize on all of them. Both large and small, although the smaller ones gall easier. I use a small flat screw driver to apply to the threads.

George

[R. Button]

slowly the shop is changing as I fit more tools, and parts into it. This is as I left it last night after the peg board and new wall cabinet was installed. Tonight I get the quick lift installed and change out the jack stands for the lift! Then I can get either cut or remove the side bolts!
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I created a work bench from cut 2x4's. Cut then in half (on the wide side) on a table saw, then glued and put long construction screws fastening then together as I kept adding the cut 2x4's with the cut side up. Sanded it all down to make it smooth, and walnut stained it (had an almost empty can of stain I used). Created the frame for it and mounted it to the wall 2x6's. You can stand on the bench if needed :)

[Mike N]

Congrats on the new shop. Looks great!

[Walt]

Ralph, are you going to get the hard top painted to use?
Walt

[R. Button]

Good Question! I thought about that, then was thinking about some wrap on it. Not sure yet what to do with the hard top. Am waiting to see if the wife had them put stripes on the car.

[R. Button]

Body is now off and the rewiring has begun
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The pile of wires from behind the dash and in the driver footbox has been slowly growing.

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Removing one panel on the driver foot box so far has given me all the access I needed to clean out the old and install the new Ron Francis wiring kit.
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I have not done the rear wiring harness removal yet just the front and the behind the dash.

I have been carrying that Ron Francis wiring kit around with me for years. I bought it from some guy called Michael Everson over at replicaparts.com :) when I lived in Texas. That box filled with the wiring kit has moved from Texas to NC to Texas, to now NY. The old box looks rather beaten but when I cut the tape to open the box, the parts had survived!

[R. Button]

Having now looked at the wiring mess behind the dash... I am honestly surprised it held up ok! It does not look pretty! BUT it worked every day and kept the car running for miles and miles.

[mburger]

Ralph, with Henry Renaud's help, I plan on removing the body on my Mk1 this summer and replace the wiring with the RF harness as well. (Along with many other upgrades I am collecting parts for)
Following your progress is my inspiration! Looks like you're making great progress!

[R. Button]

The RF harnesses are great! Well documented and the wires are nicely labeled. The "extra" stuff that will slow me down a bit are Russ's turn light assembly, distributor & ignition module - Ford Duraspark,, and 1 wire alternator. Otherwise I found the RF harness well thought out.
Henry will breeze right through the wiring! :) I also found a few places the rivets broke loose so am cleaning them up.
We had 4 of us get the body off. Lifted from the back, got it up enough to push the body forward to get around the front of the frame and it was off the chassis! We could of done it with just 2 of us but extra help made it real easy. And wiped out a dozen donuts! Oh and I cut a 35" long board with two short boards on each end to hold the front and back of the body together ok. Taped it on the body with painters tape.
Time is catching up with me so I work for a few hours, take an aspirin (or two) take a long break, then back at it.
I really want to have it ready for The Glen's events later this summer! So am pushing myself to get it done!
Having the coffee machine, refrigerator, and Alexa in the shop - to play music, helps too! Maybe a microwave will be a nice addition later :)
Henry will get you fixed up!

[mburger]

Good stuff Ralph. Thank you!

[bil1024]

awesome Ralph

[R. Button]

And I found out why the Mark I gradually has a feeling of the chassis twisting... If you are out pushing the car hard - sticky tires - at a track event. Doing it often, what I found happens on my car was the rivits that attach the aluminum that installs over the top of the transmission tunnel break! The heads come off so the aluminum is loose. I have some sound deadener installed that was holding the aluminum in place. I think it was all the fun I had at VIR and what was called the Oak Tree turn! A tight right hander before the long straight away. In my case it had gotten bad enough that during auto-x the driver door would pop open.
I'm cleaning up the tranny tunnel so I can have some new braces welded in place like are already install in the newer cars. This is not something most would ever have an issue with. I'm just a bit further down the road than most Mark I's! :)

[R. Button]

Well I'm finally into the the transmission tunnel. As I'm looking to tighten up my frame. I took the carpet off the top of the transmission tunnel. Removed the sound deadening material. Found all the side rivets has popped out - heads came off them. So peeked under the aluminum where I had removed rivets. I was looking to see if back in 1998 I may have missed riveting to the frame. Surprise there is no frame there! Back in the day the Mark I's did not have additional frame in the top of the transmission tunnel. Well this Mark I is about to get a new frame across the top of the transmission tunnel. I had wrongly assumed there were two square frame support members front to rear at the top of the transmission tunnel and I could just weld to them... oops. Now am hunting for a company that can ship me some square tubing as my wife is not letting me out of the house for the duration! Am making measurements for how much I need. I have pictures of what the current frames look like to work from and will generally follow the new design from the Mark II, III and IV's. Pictures of what I discovered to follow shortly. Again this is not a defect - just who would have figured someone would put this many miles on a Mark I! All those miles that aluminum did it's job.

We have the technology - I can make it better than it was before! (and for a lot less than 6 million dollars)

[mburger]

Awesome Ralph. Looking forward to the photos!

[R. Button]

Well as long as I'm locked in the house for a while... Added a dash rebuild to the list.

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Just going to do a recover the dash with new leather. Brought the dash to my office so I can keep up with paying work and have something to get my hands dirty too! Some of the tops of the keys on my keyboard have gotten sticky! :)

[R. Button]

Here is what the new body looks like now - over in the paint booth at BOCES
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[R. Button]

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Forgot to post a picture of the tranny tunnel here. On the Mark I's it just an aluminum box! Soon to be framed in with square tubing.
The top cover on the tranny will soon be leather covered With a piece of leather just like the dash.

[R. Button]

tranny tunnel has been reinforced, and the reassembly of the car has begun.
Driver seat is installed, carpet is done.
Some of the wiring has to be extended to work on the older Mark I's
The old dash was looking "poorly" so I got a new carbon fiber dash. After a lot of measuring, used the metal template to re-template the dash, I finally have it all assembled.
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Some of the new bracing that was done to the tranny tunnel!

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The new carbon fiber dash. All gauges installed with switches. Now to get the wiring done for it.

[mburger]

Nice work on the tunnel. Looks great!

[R. Button]

in between Dr visits I have still been working on my Mark I. The Carbon Fiber dash (the new option FFR is selling) is almost done I just have to get the glovebox finished.
But I have been working on a way to get the FE tank installed! Options were to move the alternator lower on the passenger side! But while sitting in the Dr office I came up with a new option ( it was a looooong wait! ). What if I mounted the alternator on the driver side and removed the power steering? I had noted someone had a new manual rack for sale so I figured to give it a try!
The 2 bolts - thermostat housing bolts mount the tank to the intake became the problem!! The top bolt was an easy one but the lower bolt was not going to work! The clearance was too tight to get any wrench on the bolt. Looked around the shop for an idea. I found that I have a box of SS Button head ( kool play on words, for me! ) that were short enough, right threads, etc. After about 4 hours of trying different ways to get it mounted I finally succeeded. If you look at the picture almost dead center is a shiny new Button Head bolt that the allen wrench just fit over the top of the water pump to allow me to tighten up the bolt!
It's installed!!
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If this works out well then I'll install it on the dual carb intake manifold, that I have ready and waiting!

[GTBradley]

Nice! sounds like a net savings in weight too.

[Badfish]

Looking good Ralph. When I went carb and sans power steering, I went with this lower alt bracket, and the March PS delete bracket on the driver side. Hope this helps!

https://forums.corral.net/threads/new-sbf-billet-alternator-brackets-updated-thread.1264023/

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[CraigS]

You will be sorry if you delete the PS.

[R. Button]

Thought about that Craig - large tires in the front, etc. We'll see if I switch back to Power steering. (Am saving all the rack etc. just in case! :) )
I also have a number of bracket kits to try and lower the alternator enough on the passenger side. So I have not burnt bridges to go back if I need! Taking bets on how long it will be before I revert back to power steering :D

[GTBradley]

So Ralph, what’s going to be your first road adventure when you get back on it?

[R. Button]

Current plan is "The Last Coast to Coast Journey" With my granddaughter! From Eastport Maine to Malibu Beach Calif! Some time next year. My granddaughter is so far really ready for the trip. We'll do mostly I40 once we make a pass through NYC and the tunnels. Route 66 stops along the way, Hoover Dam, and Vegas BUT mostly she want to do Beverly Hills.

[R. Button]

The chassis wiring is about done!
I have completed the wiring of all LED's using the Ron Francis harness - a few clipped wires - a new LED interface for the 3 wire square taillights. Initial issue was the serial number of the Ron Francis harness was too old for even them to look it up (7212) :) Something like the driver and the car! Got an old 2001 FFR Ron Francis book and started following what I needed. From Duraspark ignition module to redo it for LED lighting.

Rewired a simpler setup using Russ Thompson's turn light switch, used the Ron Francis RP-3 relay assembly - no more VW latching relay the would hang every so often! As the electronic turn light relay is noiseless I put in the right and left turn light indicators. Found the license plate LED bulbs, got LED headlights so I'm now a low voltage consumer of battery power Mark I!


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Getting closer to a restart of the motor that has been sitting idle for all these long months!

[mburger]

That’s great Ralph!

[GTBradley]

Current plan is "The Last Coast to Coast Journey" With my granddaughter! From Eastport Maine to Malibu Beach Calif! Some time next year. My granddaughter is so far really ready for the trip. We'll do mostly I40 once we make a pass through NYC and the tunnels. Route 66 stops along the way, Hoover Dam, and Vegas BUT mostly she want to do Beverly Hills.
That’s fantastic! I hope she makes the trip with you. I’ve been talking about doing Route 66 full-length next year or beyond and asked my 16 year-old if he was interested. He was until a few days ago when we did 140 miles in the heat. He’s getting tall and I don’t think he cares for the passenger foot-box.

[EbourqueIII]

Everything looks like it is coming together nicely, and that road trip sounds amazing!!!! I own a MKII, #2708 and she does not have the trans tunnel backbone, I am planning on adding the back bone and under door cross bracing along with some other frame stiffing modification in the next couple of months.

[R. Button]

The body is on and the car had it's first run at The Glen track. It was just a follow the pace truck but still it was a chance to get out and do a basic test of the car.
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[weendoggy]

That's not Blue! What gives:confused: Well, sometimes change is a good thing. Glad it's back on the road. :cool:

[R. Button]

Wife's suggestion and she picked the colors. It was time for a change as ol'Blue get to be converted into a wall art and a small sofa!
The team of students at the high school vocational class, as part of their autobody classes, did all the body work and painting for the new Mark III body. The colors change in the sun light as well as the finish is like mirror smooth!

[mburger]

The body is on and the car had it's first run at The Glen track. It was just a follow the pace truck but still it was a chance to get out and do a basic test of the car.
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My son was at the track as well with his Subaru grocery getter. He said he got it up to 85 on the straightaway. He’s not Overly interested in cars and racing but this is something he’s been wanting to do and he had a good time! If I knew you were going I’d have him seek you out just to say hi!