What’s the Differential?

If you don’t know the rear-end ratio on a rear-wheel drive car with an open drive

shaft, you can determine it simply and easily. Hers’ how to check it:

Jack up one rear wheel.

Turn the wheel so the valve stem rests at the bottom.

Put corresponding marks on the differential housing and the drive shaft yoke.

Count the number of revolutions the drive yoke makes as you turn the wheel two full turns.

This is the rear axle ratio to 1.

Clean Those Whitewalls

To clean whitewalls that bleed though and turn brown, try wet sanding them with some 1500 grade sandpaper. This will remove a very fine film of the outer finish of the whitewall. Then finish them off with some Westley’s Bleech White applied with a soft brass brush. Finally spray them with some System One spray wax and buff. Worked wonders on mine.

Wrap it Up

After spending a couple of hours under my car with newspaper and masking tape trying to cover the gas tank, exhaust, shocks, etc before doing some painting, I began to think there had to be a better way. That’s when it dawned on me to go in the kitchen and bring out the plastic wrap and aluminum foil. This stuff works like a charm because it conforms to any shape and sticks to itself. There’s also no need for masking tape. I’ve wrapped wiring in foil in the engine compartment when doing paint touch-ups without any problems. One word od caution however: before using the clear plastic wrap, try your paint or undercoating on a sample piece of the wrap to make sure it doesn’t melt the plastic wrap. Undoing the wrap when the paint is dry is quick and easy. Don’t forget to replace the stuff you took from the kitchen!

Glue Label

Reproduction trunk labels, such as for jacking instructions, can be purchased from a lot

different vendors. They come with an adhesive backing for easy installation. But did you

know that the originals were different? I’ve peeled more than my share of these from trunk

lids and discovered that they were just printed sheets of paper to which the assembly line

worker applied glue and stuck on the sheet metal. Therefore, to be 100% accurate and

original, buy the repro decal, make a high quality copy, then cut it to the correct size and glue

it in place. 3M’s spray adhesive works very well for this job. You now have the repro and

can make copies for similar cars in your stable that use the same decal.

Finish Line

Some restorers simply paint over stock bolts. However you can determine the correct finish

by pulling it and flipping over to see what the underside is like. If the underside of the bolt is

silver, it may mean that it was cadmium plated. Even rusty bolts are often clean on the

backside if it was mated to a washer. To preserve correctness and originality, it’s always

better to use the original hardware with the correct markings on the head. Having this

manufacturers ID is important in the world of point-judged show cars. If old bolts are beyond

saving, suitable and correct replacements can often be found in salvage yards.

Sportin’ Wood

You’ll find faux wood grain panels in many muscle cars of the 60’s. They were common on such rides as the GTO, Shelby, Mach 1 Mustang, etc. Restoration supply house have kits for a lot of these cars, but not for all of them. If your car has faded or just plain worn out wood grain and a replacement kit isn’t available, the answer to your problem can be as close as your home improvement or hardware store. Buy a yard or so of adhesive-backed wood grain vinyl; use your old wood grain as a pattern, and cut out a new replacement. Of course be sure to get the closest grain and color you can to your original. With some careful work, your interior will look as good as new again.

What a Nut

If you’ve ever needed to replace a bunch of nuts and bolts during a restoration, you may have gone to the hardware store to buy them and discovered that beyond the frustration of finding the right sizes, they can be very expensive! Furthermore, some of the replacement nut and bolt kits available from aftermarket suppliers can cost as much as $100! If you need correct sizes and original markings, you should take a ride to a vintage car salvage yard and strip the fasteners out of a similar car. They’ll have all the right markings and will cost a fraction of what you’d pay elsewhere. They can be degreased, sandblasted, cleaned in a tumble cleaner, or with a wire wheel. Depending on the finish desired, they can be cad plated or zinc plated with a DIY home kit. In many cases the bolts can be cleaned up and clear-coated without much work at all. It’s not a bad idea to get more than you need to keep as spares.

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

Just like assuming what’s inside a book based on the artwork on the front, you should never

make any assumptions about what a potential restoration candidate requires until you’ve

thoroughly looked inside. I learned the hard way not to judge the difficulty of a restoration

until the car is completely torn down. You can walk around a car before disassembly and it

may not look too bad, but opening it up can be like opening a huge can of worms. Take with

a grain of salt most things a seller tells you about the car. I’ve had good ‘ole boy country

dealers tell me gross exaggerations outlandish lies thinking I didn’t know better. Always take along a flashlight, a magnet to check for hidden rust, and a notepad. Make your best “guestimate” about the work involved, then double it! Don’t make your offer till you’ve had a chance to research parts and repairs. You’ll save yourself a lot of regret this way.

These tips illustrate that for every problem there’s a solution. It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, just work. Hopefully, these 15 tips will help keep you on track and off the Valium. If you have a few tricks of your own that weren’t listed here, please share them with me so I can pass them along to our readers. Email me: jeff@ccgtvonline.com. Thanks in advance and good luck with your restoration!

8) You can determine the correct factory finish on painted over nuts and bolts by simply turning them over to find the original finish. If it’s silver, it was probably cadmium plated.

9) Instead of buying expensive aftermarket nut and bolt kits, just head to the salvage yard and strip them off a similar car at a fraction of the price.

10) Looks can be deceiving. Before estimating how much work a car needs, be sure to examine it carefully with a flashlight and magnet. This MGB looks fairly restorable, but underneath it was rougher than a night in jail!

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