Author Topic: Restoring my 1971 Ford Pinto Trunk Model (Read 33046 times)

larjohnson · « **Reply #30 on:** February 26, 2009, 05:45:26 PM »

Well...... my brother called me today, the 1971 Pinto trunk model I got from Reed in Washington State was finished, and ready to come home. Let's see....New alternator, condenser, tie rods, oil change, tires, front end alignment, rear bearings serviced, and oh yes.....they thought I needed a new battery. I was afraid to hear what I owed them....well it was about half of what I expected, whew!!!!!They all applauded when I left the garage (It's been there since January 7, 2009 when it arrived in Muncie). It's a good size garage, and sits on one of the busiest streets in Muncie, Indiana.... I think people all thought they were stark raving mad!!!!! hahaha :laugh: The fuel gauge was on empty, there was a service station across the street, so I stopped, put in some lead additive and sea foam....filled her up with premium fuel....and prayed I'd get home. Eureka, the car ran like a new one. Got her home, unloaded all the spare parts Reed left for me, and began to clean. I took a mild soap and water and cleaned the whole interior, then went back over it with windex. Cleaned all the windows and vacuumed it out. It doesn't look new, but it looks really good. By the way, I'm taking the seats out that came with it, looks like maybe an 80s model Mustang seat, they need a home, will give them to you for shipping charges only, if anyone wants them. They will come with tracks. Anyway, I'm going to go through the parts Reed left in the car, there are some things I won't be needing, so I'll sell those things pretty cheap. Looks like a decent luggage rack for a sedan Pinto, a dash and mostly what it'd need to install air. Oh yeah!!!! I also have seats out of a late 70's model Pinto, they're pretty nice, will let them go cheap. I'll post everything in the next month that I won't be needing, I'll not charge much, because I know how difficult it is to find everything you need for your Pinto, and I've had a lot of help from my good friends at Fordpinto.com. Well I'll be posting pictures as soon as possible, probably this weekend, of what it looks like emptied out and cleaned. Then will post my progress pictures, as I proceed with the restoration. Looks like the whole car will need painted, hope to get that done this summer. Thought I could spot paint, don't think so... will know more once I wash and wax her. Well for now.....just say a little prayer I'll do well with the restoration... I'm really excited about this car, I think I love it.hahahaha :lol: Larry :police:

smallfryefarm · « **Reply #31 on:** February 27, 2009, 09:17:09 AM »

Sounds like you still have things rollin with the pinto larry. Good to hear. I took a couple evenings and spent on mine this week. I now have my engine assembled. Got my trans now and just got my new clutch and flywheel in the mail. I have to still do a few mods to the engine compartment before i can set it in.
Cant wait to take her down the road, it is killlin me. Anyway keep up the good work larry, Good to talk at you.
David

larjohnson · « **Reply #32 on:** March 01, 2009, 02:17:34 PM »

Okay... it's 23 degrees in Muncie, Indiana today, but I couldn't wait any longer, I had to do something to the 1971 Pinto I got from Reed in Washington State. The battery was dead, had to jump it, but not before adding a new solenoid. I must have left something on, as it's a new battery. I took the Mustang seats out of it, and removed the carpet. Since it's the trunk model, there's a ledge in the rear window, and it had holes in it due to past installed speakers. I made a new board today for it, that fits perfectly. I'll cover it with speaker carpet, and it'll look great back there. I took the rear seat out also. Wow!!!!! the back of the seat was attached to Masonite, which doesn't give it much strength. The Masonite had gotten wet, and it's really old and buckled. The vinyl of the seat was held onto it by staples, so I removed them, and removed the seat portion from the Masonite. I used this piece of Masonite as a pattern, and made me a new backing, out of new Masonite. There's a piece of fabric that holds the back of the seat to the Masonite, which is rotted, so I'm going to take the seat to the upholstery shop, and have them reattach the vinyl section to the Masonite, and make any necessary repairs. If I'm going to do it, I may as well do it right. I also repaired the vent pull knob, which was just hanging under the dash. It's not attached securely to the dash. I then took off the painted and cracked black grille, and attached the new silver one I got from Fred Morgan. Fred also had a bumper guard which I was missing, and that's been installed also. I'm hoping the weather breaks soon, so I can start painting the inside and dyeing the vinyl. I'm anxious to get the inside all pulled together. I do have photographs, just don't know how to load them into the computer yet, my daughter is coming over, so she'll do that for me, and I'll post some pix. Anyway, it's taking shape, and I finally got my feet wet with it.

75bobcatv6 · « **Reply #33 on:** March 01, 2009, 03:16:33 PM »

I guess pinto fever finally got you too.

larjohnson · « **Reply #34 on:** March 03, 2009, 03:22:34 PM »

Well took the back of the rear seat to the upholstery shop today. They said they can fix it just like new. There's a channel that fits on the rear of the car, at the ledge of the back window. This channel accommodates the top of the seat, to lock it into place. This channel was plastic and has deteriorated; therefore, they're going to fashion something for that too :amazed:. I think I've got a real find with this upholstery shop. It's suppose to warm up to the 60's this Sunday, so guess who's going to be dying some vinyl parts of the interior of this car

. I'm getting really anxious. It's taking shape nicely.

Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #35 on:** March 06, 2009, 09:37:42 PM »

Okay: Wanted to post some pix of the new 13 inch rims I had installed, and the new original Pinto hub caps. If you recall, the owner prior to Reed had put 15 inch Mustang rims on this Pinto. I had them removed and replaced with original Pinto 13 inch rims. Also you'll see the Mustang seats which had been installed also. I've removed these seats, and will replace with original Pinto seats. I will post pictures of the stripped out Pinto in the next posting. Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #36 on:** March 06, 2009, 09:40:45 PM »

Now.... here's what the interior looks like stripped of it's Mustang seats and the carpet Reed had installed. It's now ready for any painting and dyeing of the interior I'll be doing, hopefully over the next few days. Larry :police:

discolives78 · « **Reply #37 on:** March 06, 2009, 09:46:24 PM »

"Git'r'done" Larry

Chuck

larjohnson · « **Reply #38 on:** March 06, 2009, 10:04:51 PM »

Guess I should just show a pix of the 1971 Pinto parked at it's new home, just resting comfortably. I think it's a little afraid of me, as I'm taking it through so many changes all at once. :lol: Anyway, glad to have the pony, really looking forward to some interior painting and dyeing this weekend, we're suppose to be in the upper 60's... yeah!!!!! :amazed: Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #39 on:** March 07, 2009, 08:04:54 PM »

Well....it was 70 plus degrees today...got Pinto fever. Wife and I took off for the weekend, didn't get home until after supper today, but I had to wash the Pinto, and clean the chrome. It looks amazing :amazed:, just getting the street crud off it, which accumulated during it's transport. Tomorrow, if the weather holds off, I plan on completing the Macquires 3 step wax process. Have done this to cars in the past, and they come out shining like a new dime

. I'll post pictures, as soon as it's waxed, to show how great I'm sure it'll look. Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #40 on:** March 14, 2009, 05:50:09 PM »

Well... I got the back of the rear seat back from the upholstery shop this week. They were able to mount the old seat fabric, to the new Masonite board I cut for it. I'm posting a picture of the back of it, showing the new Masonite board, and the front of it, showing how great it looks after the repair. The upholstery shop was even able to make a new clamp for me, so it'd mount okay when I install it. They are great!!!!!!

beegle55 · « **Reply #41 on:** March 14, 2009, 05:54:45 PM »

Awesome. Turned out nicely and I'm beginning to consider having my seats re-done. It's really all my interior needs if you discount the slight wear in the carpet and the one crack on the dash pad. The seats have a good bit of both wear and tear, but the material itself is in good shape. I was wondering if I could find someone to cut out the original fabric inserts and stitch it to new black vinyl. And the rear seat has the top threading starting to pull lose and I was wondering if someone could fix that. All theoretical. Sorry to steal the thread lol your back seat looks great!

-beegle55

larjohnson · « **Reply #42 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:00:34 PM »

For some reason I can only post 2 pictures at a time on my thread, or I would have posted this one on my last posting. Anyway, it was near 60 degrees today, and I decided to do the Meguiar's 3 step wax process on the 71 Pinto I got from Reed in Washington State. For those who are not familiar with Meguiar's you start with Step 1 a paint cleaner that's applied, then Step 2 a polish you apply, then Step 3 the Carnuba wax you apply. This took me about 3 hours, but the results were amazing. Mequiar's is about the best wax product I've ever used and have heard of none which could be better. Anyway, the car looks amazing, hope you enjoy this post. :lol:

beegle55 · « **Reply #43 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:06:58 PM »

How does your back feel after that?? :hypno: But the car looks great! The work was worth it. Where I live it really isn't worth it because I live out a dusty farm road and have a dirt/gravel driveway that instantly ruins any painstaking wash job you have. $:-\$

-beegle55

larjohnson · « **Reply #44 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:07:30 PM »

Hey Beegle55, glad you are enjoying my posts. Anyway, I know what interior you have, and you know, it's not as expensive as you think to make these repairs. If it's just your center part of the seats (Indian print type fabric I believe you have), then they can replace only that fabric, for around here maybe $100.00 per seat or less. I had my complete seat recovered for around $200.00 each, which included the fabric. The back seat repair which I just had done was only around $5.00 for the Masonite board, and then $35.00 for the upholstery shop to finish. My interior will look great. Oh yeah.... I got a new dash cap, for I think around $75.00 which included shipping. Carpet, well if you go with ebay $119.00 to $150.00 for just the passenger area of your Pinto. Anyway, hey you're young yet, you have plenty of time, just remember your folks can get you a lot of this stuff for your special holidays, just ask Santa :lol: OH YEAH!!!!! I HAVE AN ELECTRIC BUFFER, MAKES WAXING SOOOOOO MUCH EASIER..... Larry :police:

beegle55 · « **Reply #45 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:11:33 PM »

I'm going to ask around and see what I can find out about having the front seats re-done. The worst of my interior is the front seats. Everything else is nice, rear seats mint, headliner perfect, and the carpet isn't really bad enough to replace so I'm holding on that. Its an old car and people still appreciate the beauty of it and are stunned and on first glance the minor flaws aren't really noticed :lol:

-beegle55

larjohnson · « **Reply #46 on:** March 14, 2009, 06:16:36 PM »

Beegle55, if your carpet isn't torn, and is only faded or stained try this. Go to your auto parts store, and look for something called Carpet/Fabric/Vinyl paint. This is great stuff, I've used it a lot. Anyway, it will dye your carpet back to it's original beauty. It works great. It should only take about 2 cans, and the cans run about $7.00 each. Just take your front and rear seats out. Mask off the rest of your interior to protect from overspray, and just go to town. Your carpet will look fantastic. This may even make the other imperfections in your interior less noticeable. Good luck!!!!!!!! Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #47 on:** March 15, 2009, 05:43:44 PM »

Okay...beautif ul weather today, around 60 degrees, so I took advantage of the situation. I sanded all the rims I just put on the 1971 Pinto, thanks to smallfryefarms, primed and then painted them (including the spare). They look fantastic, as you can tell from the photo. The rims were the original gray color, with not much rust, but a little. I sanded the rust off, then put some good primer on them, and then painted them black, like I have on my 1972. I also took the jack, jack handle, and other accessories out of the trunk, sanded, primed, and painted them, as you'll see in the next photo. Anyway, didn't take a lot of time, but it needed to be done. I would have gotten more completed, but my 5 year old Grandaughter, wanted to go to a birthday party, so I took her. That's much better than working on my car. Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures.

discolives78 · « **Reply #48 on:** March 16, 2009, 10:15:48 PM »

Hey Larry!

Your back seat looks great! The upholstery shops here charge a bit more, so you got a pretty good bargain! That red paint sure took to shining, didn't it! The wheels and jack stuff look great too. It's all about tweaking the details, I've been doing that for almost 6 years now. Car looks great!

Chuck

larjohnson · « **Reply #49 on:** March 17, 2009, 06:55:04 AM »

discolives78: Yes, you're right, it's all about details. I just love this car, and am enjoying this great weather to work on it. I am blessed with a great upholstery shop. They are not only friendly when I go in, but they also listen very closely to what I need, and they take care of it. I think their prices are very reasonable, and the quality of their work is superior. The rims do look nearly new, they sanded and painted up nicely. I'm going to paint the inside of the trunk this weekend, that is if the weather stays nice. I hope to go home tonight, and paint the brake and gas pedals, along with the emergency brake handle. If I have time, I want to paint the radiator tonight too, along with the battery tie down. Hopefully I can start painting and dying the interior this weekend also. We'll see.

larjohnson · « **Reply #50 on:** March 18, 2009, 08:37:37 AM »

Great weather last night when I got home from work. I sanded, primed, and painted the emergency brake handle, and the arms to the brake and gas pedals. I went ahead and took the horn off along with the battery tie down, sanded, primed, and painted them also. I'll not be able to hit the radiator until Thursday evening, but some of the small things are getting done. From what I hear the weekend will be great, I'll probably get the dying and interior painting all done on Friday. The Pinto is taking shape.

larjohnson · « **Reply #51 on:** March 20, 2009, 07:07:08 PM »

Well...the weather hung around 50 degrees today

, but I couldn't wait, so I sanded and painted the radiator and surrounding area. Yes... I know it was probably too cold :hypno:, but the paint seemed to be drying, I'm sure it will. It looks incredible

. I had earlier painted the fan shroud, so I bought the hardware today to reinstall it. It'll go on tomorrow, once the paint on and around the radiator is dry. I have cleaned up all the vinyl pieces, and they are out of the car. Should dye them tomorrow also. Anyway, progressing at a snails pace, but it's looking good :angel:. Larry :police:

pintogirl · « **Reply #52 on:** March 20, 2009, 07:10:08 PM »

I can't wait to see some pics!!

larjohnson · « **Reply #53 on:** March 21, 2009, 03:35:49 PM »

Well great news :smile:!!!! I was able to paint the radiator last night, and the battery tray today, yoo hoo!!!!! I also took all the vinyl pieces out of the car today, and dyed them with the black vinyl/carpet/upholstery dye. All the vinyl looks fantastic. I also cleaned the trunk area and painted it with the trunk paint you can buy at your local parts store. The trunk looks new. Last but not least I was able to purchase a chrome tailpipe extension, and added that today. It gives the car a great new sporty :fastcar: look. I'm posting some pictures so you can see how great it looks. I'm going to paint the dash and doors tomorrow, if the weather holds out. Larry :police:

larjohnson · « **Reply #54 on:** March 21, 2009, 03:39:05 PM »

Again, for some reason I can post only 2 pictures at a time, so here's my new tailpipe, it looks sweet!!!!!!! :lol: Larry :police:

discolives78 · « **Reply #55 on:** March 21, 2009, 08:10:58 PM »

Hey Larry!

Your trunk looks awesome! I can't wait to see pics of the interior. Let's see if I can help you with the picture dilemna. I just did this post last night, if you haven't had a chance to read it, it may help us see what you see!

http://www.fordpinto.com/smf/index.php/topic,11843.msg76513.html#new

Chuck :afro:

larjohnson · « **Reply #56 on:** March 22, 2009, 08:49:56 AM »

Well... it looks like the weather will be beautiful today, so I'm going to work on painting the doors and dash (a little worried about it). I wanted to get all this done, because I'm taking the car in a couple of weeks to get a new headliner installed. I don't want to put the interior parts back in, with the exception of the driver's seat, until I get the headliner installed. My buddy from work is coming over today to work on his 1966 Corvair. Yes... not as cool

as a Pinto, but he loves

both of mine too. He wanted a Pinto, and had bought two, but before we could go after them, well.... things just happen (sold out from underneath us, no title, you name it). He found this 1966 Corvair (we've dubbed the "CORVIEKE"), and we both love it. He's half my age, (the same age as my youngest son), but we get along great. He's like having a third son, I'm blessed :angel:. Anyway, he's going to work on the Corvieke, and I'll work on the 1971. Hopefully, we'll both make some headway today. Larry :police:
My Buddy did come over, he got the Corvieke out, and began sanding on one of the quarter panels, and I began working on the 1971 Pinto. I sanded the interior metal on the doors, cleaned them, then primed and painted them. They look great, but for some reason the original Ford paint is really thin, got a couple of very small runs, I'm going to re-sand these areas, and repaint this week. It'll look good as new. The interior vinyl on the doors now look really bad. Since I've dyed all the other vinyl in the car, I guess I'll have to do these too. I had hoped maybe Meguiar's Vinyl Protectant would have taken care of them, and I wouldn't need to dye them. But, they look really bad next to the new paint. They're off the car, will be easy to dye. I also finished painting the new tracks for the seats, they look good as new, and have been installed on the seats. The seats are now complete, and ready for install once I'm ready to put them in. The car is taking shape nicely. My Buddy got hungry, and my daughter came home, so we went for Pizza to celebrate our day. What a blessing :angel:, had a great time...... Larry :police:

dga57 · « **Reply #57 on:** March 23, 2009, 01:33:53 AM »

Hey Larry!

Sounds like things are coming along nicely. Isn't it great how much fun it is to work with a buddy? My best friend is a co-worker too. We've worked together, side by side, both at work and with our various automotive projects, for nearly thirty years now. In our partnership, I'm the junior member... Charlie is twenty years older than me. He'll be 72 in two weeks and still works full-time, cranks out beautifully built model cars at an astonishing rate, and always, always, always has a restoration project or two going on! Recent past projects (the past 5 yrs. or so) have included a couple of Dodge trucks (his), a Ford truck (mine), a Cadillac Coupe Deville and a Continental Mark V (both mine), and a Thunderbird (his). On the agenda next: my Pinto and a second T-Bird for him. We've both sanded, straightened, painted, tuned, adjusted, sewn, etc. on each other's projects over the years. Heck, we even finance each other's projects when money gets tight for one or the other of us! Our wives think we're crazy, but at least we're staying out of trouble! We tend to park them side by side and then work on them together - time goes by a lot faster that way, plus you always have a second set of hands available if you need them.
The weather isn't quite warm enough here yet... but soon!

Dwayne :smile:

larjohnson · « **Reply #58 on:** March 23, 2009, 06:51:21 PM »

Well it was warm when I got home after work, and I decided to sand the runs out of the interior doors I painted yesterday. Got the runs sanded out, and went ahead and taped off everything and re-painted. They look fantastic!!!! Runs all gone.... I'm getting really excited now. I took the vinyl off the interior of the doors, which was difficult. Had a hard time getting the arm rests off. Anyway, panels were removed, took them into the garage and dyed away. They look brand spanking new...they are so awesome. I then took the seat part of the back seat out and cleaned it, then decided what the hey..... may as well dye it too. The back looked new, why not the seat. Anyway, the dye job did really well, and now the back seat looks showroom. I went to my local ford parts store (Paddocks in Knightstown, Indiana), a fantastic place, they have a great car show in the fall. Got the rubber filler for the shifter notch, and put it in. WOW!!!! WOW!!! WOW!!!! This car is becoming more and more special to me, I love it!!!! Well, I'll be taking her in a couple of weeks for the new headliner, once it's in, I'll finish putting the interior back together. Will post pix when I can..... Larry :police:

discolives78 · « **Reply #59 on:** March 23, 2009, 09:18:18 PM »

Wow, Larry!

You're making progress at a breakneck pace!

My local car buddy is a Corvair nut with a twist of Citroen. It's cool to hang with him and work on things!

You guys are inspiring me to do a lot of little things that need to be done.

I'm a Jones, you guys are supposed to be keeping up with me!

Chuck

Current Classifieds- ALL

Author Topic: Restoring my 1971 Ford Pinto Trunk Model (Read 33046 times)