I've been busy. DONE!

[lincolnfanatic4life]

grats...

im scared to add up the hours ive put into my Linc resto. esp. if i had to try to put a $value/hour..

gotta do something like this for the love, cuz theres no way to make $$$ at it.

[ReijerLincoln]

Congrats!

But of course it's never really done... something will soon need adjusting, replacing, repairing etc.

[navguy12]

Just fantastic. I hope to make it to the rock one day and visit!!!!

[Linc68]

Job well done!!!

[mechatech]

Congrats!

But of course it's never really done... something will soon need adjusting, replacing, repairing etc.

Yes it never really ends. I may put in Petronix in the future, right now I'm sticking with points. My blower and power window relays are flaky and I still can't get the intermittent wipers to work. The front passenger window is slow (I think the switch is dirty) and the a/c needs recharging.

I have a couple of topics for the future. One is how I recharged my a/c and how I salvaged my rimblow horn switch (yes they can be saved)



Some things I learned and wish I knew then.

1. Know your skills and limits. I have read of people who without any experience or even aptitude jump into a restoration. That's like jumping into the deep end of the pool without swimming lessons or even a life jacket. You will be overwhelmed! . I was nearly swamped at times. While I knew what I could do, lack of experience didn't prepare me for just how big a project it was.

2. Space. If you think you have enough, you probably don't. I figure 1000 sq ft of open space is adequate. 200 for the car. 100 for the tools. 400 for the parts and the remainder as the work area. I had 1200 sq ft but 600 was taken up with a furnace room, stairwell, office and storage. Car parts were stored everywhere. Which brings up the next point.

3. Be organized (my great weakness). When you have to deal with too much clutter and multitask areas (see above) parts will get lost or broken as things constantly move around. You move stuff to do a job, then move more stuff to do another job, then move more stuff to go back to the first job. It makes it difficult to do the job properly. If I ever did another car, I would have to put up a separate building.

4. Continuing the organization theme, take pictures until you are sick of using the camera and then take some more. Plastic bags and disposable food storage containers are perfect for small parts. Make good use of a marker and tape and label everything, no matter how trivial. Never rely on your memory. Deconstruction is fast and easy. It's very tempting to railroad through and toss things into a box early on believing that you know where things will go later.

5. If you think it will take months, you are disillusioned. If you think it will take X years, double it. If you think it will take maybe 10 years, you're about right.

6. When you have to go to others to get work done; expect the possibility of forces beyond your control to screw with your schedule and budget.

7. Use a torque wrench, don't guess.

8. For trim, snug is a good word.

9. If something doesn't feel right going together or coming apart, then chances are you're doing it wrong.

10. The chances of breaking something is in direct proportion to it's cost and rarity.

11. There will be at least one major, gut wrenching, hand wringing disaster.

12. Don't work tired. It's very easy to make a mistake and that can be expensive. Even though it is a hobby, you don't want spend hours tomorrow fixing something because your tried to squeeze in ten more minutes today.

13. Don't you know this is an unlucky number.

14. Cost. None of this stuff is cheap. Yet sometimes passion trumps business sense. It doesn't hurt to live a little if no harm is done in the long run.

15. Add 5% for breakage, overruns and mistakes.

16. Don't try to out engineer the engineers. They know more than you do.

17. Cheap tools... No.

18. Get used to a scrubbing brush, washcloths and cleaning solvents. You'll be using them a lot.

19. Take your time. Impatience can lead to frustration and that's when you start breaking stuff.

20. There will be days when after 10 hours of work it will appear that nothing got done. Keep at it. Every little part is just another piece of the puzzle and someday it will come together. Adding trim is like icing on the cake. And who doesn't like icing.

21. Hope and pray that you have an understanding family or get very creative . Either way life will be a lot easier.

[2sasilverbullet]

Very well put Megatech! I have a good friend that owns a restoration business. (Jeff Lilly restorations http://www.jefflilly.com/)

He's walked me through the process of how he breaks down a car and stores all the parts - you can see how he does it here - http://www.jefflilly.com/build-process/index.html

All in all I don't think I'd ever do the full restoration of a car myself. But my friend Jeff Lilly charges "by the hour" and most of his restorations run in the 150k to 250k area! Yikes!

[larrys 62 53A]

Mechatech, that is the best description of the rules of car restoration I've ever read! My one rule is this:

Figure out how much money it will cost before you begin. Quadruple that amount. You will still come up short.

[Castrosua]

Rub it in why dont you lol....

Congrats...you know, even before i had Lorelei, i saw the work you were doing on yours..Hell my dad and I spent hours reading your posts, back then i think it was on the car domain thingy...

It looks outstanding..and im repeating myself lol...

[ReijerLincoln]

10. The chances of breaking something is in direct proportion to it's cost and rarity.

Thanks for that excellent list of points. It's an informative and fun read.

[mechatech]

Very well put Megatech! I have a good friend that owns a restoration business. (Jeff Lilly restorations http://www.jefflilly.com/)

He's walked me through the process of how he breaks down a car and stores all the parts - you can see how he does it here - http://www.jefflilly.com/build-process/index.html

All in all I don't think I'd ever do the full restoration of a car myself. But my friend Jeff Lilly charges "by the hour" and most of his restorations run in the 150k to 250k area! Yikes!

That guy is scary good.

Thanks to all for the compliments, support and suggestions. If was a long road and there were times I was uncertain if I would ever finish.

Now I've got to figure out what to do with the rest of my life.

[Uncle Joe]

[/quote] Now I've got to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. [/quote]

Come over here and help with mine?

[black63lincoln]

Mechatech, you deserve a big fat trophy for this amazing build..

It blows my mind to think of the lengths you went on this restoration...

[Suicidekid63]

Very well put Megatech! I have a good friend that owns a restoration business. (Jeff Lilly restorations http://www.jefflilly.com/)

He's walked me through the process of how he breaks down a car and stores all the parts - you can see how he does it here - http://www.jefflilly.com/build-process/index.html

All in all I don't think I'd ever do the full restoration of a car myself. But my friend Jeff Lilly charges "by the hour" and most of his restorations run in the 150k to 250k area! Yikes!

WOW! Great link! I can see why he demands top price for his work. Awesome shop and skills.

[mechatech]

The trunk lid decal has been a pain. Osborn Reproductions has only 1970 and 1973, I bought both and they are wrong for my car.

1970 has no text.


And 1973 has a different spare tire hold down system.


So I scanned both into my pc and made the correct decal in Paint.net. using a pic Castrosua sent me as reference. It covers MY 71 and 72.


Tried to get it printed in vinyl but it would cost $25 for one to five. Instead I had them printed on adhesive backed paper, four for $5. Since it's paper it may wrinkle with moisture over time or the ink my rub off so it's good to have spares.

And here it is.



If anyone wants the image let me know and I'll email it to you. You can take it to a print shop or do it yourself on an inkjet or laser printer.

[Castrosua]

wow, that came out actually pretty nice