Getting Ready for the Car's Return

I really haven't done much with the car over the last week.  I did check progress on the seat and the paint, but I don't have much to report.  The doors are now off the car to get better access for painting the door frames, and I dropped off the headlight buckets and tail light housings because Paint Guy wants to test fit them before painting.  I also stopped by the paint shop and picked up some new acrylic enamel that matches the new seat color exactly.  I'll be using this on the lower dash board.
I'm enjoying the respite from constant work on the car.  The next big push will happen when I get the car back from paint.  I expect to take the week of Labor Day off, focused on getting the car roadworthy.   Anything I do on the car now should focus on making that task go faster.  I've been able to do just a little bit each night, working on little things that will save time when I assemble them in the car.  For instance, I cleaned and painted the horns.  I took a few days disassembling and cleaning the power seat mechanism, then re-greasing them and installing new 12V motors.  It is pretty cool to hook them up to a battery and see them work!  I also cleaned and tested the seat and window switches.

Since I'm getting ready to assemble the door panels,  I pulled out the aluminum pieces that go on the doors. They looked pretty bad, with a heavy layer of dull oxidation and deep scratches under the spot where the door handle goes. They are embossed with swirls to look like they are engine turned, but of course that's fake.  If you have ever seen the dash board on a late '70's Trans Am, you know what I am talking about.   Still, when they are new the effect is quite attractive.  So what do I do with these old panels?  They are dirty and pretty scratched up!  A complete set of replacement aluminum trim for the doors and dash is available, at a cost of about $500!  That's really more than I'm willing to spend.

Can I clean these old panels up myself?  I've read that it is a very bad idea to use metal polish on them, because the polish gets caught in the tiny grooves and is very hard to get out.  But no one said not to buff them on a buffing wheel!  I was successful buffing the aluminum door sill panels, making them quite shiny. 

Top panel has been buffed on a 6" bench buffer, using green compound.  It's probably overkill.  The bottom panel is original.  I later buffed up the second panel, and it now looks just as shiny.

Maybe this would also work on the door trim? Not having much to loose, I decided to give it a try.

Top panel (driver''s side) has been buffed for about 30 min, the bottom panel hasn't been touched.  Both are original, 57 year old aluminum.

Close up showing the scratches where the door handle goes.  At least the buffed panel doesn't seem to show the scratches quite as much.  Since this shot, I have buffed the second panel as well.

While it clearly isn't spectacular, I'm satisfied with the results.  These panels don't get as shiny as the door sills, but buffing brings our some life in them.  The wax-based buffing compound didn't appear to get stuck in the grooves, but just to be sure I washed the panel down with lacquer thinner.  Once I get the car back, I'm  willing to buff the rest of the dash to match.  While I have the dash trim off, I'll paint the lower dash, and dye the vinyl on the upper dash & garnish back to the original color dark green.  The faded dash has started to bother me a little, and it's easier to fix it now than later.

This weekend I started to assemble the window channel into the doorposts, which I had re-chromed a few months ago.  As I started doing this, I noticed that the door posts aren't straight.

It may not be obvious from this terrible picture, but the post bend outward.  The right one bends more severely than the left.  The window glass that fits in this channel is flat, so any significant bend in the door post may cause the window to jam.  I was able to take much of the bend out of the left doorpost by putting it in a vise and clamping the bottom end until the channel was straight, then leaving it like that for a few days.  I think it will be OK.

I spent much of the day today with #1 son at a major automotive museum.  We had a really good time enjoying the beautiful cars, both vintage and hot rod, and talking to the docents about cars.  I know that my weekends will get a lot more hectic once I get the car back, but I am happily enjoying God's grace today.