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Brand new '81 262C Bertone Coupe . . .

The question is how different is the surface detail. Here are a couple close up pictures of the right air vent, the new dash and the glove box. The color difference in the pictures is not visible by close observation.

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Not perfect but I am not taking it to Pebble Beach or Amelia Island.

Maybe Coverlay will see this thread and convince me use their custom Pebble Beach product as a demonstration.
 
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I was interested in how far down that right "leg" extended on the Coverlay. And from the looks of it it covers the entire edge. This is good. I was under the impression that the outside edges did not cover the dash completely but I was wrong. Once your trim is on that vent it will be nearly invisible that it is a cap.
 
^ That's a good idea. Forgot he had them. Tom, can't wait to see the interior with just the carpet. Should be nice.
 
Finished the Bertone restoration . . . .

. . . of the ash trays.

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Got the butyl crap cleaned up on the rear lite bright work. What a nasty job. Glass man coming Monday to remove the rear lite to allow cleaning and paint prep for the channel. There is some surface rust but nothing of any concern.

Skered of installing the beautiful new carpet without gluing it down. While formed it is not formed nearly enough to lay down like the original without the glue.

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I have ordered 48oz of the Golden Yellow RIT dye and have 8oz of the tan in hand. Best guess off the RIT color chart as to the formulation for something like the original and the purdy new carpet. They have 500 formulas for colors. The plan is to crank the water heater up to about 160 degrees and with a hose out the basement door fill a 32 gallon plastic bin for the dye job.

Vacuumed, washed, cloroxed, and spray washed the old carpet some time ago but read a not about 'beating' it from the back. I must have gotten a half cup of sand out of the carpet. Gonna do that one more time.


Only 114 days to EuroFest.

Nibble, nibble, nibble . . . .
 
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Between rain and waiting on supplies not much has gotten done lately.

Had a glass man out to remove the rear glass. It has been replaced before . . . poorly. Butyl all over the interior trim and a mess in the glass channel. The chrome trim was also glued on . . . poorly . . . with butyl. Got the inside cleaned up and covered up with leather dye/paint and now the channel has got to be cleaned for paint.

That one side took over an hour of cutting, scrapping and cleaning with kerosene and needs another cleaning before paint.

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I hate butyl !

There is a plastic molding around the chrome trim piece that appears to be unique to the Bertone. No one in the glass/molding industry that I have found has ever seen anything like it and it did not survive the removal and cleanup.

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If anyone knows a source of such a thing please let me know.

Got the near OEM wiring harness loom in from Dave Burton and installed the first of many pieces. The old loom was so hard and brittle that you couldn't get the wires out and was just plain ugly.

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Another issue is the electrical connectors rubber boots on four connections; the frequency valve, the aux air valve, the pressure control regulator and the cold start injector. They had all split and fallen apart. Where to find such things? The later model electronic fuel injection connectors had exactly the same boots and after soaking in a vinyl conditioner in a plastic bag for a few months were as soft and pliable as new.

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Nibble, Nibble, Nibble . . . .

103 days to EuroFest
 
You check the harness itself Tom? That same brittleness is known to occur to the insulation on the wiring harness under hood. And I think it's more a function of the passage of time rather than mileage.
 
The harness wire insulation on this car is fine. Apparently built before some engineer sold Volvo on the benefits of environmentally friendly disappearing insulation. The '82 V8 wiring was the crumbling kind but it mostly got replaced with newer Ford wire.

The 'clip' is a cross section of a plastic trim the goes around the outside perimeter of both the windshield and rear lite. Not sure that I am going to be able to replace it as it did not survive the removal of the windshield trim and the previous work on the rear left it at least partially off. No sign of anything close after a couple hours on the internet.
 
Tom I recall you mentioning products you used to bring the leather back and to re-dye the hides.

A friend wants to do the same with his.

What products did you use?

Thanks!
 
A good day to dye . . .

After reading all the stuff on the internet I screwed up the courage to just do it.

Appropriated one of Brenda's Christmas storage boxes, 32 gallons . . . turned the house water heater up to max . . . estimated the minimum amount of water necessary to cover the carpet in the big plastic bin, about 12 gallons . . . stirred in 6 - 8oz bottles of RIT Golden Yellow and 4oz of RIT Tan. That was the formula off RIT's color chart for my choice of a best match. Probably could have gotten away with a little less water.

Left the carpet out in the mild Georgia sun for a couple hours and got it up to 123*F on the digital thermometer.

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The hot water got to 165*F and in went the dye and carpet. RIT calls for water temp of 140*F for dying and I may have gotten close between the hot water and the cooler carpet.



I used water filled water jugs to keep the carpet below the surface of the solution.



Some have reported leaving the carpet in the solution for a week or more but I have developed the opinion that the initial high temperature is the cause of the nylon taking up the dye and not the length of time the carpet soaks in the solution. I am going to leave it overnight and dry it out tomorrow. That will tell the tale of of my efforts and RIT Dye's capability at dying nylon carpet. I have enough mud buckets to save most of the solution in case I want to try heating it for a second effort.
 
Time for the '81 Bertone rear glass to be removed and the sorry replacement work cleaned up. Some 20 plus years ago the rear lite was replaced for some undocumented reason and that work left black butyl all over the interior trim around the glass. In addition there was surface rust on the sheet metal at the bottom of the glass and an unknown question about any pinch channel rust.

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No rust found in the channel front or back except for that pictured.

I have been reading all I can find about how to install the glass and trim on what is apparently an unique-to-Bertone set up. The bright trim has/had a plastic trim piece that did not survive removal and nothing remotely like it has been found in hours of searching on the internet.

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Ideally, I would like to put it back as original but that doesn't seem likely.

The issue and question before the forum at this point is how to reinstall the glass and trim. Originally butyl adhesive was used in the pinch channel to hold the glass and then a round butyl tape inserted into the slot behind the bright trim which secured the trim to the glass and provided a black trim edge in the trim to paint gap. Best I can tell a 5/16" round butyl tape was used.

Now, after much research it appears that some professionals use urethane to fill any gap between the glass and channel which provides a better level of water/debris intrusion protection. Elroy, the glass doctor of 20 years ago used clear silicone caulk for that purpose. It, of course, did not adhere properly and pretty much just pealed off with trim removal.

I know I have to clean the pinch channel clean enough for repair and paint which is a big job. Then install the glass. Then fill the channel gap with urethane flattened with a stiff piece of nylon paddle. Then use the 5/16" round butyl to secure the trim to the glass. I thought at this point that I would tape the paint/butyl line to get as clean a line as possible.
 
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