65 4-Speed Restoration

[Mark Ascher]

Dan,

Yes. I know Rob Keena is using him too. He really knows 65 GS's too, wich is a plus.

Mark

[Loren At 65GS]

Looks like I'm going to have to start bringing parts up to MN .
The kids have been makeing it down to here more though recently.
Loren

[Joe65SkylarkGS]

Great looking parts Mark.

Can you share the chrome guy with us? I have a ton of stuff I need done for my GS and would love nothing better than a guy familiar with the product he's working on. doing it.

Thanks and keep up the good work bro!!

[Robk]

I have picked up one bundle (about a quarter of my parts) from Robert so far and they really look great.  He still has my grill and my taillight assembly so i am looking forward to seeing how they turn out.  I had a lot of trouble tracking him down so i am really indebted to Mark A. for getting me this contact.   From my conversations with Robert it sounds like he has done at least three or four 65's in the past.  Anyone who comes to Ames will see his work all over my car.

Rob Keena

[Mark Ascher]

Worked on the beast all weekend.
The driveshaft is done, working on getting pics posted of that.
Got the roofrail mouldings in. My good friend Frank Friedmann got some samples of various rubber/foam/tape
products from McMaster-Carr. I ended up using a closed cel foam tape product close to what the factory used
to seal the moulding to the body. It was too wide, but I applied to the moulding and trimmed it down with an
X-Acto blade. Looks, fit, worked great.
I got one vent wing back together. What a pain in the neck. I mean, that was a complete, utter pain.
I have two different weatherstrip sets from two vendors just to cover the bases, and I thought they
both were substandard compared to OEM.
The vent wings are going in the doors this week.
I also gave the trunk weatherstrip a test-go, and have the c-pillar mouldings ready to pop back on.
Thanks to Mr. Jon Thompson for the clips!

Mark

[nut465gs]

Mark,

I helped a friend put his vent window in a few years ago and the new rubber surround never fit quite right either. The vent window never did close tightly and he gets a lot of wind noise because of it. For that reason, I kept the my original rubber in place. Only if you look closely can you see that it's somewhat "seasoned". 
I also had trouble with the fuzzy track that the front window slides up into. At the very top of the fuzzy there is a brass molded insert where that small screw holds the fuzzy to the vent window frame. It compressed so tight that I could not roll the window up all the way. It stopped about 3/8" short. I had to take the glass back out to get the fuzzy strip out. I then took a razor knife and trimmed excess rubber from the outside and the inside around the top 1/2" so that the side glass could roll up all the way. I used a wooden paint stick as a gage (it's about the same thickness as the side glass) to test the gap or spacing. What complicated this for me was the power window option. With a manual window, you can just use a "strong arm" roll up the window. With a power window, it just stops when it binds up. Here a photo of that area.  BTW, I think it was a Soffseal product.

John

[sjfd04]

I had the same problem with my vent window gaskets.  Ended up at a salvage yard and found vent windows with okay gaskets and used the old gaskets on my windows.  The aftermarket gaskets I purchased were impossible to install. I would say that installing the gaskets was one of the most difficult and frustrating things that I did during the restoration.  Everytime I see the words "EXACT REPRODUCTION" I look at buying an NOS or used part.

[Mark Ascher]

John, Tom,

Thanks for the info. I'm glad it's not just me! I still have the original weatherstrip.
I might have to clean it up and reuse it. The vertical sections that the vent glass
seals against aren't all that nice though. I have a set of Steele and Metro, and am
not impressed with either one. I've had to modify and trim here and there to get
them even close. On the Metro version, I have a gap on the horizontal portion
between the back vertical bar and the front chrome vent frame. A potentially huge
water leak. I'm going to clean up the originals and see what they look like.

Any tips on what to use to clean them?

Mark

[kcombs]

If the original smooth surface is alreay gone, I would try media blasting. I wouldn't use sand as it might be too rough. We used to use glass beads, but I don't see anyone mentioning it anymore. Maybe soda blasting? Do not use a wire wheel, it will grab the gasket and rip it out of your hands, not to mention the damage it will do. This isn't meant as a insulting question, but have you tried soap and water? And maybe a toothbrush.

[Mark Ascher]

Kurt,

Glass beading is not a bad idea. I might try some other, older rubber piece that is dispensable for a test. I have access to a bead blast  setup.

Kurt, no insult taken! I should try the soap and water first. With all the auto cleaning chemicals out in the market now, I thought there might be something new to try out.

Mark

[Mark Ascher]

Last Sunday was an all afternoon T-10 marathon. Since dropping in the engine/trans, the trans has been leaking lube from between the main case and the rear bearing retainer.  Pulled it out of the car and flopped it on the bench. Pulled off the tailshaft and bearing retainer.
It was a little hard to figure out where the leak was coming from, but after a few minutes of poking around, we could see that the pin holding in the cluster was out from the rear of the main case about .020-.025. The gasket couldn't seal that much of a gap. Removed the main shaft and everything back of the main case.
A rap on the end of the pin with a brass drift got it where it needed to be and then was reassembled, and back into the car. About 4 hours total - between that and watching the Daytona 500.

Now it's on to the exhaust and driveshaft install.

Mark

[gssizzler]

Mark, sounds like you are making great progress! Hope  to see you and your gs in Iowa!
Jon 

[Mark Ascher]

Jon,

The plan is to be there with the car, probably not finished, but running. The interior is not going to make the "done" list. I'm continuing to chip away at it. Attached are pics of the Gardner exhaust. I spent hours fiddling with the mufflers and tailpipes, but just couldn't get the tailpipes to exit in the same spot side-to-side. The driveshaft went in right after I called it a day on the exhaust. Starter is now in, and I bolted in the wiper motor and am ready to drop the wiper transmission back in. I ordered a windshield, which should be here this week.

Tonight I'm taking the shifter apart. I totally forgot about that.

Mark

[WkillGS]

Looking good Mark! Your perseverance and commitment to get the details just right has been an inspiration. You have certainly 'raised the bar' of quality standards for the rest of us doing restorations.  It's likely your car will be the most meticulously restored 65 GS on the planet! Lead on!

[Jay GS conv]

Mark,

Looks like your getting, looks real good.

Jay