72 TA : New Project

[Jacsey 70Z]

Steve, Not sure I agree 100% with your statement about the undercoat before the color. Here is a picture of my 70Z it's unrestored and original paint (hugger orange) norwood car. All I did was clean and new exhaust, but you can see all the undercoat patterns.
I've enjoyed following this post, you've done a Great job and I love all the detail. Keep up the good work and continue to post the pictures.

[njsteve]

Maybe they changed the procedure by 1972 but from the photos there is no other logical explanation if you go layer by layer. Top layer is white, middle layer is undercoat and bottom layer is red oxide. If you chip off a piece of the oversprayed undercoating right next to a white section of metal, you only see red oxide. Here's a shot of the untouched front lower cowl area. You can see where the original paint has flaked away from the black undercoat/sealer from overzealous pressure washing (-my fault) On the rear frame rail the large red spot is where a large glob of undercoating fell off during the cleaning process, leaving only red oxide. If the car was painted white before undercoating, there should be white overspray under the undercoating and not over. (Now I'm sounding like a scene in the Movie Airplane: "Roger Over, Over Under, Under out") Do we have any former Norwood employees out there who can chime in???

[njsteve]

Got disgusted watching all the Barrett-Jackson stuff so I went out in the garage to play with the T/A this afternoon. Hooked the battery up just for fun to see what works. All the gauges actually still worked! I had worried there for a while after the initial engine run in without the right ground straps. I thought I had burned out the temp and volt gauges from the voltage feedback but they all seemed to work properly when the key was turned on today. Even the factory radio worked when I hooked some speakers up. That leads me to this question: Do you have to run 10 ohm rated speakers with the factory radio? I have the original 10 ohm dash speaker hooked up but the rear speakers were 4 ohm rated. Will this hurt the radio?

[tom406]

How are they wired? If they're wired in series (non stereo) for an 8 ohm load, they'd be just fine if there's a second set of outputs. Basically, its my understanding that whenever you drop the resistance (ohms) by half, the current the amplifier tries to deliver is doubled, and these high currents are what get you in trouble. I'm not familiar with what the factory did when you got the optional rear speaker on some of these setups. I would look at the factory wiring diagram, and just try to keep the ohm loads withing at least 60 or 70% of what the original setups were, and then avoid cranking it up excessively.

[njsteve]

It should have an AM/FM stereo unit (very hard to find) but I found a nice non stereo AM/FM and put that in. I connected the rear speakers off of the single speaker output wire that comes out of the radio. So I believe that would be in series, giving me one 10 ohm dash speaker, and two 4 ohm rear speakers for a total of 18 ohms of resistance. It sounded fine in terms of volume and clarity. So hopefully it won't burn anything out.

[njsteve]

Here's a tech tip for the day: I've been trying to figure out where the short was in the wiring for the blower motor. I got so frustrated after an hour or two under the dash that I gave the damn motor a smack with my hand and what happens? It starts working. Typical. I then sprayed the heck out of the internals with WD-40 and it works fine now. So remember when all else fails, smack it with a bigger hammer...it just might help.

[Dave Rifkin]

I have to say that this has been my favorite thread to watch throughout the past few months. I love to watch the progress and see the various tips and tricks that are being used to restore such a nice TA.
Keep the updates coming........I really look forward to them