With the body now stripped of all its parts, I can now work on all of the interior bits that I wouldn’t have had access to before. I completely disassembled the handbrake assembly, blasted and painted it. Additionally, I took off what I am going to call the rear differential cover and refinished it as there was some rust on it. Using Tremclad paint which is oil based, the cover should never rust again.

I wanted to continue with the ash tray, as it was in horrible repair. The entire housing was covered in tar, and the inside was filled with old ash, fasteners and more tar. I drilled out the rivets that hold the spring steel for the cover, and the rotation points for the cover. Just like the rest of the parts, they were sand blasted and painted. I don’t smoke, I’ve never had a cigarette in my life. However, the garbage that came off of that ash tray was likely the equivalent to hundreds of cigarettes during sandblasting. What a stench.

Continuing, I wanted to take care of the air vents as they were all filled with dust and old spiders. They consist of four main pieces; the bezel, the housing, the sub-bezel and the vent itself. All of the parts are metal with the exception of the vent which is plastic. I was able to blast and paint the other parts quite nicely, but the vent needed a little more attention. The vent itself contains a rotating assembly to open and close the doors to let air through. The center dial is a gear that spins against two opposing gears, one on each door. There is a common rotational axis that is defined by a cylindrical part that screws directly into the vent housing. The vent is held in place by two pieces of foam on the top and bottom, glued to the sub-bezel and the housing.

The vents were all taken apart individually, cleaned with cable cleaner and glass cleaner with a Q-Tip and cotton balls. The amount of spider legs in each vent was gross, but it was better than the old spiders nets in there. After each vent was cleaned, the foam that holds the vent in place was reattached to the housing and the sub-bezel and then everything was reassembled. I’m very happy with the results! The windshield vents for the GT6 were also painted today, they have been left to dry.

– Sean