Project Road Trip

[Prafeston]

It's another SX/4. Saw him eying that one in the For Sale section!

[rohnk]

Look for new thread to start in a minute or two. It'll be called "Double Down".

[rohnk]

I toook out the rear interior piece tonight that covers the rear speakers. When I looked in, I thought the car had been on fire! The corners and joints of the rear are covered in a sticky tarry substance. It doesn't have an odor to it really but it is shiny and sticky. Was there some kind of sealant AMC used in assembly to seal the rear ends of the SX4's?

http://photobucket.com/sx4july2012

July's album above for those interested. I found my build sheet too! It is stuck to the inside of the rear interior trim piece and held on with some kind of sticky tar that is the same stuff that is all over the joints in the rear. It is hard to see in the pictures, but maybe some of you have seen this stuff too?

[Prafeston]

I believe someone posted some sort of tar stuff like that on some shots of their engine. They thought it had been on fire at one point too, but I think it's some sort of silicone stuff they use around electrical stuff. Don't remember the reasoning.

[rohnk]

Whatever it is, it is a mess! I have a can of Acetone that will cut through it (I hope). Otherwise I'll sprinkle it with baking soda to try drying it out so it doesn't stick to anything else.

[rohnk]

With a break in the 100 degree weather today, I finally was able to work on the car a bit more. I found out about a car show this Saturday which is the same one I went to last year with my Eagle. I wanted to go again, but took a different direction instead.

My daughters helped me clean up the back of the car and I decided to remove the rear seat and throw out the carpet. I also started scraping the sealent the factory used on all the joints in the rear of the car. What a mess that stuff is! Sure has worked well over the years though. I'll remove what I can and then reseal with a heavy silicone before priming it. No plans to paint the hatch area, just primer. It will get covered again someday anyway.

If I get the lights put back in and a spoiler instead, I might take it to the show as a WIP.

Oh yeah, I also finalized my paint idea. Being unemployed now, I am going to keep it simple but get some flair on it as well. The car will stay white primarily. The bottom of the doors and all exterior plastics will be black. Keeping the chrome trim around the windows. Grill will be black with silver highlights. All emblems will get repainted. For the flair, I plan to paint the power buge on the hood a gloss black with silver outline. down the sides of the car, I want to put a red and blue pinstripe about a half inch wide. On the roof I want to paint the AMC flag or the American Flag. I'm also building a roof rack out of an older style wagon rack.

[rohnk]

Tonight I cleaned up the 81 a little bit and set the hood back on top of it so I could get it outside. Then I moved the 82 (Road Trip) over in the garage so I could have more room to work. I stripped all the plastic interior from the sides and took out the headliner. Then I worked on the passenger side seat and removed it. I've been working in the hatch area removing all the sealer the factory used at the panel joints. It is just a lot of tarry stuff that has gotten gross over the years and I'd like it gone as part of my cleanup. Really a lot of work for nothing, but it is neat to see just how good that stuff has worked over the years to protect the bare metal. It was applied on the bare surface and then was sprayed over when the car was painted. I also see that they were not very careful when they sprayed the parts that nobody would see and there are runs all over the place. Too much paint is a good thing  in this case.

Here is a pic of the hatch area where the fuel inlet is. It shows the before and after of my cleanup efforts. Lots more to do as I take out the carpet up front too.