New to me 78 NYB on its way but please Don't tell my wife

[QUOTE="73 T&C, post: 961771, member:
Upgraded new engines and controls installed and working. New brass props with correct 3 blades, and right and left rotation. Turning 5” guns, torpedo launchers and radar. New aluminum reinforced rudder posts and linkage. New Shafts and packing and all missing guns trim and rigging replaced. Buoyancy enhancing foam compartments.... in case of attack by Jap ducks. Or German Uboat snapping turtles.

Next stop... the lake.

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That's incredible!! :thumbsup:
 
WOW! Javier, you are my hero. How do you find time to do all this stuff? Mighty fine!

glad you like it Rip! I’ve enjoyed reliving the original build.

It helps that it was fully built out. So I only needed to pull the original single motor. and I found some electric motor replacements for about $2 each plus $5 shipping. Those overheated so I sprung for the bushed and carbon brush upgrade for an extra 3 bucks each.

then I found some reduction gear sets for an all terrain that I could use to gear down the prop shafts. Recycled the gearing and motor mounts, some double sided foam tape and a bit of test fit and modification and in they went.

all this stuff was on eBay.

went to the local hobby shop that’s been around since I was a kid and bought a new remote and receiver for $80 that’s in the gigahertz range. (my original 75.3 megahertz was fried from having left the batteries in it for 12 years.... I’ve been looking for it all this time and, in the move, was able to find it in a box my wife packed labeled “Javi’s toy cars and boats”..... bless her heart..... she never told me she had packed it away and it’s been driving me crazy) the new remote and receiver is good for 1/2 mile.... way more than I want.

bought another kit someone had partially built for the parts I wanted off eBay as well and got the whole kit for $40 including shipping. Kit had a Playworld tag from the 70’s that said it cost $92.59 at the time

I also started looking on EBay for the correct size 3 bladed props and found them from a supplier in Britain. $19 bucks each, solid cast brass, polished, matched and reversed; plus $20 bucks shipping.

the rest was time which I had and was wasting. Made a plan, Put it to work, and voila.... result.

and yes, my girls and wife think I’m completely crazy. But they love me. And they know I love my toys. That.... and I like doing my projects on the sly between they’re requests.
 
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Disassembly well on the way for major paint.

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Painting to the inner edge of the door skins... lots of masking to hide edge of new paint.

Thinking about fabbing up a pair of front of door shields for the rear doors (similar to Cadillac) to hide rear door hinges and wiring.

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Tape to temporarily protect the trim that has not yet been pulled. Window outer seals on the way from Dante.... should arrive soon.

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Pulling the rear side marker lights after giving stern look regarding state of trim removal.

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I was so happy not to find rust here when I pulled the old top.

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My god this thing is long! But pretty straight and mercifully rust free.

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Don’t worry... bumper and trim will all come off. You guys know me by now I think. This was just the first pass of sanding which got a little ahead of the disassembly.

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Bumper extends almost 2’ from end if fenders at the center.... wow

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Front bumper is massively reinforced. More like a battering ram than a bumper. Thinking about how to bend up the ends a bit.

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Oops dent on top of fender repaired.

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Painting down to the inner edge of the fender. Trying to avoid hard tape edges.
One of the retainer screws unthreaded from the fiberglass nose cap.
 
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One More.... from today

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Door interiors pulled, handles, rear view mirrors and upper belt trim removed.

Also removed the trim from the top where it meets the body at the rear. Luckily.....I remembered that on my Seville that three if them were bolted down metal clips. Amazing that GM and Mopar had the exact same solution. Anyway, it allowed us to curl back the new top about a quarter inch to allow the new paint to extend under the new top and, hopefully, avoid the paint cracking and flaking on a hard tape edge.
 
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Those screws that hold the plastic/fiberglass front end to the fenders are a *****. Rusted and the nuts do not come off, so it unscrews from the front end. I would like to replace all of mine and just cut the old ones off. Jav., what do you think? Have you found any replacements, or not or not looking?
 
Those screws that hold the plastic/fiberglass front end to the fenders are a *****. Rusted and the nuts do not come off, so it unscrews from the front end. I would like to replace all of mine and just cut the old ones off. Jav., what do you think? Have you found any replacements, or not or not looking?

yep! Had that happen on a three of them. Drilling them out and replacing with cut down lag bolts with threaded end that I’m epoxying into the holes.

Doing something similar on the missing/broken “stud”? on the rear fender extension on the passenger side.
 
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With this here you need a union jack up front (in port)
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Then when underway at the lake the flag should move to the mast. Just saying for accuracy.
 
yep! Had that happen on a three of them. Drilling them out and replacing with cut down lag bolts with threaded end that I’m epoxying into the holes.

Doing something similar on the missing/broken “stud”? on the rear fender extension on the passenger side.
Great, please post a picture or two when you do.
 
More test fitting and detail work. Bringing up some of the design details.

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1st pass.

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Both fender extensions being test fit for edge and “sculptural” detailing today

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Decided to pull the trunk weatherstrip to extend new paint to inner lip of opening.

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Working those edges.
 
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