7: Mechanical restoration
The beauty of every car is to be able to move around fast. Whether the car has just been renovated or not. If you have an idea no matter how vague about how a car works, this should be a piece of cake. If you have no idea, this is a pretty good time to learn.
Start out by removing the engine parts and cleaning them. All the mechanical parts and the wires under the hood, or, if the car is a Volkswagen Beetle car,, the trunk, must be turned inside out and properly cleaned
The engine needs to be reassembled. All the components that make the engine what it is, such as the starter, distributor, radiator, carburetor and alternator should be rebuilt to the original way they were when they left the production factory. You might decide to make use of the same parts that came with the engine. That means searching for the exact parts that suite the make and model of your car. All the parts that you use should be new and in good working condition.
The other mechanical parts will have disassembled and made neat. Some parts may be easy to clean and repair and may have a longer life span than others. Make sure that the belts, gears, bearings, oil pump and the transmission are all in good working conditions. All of the moving parts should made spick and span geared towards the specifications of the manufacturer to get the car in top shape
If have some knowledge about classic cars, this aspect of the restoration process might be time consuming, but it will not be difficult. If you know how to dismantle an engine and rebuild a transmission, you are god to go. If you do not have the necessary skills, it might likely be difficult.
Asides getting the engine in perfect working conditions, you would also want it to look very neat because during most car shows, the hood of the car is opened and people take a peek at the engine.
You not only want the engine to work, but you want it to be shining as much as it can. The chemicals used to clean grease and oil that concentrate in the engine chassis can be toxic and might give off deadly fumes. Make sure that you put on protective clothing, gloves and a face mask when you are making use of these items.
When you take the car to the first car show, you would want the interior of the car to sparkle as well as the exterior. In fact, you would want the sparkle to be so much as to catch the attention of onlookers . Make sure that you pay close attention not only to get the engine in good working order, but to make it as clean as possible. Some people polish the chrome parts of the engine that are normally painted black and leave them in their natural chrome state to get them to sparkle; this is one of the method to get the shine you would like.
Hint:
Most old cars come with a manual transmission and a gearshift instead of an automatic transmission. Make sure that you understand working with a manual transmission before you commence your project.
Keep in mind that while working on the mechanical aspect of the job, it could be messy, but it is just as important as the working on the body of the car. Although you may think it is inconspicuous. If you want to do the job of renovating a vintage automobile the right way, you will do justice to the mechanical components as you would to the visible exterior of the car.
