Well...who would have thought I could provide some useful information on this. As you must know by now I have just removed my skirts. There are 3 little bits of attachment hardware that locate on the wheelarch lip. Once the skirt sits in place, you move the lever across and the other end of that mechanism latches onto the top wheelarch attachment. You then lock the lever into the bottom skirt lip. There's a rubber seal that belongs across the top and probably some trim to complete the outside.

Checking tyre pressures and cleaning the wheels will involve removing the skirts. I have put up with it for years and I've had enough of them.

Personally, I like them on a luxobarge (like a Bonneville) but for something a little more sporting I think they tend to 'soften' the car's look.

well Rick, fitzy justA pulled his skirts up and off !!!

it really depends on what your looking for the car to look like mate 

Hello,

   The skirts fit.   I took them to the paint shop today at lunch and both sides fit.  They will need slight amounts of metal work from being banged around in a box for maybe fifty five or so.   The latch mounting hardware to keep them attached to the quarter panel lip is in great condition but it does not appear that it would take much of a pothole to knock a skirt loose.

  The rubber trim around the edge is also going to need some adhesive to keep it in place. There is definitely a best fit for these - there is a left side skirt and a right side skirt.

Rick

 

 

Hello,

  I may not have a Cat car to work on but I do have parts that need it - the large trim pieces that are low along the rocker panels.  The pictures are somewhat confusing in that I'm working on three long trim pieces but I only need two for the car.  This Catalina was missing the rocker trim on the passenger side though that Mt Pleasant, Texas 1970 Catalina parts car had it but it was badly mangled - possibly repairable, I think.   So I grabbed the parts car rocker trim from both sides and I am now cleaning all three pieces up, hammering out the dents, sanding and eventually polishing these pieces.  The best one of the two on the driver's side will go on the car.

  As some of you may remember, I am a Summa Cum Laude distinguished honors graduate from the "Harvard Of The Internet" . . . You Tube. I have watched a lot of stainless steel trim repair and polishing videos to try and make these parts shiny and usable again. They use a double action sander a lot so I picked up a used electric "hook and pile" pad attachment DA earlier today and got to work this afternoon.

That first picture below with the black spots on the trim stopped me dead in my tracks for a while.  Those spots are some kind of fossilized road tar that would not easily come off and these stains must come off first before sanding can begin.  They would not yield to Coleman lantern liquid fuel and not lacquer thinner.  Some charcoal grill lighter fluid and the brisk use of steel wool finally softened up the spots for removal.  

  All three pieces are now clean and I will start light hammering on the backsides tomorrow with using a black spray paint guide coat to reveal the low spots. Some filing on the high spots will also likely be needed.  I used the DA a little on the cleanest piece of trim to find out that you really do need to start out with a relatively harsh 80 grit pad to get anything done for sanding on even a merely tarnished area.  I also have some 120 grit all the way out to 800 grit to keep sanding out the scratches from the harsher pad grit work.  This is going to take a while because stainless steel is a very hard metal.

  That mangled piece of passenger side rocker trim is the fourth picture below before it came off the Texas parts car.  It looked bad here on the work bench before some hammer work got out about eighty percent of the dents plus some straightening. Larry at LarryLawrence.com didn't want to sell me this piece of trim but finally did after some begging.    I will not be able to repair the cracked places in the steel but this piece will go on this Catalina because I don't have any other choice.

Rick

 

   

Hello,

  Work continues with the cleanup, sanding and repairs on the long rocker panel trim pieces.  In the pictures below of the parts car rocker trim, note the red lines. Those are gouged areas in the stainless steel that are actually missing metal and not dents.   The low areas cannot be raised with hammering and tapping from the back side, especially the red lined areas.

This type of repair requires filling with an automotive glazing putty to replace the gouged out missing metal.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Bondo-Glazing-and-Spot-Putty-00907ES-4-5-oz-1-Tube/16927984?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=376&gclsrc=aw.ds&adid=2222222227716927984_117755028669_12420145346&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=pla-394283752452&wl5=9025463&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=16927984&veh=sem_LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9vS6BhA9EiwAJpnXw32DJhdPIosbQssyYTujNjbOav6G3DW2M8_RXZsvuatzGmwPeiWMoxoC3moQAvD_BwE

  There are other low areas on this passenger side trim that tend to "oil can" and don't want to stay raised to a proper level. Since I am already using the glazing putty on the gouge damaged areas, I may also glaze these oil canned low areas. I have not yet decided how I will proceed.

 Once I'm satisfied with the glaze repairs, on goes a coat of high build primer followed by a coat of high gloss black paint. The black paint provides high contrast for what comes next.  This next step may be a bit controversial but given that my car was missing this piece of trim and the parts car replacement piece was badly damaged when I found and purchased it, I have no choice . . . . . "Revell Chrome Paint".  I am not sure if one can will cover this large piece of stainless steel.

 

https://www.megahobby.com/products/150ml-chrome-spray-revell-germany.html?setCurrencyId=1&sku=RVL39628&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9vS6BhA9EiwAJpnXw0g0TP0DiPRupkoV22Qz-m1DuJdgHKykkUCPsnMkMeHzqFA_8LPg8hoCHUMQAvD_BwE

  After the Revell Chrome, it will likely get a coating of the high solids, catalyzed SprayMax 2K "Glamour" clear coat for protection. There is an ampule of hardener activator inside the can that you break immediately before spraying and the pot life of the liquid is 12-24 hours depending on the temperature - it is completely solid inside the can within a day.  A NIOSH approved breathing mask is required for this stuff unless you want to wake up somewhere else or maybe not at all. The cyanide related compounds are nasty.

https://eaglenationalsupply.com/products/spraymax-3680061-2k-glamour-clear-coat-11-8-oz-high-aerosol-can?currency=USD&variant=39575904125028&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Google Shopping&stkn=57f3babf87c3&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9vS6BhA9EiwAJpnXwzJkKQv-mNDD0OwArTEbTm3RLsENrtUyic7VOCe20mU0Uq8BefXGAhoCgMIQAvD_BwE

 I will probably use this same process on the Catalina's headlight bezels to repair pitting.  So break out the popcorn and beer to follow along. Spear chucking and arrows are welcomed here as I know that I'm making choices that others might not.

Rick

 

 

Hello,

  My passenger side first piece of trim with the chrome paint (on the mangled parts car trim) did not go as well as I wished but the second piece did very well.   The parts car trim piece wound up with a lot of orange peel paint defects along the entire length of the trim - zoom in closely on the first chrome pictures.  I did some heavy sanding to remove the peel and reshot it with the high build primer and Revell Chrome paint and that was a waste of time.  The primer paint made the black paint lift and the look was horrible.  Only time and materials were lost here and the surface of the stainless will be stripped back down with lacquer thinner for a restart. There's no harm done to the metal but I have ordered another can of the Revell Chrome paint out of eBay.

  I changed the process a little on the driver's side rocker trim that also got previously sanded down losing its shine due to it needing a few dent repairs. This trim has turned out MUCH better and I'm quite happy with its chrome paint.  For this trim, it only got the high build primer and I skipped the gloss black paint intermediate step.  I also shot the chrome paint a little closer to the piece and gave it a heavier coat. This trim also got a metal prep cleaning solution and vigorous use of a tack rag before and between paint types.  This second long trim piece has virtually zero orange peel - zoom in on today's pictures.

  Neither piece of trim has been shot with the 2K catalyzed clear coat at this point.  I will wait to do both in the clear at the same time that I do this process on the headlight bezels. I don't want to waste nearly an entire can of this rather expensive SprayMax Glamour material. It's also too cold to paint today but I can get my mistakes off of the orange peeled trim.

Rick

Hello,

  It took some DOT 3 brake fluid to get the paint softened up on the mangled trim - brake fluid really does loosen paint.  Then some lacquer thinner followed by vigorous use of some steel wool to get all of the black paint and primer removed. Then a soapy rinse.  I'm now back at putting the glazing putty on and I will do some sanding tomorrow followed by a coat of primer. I don't think I have enough silver chrome paint remaining in the can to paint this trim and I need to wait on my eBay purchase of more paint to arrive.

  I had some time today to hand off my headlight bezels to the sand blaster guys.  I have them back and they look pretty good.  The rust stains are gone along with the old pitted chrome.   The pictures below are the bezels prior to blasting and I will shoot a few pictures tomorrow of what they look like before I fill any holes with the glazing putty. There will not be a lot of putty on these - they are in far better condition than what my El Camino bezels looked like at this point.  I have five different bezels but for some reason I only got four pictures. The best four out of five will go onto the Cat and two of the five were bought off of an Arizona parts car earlier this year.

Rick

Hello Again,

  As promised.  Pictures. These are the headlight bezels after blasting (note the slight pitting) and after getting the putty filler for the corrosion pits.  I still had a few low spots on the parts car mangled rocker trim after sanding off yesterday's glazing putty - this piece got a little more putty.

No painting of trim today because the putty has to cure and then be sanded off flat.  

Rick

Hello,

  Its warm enough to paint here today and I had a few spare minutes in between preparing portions of Christmas dinner for later this evening. So, I sanded off the high spots of cured glazing putty from one of the headlight bezels.  This bezel got a shot of high build primer and I had just enough of the Revell Chrome in the can to get it painted.   I think it looks a lot better than before and this one still does not have a coat of clear on it. That's a few strands of spider web in the top right corner of the bezel.

  The parts car rocker trim also got its excess glazing putty sanded off and a coat of primer.  If I had another can of the chrome paint, this trim would have gotten a coat.

And lastly, a little bit at a time, I have been primer spray painting my five sand blasted Pontiac Rally II steel wheels.  I have the stencil and paint kit from Ames and I have watched a few You Tube videos on how to correctly mask the areas off.  I will try to get a few pictures of this process at some point early in January.

Rick

You’re soooooo lucky Rick !

my boss would have parts of me mounted on a pitch fork if I was even thinking of playing in the workshop Christmas Day !!!!

Man Rick, that looks great bro! I can't wait to see the others!

Hello,

  The Cat has now been at the body and paint place for a bit over sixty days and they have been sporadically working on it.  The hood got some attention though it didn't need much.  And they have done some work on the body but not a lot.

  This is now changing because I helped them push it into the main shop yesterday.  Several vehicles moved out or headed home which made room for mine.  The shop is certainly not late on their promised ninety day deadline and it will now receive much more attention. It is the longest vehicle they have seen in a while, maybe ever.

It is quite noticeable down the passenger side that the two coats of epoxy primer that I shot was not enough. Things would have been far worse without it - only light surface rust today.

Rick

Hello,

   I stopped off to see the Cat on Friday and they are definitely working on it.  I will head back there tomorrow and the shop owner will go with me to the paint store to buy the original 1970 "Verdoro Green Poly" paint. His hope is to have it back to me in less than two weeks.

  Portions of the car are already in epoxy primer - the passenger side front.   The passenger side rear was partially in skim coat on Friday.  The body man is working on the long ago damaged far front driver's corner that previously had its wrinkles pulled and filled with a brass brazing rod. The last picture is when they got to work on the hood which did not need much for filler. The engine compartment will also get a coat of "Hot Rod Chassis Black" paint.

Rick

Hello,

  It might appear that my Catalina 4L60E transmission "patient" died here on the shop floor but it was dead already.  I only paid sixty bucks for it on a junk yard Half Price Sale Day and it could be totally shattered on the inside.  But with the cardboard, I was prepared for it to lose more fluid even though I had already spilled a lot of it and the "bloodbank" does not need to be called.

  My oldest son and I will load it up tomorrow and head over to De Berry, TX to drop it off for a rebuild.  The fellow that rebuilt the 4L60E in my El Camino retired from regular rebuild shop work but now does these from home. As long as I don't ask for something absurd such as a two day turn around repair time, he has agreed to do the work at his home shop.  Nevertheless, in a week to ten days, I will go and get it back . . . about $1200 or so poorer.  He even splits open the torque converter for a cleaning and rebuild for that cost. The whole thing could go as high as $1500 depending on what is broken inside.  The professional shops around here are typically asking $2100 to $2600. 

  I trust this rebuild guy WAY more than these other shops and I only want to install this transmission in the Catalina one time.

Rick

Great progress there B52! I think once the Cat is in paint, the excitement meter will go up 10 fold! Way to stay with it.

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

Great progress there B52! I think once the Cat is in paint, the excitement meter will go up 10 fold! Way to stay with it.

i soooo agree with frosty 

On 2/15/2025 at 11:53 AM, B52bombardier1 said:

Hello,

  It might appear that my Catalina 4L60E transmission "patient" died here on the shop floor but it was dead already.  I only paid sixty bucks for it on a junk yard Half Price Sale Day and it could be totally shattered on the inside.  But with the cardboard, I was prepared for it to lose more fluid even though I had already spilled a lot of it and the "bloodbank" does not need to be called.

  My oldest son and I will load it up tomorrow and head over to De Berry, TX to drop it off for a rebuild.  The fellow that rebuilt the 4L60E in my El Camino retired from regular rebuild shop work but now does these from home. As long as I don't ask for something absurd such as a two day turn around repair time, he has agreed to do the work at his home shop.  Nevertheless, in a week to ten days, I will go and get it back . . . about $1200 or so poorer.  He even splits open the torque converter for a cleaning and rebuild for that cost. The whole thing could go as high as $1500 depending on what is broken inside.  The professional shops around here are typically asking $2100 to $2600. 

  I trust this rebuild guy WAY more than these other shops and I only want to install this transmission in the Catalina one time.

Rick

Good deal on the trans, I need to have one rebuilt also but its hard to find someone you trust.

I had two guys but one had a stroke and the other one struggle with Parkinson's.

I think I have found a solution but we will have to see.

2 hours ago, Andy H said:

Good deal on the trans, I need to have one rebuilt also but its hard to find someone you trust.

I had two guys but one had a stroke and the other one struggle with Parkinson's.

I think I have found a solution but we will have to see.

That sounds like my transmission guy … he’s in his 70’ and I was so lucky to get him to rebuild the 64 super hydro for my bonni !!!

Edited February 18, 20251 yr by 64 kiwi boni

Big+.... fluid looks good N not burnt.

5 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

That sounds like my transmission guy … he’s in his 70’ and I was so lucky to get him to rebuild the 64 super hydro for my bonni !!!

Yes it's dying breed, got a guy in my Saturday morning coffee and car group that works for Cummins now but used to do transmissions so I might be able to talk him in to doing my th200 4r.

He does it home in the garage also so his biggest issue is how to properly clean them but in my case I have big wash machines at work that's used by the guys that do our Allisson big transmissions.

Is this thread the Longest in this Forum's History?  It is a good one & I have participated

 

Just curious George'n

I don't think so. Kiwi and Fitzy have longer threads. Also the What Did You Do to Your Car Today and Don't Ever Grow Up are extremely large too.

Hello,

  Late this afternoon, I visited my transmission rebuilder at his shop because he got started on the teardown today - he found nothing catastrophic had occurred before I bought it. This 4L60E transmission had been rebuilt at least one time before because it had some kind of much newer 4L65E internal gear part – one of the sun gears, I think. The 3-4 clutches and steels were worn out.  The material on the 3-4 frictions was laying in the pan and the steels were blued in a few places. 

  The shell will be replaced with a hardened part because this standard build shell has .020 inches of wear on the bearing surface. The output shaft tail cover was dented and will need to be replaced or the rear seal will leak.  The new torque converter gets one quart of Dexron 6 fluid before installation to lube an internal bearing and the remainder of the trans gets twelve additional quarts. I will take the new torque converter with me when I pick up the transmission so that I can be taught the very crucial trick to getting it to properly seat onto the input shaft - my repair friend here will coach me for the proper technique. Five pinion planet gears are a possible upgrade path here but this vehicle will never tow anything or see racing abuse - I will stick with the stock four pinion planets.

  This model year 2002 fluid pump was OK but will be rebuilt back to being a 13-vane pump - previous year 4L60E pumps were a 10-vane style.  The valve body will get a Transgo shift kit with oversize valves and at least one stronger spring but my rebuilder has not yet decided if it needs to be reamed for oversize bushings.   To avoid neck snapping shift forces under a brisk, spirited throttle application, he and I both agree that a Corvette servo will not be installed - merely the stock servo.

   The separator plate had a blown check ball location but a new plate and ball will solve this problem. Overall, it also gets new shift solenoids, a new internal wiring harness and new sprags.  He recommends against using the new deep fluid pan that I provided because he thinks it will hang too low – the transmission will also need at least one additional quart of fluid because of this jumbo pan. I'm going to try this deep pan but I can put the old pan back on if necessary.  We shall see. 

  I could have it rebuilt and back in my hands by this coming Sunday afternoon.  Only needing a replacement tail shaft cover from one of his core hulk 4l60E transmissions, this rebuild price will be closer to $1200 than the $1500 price if things had really gone badly inside the case during the tear down. I dodged an expensive bullet here with this junk yard acquired transmission.

Rick

4 hours ago, B52bombardier1 said:

Hello,

  Late this afternoon, I visited my transmission rebuilder at his shop because he got started on the teardown today - he found nothing catastrophic had occurred before I bought it. This 4L60E transmission had been rebuilt at least one time before because it had some kind of much newer 4L65E internal gear part – one of the sun gears, I think. The 3-4 clutches and steels were worn out.  The material on the 3-4 frictions was laying in the pan and the steels were blued in a few places. 

  The shell will be replaced with a hardened part because this standard build shell has .020 inches of wear on the bearing surface. The output shaft tail cover was dented and will need to be replaced or the rear seal will leak.  The new torque converter gets one quart of Dexron 6 fluid before installation to lube an internal bearing and the remainder of the trans gets twelve additional quarts. I will take the new torque converter with me when I pick up the transmission so that I can be taught the very crucial trick to getting it to properly seat onto the input shaft - my repair friend here will coach me for the proper technique. Five pinion planet gears are a possible upgrade path here but this vehicle will never tow anything or see racing abuse - I will stick with the stock four pinion planets.

  This model year 2002 fluid pump was OK but will be rebuilt back to being a 13-vane pump - previous year 4L60E pumps were a 10-vane style.  The valve body will get a Transgo shift kit with oversize valves and at least one stronger spring but my rebuilder has not yet decided if it needs to be reamed for oversize bushings.   To avoid neck snapping shift forces under a brisk, spirited throttle application, he and I both agree that a Corvette servo will not be installed - merely the stock servo.

   The separator plate had a blown check ball location but a new plate and ball will solve this problem. Overall, it also gets new shift solenoids, a new internal wiring harness and new sprags.  He recommends against using the new deep fluid pan that I provided because he thinks it will hang too low – the transmission will also need at least one additional quart of fluid because of this jumbo pan. I'm going to try this deep pan but I can put the old pan back on if necessary.  We shall see. 

  I could have it rebuilt and back in my hands by this coming Sunday afternoon.  Only needing a replacement tail shaft cover from one of his core hulk 4l60E transmissions, this rebuild price will be closer to $1200 than the $1500 price if things had really gone badly inside the case during the tear down. I dodged an expensive bullet here with this junk yard acquired transmission.

Rick

you said what ? 

thats why i dont play with electronic transmissions 

Mechanicals are nice but when you want an overdrive transmission it's hard to beat the modern ones, unless you settle for a 200 4R or a Gear Vendors add-on style unit.