Grand Prix Rebuild and Back Tool Additions

[chewbacca]

This one may make the collectors among us cringe a little.

When I received this Grand Prix I had high hopes for its condition, but that was not case .  The tools required a pliers to open, the scissors spring was broken, the large blade was chipped and slightly twisted, and the back scale chipped.

The bright side: the automobile front scale was in pretty good shape with the whole inlay is complete .  This is, to me, probably the coolest thing about this knife…don’t get me wrong, I really like the tool selection too.

I really wanted this knife, so on to the rebuild.

[chewbacca]

I soaked the knife for about 2-minutes in hot water from the Keurig, which is supposed to be 192°F, but to my dismay, the front scale still had a blow out on one of the rivets when I removed it.  It is kind of tough to see in the picture, but the bottom bushing had the issue.

Epoxy would be needed to re-install the scale.

[chewbacca]

I center-punched the pins with a spring-loaded center punch and drilled them out with a #0 Drill/Countersink bit.  You can really see just how dirty and corroded the knife was in these shots. 

A little Dremel work with a ball-end burr took care of the middle pin head.

[chewbacca]

Bushings fared well, and the pins came out pretty easily.

[chewbacca]

Here you can see the fully disassembled Grand Prix, as well as the new back springs I installed to add back tools to the file and scissors layers, along with the key ring on the opener layer (the photo shows the key ring spring next to the blade layer…it must have been getting late.)

You can really see how bad all the liners looked.  I was not able to salvage all of them, and ended up replacing a couple with donors from a Ranger used on a previous build.

[chewbacca]

Pins sharpened to make assembly a bit easier, followed by pre-peened pins.  I used a hammer drill for the pre-peening.

[chewbacca]

First layer done, and scissor spring replaced.  I had to tighten the scissor pivot screw and peen the back to keep it from loosening.

[chewbacca]

This NOVUS polish won’t take out big scratches or scuffs, but it does put a nice shine on scales using a buffer on the Dremel.

[chewbacca]

Assembled, and ready for my pocket.  The broken back scale was replaced with a red PLUS scale.

Looking at the photos, I should have paid more attention to the edges of the scales.  I need to polish those up.  I was more concerned with the faces and getting them cleaned and polished so the tools would move.

 :oops:One issue I have run into twice now.  When I am done peening the knives, I have good snap and the tools don’t have play, but after I installed the scales, my opener layer got sluggish .  The tools still have good snap opening, but must be rubbing on the liner when closing. 

Are the scales warped, or am I putting too much pressure on when I use my vise to add the scales?  Does anyone have a suggestion for fixing my weak bottle opener layer?

[chewbacca]

One last note.  I love the split Phillips drivers on these older knives.  You never know when you may need to open a canned ham or a spam can of 7.62x54R for your Nagant.