Look what followed me home today...

[burdar]

I did some grinding on the shifter bracket to take a little more height off of it.  I also took a little more material off the top of the reverse lockout lever.  Now that I'm this far, I think it might be possible to get the shifter to work WITHOUT cutting the top plate all up.  Now I need to find another top plate and see if everything will clear.  I'd much rather do some clearancing on the bottom side and leave the top alone.  I was poking around the front floor pan and went through in a few spots.  The car will need front floor pans.  I'll wait until that is addressed before attaching the shifter bracket.(incase the front tunnel section is replaced too)

I've contacted a couple restoration shops in the area.  I'd like to get the floor replaced, the door strikers fixed, trim holes welded up as well as getting the engine comp, interior, trunk and under side blasted and primed.  Then I can take the car back and start fitting the suspension pieces, measure for wheels and figure out how much to cut the rear end...also decide if I want to mini tub the car.

I got a call from the interior shop this morning and my seats are done.  I'll go pick them up tonight after work.  I also sent out the radio to Ward's Classic Radio Repair for a cosmetic restoration and an FM conversion.

[dutch]

great going Darren     why don`t you tackle the sheet metal work yourself?

[burdar]

Body work scares the crap out of me.  I don't know how to weld either.  If there was someone close by that had a welder and knew what they were doing, I'd love to help put the floor in.

[twalker]

I'd be happy to help, could do it together, but I see you are pretty far from me.

[burdar]

If you remember, I wasn't very happy with how the gauges turned out.  The vinyl overlays didn't conform to the raised sections and left "bubbles" around those areas.  I just got done redoing them and they turned out a little better but still not what I was hoping.  I used a lot of heat this time to try to get the vinyl to stick but even that didn't work like I thought.  The only good thing is that I used matte vinyl this time instead of the gloss.  It won't reflect the light as much as before so you shouldn't see the bad spots. 

The main problem area last time was the large upper panel.  All the letters/numbers were just too close together to get the vinyl to stick.  Here you can see how close everything is to each other.


I ended up taking that panel to my father-in-laws house and we machined off all the letter/numbers.  I put a layer of filler on the front to cover the machining marks.


Then I sprayed it flat white...


Here's the matte overlay installed.  You can see that I also had some custom wording done.  The "OIL" was originally on the far right where the idiot light is.  I had it moved over where the "ALT"  wording used to be.  Then I had "WARNING" put above the idiot light.


Here's the gauge assembly completed again.  I ground off the "C" and the "D" from the amp gauge face and smoothed it all out.  I had a "0" and "100" put in their place since it's an oil gauge now.

[burdar]

I also got the seats back from the upolstery shop.  I still need to find two bucket seat hinge covers(two of mine are junk) and restore the seat tracks.

Here's what I started with.  New seat covers were install when the car was brought from Nevada to Iowa.  Then the car sat for 10+ years with the top down under a lean-to.  That destroyed the covers, foam and rusted the seat frames.  The covers look white in this picture.  I was surprised when I got the new covers.  I was expecting white but they are actually a pearl.  I'm not sure what I think about that yet.  Hopefully I'll like it.
 

rusted frames and mice eaten foam




Front frames were in bad shape.  I had the upholstery shop strip them down.  Then I took them to the powerder coaters.  He also fixed the rust issues before coating them.


rear frames were fine...just needed blasting and coating


It was nasty outside when I got the frames back from the coaters so I don't have any pics of them afterward.  I took some pictures of the backs once they came back from the upholstery shop so you can see the difference.








The front seats have some wrinkes in them just like my Challenger.  I was told that it is from the extra material in the back of the seam area.(how it was sewn)  Hopefully that will get less noticeable as the new foam relaxes a bit.




I also need to purchase new seat back cardboard pieces.  The seat covers came with extra vinyl to wrap around the seat backs.  Obviously the original ones are junk from sitting out in the weather for years and years.

[usraptr]

Big improvement.  Looks great!

[73RallyeChallenger]

Seats look awesome Darren! I'm working on my seats right now as well.

[burdar]

I bought some LED bulbs for the dash as well as some new bulb holders.  I hooked up the dash lights to a battery I have in the garage and took a picture.  I think it looks pretty good.  Some LED's are dimmable...I'm not sure if these are or not.  With the cluster installed in its bezel, it will dim a little too I think.(you won't be able to dirrectly see the bulb) It doesn't look this bright in person either.

[HP_Cuda]

Man those dash lights look awesome and guess what you won't have to replace them as much like bulbs!!!

 

[burdar]

...and it takes load off of the electrical system.    We all know the older alternators need all the help they can get at idle RPMs.

I ordered a spoiler for the car a couple weeks ago.  I got an email that it was delivered today.  A big Fast and Furious style wing will look good on it don't you think?

[CUDA JAS]

I bought some LED bulbs for the dash as well as some new bulb holders.  I hooked up the dash lights to a battery I have in the garage and took a picture.  I think it looks pretty good.  Some LED's are dimmable...I'm not sure if these are or not.  With the cluster installed in its bezel, it will dim a little too I think.(you won't be able to dirrectly see the bulb) It doesn't look this bright in person either.

Looks good. 

Where did you get the new bulb holders?

[burdar]

The A-body uses a printed circuit on the back.  It has plastic bulb holders that twist into the board.  The cheapest place I found them was on E-bay.  You can also get them from Terminal Supply Co but they have a minimum order.  I would have had to buy 28 of them.  The per piece price would have been less but I would have spent triple the money.  E-bodies don't use them but if you are working on something that does have them, I can post the link.

No comment on the Fast and Furious spoiler huh?...

[CUDA JAS]

The A-body uses a printed circuit on the back.  It has plastic bulb holders that twist into the board.  The cheapest place I found them was on E-bay.  You can also get them from Terminal Supply Co but they have a minimum order.  I would have had to buy 28 of them.  The per piece price would have been less but I would have spent triple the money.  E-bodies don't use them but if you are working on something that does have them, I can post the link.

No comment on the Fast and Furious spoiler huh?...

Ok thanks.  I am looking for new bulb holders for my cuda.

Nope, no comment, I hoped you were kidding!

Jason

[dutch]

nice work on the panel. I really like the pearl over the white. How 60`s is that... Who offers a pearl interior these days?