More Interior Work

Dateline - 02/26/2016 - I took last weekend off because I was sick with a cold, but got back into the saddle this weekend with a full dive into getting the interior in on the right hand side of the car.  First I bought carpet padding at HomeDepot and started installing it.  Even though I put the Eastwood version of Dynamat down, I still need padding so that the carpets would fit correctly.

I cut pieces for the rocker panels, then put pieces into the groves in the floorboards.  Then I put down the larger floor pieces and pieces alone the sides of the transmission tunnel.  All of these except the larger floorboard pieces are held down with 3M 77 adhesive.

Once I got the carpet pieces in, I installed the carpet that goes across the transverse brace.  After that, I cut and installed the piece that goes on the rocker panel.  Again, this was all held down using 77 adhesive.

After installing these carpet pieces, I was able to put the A pillar kick panel and B pillar upholstery pieces in.  I had reupholstered these way back in December 2011 (http://www.leapingv8s.blogspot.com/2011/12/recaping-summer-and-new-work.html) and they have been sitting on a shelf since then.  The B pillar piece is held in by two screws and then the loose upholstery is rubber cemented to the body to keep it tight.  The A pillar kick panel is also rubber cemented in the front and held down in the back with a screw.  Both of these are fiddly work and I had to be real careful to not get cement on the visible parts, otherwise it's ruined!

Once both kick panels were in place, I could put the felt door edging on.  This is done in three pieces.  One piece on the trailing edge of the front door, one piece on the leading edge of the back door and one piece that starts at the bottom leading edge of the front door, across the top of both doors and down the trailing edge of the back door.  The edging is pressed over the body seam and over the glued upholstery of the A and B pillar pieces.  This is why I needed to install them first.

The final piece of upholstery I put in was the over door section of the headliner.  This had 10 snap fasteners that needed to be pressed into the body, which is a royal pain.  But persistence won the day and I was able to get it installed.

The last pieces that need to go in to finish the side is an upholstered piece that goes up the B-pillar and the interior light that fits at the very top of the pillar.  I just purchased two of these on ebay in very good condition.

Here are pictures of the work:

Padding on Rocker Panel

Padding in floor board grooves

Fully padded floor and carpet on cross member

Headliner in back

Headliner A and B pillar upholstery 

Started on the Interior

Dateline - 02/13/2016 - I've moved into the interior of the car now.  Lots and lots of stuff to do inside.  My first focus was to get the dimmer switch and wiring on the drivers side buttoned up.  After that I installed the steering column.  Here is a picture of what it looks like.

Steering column from drivers position

Steering column from drivers side door

It is still a bit of a mess, but I got tired of working on my knees on the floor, so I decided to look to putting in some of the interior.

There is definitely an order that the interior needs to go into the car.  Since most of the interior was shot when I got the car, and I pretty much "tore" it out during disassemble, I wasn't sure how to put things back in.  But I think I have it now:

1) Headliner
2) Front and Rear window caps
3) Back Deck
4) Carpets
5) Driver/Passenger outside kick panels
6) B-pillar upholstery
7) Door opening felt caps
8) Driver/Passenger upper door caps
9) Front window side caps

The order is important because some pieces tuck into or under other pieces, so having everything in place in the correct order is pretty important!

So, first I started with the headliner.  These are never easy to install, but after about an hour of pulling and pushing, I got it into place.  Next I put on the window cap pieces. To hold the front one, I needed to install the sun visors, so those are in now too!

Finally, I started on the back deck.  I needed to put some upholstery on on the car body itself, so out came the rubber cement and the vinyl.  I also needed to put the rear window rubber seal in so that I could properly place the pieces with enough room for the window glass.  The rubber is in temporarily.  Unlike the original cars, I plan to use some sealer inside the gasket to keep water from wicking into the body and rusting things like last time.  I didn't have the screws I needed to mount the speakers, so I need to get some more hardware (another run to McClendons Hardware!).

I'm going to install a cyclops brake light in the back window to make the car a bit safer.  The aftermarket item I got is pretty nice, but it does not sit high enough.  So I am going to need to 3D print some extension.  Shouldn't be too hard to create.

Here are pictures of the interior thus far:

Without headliner looking from back passenger door to front of car

Headliner in place

Back window cap

Front window cap with sun visors in place

A slightly blurry view of the back deck  

Lights! We have lights!

Dateline - 02/06/2016 - Continued working on the back of the car this weekend.  My first effort was to get the tail lights and side markers installed.  This required getting some more hardware and the correct tap to clean up the paint and body filler encrusted holes.  In order to not mess up the paint on the car, I had to really take my time so it took a little longer then I thought.  I have to say, it really looks good to have the tail lights back on the car:

Right rear side marker

Right rear side marker lit

Rear of car with tail lights and trunk seal.  Note wires coming out the back of the body are for the license plate light in the bumper.

After getting the lights done, I found the two wooden panels that sit on the floor of the car to cover the fuel system and spare tire and pulled the metal parts off of them, or at least tried to.  They are really rusty and I wasn't able to free some of the parts, so I'm going to need to grind the heads of the screws off.  I wasn't feeling like doing that on Saturday, so they will have to wait, but the parts I did get off I sandblasted and painted.  I think I'm going to try to find new plywood eventually since I'm going to re-upholster the entire trunk at some point, but for now, I'm going to use what I have.

I also started work inside the car!  Yes, moving to the big job!  I installed the gas peddle arm and adjusted the cable linkage to the carburetor.  I installed the new plastic gas pedal (I'm ditching the chrome foot I had before.  Also, I installed a few brackets under the dash and routed some wiring.

I was still feeling a bit under the weather with my cold, so I didn't put a full day into it, so that's as far as I got.  The plan is to continue with the drivers side wiring, installing the steering wheel including the linkage at the rack, and to start putting in upholstery!  It's coming along!

No Work on Car This Weekend

Dateline - 01/30/2016 - Did not work on the car this weekend.  I have been fighting a cold all week and decided that working on the car in the cold garage was probably not the best way to get over it.

Instead, I went over to the Kingston area and met up with my friend Roland to talk to a guy who champions a car in the LeMons races (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Hours_of_LeMons) in the local area.  He is looking for a driver/wrench turner and Roland thought I would be interested.  The fact that they are driving a Rover P3500 with a supercharger is beside the point. This seems like a really fun and low cost way to try out racing.  You can race for as much as two hours at a stretch, so you get a lot of wheel time!  Still thinking about this, but I'm very, very interested.

Back to the car, I did get the gaskets that I ordered the prior week, so next Saturday I should be able to put some time into the car.