I've finished up a fair amount of little stuff since my last installment.
Excepting the seats, not
much more to do!
After the door/kick-panel/boot-door upholstery was in, I cleaned up the
carpeting I bought from
Kanter a few years back and reinstalled it; it needed a few snaps replaced.
Either they're not very
good or I'm not installing them right. I called Kanter about my dye-running
problem caused by a
master cylinder leak and they said that there's no cure. So, after shampooing,
I Scotch-Guarded the
cr*p out of it; if it'll keep stuff out, perhaps it will keep the dye _in_. I
also put in new
hockey-stick aluminum trim on both sides, I never had them before, but a fine
ice-pick helped my
find the original holes in the sheetmetal for the screws.
Back in the trunk area, I repainted the entire trunk inside with black
Rustoleum Industrial coating;
it does not match the outside of the car, but should hold up well. I even
painted straight over the
Dynamat. New plastic trim panels went in pretty easy. The side pieces were
pre-drilled halfway
through, I just opened them up some. the 2 back pieces, over the fuel crossover
pipe, were only
roughly the right size and needed a lot of trimming and drilling to fit. They
cut easy , though,
with a set of those "cut everything" scissors everybody makes now. I recommend
a set, they are
pretty cheap (both Acme United and Fiskers make 'em).
On the exterior, I finally got the gas cap right. The new cover needed to be
drilled out w/a #36
bit, not very deep, and tapped @ #6-32tpi. It then accepted some cut-down
screws, about 4 threads
long. I used Stainless, as usual, and used flat washers as well. Up front I put
in another used
grille badge surround (the smooth type-- though not right for my car, I like it
better)and a brand
new badge. It was slightly different in design, the old one was cut away
behind, leaving a 1/16" or
so flange around the front, whereas the new one is cut plain in the max
"diameter". This required
mashing the little retaining clips flat, but it worked. Also, front and rear,
new letter sets went
on. I really like the new "plastic plug" retainers; nice and tight and they
cannot rust.
Inside, the dash mounting screw dilemma is over. Rick Fedorchak loaned me a few
of the screws. I
took those to the hardware store, and I could match them up in stainless-- but
in machine screws.
That's OK, I pulled out the clip nuts, and used nuts on the back. The size is
1/4-20 oval head
Phillips, except on the far right, which is the next size down. BTW, someone
posted recommending
slotting the fiber flange on the glove box to allow pulling it back slightly
when installing the
dash, and it really helped; that far right screw is in a "pocket" that is hard
to reach otherwise.
On the far right, remove the blower switch for access. On the top 2 screws, the
right one is easy,
but the left one required pulling the speedo.
The holes in the floor are "loose" where the new shifter-boot ring goes in, so
I got some nice
stainless machine screws in that size, and I'm going back out to the garage to
drill out the floor
to accept those rivet-nuts. Then I'll be able to _really_ tighten the screws
down snug.
Next, I'll be connecting more of the wiring back up, and I've discovered that I
didn't record the
wiring locations for the blower switch, I may need some advise in that area.
Oh, yes: I found that the clock doesn't take the same size lamp socket as the
other instruments (I
was going to use one from my pile of bits from my old Alpine V for another
gauge). Any ideas there?
Larry Wright "I can't get no-- Satis-traction"
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