Another weekend of preparatory work on the interior.
The Dynamat is about all in. Having borrowed a heat gun to
pre-warm the metal surfaces, and to soften the mat to follow the contours
of the metal, made the job go several times as fast. Some of the flattest
panels, thus those most susceptible to _drumming_, were in the trunk area.
The panel between the trunk floor and the top well was the worst, but it’s
much quieter (according to the “thump test”) now. I even put some on the
fuel tanks, but I couldn’t bring myself to use the heat gun on those. Under
the dash, I stuck in about 15-20 smaller panels; the shape of a Sunbeam, below
the dash, is amazingly complicated. Still to go is the kick-panel area.
Having lost my 20-year-old bottle of red bulb dye, I visited a fair #
of auto parts houses andpaint-supply and electronics stores, with no luck.
After having given up, I found the bottle. By then, Rick Fedorchak had brought
me a fistful of (all faded) red indicator lamps, so I coated them all. Onegoes
in the Garage Queen, and I hear Rick will trade the others for MK2 grilles or
TAC certificates onvehicles of his choice. They really did turn out nice.
I almost cut the car today. I had been counting on upgrading the MK1
to the later under-dash vent assemblies, using parts from my old SV Alpine.
I found only one of the plastic vent boxes,however,and it is in pretty bad
shape.
I do not even know which side it is for! In addition, to install one, it looks
like one must cut the panel below the cowl vents, which is OK, then _bend_ the
metal to create a flange to rivet to (under the dash? Ouch!), which I do not
care for. I think the best answer is to fabricate a flange rivetable to the
plastic box, which in turn would be held to the car with through bolts; a
much more sanitary installation. I am now interested in a set of rebuildable
boxes from a defunct T or A (perhaps someone who’s on the Alpine list could
cross-post this request for me?). In the interim, I spent TWO HOURS cleaning
up the old Alpine’s sub-dash brace, the one that’s normally upholstered to be
the lower finisher to the dash. The reason I used the Alpine unit is that it
has the welded-on braces for the pull knobs for the vents; thus I should be
able to retro-fit the vents as soon as I have the boxes ready.
That was just some of today’s cleanup. A fair # of under-dash brackets
and heater vents needed cleaning up, and, as I mentioned earlier, the local
dip shop is no longer open on Saturdays. Now I have to struggle with navel
jelly, paint stripper and the like. Yuk!
I also started cleaning up the Folding Roll Bar. I think it’s OK for
a while, but’ll eventually need rechroming, at about 10X the purchase price
of the bar. I hope I never _need_ it, but I’ll be happy to have it there; also
a cool place to attach a fire extinguisher (poseur extrodinaire!). The base leg
brackets attach to the outside corners of the kiddie-shelf/back seat; I think
that they would fit better if I could notch a bit of the 1/4” flange at the
front
edge of the shelf, where it drops off, perhaps for 1-1/2” or so. I this
structurally safe? In addition, I’ll have to figure out how to deal with the
Roll-Bar/carpet interface, as I expect a chunk to be cut out right where it
is needed, strengthwise, the most (cutting the carpet, _not_ the
Roll-Bar!).
Exit questions: (a) what color are the little slit vents in the dash
cover, right below the windshield (for the defroster)? Mine are brush painted
black. (b) what quickie maintenance is recommended to the blower and wiper
motors while they’re out?
Larry Wright "I can't get no-- Satis-traction"
|