Restoration TIME! (Pt.2)

2010- 2011

3Apr10 - Fell behind with the web page due to some worry about being laid off.  I have been working on a few little parts as I have waited for a couple of things to come together.   This is where we currently stand! Notice that the stainless trim is now on in the second photo.

23Apr10 - While I have been waiting for my reproduction dash pad to be done, I made a choice to move my speakers from the rear dropdown panel (will have to cut a new one without speaker holes- no big deal) and put them in the side panel out of the way.  Of course I don't want to cut my original panels so I found a cut set that I could make work.  Unfortunately, the person who cuts this set really hacked them up, and they were no way close to being even. So, with a little creativity, I repaired and fixed the holes.  I located a set of period correct speaker grilles to use, also ordered some carpet for those panels, and added wooden 6x9 spacers on the backside so that the tweeters on my 6x9 Infinity Kappas wouldn't hit.  Here is my progress. Oh, I have also included a shot of my front painted kick panel.

24Apr10- Got my carpet put on my side panels today.  Also glued on some new jute padding on the rear.  Panels are really solid now. Took some time to install the painted speaker grills and the Kappa 6x9 3-way speakers.  I had to mount them upside down so the tweeters fired toward the glass instead of down in the carpet.  No one can tell behind the grilles anyway.   I now have to get the speaker wiring run to the sides and mount the external crossovers for the speakers. 

1May10 - Spent some time getting my side panels in.  So far so good!  Have to run the speaker wires and get the glass in before the trim can go on. Oh, also hung up some new and old signs I have collected.

6May10 -  Took my engine to P&M Performance Racing Engines today!  Information on my engine can be found in its own section "My Motor".  Look up at the title bar to follow the build of my 340. 

20Jun10 - Got my dashpad!  This is a new piece that B, E & A is offering for the 1968 A-body. This piece is unique to 68 since it is part of a whole wrap around assembly.  The bottom pads are not being reprodcued.   At this point, they only come in black. I will be taking it to be dyed sometime this week.  Only complaint I have is that the grain is not the same as the original, but I'm still happy since my car isn't going to be more than a show and shine car.

15Aug10 - Well, things have gone quite slow.  My dashpad is STILL at the bodyshop waiting to be dyed.  I keep calling, but the shop got busy. Right now, empty promises.  I also took my upholstery to be recovered.  I thought that was going alright until I stopped by to check on it.  Seems as though my driver seat was RUN OVER by another customer at the shop.  One of the employees had sat it right outside the garage door so the vinyl could stretch in the sun and for some reason the customer is question never saw it sitting there... Anyways, the seat track was broken and the new cover ripped.  The upholsterer is buying me a new cover and seat (all the way across the state).  We will see if he is able to actually get it. 

My motor is being rebuilt.  I have stripped some of the parts off the 318 so I could use them on the 340 stroker (416).

The rear seat  came out great.  I took this afternoon to install it.  I have also had my rebuilt 727 delivered.  Here are a few pictures to show the seat and tranny.

11Sep10 - I got my dash pads back from the body shop and reinstalled them on the dash.  I also cleaned up all the connectors and such before the day in which the dash is dropped in.  I decided to run an amp under my seat, so I ran all the speaker wiring before the dash was in the way.

18Sep10 - With some help from my wife and my daughter, we installed my dash assembly!!!  Surprisingly it went it pretty easily with everything lining up and dropping right in place.  I did catch one wire, but that was easy to fish back to its correct location. It has been a while since I have seen the dash installed and the newly dyed pads look pretty good in there.

06Nov10 - I got a moment to install the steering column today.  It was a little challenging to get everything to line up the way it needed to.  I had my 13 year old daughter feeding me the column through the firewall so I could line it up properly.  Once installed, the wheel went back on.  I can now steer it in and out of the garage a little better!

11Nov10 - Got an opportunity to go look at my 340 stroker today!  I have more photo's on the "My Motor" page. I took them the parts needed to run the motor and was told that they will hopefully get it broken it pretty soon and then they will call me when we are ready to do a dyno pull.  I am hoping I can record that when it happens.

02Jan11 - I worked on the radiator today.  I recently had a local radiator shop install a replacement top I had in storage.  Unfortunately, they had painted the radiator with a really textured tar paint that looked really bad.  I spent all day with a wire wheel removing the substance and another couple of hours with mineral spirits trying to wash off all the sticky tar.  Once presentable, I sprayed the radiator with Rustoleum Ultra High Temperature paint. 

05Nov11 - The car has sat most of the summer.  Now that the weather is getting more comfortable to be in the garage, I have started moving on it again.  I contacted 2 Andy's Trim Shop in Morehead City, NC about installing my headliner after I failed on my attempt. He assured me that a headliner was no easy task and that he was up to doing the install.  I planned for his arrival and he quickly set up and talked me through everything he was doing in case I wanted to attempt the next one (yeah right!)  After a few hours, he was done and it looked better than new!

 11Nov11 - The headliner looked so good, I contacted several glass companies to find out what I could do about getting a new windshield installed.  I ended up calling Safelite in Greenville, NC and they sent to me Phil McCloud, a mobile technician with the patience of Job.  He looked over the new gaskets, listened to how the glass needed to go in and jumped right into the install.  After 3 hours, we were done.  The back glass was the worse and I didn't get a chance to take a picture of what we went through to get it in place.  I'm hoping I never have to do that fastback glass again!!!!

Here are a couple of shots of the engine compartment since I was out taking photos.

24Nov11 - Over the past few days, I have been working on getting the amplifier power wire installed and the front speakers completed.  I decided that since I had put my nice Infinity Kappa 6x9s in the rear, I ought to have front speakers which complement them.  I ordered a set of 4x6 Infinity Kappa plate speakers that I mounted in the aftermarket kick panels I had painted.  Since I had to reuse the grilles that came with the other speakers, I ended up having to mount the speakers behind the panel since the plate was so thick.   It took a little bit of modification to both the panel and to the car (a small sledge helped make a little extra clearance) as well as some Dynomat behind the speaker where they touched to body.  These are deep speakers and really don't fit the housing, but luckily there was enough flex that I could bolt them up.

25Nov11 - I've also been working on and off on getting the rear trim and door panels in the car.  This really starts to give a good impression of what the car is going to look like inside.  I need to order a new set of sill plates since mine are pretty beat up.

Dec11- This page is getting a little large and loads slow, so I'm going to break out 2012 to another page.