Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Frog and Toad

What happend to the frog's car when it broke down?
...
It was "toad"

More progress

I got my vent windows installed last night. Before I put them in I replaced the window seals with new rubber. The molding went in fairly easy once I figured out how it stays in. I also got the drivers side rear view mirror installed. Brand new, chrome, looks nice.

I also have a matching passenger side mirror ... but no hole for the mirror. I'm thinking of finding a nut that will fit, and drill a hole in the passenger door so that I can put the mirror in. I think with the correct washer size it should work OK. Only problem, if it ever comes lose I'll need to take the interior panel off the door so that I can reach the nut. Not a big deal.

I was also able to get the dash cleaned up. I need to pickup some weather stripping for the vents before the dash goes in. Should happen soon.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pictures.

I still need to get the dash and door windows in before I can drive it, but here are a few updated pictures from this weekend.


Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Windshield done!

Tyler and I got the front windshield in tonight. It really helps knowing what to do, we got it in the first try! Don’t get me wrong, it was still a bit of work. I was really careful because I was afraid of breaking or cracking it. No breaks or cracks ... but i did notice that it has a really small rock chip on the passengers side. I'll have to keep an eye on it for any future issues with it.

Tonight I also got both of the rear quarter windows tinted. They are totally flat which made it straight forward to do myself. I’m really happy with how they turned out. I’ll let them sit for a day and hope to put them into the car tomorrow evening.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Rear window.

Well it's never as easy as it looks on TV. I got the rear window in tonight. What a pain that was! After my 6th or 7th attempt doing it by myself (like the guy on the restoration video so easily does) I had to enlist Tyler's help. He held the top part of the window in place while I seated the molding. With a little banging and some sweat, we got the window in ... first try. Tyler was a big help.

After the window was in, we had to go around the exterior edge and make sure there wasn't any part of the molding edge rolled under. Looks nice. I want to let it sit out in the hot sun sometime soon to really let the rubber molding relax and settle in.

I also put the molding around the front windshield and set it in place. If I have time tomorrow I'll get that (with Tyler's help) window in too. And need to finish the tinting of the rear quarter windows soon so I can get those installed too.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Headliner, check. Glass next!

OK, the headliner was delivered a few weeks ago and this weekend was the first time that I had some real time to work on it.

My daugter Rachael helped me put the new pad interior padding in the car on Saturday. It was like a puzzle and kinda had to figure out where everything went. I found an image on the web where I ordered it but not quite everything lined up just right. No biggie, just trimmed the extra stuff.

Sunday I was just going to use whatever I could and see how far I got. I watched my interior restoration video again and headed out to the garage. I had to stop back in a couple times along the way to see again how they did a couple of things ... but now it's finished. Took a good 8 hours to get it done with just one person.

Now this was the first headliner I've ever done, and while it's not perfect, it's not too bad either. I'm happy with it. I think that it could have been a little tighter in a couple of places, but it will do the job.

This was going to be the biggest hurtle to getting back on the road ... I dreaded it ever since I got the car, and even more over the last few weeks. So happy to be done and moving onto the next step.

Next steps ... putting in the glass. The front and read windows are ready to go but I still need to tint the 2 side rear windows. Then dash can go back in ... and the door windows ... and seats ... and a little more trim ... then its drivable! Which I'll probably drive right to Main Street Auto and have Tony fix the timing and carb. Then more driving.

The next few weekends are going to be busy so finding any block of real time is going to be hard. I'm going to just have to see how far I get by doing 1 thing an evening... Man I want to drive it!