Build Thread '83 T-top Coupe - Cliff Notes Edition

Here in the real world. I sanded down the cowel panel cover and got it in primer. That was almost as much fun as the grille on the bumper!
I also painted the kick panels and the glove box along with the passenger seat cover base. I didn't take a picture, but I'll get one for those that really care.

Painted parts
I'm really liking the way the interior parts are coming out.

I've done stuff again, not ferociously exciting.

I primered the left windshield moulding after doing all the repairs. I need to fix the passenger side, but it has a couple broken pieces off it. I saw one piece on the ground next to the car in one of the yard pictures. Hope it's still there. I might need to get one from one of the other fox's there.

I sanded the cowel panel cover and painted it the same gray as the middle of the hood. I cleared it first with regular clear to provide extra UV protection. Then I sprayed the satin clear to match the hood.

So maybe I've gone crazy.....I painted the windshield wiper arms the same color, but I used the half an eggshell on them.

I need to go buy a new zipper for the passenger seat back cover tonight and get to sowing. I've ordered the new springs, just waiting for them to get here so I can rebuild the bottom of the seat.

madmike1157 said:

Are you done fixing your cowl panel?

I hope to God you are.

Because if you tell me that the cowel panel needs anymore work, what's left of the top of my gritted teeth will be gone
Let's make this year a Mike keeps his teeth year shall we? Use technology,....technology goood,...

Click to expand...

You're so funny mike.

I really didn't spend too much time on the cowel panel trim. It is done though.

Mike friend, mike good....

Oh yeah, if you want a slightly closer picture of the cowel (and honestly, who doesn't want that?)
And maybe hard to tell the difference, here's one of the wiper arms up next to the cowel trim

I've run out of stuff to do.....or so i thought.

I sprayed rocker chip guard on the left inner windshield trim and thought, "uhm......that's it!". Then i looked down and saw some bodyside mouldings.

So i grabbed three of them and cleaned them up with a red scotchbrite and some soap. I sanded them down with 400 grit to get rid of chips and the sort and painted them. I like it a LOT.
B4:
After, i tried to get a picture that shows the blue better, no sun today to show it off:
I'll get a picture in the sun as soon as it comes back out.

Ok, so i got the afternoon off and was at the salvage yard by 2PM.

It was 22* when i got there, not bad by itself, the 15 mph wind made it extra special though.

So, i did get the steering wheel. That was easy peasy. Then i pulled the driver's seat, i broke off one stud in that ordeal. Still, not too bad.

Then i pulled the instrument panel.......Just the instrument panel and not the wiring harness. That was a two hour period i'll never get back. Did you know plastic connectors get really fckin brittle when it gets cold? I did too, but this was my chance to get there and get these parts. Not to mention all the plastic retainers are more than a little dry rotted. Some of them literally pulverized in my hands. Got to find those things, any tips on where to get them anyone? Worse comes to worse, God made zip ties for a reason!

So, there i am wadded up in my sweet little t-top, feet going numb from the cold and i'm taking a million pictures of what goes where and my phone dies! It was fully charged this morning! Turns out apple has had a problem with their batteries. I have to go to the little yuppie apple store in the mall to get a new battery, or so my son says.I hate the mall and i hate yuppie stores in the mall doubly bad.

So, i'll post a couple pictures that are relevant. you won't see one with the instrument panel out. Tomorrow i'll take more at work.
Look at the dash immediately below the light switch, what the hell is that switch for?

I need to become conversant with wiring now, wheeeee. @RacEoHolic330 I need your encouragement right about now.

So, obviously i got the driver's seat out and the steering wheel. I do have the instrument panel too. I hated life and wanted to run away to my favorite liquor store by the time i pulled that hunk of plastic out of there. But i persevered, i got the windshield mouldings too. Though i'll probably need to get the lower ones that run along the cowel panel, the tabs broke off of both of them.

I really wanted to get the door trim panels too, but the sun was going down and i didn't give much of a fck by then. The owner of the yard said he'll be out there again next monday and tuesday, so i may go get them then.

Repair wise? It's a good thing i went ahead and ordered the spring sets for both front seats and the bolt sets too.

If i had time, i would have taken a serious look under that driver's side carpet. It felt......"soft" kneeling on it. Soft means rot. I know the passenger side is ok, but i didn't have time to check the driver's side. If you remember the photos from early on when i took pictures of the underside, there was one area that i thought "could" have some rust. Think there might be a driver's side floor pan in my future. Oh well, they're fairly easy to put in.

The instrument panel will be a fairly involved repair. it's pretty brittle and has several cracks. Though only two are visible and will need to be pretty. I bet the panel takes me at least a full week to repair properly.

You know what i also didn't do? I looked at the hvac box, but that's it. I wonder what has been living in it.....

I also didn't get the taillights or the rear window trim.

My lesson for you all is that if your fingers are numb, don't even begin to screw with the instrument panel. Trust me....

Yard booty.

No foglights, I'll figure it out later, thanks guys.

Good thing I went ahead and ordered a spring set for the driver's seat, huh?

Sooooo.........
I'm going to fix it, the rot isn't into the support. Yep, good thing I got new springs.

I'll send it off to be sandblasted today, then I'll cut out what needs to be cutout and weld in a nice patch panel made from our scrap metal pile.

The zipper on the seat back maaaayyyyy need a new zipper.

One fun thing i did today was to throw away the old seat foam for the front seats! Yay me!

I got after the seat frame repair. I got some left over metal from a truck that we're replacing the side on. I found a piece that has a vague resemblance to the shape of the frame.

I cut out a chunk and began forming it. It'll take two separate pieces to do this part right. After beating the metal for a while, i came up with this.



I still need to get the measurements across the bolt holes to make sure when i'm welding it back together i put it in the right place. Then drill the new holes for the bolts that go to the bracket.

I want to take out that back right side bracket that's used for the seat back support and to bolt on the seat sliders. I'm going to cut out that entire area that it's welded to. I'll get rid of the rust that's on it and weld it back once the patch is in.

There's a small spot of rot on the left front of the frame that i'll weld on this little patch.
I was going to take it to the sandblaster's, but their air compressor had froze up with this cold front. So i got the parts formed today. Monday the seat will be off to the blaster, then i'll go ahead and cut out the rot area and weld in the new stuff.

I tore down the steering wheel as well. This is a cruddy picture of the wheel with that leather/vinyl wrap on it.
Well, it must have been on there very early in it's life. Once i removed the wrap I found that the wheel is in fantastic condition, not a single crack!

I'm not positive what caused the staining where the wrap was. I scrubbed the hell out of it using various soaps and chemicals and still had these results. It's clean for sure now. The stain is irrelevant since i'm paintings it black.

I'm sowing in a couple zippers this morning with refreshments, what're y'all doing?

So, i'm half zipped!

I had to go to a fabric store to find the zippers i was looking for. They're 14" long, an odd size apparently in the zipper world.

I seem to have been the only guy in there not forced by his wife to be there with them. So i march right up to one of the ladies there and asked if she could help me with my zipper problem......When the police finally left i found these two and am about to get my sew on.

Idiot update.

I finally got the first zipper sewn in.......upside down You know what though? It's freaking staying like that! I can zip it up, it'll be a little challenging, but not overly.

I also got the two corner seams that opened up during the washings sewn as well.

Tomorrow i should finally get my spring sets in (if you believe tracking data). So, maybe tuesday i'll be done with the passenger seat. Plus the driver's back done.

I got on the passenger seat back with the nice new foam.

I hooked the new foam on the frame and covered the foam's upper "shoulder" area with some very thin plastic I have and went to slipping the cover over it. I hog ringed the upper listing.

Pulled the cover the rest of the way down and zipped it up. The marks you see are from the rubber mallet I used to beat on it to get the cover to do what I wanted. Since I'm a moron, I had to have someone help me to zip it up. They held the ends together while I used a pair of pliers to pull it shut.

Now I just need to clean off my mallet marks, scuff the vinyl with a red scotchbrite and paint it. I'll post a picture later today. I have a customer car I have to shoot now.

I got the steering wheel, passenger seat back and the driver's seat bottom shot.

The parts look a little glossy, that will die down as the clear coat hardens. BTW, I'm not spraying the clear on the cloth part of the seats.