Prepping the interior



November 12, 1999 Prepping the interior


I had to try and free the radio from the center console so that the upholsterer could add it to the pile of parts that need to be re-covered. The removal of the radio seemed to be an easy endeavor, but NOTHING is easy on this car! The knobs that have to be removed from the radio before the face plate can be removed were stuck. Each knob is secured to it’s shaft by a set screw, but my screws were seized in place. As I applied pressure one of these set screws, half of the set screw sheared off! Now I have two set screws seized in place with no way to screw them out. The only way now is to drill them out. Hardened steel should ruin drill bits all day long. If this radio wasn’t original, I would have cut the darn thing out long ago!

I crawled under the dashboard to re-install the ignition switch. As I tightened the lock nut to secure the switch, the whole dashboard came crashing down! It seems that the dash was never secured by the previous owner. He restored the dash and gauges by unscrewing the mounting bolts, but never replaced them. The dash was just resting on the mounts, just waiting to fall out! I did not see any damage done, but I can only imagine the damage if the dash had fallen out in transit from Virginia when I first first got the car!

In a day of frustrations, I’m making progress with the headlights. I got new square nuts to replace the ones I cut out with the “dremel” tool last week. I just need a couple more coats of paint on the headlight buckets, and I’ll be ready to solder the wires together.

Speaking of paint, I also found the correct grey paint to paint the fuel filter holder. I can use the same grey paint for the fog light assemblies, which I’m sanding and priming now. A bad choice of paint was the one I made for the red coils I need to paint. While at the hardware store I picked a red paint that looked correct for the ignition coils in the engine compartment, but when I tested the paint on a scrap piece of metal, it came out too orange. The correct color is not bright red, but it’s also not really burgundy. I guess I’ll be making another trip to the hardware store!

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