- Joined
- May 30, 2018
- Messages
- 112
- Reaction score
- 114
- Location
- Stevensville, MI
- My Car
- 1973 Convertible Q code Ivy Glow Auto C6
Just posted my Intro, and now jumping into starting/sharing my project to upgrade the interior of my 73 convertible. Of course it's NOT a black interior, that would be too simple. It's Avocado, and I plan to keep it as true to color as I can. So let the challenges begin...
I'm starting with a perfectly fine, daily driver interior that's 50+ years old, but several things have accumulated that no longer work right or at all. This past summer, my heater core ruptured so I bypassed it to keep enjoying it before winter. Related, the A/C system stopped working more than 20 years ago, long before I got this car. So I knew I had to either rebuild the Heater Box & restore the A/C & heater system or replace it all together with a Classic Air type system. I still haven't decided which way to go on that yet, and certainly open to experiences/thoughts on that.
Another issue that's not been right since I've had the car is a parasitic drain on the battery. I've not been able to find it after many, many attempts. But I did find that my fuse box has a broken corner and only a 15amp fuse holds it together.
So with these two issues, that require major under the dash work to gain access to remove, I decided to bite the bullet and go all in and just remove the dash panel and address all of the accumulating issues in the interior. These are mainly the following that I'll be thrilled to have finally fixed:
Console Clock - has never worked
Cigarette Lighter - socket has never worked
Dash Lights - extremely dim & severeal burned out
Gauges - Amp, oil, & Temp don't seem to work (oil is always hi, temp is always low, & Amps don't ever change)
Radio - Rough is all I can say, but hey, it's a convertible so sound quality has lower standards I suppose
Steering column - Tilt & ignition key doesn't move smoothly. Turn signals don't turn off after the turn & still has excessive steering play after all new front end parts
Horn - works but if you're hard of hearing you'd never hear it
Floor shifter - moves around loosely and backup lights have never worked
Emergency Parking Light - severly broken, non-functional and won't stay in the dash. Looks okay if parked from a distance though.
As of this moment, I have removed the dash panel, heater box and am sorting through the pieces to clean up & identify parts I want to replace. I have sent off my clock & gauges to Rocketman to take advantage of his skills and great reputation but I'm a long way from reinstalling once he's done. My harness is ready to send to Midlife once he's ready for it, but again, I have much to do in the meantime.
My introduction post shows what the interior looked like before I started, but here's where it is today.
I do have an inital question regarding sound absorbers on the interior. The underdash insulation was an absolute wreck so I pulled it down. Hopefully that wasn't an early mistake. So a question for others that have been before me, what did you do with this? I'm thinking that it's probably okay to just to leave it out but don't really know. Haven't ever seen any reproductions the Cowl Top Panel Sound Absorber. I've seen the firewall sound deadeners, but this for above that. Also, on the kick panels, the Right side as an insulation bat, that I can probably reuse. But the Left side has nothing and it doesn't look like it ever had insulation. The Factory Assembly manual clearly shows it should have. Again, is this something others have tried to put in place or felt it was unnecessary??
Thanks for reading/looking...
I'm starting with a perfectly fine, daily driver interior that's 50+ years old, but several things have accumulated that no longer work right or at all. This past summer, my heater core ruptured so I bypassed it to keep enjoying it before winter. Related, the A/C system stopped working more than 20 years ago, long before I got this car. So I knew I had to either rebuild the Heater Box & restore the A/C & heater system or replace it all together with a Classic Air type system. I still haven't decided which way to go on that yet, and certainly open to experiences/thoughts on that.
Another issue that's not been right since I've had the car is a parasitic drain on the battery. I've not been able to find it after many, many attempts. But I did find that my fuse box has a broken corner and only a 15amp fuse holds it together.
So with these two issues, that require major under the dash work to gain access to remove, I decided to bite the bullet and go all in and just remove the dash panel and address all of the accumulating issues in the interior. These are mainly the following that I'll be thrilled to have finally fixed:
Console Clock - has never worked
Cigarette Lighter - socket has never worked
Dash Lights - extremely dim & severeal burned out
Gauges - Amp, oil, & Temp don't seem to work (oil is always hi, temp is always low, & Amps don't ever change)
Radio - Rough is all I can say, but hey, it's a convertible so sound quality has lower standards I suppose
Steering column - Tilt & ignition key doesn't move smoothly. Turn signals don't turn off after the turn & still has excessive steering play after all new front end parts
Horn - works but if you're hard of hearing you'd never hear it
Floor shifter - moves around loosely and backup lights have never worked
Emergency Parking Light - severly broken, non-functional and won't stay in the dash. Looks okay if parked from a distance though.
As of this moment, I have removed the dash panel, heater box and am sorting through the pieces to clean up & identify parts I want to replace. I have sent off my clock & gauges to Rocketman to take advantage of his skills and great reputation but I'm a long way from reinstalling once he's done. My harness is ready to send to Midlife once he's ready for it, but again, I have much to do in the meantime.
My introduction post shows what the interior looked like before I started, but here's where it is today.
I do have an inital question regarding sound absorbers on the interior. The underdash insulation was an absolute wreck so I pulled it down. Hopefully that wasn't an early mistake. So a question for others that have been before me, what did you do with this? I'm thinking that it's probably okay to just to leave it out but don't really know. Haven't ever seen any reproductions the Cowl Top Panel Sound Absorber. I've seen the firewall sound deadeners, but this for above that. Also, on the kick panels, the Right side as an insulation bat, that I can probably reuse. But the Left side has nothing and it doesn't look like it ever had insulation. The Factory Assembly manual clearly shows it should have. Again, is this something others have tried to put in place or felt it was unnecessary??
Thanks for reading/looking...