What did you do to your car today?

[sicndhed]

Installed one of the new exterior door handles since I had some spare time. It was a pain in the butt at times, but the old ones were so pitted. Here are the results..

CHANGING HANDLE- Those rusty clips that hold on the door vinyl really hurt when they decide to scratch you. Good thing I have my tetanus shot.

You can't have pitted handles on a new paint job. I am starting the finishing touches on the exterior. Next is to paint the black plastic trim around the vinyl top to get rid of the chips.

I stopped by and gave Jill a pat on her spoiler. She is still at my friends place. He thought he'd bring her to my house a couple of weeks ago but life got in the way.

I am guessing "Jill" is the cars name. My cousin named my car Melvin.. Its a guys name, but I am a girl and I feel like a guys name would suit it better. To be honest, the name has not stuck, I have to think long and hard until it pops up in my mind.

Yep, The brown '71 is called Jill. Most of our stuff has names. There's some redundency in the garage so names are useful around here. Years ago my Mother and I had matching T/As (we didn't try to do that but I happend to get a great deal on one very similar to hers). Mine was called Tony because he looked like a car so many disco boys wanted back then.

 

[Mister 4x4]

With my wife's help (I think she's really getting into this) we managed to get the dashboard completely back together today. It got too dark for pics, so I'll get a few tomorrow.

Yesterday, I got all of the last pieces of trim painted and ready to go back in. Safelite made a tactical decision to bail on yesterday's appointment and bring both windshields while pushing off 'til tomorrow - so hopefully, it'll have glass in it by the end of the afternoon. (Gonna see if I can also bribe the window tech into helping me install the backlight - either on or off the clock... I don't care which).

I did happen to notice that the oil pressure, temp, and fuel gauges seem to be working... didn't hook up the ammeter (I guess I'm paranoid of the potential for a fire or something (the dashlight sockets WERE somewhat melted, after all). Makes no difference, since I'm going to pull the gauges and speedo cluster and send 'em off to RCCI sometime after next weekend anyway (I ran out of time procrastinating - gotta get it in the car show this weekend).

So tomorrow: Safelite for the windshield and backlight, F & R molding, trunk carpet kit, quarter trim panels, seat belts, door panels, Mach 1 & Ram Air decals, sun visors, headliner trim pieces, door sills scuff shields, kick panels, rear window louvers, and toss in the center console.

Friday: pick up a trailer from U-Haul, fire up the Jeep and bring it to the house, and finish up whatever didn't get done on Thursday.

 

[rolandmhall]

HID lights installed. Still need to wire the halo (Yellow) lights to the park lights. Painted the trim rings body color. Nice subtle effect IMO.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

bought some used 17x10.5 rims with some 315-35 17 Nitto 555 tires mounted and came home and put them on the car. Not only are they a near perfect match for my standard set of wheels for the street, but they fit very nicely. The 5 lear rear springs and the Caltrac traction bars should hook these babys up!

 

[Mister 4x4]

We have glass!!! The Safelite guy showed up and had the windshield installed in about 40 minutes - rear-view mirror installed, anti-vibration strip, molding and all! ::thumb::

Then, I bribed him with some sweet tea (he's originally from Florence, SC), and he agreed to drop the backlight in. It went smooth, but the rear molding was a PITA and has a few 'dimples' (stress bends) because the metal's so thin. Oh well - what'cha gonna do? The louvers should detract from them enough - so I'm not worried... it's all shiny and new, so it's all good. He told me if I wanted to order new molding, they'd pay for it - I ain't gonna worry about it.

He presented me with the bill for the front windshield only, so I slipped him $100 for the extra work and extra hour he spent getting the back glass in. He commented on how cool the car was, and said he intentionally waited until the last job of the day, so he could spend all the time he needed getting it right. His son is into hot rods, so he took a video of the car running and walked all around it. What a cool guy - I hope he's the one to fix the rock chip on the Ram when I take it there soon.

We also just barely finished cleaning up and got the car back in the garage not even a half hour ago, so once again... too dark for pics. :shy:

We also manged to get the quarter trim panels, door sills, kick panels, center console, and back seat installed - all we have left is door panels, the headliner trim around the door/quarter window opening, Mach 1 & Ram Air decals, seat belts, louvers, and trunk carpet kit. Should be able to knock all that out tomorrow (I lost 3 hours today helping the glass dude - and staying out of his way, too).

SO EXCITED!!!

 

[rpmcarter]

Ahh well it's Monday right? I will order some parts today so I've got them for this weekend.........

WHAT? ....tomorrow IS this weekend???? Geez...did it again!

 

[OMS]

bought some used 17x10.5 rims with some 315-35 17 Nitto 555 tires mounted and came home and put them on the car. Not only are they a near perfect match for my standard set of wheels for the street, but they fit very nicely. The 5 lear rear springs and the Caltrac traction bars should hook these babys up!

Jeff they look good but...

The only thing wider tires will do with your motor is

make more smoke

 

[[email protected]]

Hey all, new to this forum so if I post in wrong section I apologize in advance. So today I pulled out all my interior trim and unfortunately both my A-pillar pieces are broken at the top where it meets the strip across the windshield. Does anyone know of a company that reproduces these for the 71 Coupes? Or does anyone have any for sale? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

bought some used 17x10.5 rims with some 315-35 17 Nitto 555 tires mounted and came home and put them on the car. Not only are they a near perfect match for my standard set of wheels for the street, but they fit very nicely. The 5 leaf rear springs and the Caltrac traction bars should hook these babys up!

Jeff they look good but...

The only thing wider tires will do with your motor is

make more smoke

And your point is?

 

[c9zx]

bought some used 17x10.5 rims with some 315-35 17 Nitto 555 tires mounted and came home and put them on the car. Not only are they a near perfect match for my standard set of wheels for the street, but they fit very nicely. The 5 leaf rear springs and the Caltrac traction bars should hook these babys up!

Jeff they look good but...

The only thing wider tires will do with your motor is

make more smoke

And your point is?

Looks good! Smoke-em-up. Chuck

 

[Jeff73Mach1]

I may get some video of just that this weekend! Washed the old girl this afternoon. My yearly task is now complete.

 

[rottenralph]

Can't wait to hear how the ride is with 35's. My 40's are not very user friendly on rough roads.

I change the fuel pump in the work parking lot. My car sits so low I had to jack it up 8 inches just to get underneath 1t to remove the nut on the underside.

 

[captthundarr]

This is in the way. Anybody want to buy it.

 

[rpmcarter]

This is in the way. Anybody want to buy it.

76?

Price /condition ?

 

[captthundarr]

75. Overall good cond. Dad put a new top and paint on it in 2001 then had health issues and it been under his car port since. I'm getting it road worthy for sale. They, mom and pop, want around 2grand. Neg. It is/will be driveable but needs int. work. The funds from the sale will go to my wifes 71 conv.

 

[Mister 4x4]

OK - just finished up... literally, not even 15 minutes ago - which means no pictures again. But all that stuff I was planning to get done, got done... except for the louvers and seat belts. Since it's getting trailered to the car show tomorrow, no biggie. In the next few weeks that I get some final things done before I start actually driving it, they'll be the first things to go in.

Oh yeah - Nobody told me I'd have to pull the dash pad to get the A-pillar trim back in... whatsamatter with you people? rofl

The door panels took almost 3 hours between the two of 'em, and the driver side was very much NOT like the passenger side (speaker hole was marked, and the door latch handler pocket was pretty well defined... not so much on the driver side panel). Oh well - got through it all and I'm absolutely amazed at how hugely different the car looks, feels, and sounds now that all the interior is back together.

My wife was a HUGE help in all this - today she went around and painted all the self-tapping sheet metal screws I'd used with a black paint pen, hung the sunvisors, and even put the whole trunk carpet kit in all by herself. I think she actually enjoyed it, too - which is a far cry from when I first got the car home. She's been focused on helping me meet my goal of getting the car to the show this weekend, partly because she was almost as mad as I was after the fiasco of the Auto Hobby Shop closing this past April and the way they treated Jim and I. I don't think I'll get an award or anything and I'm not expecting it to, but I feel like I've won the world because I have the satisfaction of having this fine automobile to show off and can honestly say, "Look what I did." I think it'll be a big hit, awards or no.

OK - I'm rambling... most likely from food deprivation (had breakfast and blew through lunch - eating a sandwich right now, though). Guys, I can't thank you enough for sticking with me all these years in taking this car from the rusty pile I [literally] dumped off the trailer at the Auto Hobby Shop to the awesome car it has become. I promise to get a ton of pics tomorrow and will post up a bunch tomorrow after the car show's done.

 

[matrixx]

You have done so much work to that car I just can't fathom your dedication to it.

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[matrixx]

Started playing with the front bumper and gave it a few coats of matching paint. It has cracks in it so I'm not worried about it looking pristine but I was tired of the ugly thing not matching.

I guess it'll do for now.

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[lduke12]

Starting prepping the old girl to remove the 351c and put in the 521 Big Block.

 

[rolandmhall]

Rear brakes are fixed. Had to adjust the rear calipers and e brake cables. HID low beam and Halo lights now wired up. Next stop stereo install...