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First day of reassembly. First thing up is the gnarliest: reinstalling the call-out letters on the front fenders. Gnarly because of the high risk of scraping the fender against the front edge of the door. https://i.imgur.com/mK2PpRI.mp4 A towel provides excellent protection, as it turns out.  The paint over my welds was excellent. Part of the reason on the driver's side, is that they buttered a bit more bondo on there... They ran over the seam. I had to cut it free, sand down to metal, prime & paint the edge. This was acceptable because this entire area will be covered with the stainless trim belt.  The finish is a bit citrusy. You can see overspray on the frame. They evidently hit the inner fender wells as well, but they painted over that with undercoating. Did a fair job of it. They also hit the tires, but cleaned them off (except for what hit the treads). Getting new front tires anyway, so again, no loss.  Eventually got both sides done, including the wheel arch stainless and the antenna mount.  And finished all of the trim installation on the hood:  Next up: doors PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 06:07 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 02:49
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There's a distinct lack of crap being painted. Looks good!
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Mar 15, 2021 10:48
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Pics look awesome. Not looking at it like a car show judge or it was my car it looks fantastic.
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Mar 16, 2021 04:04
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My apologies for the cobwebs. There will be a post within the next couple of days with developments - the last couple of days have been beating me up - the radio failed, and I am trying to remember how I built it exactly, and also re-learn my soldering chops. Because of the weird layout of the dash, a regular ('70-90's) aftermarket stereo can't be substituted for the giant brick 'o' diodes that came from Fisher without cutting the dash, which I will not do. I took a removable-face single DIN JVC and grafted an IDE cable between the face and the body of the unit. I actually posted about this years ago when I did it, and I'll put up the link when I find it...needless to say, I spent about nine hours today trying to repair my unit, then try to fab up a new one. Really whittled down my collection of JVC KDX-980s and -990s. After burning up two soldering irons and trying to figure out how I got everything to work except the volume/jog control, I had to take a break before I hulked out and binned everything. My knowledge of electronics is extremely limited and it shows. I know just enough to come up with hare-brained schemes like this but not enough to just...not do it. If there was any other option that had the combination of ease of use, good looks, and great sound, I'd seriously consider it...but there isn't. (edit) well poo poo, I did it in 2009. Here's what it looks like (from '09): Faceplate  Body   and installed (again, 2009. And completely reversible):   CD changer is gone now since I am now a Zune man. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Mar 26, 2021 |
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Mar 26, 2021 03:08
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What about the hidden style radios that are... Hidden? Which ironically have awful looking controls. Or I see a few marine solutions, or app based or Bluetooth only amps? Assuming the retrosound radios from thr Tempest/Lemans/GTO don't for as direct replacements.
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Mar 26, 2021 03:43
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I spent about $700 over 3-4 years on Custom Autosound's "SecretAudio" set-up. It was the worst POS: non ergonomic control head with cheap-feel buttons; unit pushed out maybe five watts, which meant you couldn't hear poo poo with the top down at speeds over 35-MPH. I bought an amp - actually, one of those EQ-amps like a Sparkomatic, because of the volume and the sound quality was tinny AF. Then, it broke. I wound up buying another rather than wait 6-10 weeks for diagnosis & repair... And the second one died within a year. I said gently caress it & built my own. Got twelve years out of it. There is a marine thing, but the interface looks like the front end of a Cadillac CTS and even if I could find a place to put it, it would be jarring in that car. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Mar 26, 2021 |
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Mar 26, 2021 04:33
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You could go full marine, put a hidden bluetooth receiver/amp in, and just put the stock stereo (or whatever) back in. Looks normal, everything runs off of your phone ... I know there's (probably a lot, but at least a) product like this, but I'd have to check if you want a specific model number - I know a guy with one on his boat. Has zero problems driving a bunch of big rear end marine speakers, nothing is visible except the power switch he wired in.
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Mar 26, 2021 07:15
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Yeah, there are a number of marine radio systems with relatively small control units that allow you to put the amplifier/etc wherever you want. The interface on this Clarion isn't too out there: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_020CMS4/Clarion-CMS4.html There are also systems like this Kicker that are designed to go into a 3" round gauge hole, which might open up mounting options for you as well: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_20646KMC4/Kicker-46KMC4.html
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Mar 26, 2021 19:20
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If you use your phone exclusively for audio and have it on a holder all the time there are a lot of stand alone Bluetooth controllers out there. https://www.sonicelectronix.com/ci2735-marine-bluetooth-controllers-kits.html
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Mar 26, 2021 19:33
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I appreciate the insights and support. I have no music on my phone; I have 50GB on my various Zunes. The Crutchfield stuff looks interesting...if I could ever figure out where to install it that it doesn't look anachronistic or out-of-place. It only took two days, but it's done. Picked up a new soldering iron and thin solder yesterday, and drat, but it made all the difference. I was using an old Weller pistol style after the butane unit died. The new one - another Weller but a wand style - had a nice fine tip and just made pinpoint soldering easier and quicker. Much trial & error & elimination of dead radios - and about six thousand solder joints later, I fabbed up a new radio. The display's a little wonky at the lower right corner where the clock should be, but a new face will fix that. A full 25-watts/channel and room for an amp...but it doesn't really need one.  https://i.imgur.com/uh1VvwR.mp4 SO We can resume with car reassembly. I knew the radio work was going to be especially heinous, so last weekend and earlier this week, the grill was reassembled, and was installed together with the front bumper.    Stopped at the headlights, because at least one of the nylon anchors for the aiming screws broke, and it's been a stone bitch getting a replacement. Another one of those weird things with old cars - you never know what is NLA. I have a fender in the garage loft that I may have to unearth & try to get one from...I'm ordering them anyway if I ever find them, because they're somewhat fragile after fifty years. Meanwhile, I had a senior moment and misplaced the nozzles for the windshield washer system. As it turns out, these are NLA as well. I was doubly screwed because they're weird-looking, I forgot what they looked like, so I couldn't just find something online that was close enough...I wound up in a South Philadelphia salvage yard, where they had not one but two '66 B-body Pontiacs: a 4-door hardtop Bonneville, and a Grand Prix hardtop. They're both basket cases, but a treasure trove of small, weird NLA stuff: knobs, door lock buttons, switches, clocks, fasteners...I scored a replacement headlamp switch knob/shaft; these are reproduced for about $75. I got the nozzles and a few other things before they closed. I will be back there soon! Then, the next day, I found them. Never tagged & bagged... https://i.imgur.com/D9RbMQg.mp4 yup. ANYWAY Did some overspray clean-up...  ...and installed the rear bumper and taillights https://i.imgur.com/bL9KRvq.mp4  https://i.imgur.com/sDmEOic.mp4  https://i.imgur.com/rx89UkO.mp4 And we're in the home stretch! Once the radio is back in, it's door cards, trunk flocking and mat, cowl, and the pinchweld trim. Then we schedule for a new top. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Mar 27, 2021 |
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Mar 27, 2021 04:13
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Oh my god I thought you were joking about Zunes. That is amazing.
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Mar 27, 2021 04:23
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Oh, hell no. No need for a signal, my music when-and wherever; batteries & larger-capacity 2.5" HDs are still available. I rebuilt six, have a half-dozen others, and a huge bin of parts. I love the little guys. I even have a little BT transmitter wart for 'em.
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Mar 27, 2021 05:03
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Krakkles posted:Oh my god I thought you were joking about Zunes. Same, I thought it was a Guardians 2 reference.
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Mar 27, 2021 05:15
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is that the original chrome? that poo poo POPS. looks great if you only have 50GB of music that seems easy to fit on any phone since 64GB is the base storage these days, and it goes up from there. you wouldnt need to carry so many devices, and of course if the media is on the phone theres no concern about connectivity, but if you've got an established system then no reason to change it
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Mar 27, 2021 09:50
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Did you ever find the nylon anchor? I ended up buying a pack from Digikey for my door cards. I was shocked I was able to find anything like it and they were perfect fits. Of course I have no idea what your version looks like. I do recall spending hours hunting one down.
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Mar 27, 2021 10:37
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Raluek posted:is that the original chrome? that poo poo POPS. looks great Raluek posted:if you only have 50GB of music that seems easy to fit on any phone since 64GB is the base storage these days, and it goes up from there. you wouldnt need to carry so many devices, and of course if the media is on the phone theres no concern about connectivity, but if you've got an established system then no reason to change it IOwnCalculus posted:Same, I thought it was a Guardians 2 reference. "THE LATEST TECHNOLOGY!" StormDrain posted:Did you ever find the nylon anchor?... PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Mar 27, 2021 |
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Mar 27, 2021 15:05
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PainterofCrap posted:I'm old and set in my ways in that I like having my music off the grid. As should be obvious, music is the staff of life for me; my cars basically don't run without a decent sound system (funny enough, I listen to podcasts most of the time while working on the road). I also spent countless hours curating my music files, which means going into the metadata of each and every track and updating it so everything is where I expect it to be by album, song, artist, etc. and always plays in order, which is something that iphones and Androids seem to have trouble doing unless using a subscription service and which is a nightmare to do with an already-existing massive file of mp3s (about 150GB). I feel ya man, I could have written this. I still run Phatnoise Phatboxes in my cars, which came out around 2002 and were mostly discontinued by around 2008. They work with pre-2009 Kenwood head units and allow you 100% custom curation of a music library. Clean tag display and instant access as well. I'll be heartbroken when they die and I can't figure a workaround. I hate how phones don't play albums in chronological order by release date. vv I've replaced them multiple times, and replacements that work keep getting harder and harder to find. LloydDobler fucked around with this message at 07:05 on Mar 28, 2021 |
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Mar 27, 2021 22:44
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LloydDobler posted:I feel ya man, I could have written this. I still run Phatnoise Phatboxes in my cars, which came out around 2002 and were mostly discontinued by around 2008. They work with pre-2009 Kenwood head units and allow you 100% custom curation of a music library. Clean tag display and instant access as well. I'll be heartbroken when they die and I can't figure a workaround. I'm amazed the hard drives are still going. That's incredible.
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Mar 28, 2021 01:52
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I was able to salvage one nylon nut out of my parts fender and got the headlights sorted, so the front end is finally done. Moved on to the stereo...Welp, got the radio in and encountered a single issue: The radio won't shut off, even when the car is shut off & the key removed. It will turn off with its own switch, which will be a pain to remember to do every time I park. The unit was unplugged from the car on removal, none of the wiring was touched. I used a KD-SX990 body, but the best face I had was the one that was on the car - it was from a KD-SX980, an older model. I checked the wiring in the jones plugs between the two models, and they are identical (wondered if 12V constant was swapped with the 12V accessory). Either something's gone kaflooie in the unit, or the different face is screwing something up. I'm waiting on some IDE cable connectors; then I can fab up the 990 faceplate & see if that solves it. Literally nothing else changed. Radio sounded great, though, and everything else worked. While I ponder that, the cowl and windshield wipers were installed. It's getting there. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 09:55 on Mar 28, 2021 |
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Mar 28, 2021 03:19
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Only thing I've found I can stand for phone music is an app called music folder player. It just organizes your music by folder/filename. No tag editing required. Free works fine, paid version is $5 I think.
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Mar 28, 2021 04:50
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The final stretch: After destroying three radios and brainstorming a number of solutions (the best modern one being a Polk Audio marine unit that has a surface-mountable display that would fit the requisite spot on the dash) I finally marshalled enough brain cells to find, and order, 16-pin IDE with a male at one end, and a female at another. One eBay delivery later, it took me about an hour to cut the cable in half and solder the cut ends to each component. The female plug was even conveniently right-angled, so it could be glued directly to the back of the faceplate. A lot of continuity tests confirmed what my eyes were telling me: fired it up and it worked perfectly on the first try. Go figure.   Nightmare now in the rearview, the trunk was next. Installed the flocking and mat.    Then: Reassemble the skirts.  Originally was just going to put a little silicone adhesive on the rubber and reattach it with staples. Well, the 55-year-old rubber seals were uncooperative. Also, they were installed a bit haphazardly at the plant. This wasn't noticeable when they were painted red along with the body, but boy howdy it sure stood out when they were black against fresh red. The best I can figure is, they had the Hulk's own power stapler at the Fisher plant: this thing could slam a hardened staple through 20-gauge steel like, well, paper. So, some poor bastard had to hold these rubber seals in place while a device capable of firmly attaching his hand to just about anything, painfully, KA-CHUNKed repeatedly along the edge of this skirt. Must have been a little distracting from the alignment efforts. Yikes. I made staples out of solid SS wire: https://i.imgur.com/lbAVrZ7.mp4 and hand-fed then through the existing holes. Then discovered the lovely seal alignment. So we used the silicone to set the seals, along with a few clamps and magnets...  ...and tape. Then, next day, punched new holes and ran the home-made staples through. Aaaah! Nekkid wheels! Don't look, Ethel!  <whew>  Last task: installing the pinchweld trim. This represents the border between the soft top and the steel body. Which means water rolls down the top and lands right here. Tends to sit. Meaning that it usually rusts out under the stainless trim. Again showing how well this car was maintained by the OO, this area was factory-fresh - although some of the trim clips were pretty rusty. This was chiefly due to the liberal employment of butyl tape, which is more commonly used to waterproof RV bodies and watercraft superstructure. It provides an excellent seal, because it's flexible yet sticky as all gently caress. I just touched two pieces of it together and it nearly melded instantly.  It got hairy during the install of the trim, because the butyl tape grabbed it and I had to employ a plastic mallet to more than tap the trim into position in order to get the body clips to grab & snap on. I tried really hard to not think about what a missed swing would do. Fortunately (um) the only missed swing connected solidly with my thumbnail, which really focussed my attention for a minute or so. My left thumb only has half of the nail due to a crush injury about 20-years ago, and had a fair amount of scar tissue buried in the nail bed, so a solid strike with a mallet really rung it good. It's still throbbing. BUT IT GOT DONE https://i.imgur.com/cQTuyfq.mp4 And thus, the car is done! Yay! https://i.imgur.com/1Qv7pIP.mp4 Just need to repair the boot and clean up the exterior. She's going in for a new top in early May. I changed the oil today & gassed her up. New tires have been ordered, going to give Cokers a try. Oddly, they were the same price per tire through Summit, but Summit charged $20 to ship, whereas Coker wanted $180.
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Apr 9, 2021 05:05
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Well done. And thank you for mentioning the butyl tape. I added that to the shopping list.
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Apr 9, 2021 05:14
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ahh the butyl tape - between that and the "killer red" style tape, these are staples in nearly every job box in the entertainment/events industry - that stuff is no joke. the skirts make the car! Re: audio - I don't know why no one makes a bluetooth unit that is completely controlled by your phone WITH just a simple panel mounted volume dial with on/off - Ok - maybe a little light to remind you its on... but something that you can hide easily - my biggest problem is that none of these things have easily twistable volume knobs - the bluetooth speaker ive been using sounds great and is more than enough for what I need, but its a PITA to turn it down if you need to talk to someone or hear something! Soooo - can I send you my 42 and you can do your magic to it?
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Apr 9, 2021 06:20
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I've been modifying one of the cheap chinese 'retro' bluetooth radios to go in my Saab (as I can mount it in the old 80's style cutouts after hacking the front panel up and 3d printing some bits). They are available under about 20 different brand names at prices ranging from £5-£20 here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TOOGOO-Bluetooth-Vintage-Player-Classic/dp/B07BXFTDZQ/ It has physical knobs which are only soldered to a small circuit board so could be removed and remotely located if your soldering is good enough!
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Apr 9, 2021 11:30
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LobsterboyX posted:ahh the butyl tape - between that and the "killer red" style tape, these are staples in nearly every job box in the entertainment/events industry - that stuff is no joke. Sure, I already have another JVC down on the bench I'm preparing to fab up as a spare before I lose my soldering chops again. If you're serious, I'll make one - you have to chop up your own Ford radio chassis - as the photos show, I gutted a Pontiac radio chassis (I have at least one other. Also, kept all the parts) and hacked a hole in the back to hold the JVC body. This was mainly for convenience - the modern unit could be mounted anywhere behind the dash panel, limited only by the length of ribbon cable. I'm not sure how long that can be before the signal is degraded by resistance. And yes, the lack of tactile controls drives me batty. I keep waiting for the worm to turn on ergonometric control design in cars. Yes, it's neato that a flat glass display can do all that. Especially fun at a trade-show booth. But, look: make the controls identifiable by feel - in shape, in texture, and even how the operation feels (smooth, or with detents/'bumps,' etc.) and folks will adapt and, most importantly, keep their eyes on the road, not staring at a glass display, killing their night vision, and groping for an icon. /end rant Tomarse posted:I've been modifying one of the cheap chinese 'retro' bluetooth radios to go in my Saab (as I can mount it in the old 80's style cutouts after hacking the front panel up and 3d printing some bits). If only I had a normal form-factor opening... This was my alternate choice if I killed every JVC I could find: https://www.mniboats.com/polk-audio-polk-pa450um-bluetooth-stereo-waterproo-p/plk-pa4a.htm I may yet acquire one as a backup-backup before they, too, are NLA. Incidentally, I think I figured out what happened to the radio. Remember, back in January, when I was MIG welding the body? I never disconnected the radio from the chassis...never thought of it. It's the only non-stone-age thing in the car. Bet I fried it. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:41 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 14:42
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That look great, well done.
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Apr 9, 2021 16:09
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Yeah that would do it, were the battery terminals disconnected? I totally understand the desire to hide a modern looking stereo. I'm trying to keep my interior as minimalist as possible and it's especially hard to find a place for the head unit if your interior looks like this:  Stand alone Bluetooth controllers will work with your phone or Bluetooth enabled amp, it just provides a physical knob/pad that you can mount.    I'm planning on mounting my phone to use as a display for track info and navigation. There are quite a few marine and UTV remote displays that are smaller and slimmer than traditional DIN sized units, although now the digital only ones are only a couple inches deep. Bulk Vanderhuge fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 16:37
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Wow, your car looks glorious, and I am so impressed at all the McGyvering you did along the way. Question: Is it possible to get a new top made, or is that so $$$$ that it's not worth considering? Around here (California) there are shops that specialize in repairing/replacing cloth tops.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:26
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It just occurred to me that you skipped the opportunity to source a matching R so the car is labeled "BONERVILLE" and now I'm sad. What kind of a goon are you? Car looks loving awesome and I'm very happy for you.
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Apr 9, 2021 17:31
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Bulk Vanderhuge posted:Yeah that would do it, were the battery terminals disconnected? No...they were not. Forgot all about it. All the 55+ stuff works fine... Is that your ‘65 Mini? Arsenic Lupin posted:Wow, your car looks glorious, and I am so impressed at all the McGyvering you did along the way. Thank you! Yes, tops are made for this car. It’s a full-sized GM; for 1966 the same top kit is probably made to fit all full-sized GM cars for that year. The top with glass window is about $1200 shipped. I’m paying $2200 to have it done by a local upholstery shop (Smitty’s in Westville, NJ). LloydDobler posted:It just occurred to me that you skipped the opportunity to source a matching R so the car is labeled "BONERVILLE" and now I'm sad. What kind of a goon are you? I was only mildly tempted to mess with the lettering. While I do have many extra letters (every once in a while I’d lose a letter off if the deck lid, usually the “I”. Can’t just buy a vowel, you gotta buy the whole set) unfortunately, without altering the sheet metal, they have unique sockets so changing them around is not simple. I’d also have to source an “R.” PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Apr 9, 2021 |
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Apr 9, 2021 20:56
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Oh yeah you gotta go to Sajak's House of Badges to buy a vowel.
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Apr 9, 2021 21:27
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PainterofCrap posted:No...they were not. Forgot all about it. All the 55+ stuff works fine... At least you know now  Mine's a later MK3, I'm trying to emulate the early interior though. Great work, the satisfaction you get from nice, clean reassembly almost makes up for all the drudgery that leads up to it.
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Apr 10, 2021 20:47
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Apologies for the necromancy, but I never posted pictures of the new top that was installed in June. I lost a number of photos from the upholstery shop, but here it was at pick-up:
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Oct 19, 2021 16:46
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PainterofCrap posted:
It was too late, she'd already gotten a free shot...
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Oct 19, 2021 21:08
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PainterofCrap posted:Apologies for the necromancy, but I never posted pictures of the new top that was installed in June. I lost a number of photos from the upholstery shop, but here it was at pick-up: Looks amazing.
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Oct 21, 2021 22:27
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PainterofCrap posted:Apologies for the necromancy, but I never posted pictures of the new top that was installed in June. I lost a number of photos from the upholstery shop, but here it was at pick-up: What a car - I'll never forget the first time I saw a big slab pontiac like that. What a gorgeous car, congrats Bob!
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Oct 22, 2021 04:01
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