Hey Brett! No problem, we'll catch you next time. Mick, I hang with your theory, until I saw the thread the other day on the 53 Olds that burned to the ground from the driveshaft rubbing...I think I might put a little clearance in "critical" places. I don't count dragging lake pipes as critical...If they ain't ground flat at the outlets, they ain't kool...kinda like the bottom of your skirts!
Still plugging away and should make the Stray Kat. I insulated the end of the firewall I'd been working on. Started with a layer of layered aluminum and some sort of composite I'm sure. I got some scraps from a friend who works in the aviation industry and it's what they use in corporate jets. Reading up on all this lead me to not needing to cover the entire area with this stuff since it would mostly act as a sound deadener. Covered that with the stuff I got from Lubucrod here on the HAMB. It went down nice and I really like this stuff. Covered most everything. Eventually, I will do the whole car this way, but trying hard to not bite off more than I can chew at the moment. You will note the Ron Francis wiring panel mounted in the last pic. They now have a mounting plate for these that allows you to drop the panel out and work with it out from under the dash....a nice plus as my back ages. After I finished all the odds and ends with mounting things behind the dash and fabbing brackets and mounts, the dash finally made it's final appearance. Woohooo!!! The console is out of place, but will stay for now until I make the switch from the seats that are in the car to a factory bench. I also still need to work out the details of converting the dash levers for the heat/defrost/vents to work the vents and the Vintage Air controls, so the existing controls in the console get to stay for now. You can also see at the bottom of the picture the wiring panel down on the floor. Man, has this made it easy to do the wiring (which is well under way). Once it's all finished, the panel tucks back up under the dash and hangs back on the bracket on the firewall. Another little detail I was able to un-dork was the gas pedal. The car had matching billet pedals when I got it, but the brake pedal went bye-bye already, but I was stuck with the gas pedal. I would really like to change the whole assembly out, but again, another problem for another day. However, as I was digging through some totes for my shrink tubing, I stumbled upon a new pedal pad for a '69 Mustang. The back side mounted up very similar to the billet deal, so a brief side track (I'm sure that never happens to you...only me LOL) found me switching pedal pads and viola, a plain black gas pedal. I think this officially removes all traces of billet from the car. So, at this point, the car is more than halfway wired...which of course is the hard half considering all the planning on wire routing and layout. I have to wire the lights, the sending units, electronics for the overdrive trans, feeds for the power windows and seats and redo the shaved door openers. The steering column still needs painted and the shift linkage done. I also still have to run new brake lines up to the new master cylinder and bleed the system. Hopefully, I will have the wiring pretty much buttoned up this week and that leaves me 3 weeks to finish the other stuff before the Stray Kat. Surely I won't have to pull a few all nighters the days before leaving to get it finished....LOL
Good on ya. Im amazed by how many otherwise-traditional-looking cars are running one of those pedals. Its so glaring when you look inside. Youd think it would be worth 45 seconds with a spray can of semigloss black to make it disappear. Your method is even better.
Looking good Dave. When you get to Dewey can I sit in your Merc and stare at your dash? Dude, that is so kool!! Good luck finishing her up. Happy Trails, Mick
You betcha! Of course, you will recall that this year will be the second year in a row the dash made the trip to Dewey....last year to drop it off to Myers to stripe it. Then there was the year before when my tires made the trip under Duncan's Nomad. I'm looking forward to actually bringing the whole car this year! LOL
Progress continues to be made. The wiring is for all intents and purposes finished. I have a few loose ends to hook up and finish tying up my looms. I hooked up the battery for the first time the other day with fire extinguisher in hand, and was blessed with no smoke anywhere. Almost everything worked right off, but there were a couple of things not behaving. Note to self....something doesn't work like it should and you think it's supposed to, make sure it's plugged in first and check your grounds second. In short order everything was on track. Today I fired it for the first time and was quite pleased to hear it running again for the first time in nearly 18 months. I'd forgotten how nice I thought it sounds. Nothing real exciting to show for pictures, but thought I would share a couple of things of interest. The Chrysler grille bar actually had two sets of lights mounted in it, one set for running lights and one set for turn signals I guess (neither set was working when I got it). The sets didn't match and were poorly mounted behind a lens on each side. I thought it would be better to make a proper bucket for each side and fit it with just one socket each. First step, make a cardboard template: I hate to throw away scraps cuz you never know if you will make something small enough one day to use them. This was my day....two scraps pretty much the right size. Drill a few holes, do a little bending, spray some semi gloss black on the back and fake chrome paint on the front... And wahlah, instant Chrysler grille bar light buckets. Yeah, I know...stupid to weld the sockets to them, but see, at first the holes weren't big enough, then all of a sudden they were just a smidge too big, it was late, I didn't want to start over, it's only two sheet metal screws to drop the backs out to change the bulb....so sue me. LOL Then, this is just cuz it's funny. I have a Merc accessory wheel to put in, but rather than send it in to be recast last year like I should have so I would have had it when I was ready for it, I didn't send it off until 6 or 8 weeks ago. I was told on the front end it would be iffy if I got it back in time, but I'm pretty sure I won't. Thank goodness my buddy Mike (GrumpyJ) loaned me this steering wheel from his old dually. Everyone sing with me..."One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesn't belong..." LOL. So, off to the Stray Kat I will go having "re-dork-ified" my own self with the steering wheel, but it is only extremely temporary. I should have the Merc wheel back shortly, then I will fit the top of the column to the diameter of the wheel (the Merc wheel is a bit wider than the column diameter) and then paint the column to match. At this point it is nearly a driver once again. I still have to bleed the brakes, but I am waiting on the pedal arm to come back from the platers (once again, I waited too long to send my stuff off). To hedge my bets, I ordered another pedal arm this week, so the brakes should be sorted out by the weekend and with any luck I will be driving it to work on Monday for the first time in a year and a half. It's been a lot of work for actually very little noticeable change...the dash is the only one really....but it will finally all work like it should and all operational systems will be "right" and I can get back to driving the wheels off it.
Hmmmmmm. I think you dorkified it back up when you put that console back in a while ago...square does not work with round...but you are correct, the steering wheel, with Chevy emblem no less, certainly doesn't help un-dorkifie it... Ah well, there's the old saying: "it will only get worse before it gets better" ...you must be working on the "worse" part right now... Keep at it, I'm sure it'll get better... R-
Haha! You are right Roger. I am no fan of the console or the 85 (?) Buick buckets that "go" with it. I plan to re-engineer the Merc heat/vent controls to work the Vintage Air controls that are in the console now. I also have a Merc bench that I found to put instead of the late model buckets. Fear not, those changes are coming, but unfortunately, they have to stay for now or I'll never get this thing back together. LOL
Looking good Dave,my 4dr was super dorky I lowered the front 1" and the rear 6"s now it sits level.But it's a moredoor so it'll never be as cool as yours. However my 2dr will be fun., but I don't know if it'll make the road this year but yours will. Like I said, your car is cool.
Nice work Dr. D. I think some folks reading the thread are missing the historical significance of your dash pinstriping.
I like a resurrection project like this because your not unlike alot of us here - dont necessarity have the skill set or time for a full build. So you get what you can afford, or find, and improve it over time. I have a similar project going now with a plymouth and some unfortunate decisions so I am watching this with interest. Good work...
Its good to see people "fixing" cars that just weren't right. I have spent the last 4 years un-dorkifying my Chevy. Sometimes I get pissed at myself for even buying it in the first place but then again, I saved it from a terrible fate of leopard print bucket seats...
Thanks for the encouragement guys! Here's a little something that will maybe help you restore a little faith in me Roger. The merc came with this yuckola large black plastic mirror (complete with shiny silver AAA reward sticker on the back side) of unknown origin: Not only is is ugly and doesn't belong, it is clearly mounted in the wrong place in relation to the garnish moldings. When I went to the Merc Gathering at the Sacramento Autorama a few years ago, one of the things I really wanted to look at was what all the "greats" used for rearview mirrors. Most of them didn't really have anything, and some even had some surprising things (Zocchi's Cool 50 had some kind of chrome mirror attached to a small piece of strap screwed to the garnish molding). The Hirohata Merc had a nice chrome mirror of some 50's vintage that really looked like it fit. I could not get close enough to get a good picture of it, but thankfully, Rik Hoving had a picture that had a decent view of it. Using his picture, a few eagle eyed HAMBers were able to identify it as a '56-ish Cad. Armed with that information and Rik's picture, I scoured the swap meets for such an animal as well as picking up some other contenders (none as good looking, though). Finally, I ran across one at the Iola swap last year. It turns out the Cad has three screws and it looks like whoever mounted the mirror in the Hirohata cut the middle ear off and only used the two outside screws. Fitting it to mine, the third screw is fine, so I left it. Last night after finishing the wiring, I finally got to mess with it and went ahead and mounted it. I apologize for it not lining up well with the garnish moldings....mine fit terrible, so I think it is more a garnish issue than a mirror fitting issue. It still fits closer to the garnish and looks waaaaay better than the late model one. I have another set of garnishes that I will eventually cut and make fit right...and then chrome. While the mirror could use a new head, in the mean time I'm thinking of doing a Minnie Pearl and leaving the $20 price on it...LOL The other thing you can see in these pics is my headliner is toast. It appears that whoever built it never painted the underside of the roof and over time the surface rust has stained the headliner. I have tried to clean it to no avail....but hey, I'd really like a full length tuck and roll one anyhow, right? I did finish all the wiring last night and here is the final view of the fully wired Ron Francis drop down panel before I hung it back on the firewall. Having this down like this sure made it easy to work on, but of course, there was still a fair amount of on my back time under the dash routing wires. Taking out the driver's seat made that much easier. And here we are all hung up where we belong. Man, what an improvement over the fire hazard spaghetti pile I had before. Everything now works like it should for the first time since I owned it. I even have working door openers and don't have to reach in the vent window like I have had to do since I got it. I started it up for the first time in 18 mos. yesterday. What a beautiful sound...I'd forgotten how nice I think it sounds. The brake pedal arm should be here tomorrow or Friday then I can finish the brakes and be ready to drive it. I have a few other odds and ends like clean and mount the radio face in the dash, finish putting the woven loom over the wires in the engine compartment, etc. I'm close, very very close....
Kongrats to ya Dave! I need to replace my late model rear view mirror, Going to start copying your ideas. Happy Trails, Mick
Cheezzee, I wish you woulda asked me for a mirror, I may have a '55 Cadillac, and I think, even one day/nite mirror...hope you're not leaving that fuzzy "muff" on it...and you'd better be close, Mick's event is coming up fast...sorry to say, we won't be there this year...we're going the other direction... R-
Great save! All the right changes are being made. If only you could loose the chameleon prism flame job. Looks great though, good job!
Haha! Well, actually, the one with the muff is the mirror in the Hirohata and the muff was knitted by Jim's wife, then girlfriend in '59, so I guess it's gonna stay there. No furry mirror in mine tho. Shucks, I'm sorry I'm gonna miss you. I was hoping you would be there this year and I could actually meet you in person. The Merc will be ready....this will be my first Stray Kat to actually bring a car. LOL
The way to take care of that wheel is to just put a matching color bath towel over it. Just tell em' the wheel is fresh and you need to keep the sun off it>
The Jalopy Journal
