Thanks guys. I feel like I started with the floors and then did a huge series of detours and only now got them dealt with. The only drawback is that I don’t have a floor hole to sweep debris out of the cabin through anymore. I’ll have to vacuum.
If that ends up being your only problem I would consider it a huge success! I kid, but I love the job your doing on this. Gonna be a looker when you get done with it as long as you don’t paint it flat black and call it done. I would hate you forever!
I’m trying to get a dash color chosen. I want flake, but I also want to be able to match factory Impala upholstery colors in case I just order a kit. One of the major kit suppliers says they’ll sell swatch samples for $25 on their website, but they won’t answer the phone or emails. I did get factory paint color chips and Roth chips so that’s something… Firewall filled and seam sealed. Dash sanded beaten and filled. I think whatever bent the frame left some sore knees, because there were dents on the lower portion of the dash. And sprayed with epoxy primer. I’ve got it sitting with a space heater and a heat lamp. Hopefully I don’t have cure problems. If the primer turns out, I’m hoping to topcoat the firewall mid week when there’s a couple warm days. I’ve got to get my dash paint, flake, and clear coming. I should also find my garnish molding, gauge housings, and steering column stuff.
Thanks man. I just hope my weather holds for the dash. The temps are supposed to drop next Monday and my Bad Azz Blue flake probably won’t show until Tuesday.
It was a busy week. “Interstate Black” Tuesday after work: Then I drug out the Bel Air dash and transferred the trim holes. I also dug around and found most of my dash and garnish chunks that need paint. I can’t find the lower windshield garnish seam filler piece. I should have at least 2, but one might have been stepped on… I found good lower windshield long parts, the knee knocker trim, back window garnish speaker grille, gauge pods, ‘60 Impala glove box, and column parts from the three speed column. I ground the nub off the 3 speed column collar and filled the hole with JB weld. My grinder work wasn’t pretty. My old boss used to call crap like this “pig surgery”. My only excuse was late at night on a Thursday and I should have been asleep already. I dipped out of work early on Friday to get all the little crap into epoxy. After a bunch of finish work, I rushed the primer trying to get into the house and help with kids. I put fat runs in everything and then didn’t get the car tent shit down and heated in time. The runs on the gauge pods and column stuff that may or may not be curing. I also hit the dash with Upol high 5 high build. Saturday I got the surviving garnish stuff in high build. And Omni Royal Blue Poly. I finished the day with 2 cans of Roth Rattlebomb Bad Azzz Blue flake. This is their .004 flake. I could have used a 3rd can, but didn’t know how much to order and those little shits add up. I hit it with 2k clear today and had to pull the masking off. I’m pretty happy, especially for working in a filthy car tent. Next up, fix the primer mess and order another can of flake and clear from Roth.
Looks real good! I know the pain of trying to do painting when the weather is turning cold. If that all cures out properly I'd say you did real well.
Thanks for the kind words! I’ve got a little dust in the dash to clean up and a couple runs on the firewall to sand out, but I got really lucky. I never showed the end result of the pig surgery. It’s still in primer but it’s also much better. And this is glove box door. Glove box door is our new centerpiece on the table. I hope my wife likes it. The runs in my gauge pods seem to be curing so I’ll sand them out soon and keep moving forward.
Runs add character if you don't believe you can sand and rub the gauge pods, lay then out now and go grab a spray can of paint stripper while the paint is still soft. Easier than sanding them back down lol
Apparently the only garnish molding filler I have is the one I stepped so I fixed it. I got the gauge pods, filler, and the column parts painted. I chose the best gauges and assembled the clusters. The lenses aren’t perfect and some of the needles are faded, but I’m going to let them be as long as they work. They cleaned up with some elbow grease.
Even with holidays and the cold, I’ve been busy on the ElCo. The dash had more orange peel than I could ignore so I went after it. My wet sanding water kept freezing under my sand paper, but things worked out. I started with some old 3m compound I had around, but it was causing problems so I switched to some Meguires products and things improved. The bottom bearing on the column was junk so made a new one out of UHMW. I didn’t want to wait a week for the junky stock style and the brass one is out of stock. The column joint was trashed. I built a good one out of two and put a new boot on it. I mostly used the ElCo 3 speed column with parts from the Bel Air and the 59. After surgery it’s a “4 speed” column.
The column was a pain. There’s a surprising amount going on in that tube. I also put a new firewall pad on. I don’t like the plastic retainers the factory used, so I used bolts and fender washers. I painted them after I took the pic. I dug out my ‘60 Impala dash trim and straightened it out and put a shine on it. The area behind the keyhole is gone, but everything else cleaned up. It came out pretty good. The Impala wheel is probably temporary. I was getting the signal mechanism working. I’ve got the Moon, but no adapter yet. Next up, start wiring, heater crap, get a clutch together, and final motor stuff.
I guess calling it a 4 speed column is poor word choice. I meant a floor shift column. The factory ones are hard to find and expensive, so I cut off all the shifter stuff and cleaned things up. A 4 speed column shift would be cool though. It seems like I read that Citroen or someone had that in the 60’s.
Thanks guys. June is coming and I’m pushing! My wife wanted to know why there was a heater core in the sink when she got up this morning.
Great work, great car. I’m really enjoying this one, I especially appreciate your struggles with painting, space and the weather. I’m struggling with the same stuff. Looks like you’re winning those battles. Looks great.
Looking good, column looks good and the paint on the dash buffed out well, I like the lower Impala trim too, looks like it's in decent enough shape. That shit is hard to find, and pricey. Well worth the effort.
Thanks man! It’ll be nice to have a big warm shop some day, but for now I’m hitting it hard with what I’ve got! It is hard to get off my butt and go out when it’s 15F though. Thanks! The Impala dash trim was a must. It looks so good I had to find some. I’ve been watching the auction site since I got the car to get my “cheap” set together. Mine is good enough for this car aside from the area around the keyhole. If I can find a junk one with that shape from the ignition, headlight, or wiper switch, I think could cut it down as a cover/escutcheon for the damage and it would look ok. I’d love to find a Nomad tailgate and twilight trim section as well. They’re hard to find.
Love the blue flake, man that looks good. Thank you for just putting the original gauges back in. Nothing cooler than a OE 59-60 dash. I like following your progress great inspiration to start working on my 60 Camino project.
Awesome! Another ‘60! I’m having fun with mine. I agree that it’s a great dash design and the factory gauges look pretty cool.
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