I was having issues uploading to Photobucket so I haven't bothered updating progress .... that seems to have now corrected itself, so here's a condensed update of recent progress
As mentioned previously, the column had a ton of primer overspray on it. I sanded it down, did some masking, and gave it a spray. I do have a HVLP gun, but in this case I just used a rattle can, as I will with the dash before I reinstall the dash pad.
Looks much better! The signal arm was covered in overspray also. It cleaned up pretty good.
.......and the horn now works as it should.
I ended up pulling out the front seats, console and carpet and removed all the "insulation" that had been installed. It just bugged me. The floor actually looks really good. There was a little surface rust on the drivers front floor from moisture sitting under the insulation. I cleaned it up and gave it a little spray.
The previous owner had run secondary wires for the back-up switch. I prefer things original so I chased down the issue with the power to the switch. Turned out to be a bad fuse contact in the fuse panel. I removed his wiring and re-attached the stock wiring to the switch plug.
This was after I fixed a blown apart back-up switch. He or someone had tried repairing it and broke the crimp clips off the switch. It was lying in pieces when I removed the carpet.
I reassembled the switch, mixed up a little JB weld, and glued the case back together, clamped it and let it set. The switch now is reinstalled and works, and it didn't cost me $90 for a new switch.
The carpets were filthy so once out I peeled off the jute backing and took them to a Laundromat (the missus wouldn't have approved of using our machine, lol) and ran them through a cycle. Brought them home and hung them. Left them out for approximately a week with numerous major rainstorms. They came out really nice considering what they started like.
I cleaned up the jute backing and just laid it in position.
With the seats, carpet and console back in, it looks pretty good. When I got the car the console wasn't sitting level. With the interior out I saw the rear bracket was bent. I straightened it and everything sits square now.
I also picked up a trunk mat. I need to cut out a tire well cover and find a narrower spare, but it does look better.
I'm currently working (still) on the dash. I picked up a replacement gas gauge and temp gauge that hopefully work. The printed circuit board is fighting me. I am getting good at replacing pins though! If one more fails, I'm going to abandon the round connector, pick up some wired dash bulb plugs and hard wire the dash with an eight connector plug. I'm done dealing with pin repair.
That more or less brings things up to date.
Allan.
