Project- Bills Buggy

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HemiMark said:
looks great! love the new top!
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Thanks... I just love the way it looks.. I knew the buggy originally came with a black vinyl, and I always intended to put a vinyl back on this car.. now I know I made the right choice.. this cars gonna look cooool... lol
 
just a couple more of the new top....
 

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Not a ton of progress tonight, but then again, any progress is good progress.. I got my dash all cleaned, prepped and painted.. I think it came out great.. scroll up a few posts back and you can see what it looked like when I got it out of the car.. I got the paint from Totally Auto.. they advertise in the Mopar Collectors Guide.. They said their paints were an exact match in a rattle can.. and they werent kidding.. I ordered B7 blue, and man did it come out nice. I had some interior trim where the paint was still pretty much perfect and compared them to how the dash turned out.. matched exactly.. I am a happy camper.
 

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Looks great! Your Dart's gonna be really nice when you're finished, and the vinyl top is a nice touch. :thumrigh:

Scott
 
So this week will be finishing some detail painting on interior parts, and am slightly bummed.. The dash pad my Dart came with was HOSED to say the least.. so it got replaced. the one that I had to replace it with was black.. didnt bother me, and its been that way since.. so when we ripped the car apart and I repainted the dash we figured we would dye the pad to match.. I dont seem to be able to find anyone with B7 vinyl dye.. and I dont want a shade thats 'close'... So.. I think I may go with re-dying it black and running it that way.. in a way it goes with the theme of the buggy.. its gonna have a black hood with a scoop, the black vinyl top, and black tail stripe.. the black dash pad would seem to continue theme.. Even though the cars name with always be 'Bills Buggy', I may have to retitle the thread to 'project black and blue'... has a nice ring to it LOL .. opinions, thoughts? (I realize its my car and I can do whatever I want, but I still value input from other members.. )
 
I bought a brand new pad from Superior (I think) trim in Ohio....sent them a small piece of my Porno red (marine red) fabric and the matched it perfectly....$285.00 (custom color)includes shipping...New..NO core.....2 week delivery
 
HemiDenny said:
I bought a brand new pad from Superior (I think) trim in Ohio....sent them a small piece of my Porno red (marine red) fabric and the matched it perfectly....$285.00 (custom color)includes shipping...New..NO core.....2 week delivery
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Thanks for the info.. I didnt realize anyone was even making new pads.. However thats gonna be a ways out of my budget range.. at least for this year...worse yet, the original pad is long gone, so I dont even have a sample to send out.. So I think im gonna go with putting a black dash pad back in the 'ol buggy..
 
Just some minor progress to report... after last weeks disaster of trying to put the rear glass in, with the rubber from Steele Rubber, which turned out to be a no-fit POS... I just stayed away from the car for a few days due to frustration.. now that I am mostly past that, lol, I went back to work on the car.. Got the dash back in last night, now that its all repainted.. tonight, we will be putting in the front glass and then carefully and completely covering the vinyl top so we can get back to body work.. I will just have to deal with the rear window later.. maybe by the time the paint flies, this f**king national backorder crap will be done and I can get a rear window rubber.. otherwise, the buggy just will not be finished this year... stay tuned...
 

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Luckily for me, the front windshield rubber I picked up at a swap meet in Columbus a few months ago new in the bag, was perfect.. fit the way it was supposed to, and the glass is in!! :cheers: So, at least one end of the buggy has its glass back in.. While I work on finding a window rubber for the back, we will cover the top Friday night and get back to body work.. Getting the windshield back in has at least turned my mood back around and is getting me back on track for project black and blue.. lol...
 

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Just a little bit of progress this week.. got the dash all rewired (except for the tach as I am relocating that, and the stereo.. gonna re-wire that after the car is back together..) .. and got my new steering wheel in.. I have seen this wheel on several cars, and always thought it was cool.. a lot more 'hot rod' looking than the stocker.. Its gonna be weird at first driving with a small steering wheel lol... at any rate, progress is slow, but its moving..
 

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So... I have said it before, and I will now say it again.. I LOVE THIS SITE!! .. lol.. I have never regretted for 1 day joining this FABO family. The info I have gotten here and the people I have made friends with have meant more to me than I can say. So this update on project black and blue (formally known as project bills buggy lol), is not only an update but a good guys alert as well.. As everyone knows window rubbers are impossible to find now for our a-bodies due to national backorder, blah blah... I have had all kinds of issues with the back (everyones familiar with the Steele Rubber debacle.. if not back up and review or search for my other posts on that) .. I want to thank everyone for their input, words of advice and encouragement during this period where I had become convinced the buggy simply wasnt gonna get done this summer due to not being able to put the rear glass in...

Two members in particular went above and beyond for me and I want them to be recognized.. Snake and Challenger .. I want to thank you both for your help.. Challenger PM'd me out of the blue to let me know he had an original rubber and would just ship it to me to see if it worked.. if it did, great we would work out the price, and if it didnt, just send it back.. I was floored that someone that didnt know me would just send me something.. but sure enough 2 days later the box was at my doorstep... The rubber was in perfect shape, and I am happy to report that buggy again has rear glass!!

This site has been a godsend, and the people in it totally rock.. thanks guys.. Project Black And Blue can now continue.. stay tuned folks...
 

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So, there wasnt alot of progress on the buggy tonight.. at least not in terms of bodywork... However.. we were gonna test something in the harness... where the under dash harness meets the tail harness.. we were gonna check to see if there was power going back to the sending unit for the fuel gauge (the fuel gauge has never worked since I have owned the car.. we changed that resitor (I believe thats what it is) on the back of the cluster for the fuel gauge).. at any rate.. there was no power inside of the car.. none..

After alot of searching, tracing, head scratching, we eventually found 2 problems, one of them a potential fire.. one of the main feed wires for the car was messed up.. where the bulkhead connections are at the fire wall.. Actually had some burnt wire.. you could see where that connection was bad, and there had been some issues.. the second problem was the aftermarket volt gauge had taken a crap.... So.. took the wires of the back of the gauge and hooked them together, and everything worked.. so... fixed the wiring at the bulkhead and I will need a new volt gauge.. but the buggy is alive once again.. so.. unless something else unforseen takes place, body work will start again Friday.. lol...
 
oh ... I forget.. there still is no power coming from under the dash for the fuel gauge.. we believe that either the resistor we put in was no better than the one we took out, or the factory gauge itself is bad.. either way it really doesnt matter to me.. Im not tearing the whole dash apart again (at least not at this point) .. that gauge has never worked, so I really dont mind...
 
your moving and grooving on your project!

wish mine was going as fast and as smooth.

I posted on your other thread about the rear glass issue but it looks like you already found another gasket....AWESOME!

Keep up the good work man...Ill be watching the thread
 
lol, I dont know that its going all that fast, but I thank you for the kind words.. And yea, I now thankfully have the rear glass issue all sorted out, but I thank you for the info you provided me with.. I will be watching and commenting on your thread as well my friend..
 
Not too much new to report on the buggy.. Like FABO buddy DusterDude72, life has kinda ground the project to a halt.. My wife got laid off, money is super tight.. actually thats a good way of putting it.. We're getting ready to dig into the body work this weekend, as I have some of the supplies needed for that.. but its decision time.. Every year my wife and I, and the rest of the gang go to the Mopar Nationals together.. Its a big deal to us, and its our vacation (only 3 days, but still... ) at this point though the money's just not there.. at this point its down to finish the car, or go to the Nats.. not both.. so.. what do I do? Do I finish what I can on the Dart this year so I can at least drive it a bit before winter? or do I put the buggy project on hold and take our vacation with the gang? ugh... well.. I am off to have a couple cold ones and start sanding on the Dart.. Stay tuned folks......
 
Glad to hear your going to be getting some stuff done.....that makes one of us HAHA.

tough call on your dilemma ......but family time is always a good thing and buggy isnt going to disappear just because you can't work on it right away right?

OR maybe you could skip the nats this year and still take the family to do something fun and "get away from it all" that may cost you a little less? that way you get the best of both worlds and can put a little into the project and stilll have a good time with your family.

I know one thing....I spend to much time thinking about getting my duster done and thinking about how broke I am and wishing I could get the duster done that I get myself down in the dumps ......and I always take breaks to spend time with my family and try to keep that stuff off my mind.

so it may take me a year or so longer to finish the project than I originally planned......but oh well, I will get it done eventually.

I can't WAIT to get it done!!!!.....first it started as I could not wait to get it done so I could drive it but that shifted to not being able to wait to get it done just so I can be done with the hole restore process and start actually enjoying the car.....alot of people don't realize not only how financially draining one of these projects are but its also an emotional drain and very time consuming.

anyhow, sorry for the big write up....Ill be keeping tabs on your thread to see what you end up doing.
 
DusterDude72 said:
Glad to hear your going to be getting some stuff done.....that makes one of us HAHA.

tough call on your dilemma ......but family time is always a good thing and buggy isnt going to disappear just because you can't work on it right away right?

OR maybe you could skip the nats this year and still take the family to do something fun and "get away from it all" that may cost you a little less? that way you get the best of both worlds and can put a little into the project and stilll have a good time with your family.

I know one thing....I spend to much time thinking about getting my duster done and thinking about how broke I am and wishing I could get the duster done that I get myself down in the dumps ......and I always take breaks to spend time with my family and try to keep that stuff off my mind.

so it may take me a year or so longer to finish the project than I originally planned......but oh well, I will get it done eventually.

I can't WAIT to get it done!!!!.....first it started as I could not wait to get it done so I could drive it but that shifted to not being able to wait to get it done just so I can be done with the hole restore process and start actually enjoying the car.....alot of people don't realize not only how financially draining one of these projects are but its also an emotional drain and very time consuming.

anyhow, sorry for the big write up....Ill be keeping tabs on your thread to see what you end up doing.
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lol.. yea I do have quite the dilema for sure.. My wife is leaning more towards finishing the buggy.. When we started dating 8 years ago, one of the first things we did together was go to a car show, and we decided then we wanted a car we could cruise to shows with, set up chairs, hang out with friends etc etc... So, I bought the buggy soon after that... and we have enjoyed the Dart very much since, both together and with our gang of Mopar friends.. The Nats has just become another part of it.. she loves the drag racing, and hanging out with all together.. I just dont know.. more than likely we will just finish the car.. That way it will be ready for next years Nationals.. we shall see... at any rate, thanks for listening bud...
 
Gotta a little done on the buggy last night.. Changed the passenger side door.. The original was hit at some point in its life, and although it was totally fixable, I happened across a cherry door, and when I asked the guy what he wanted for it, he said $40... yeah, so I couldnt get the money across to him fast enough lol.. anyways, we hung that door, I didnt get pics cause my iphone was dead, I'll take some pics tomorrow night.. we are gonna wipe the car down and start sanding her down.. stay tuned
 
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