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- Jan 30, 2009
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Your dash with its dash pad delete looks Awsome! I can't wait to see it put all together. Keep up the good work
The Darwin Project
- Thread starter Darwin
- Start date
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Backtobasics
Well-Known Member
Nice progress!
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
While the car is at the trim shop for the headliner we thought it would be a good time to work on the dash bezel. We started by removing the gauge cluster from the back side. Removed the oil, gas, alt., and temp gauge lenses and speedo and vacuum lenses by using a blunt stone bit on a dremel tool. Carefully ground off the mushroomed plastic just enough to expose the remaining plastic stud. Cleaned the lenses and repainted the metal gauge bezels with flat black.
Painted the entire dash bezel, heater and radio bezels with Rustoleum Pro high performance enamel, color: aluminum. Dries to a nice flat finish, should contrast the newly painted dash nicely. We experimented with several different silvers and the rustoleum gave us the look we wanted.
Reassembled the gauge lenses and bezels with JB Quick, let dry and assembled the rest if the dash bezel. Still need to repaint lettering on the heater control. I'm going to use a firm rubber pad on the end of a dowel to paint the letters, kind of like block printing, I'll put some paint on a piece of cardboard, dip the rubber pad in the paint and dab the letters. The last pic shows the bezel on the glove box door. I think it turned out pretty nice.
Painted the entire dash bezel, heater and radio bezels with Rustoleum Pro high performance enamel, color: aluminum. Dries to a nice flat finish, should contrast the newly painted dash nicely. We experimented with several different silvers and the rustoleum gave us the look we wanted.
Reassembled the gauge lenses and bezels with JB Quick, let dry and assembled the rest if the dash bezel. Still need to repaint lettering on the heater control. I'm going to use a firm rubber pad on the end of a dowel to paint the letters, kind of like block printing, I'll put some paint on a piece of cardboard, dip the rubber pad in the paint and dab the letters. The last pic shows the bezel on the glove box door. I think it turned out pretty nice.
Slappy
Well-Known Member
Looking great! Keep us posted
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Thought I would put my 29+ yrs as a sign painter to good use. Cleaned and painted the grill emblem. Feels good to get the brushes out every once in a while, don't do much hand lettering anymore, about 95% of what I do is vinyl or digital print. Oh well,got to keep with the times.
I liked the look of the dash bezel so I gave the arm rests the same treatment, chrome was shot anyway. I'm thinking of doing the same on the trim around the front seats, kind of ties everything together.
Hope the car comes home from the trim shop soon, can't wait to get the dash in as well as the rest of the interior stuff.
I liked the look of the dash bezel so I gave the arm rests the same treatment, chrome was shot anyway. I'm thinking of doing the same on the trim around the front seats, kind of ties everything together.
Hope the car comes home from the trim shop soon, can't wait to get the dash in as well as the rest of the interior stuff.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Picked the car up from the trim shop today, they did an awesome job with the headliner. When I dropped the car off I also gave John, the owner, the old headliner with the bows still in it so he wouldn't have to guess what bows went where. The headliner came from Dante's and John said he never had one that fit so tight, and hes been doing this for 35+yrs. He mentioned that one of the sections was slightly narrower than the ones on the original, thus the fit. I'm kind of glad it was a bit smaller, made for a really nice fit. I was going to attempt this myself, glad I didn't given the extra tight fit.
Got the rest of the interior trim put back in and glass will be going in tomorrow.
I haven't been able to find a suitable front bumper so I'm going with what I've got. Its in pretty rough shape so we spent a couple of hours twisting and straightening and there isn't much chrome to speak of so we're going to paint it body color. And as long as we're doing that, decided to shave the bolts and turn signals. going to make up some LED's to put in one of the grill squares or go with a head light with integral turn signals. We will also be painting the rear bumper and shaving the bolts there as well.
Got the rest of the interior trim put back in and glass will be going in tomorrow.
I haven't been able to find a suitable front bumper so I'm going with what I've got. Its in pretty rough shape so we spent a couple of hours twisting and straightening and there isn't much chrome to speak of so we're going to paint it body color. And as long as we're doing that, decided to shave the bolts and turn signals. going to make up some LED's to put in one of the grill squares or go with a head light with integral turn signals. We will also be painting the rear bumper and shaving the bolts there as well.
4spdcuda66
Well-Known Member
That headliner looks like a great fit!! Maybe that rough looking bumper is for the better anyway, now you have an excuse to do something unique.8) Progress is looking good, keep the pics coming.:cheers:
Excellent workmanship. Great choice of colors. Best of all your son looks like he is having a great time with you there restoring Darwin.
daves66valiant
68 Dart 340/727:66 Signet Vert 340/5spd: 68 D100
Looks great. Nice job on the dash.
Looking forward to seeing how you mount the LEDs in the cheese grater grill. That should look really sharp.
Looking forward to seeing how you mount the LEDs in the cheese grater grill. That should look really sharp.
bamacuda
Well-Known Member
one word: "Sweet!"
PapstXX
Well-Known Member
Nice job on the headliner
cudaspaz
Well-Known Member
Looking great!
So what wheels are you going with?
So what wheels are you going with?
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Thanks for the kind words guys.
cudaspaz, as for wheels, right now I'll be using a set of magnum 500s that I had in my Volare back in the day. They aren't the chrome ones, so I blasted them and painted them the same color as the refurbished grill. At some point I'd like to get a set of 17" Coys with the black centers.
Got the glass in, its starting to look a car again. I got the front and rear window seals from Dantes along w/new locking strips but he sent me the wrong locking strips so I cleaned up the old ones with a scratch pad and painted them with black vinyl trim paint. The chrome was shot on them anyway and I couldn't wait for replacements to show up. I think the black window trim gives the car a nice updated look.
If you hadn't noticed, I went with a rear quarter spear delete. I'll be using the leading point of the spears, about 3-4", because of the tail light design.
cudaspaz, as for wheels, right now I'll be using a set of magnum 500s that I had in my Volare back in the day. They aren't the chrome ones, so I blasted them and painted them the same color as the refurbished grill. At some point I'd like to get a set of 17" Coys with the black centers.
Got the glass in, its starting to look a car again. I got the front and rear window seals from Dantes along w/new locking strips but he sent me the wrong locking strips so I cleaned up the old ones with a scratch pad and painted them with black vinyl trim paint. The chrome was shot on them anyway and I couldn't wait for replacements to show up. I think the black window trim gives the car a nice updated look.
If you hadn't noticed, I went with a rear quarter spear delete. I'll be using the leading point of the spears, about 3-4", because of the tail light design.
chryslerfat
Well-Known Member
Are the seals you got 1 continuous piece or did you have to bond the seam to make it 1 piece?
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
chryslerfat, the seals are one piece, got them from the paddock but you may want to check with Dantes, I think their price might be better, that was the case with my headliner.
chryslerfat
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the info.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
The first is of the mag 500's that we are using on the car for now. We sand blasted and painted them. I think they'll look great, don't see many early Cuda's with these wheels.
Got the front bumper finished and mounted. The rear bumper is done too, pic didn't turn out, its the same painted treament.
Put some of the other exterior trim on as well, door handles and locks, trunk lock, "wrestling belt" below rear window (as my son calls it).
Gave the car a good exterior detail.
Got the front bumper finished and mounted. The rear bumper is done too, pic didn't turn out, its the same painted treament.
Put some of the other exterior trim on as well, door handles and locks, trunk lock, "wrestling belt" below rear window (as my son calls it).
Gave the car a good exterior detail.
3406pk
Well-Known Member
Really good looking car and paint job. You and painter are doing good work.
The_night_rider
Sheriff of Rockridge
looking damn good
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
I know its been a few months since I posted anything, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working on the car. Just haven't had much time to sit in front of the ol' computer.
Check out what I found. I was digging through an old tool box in the basement looking for the center caps for my magnum 500s and WOW there it was, a gas cap. I had searched for months, on line, at swap meets, and asked every mopar guy I know if they had one. Here the thing was, lying in the bottom of my old crusty tool box for the last 25+ yrs. I don't remember what its off of or why I even had it, but I was sure it was for an early A body. Well sure enough, here it is, all painted up and lookin' pretty.
Check out what I found. I was digging through an old tool box in the basement looking for the center caps for my magnum 500s and WOW there it was, a gas cap. I had searched for months, on line, at swap meets, and asked every mopar guy I know if they had one. Here the thing was, lying in the bottom of my old crusty tool box for the last 25+ yrs. I don't remember what its off of or why I even had it, but I was sure it was for an early A body. Well sure enough, here it is, all painted up and lookin' pretty.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
Got the dash put back together, rebuilt the heater box and installed it.
All interior door panels and trim are in, including arm rests and window cranks.
Got the rear view mirror, visors and dome lights installed. The seats are cleaned and ready, waiting on new carpet.
We reinstalled the wiring loom and I hope to start working on exterior lights and trim soon. I still need to fashion some kind of LED front turn signals in the grill to replace the factory bumper mounts which are no longer there.
Here are the latest pics of progress to this point.
All interior door panels and trim are in, including arm rests and window cranks.
Got the rear view mirror, visors and dome lights installed. The seats are cleaned and ready, waiting on new carpet.
We reinstalled the wiring loom and I hope to start working on exterior lights and trim soon. I still need to fashion some kind of LED front turn signals in the grill to replace the factory bumper mounts which are no longer there.
Here are the latest pics of progress to this point.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
...
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
We finally got around to the tail lights. We completely disassembled them, removed all lenses, soaked them in mild soap solution and cleaned with a soft bristle brush. When dry, polished the lenses with compound and reinstalled in cleaned and polished tail light housing. The chrome trim around the reflector in the backup lense was pitted pretty bad so I removed those cleaned off all the chrome, filled the pits with body filler and repainted them the same color as the wheels.
Darwin
Evolutionary Member
The quarter panel spears were pretty bent up from the PO not removing them very carefully so I made a few modifications. I figured they were a little too long from the factory anyway so I shortened them up a bit.
First measured and marked them with masking tape where I wanted to cut. I then used a cut off wheel on the dremel, gave me a nice clean cut. I then cut a small piece of .024 aluminum contured to the shape of the tip of the spear as a filler and secured it in place with JB weld. When dry I put a piece of two sided foam trim tape on the back side of each spear covering the filler piece. I didn't want to drill new holes in the top of my quarters since I was planning to delete the spears all togehter, but do to tail light design I had to do something to finish off the leading edge of the tail lights. What you see in the last two photos is what I came up with. I think they turned out pretty nice. What do you guys think?
First measured and marked them with masking tape where I wanted to cut. I then used a cut off wheel on the dremel, gave me a nice clean cut. I then cut a small piece of .024 aluminum contured to the shape of the tip of the spear as a filler and secured it in place with JB weld. When dry I put a piece of two sided foam trim tape on the back side of each spear covering the filler piece. I didn't want to drill new holes in the top of my quarters since I was planning to delete the spears all togehter, but do to tail light design I had to do something to finish off the leading edge of the tail lights. What you see in the last two photos is what I came up with. I think they turned out pretty nice. What do you guys think?
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