[kingbuzzo]

I'm not happy with my abs unit either but living with it - its like it is too heavy to support itself and of course there is nothing to hold itself up under its own weight if that makes sense - yes, the rear contour isn't quite right either...ah well

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

First major snag that slowed things down was the attempted installation of new carpet. The purchased carpet was so poorly molded that is just looked terrible. Spent over 30 hours trying to work it out and get a decent fit in the footwells and around the transmission hump. Bought additional Jute backing to try and "crutch" it together to look proper and fit nicely. Had an interior expert come over and work with it for several hours as well. Finally decided it was a no-go. Took it all back out, cut it up and threw it away. Ordered a second set direct from ACC. It was much better quality than the first set, with tighter loop and more dense backing. Also a slightly less intense shade of black. (different vendor of dye lot?). Anyway, it did install much better and looks good after about 20 hours of additional fitting. I give it an honest 8 out of 10.

Was the first set from ACC as well?

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Held for Ransom

Was the first set from ACC as well?

I am really sorry I can't say 100%. It came from Classic Industries and was in an OER box. I assumed it was ACC because I also assumed they were the single source supplier for everyone. So I just don't know. The second set was in a ACC box. Definitely different carpet The loop, color of black, and the backing, all different. The stuff from OER was garbage. The headliner that would not install had a PUI label on it. Should have known it was going to be substandard like most of their stuff. I do appreciate the way Ames does "grade" most of their products. That is helpful when buying many aftermarket products. I would give the first carpet set a "D". The second carpet set a "B" The headliner from PUI a D+. Bought a vent cable from Ames for the front vents. It didn't work properly either. It was way too loose in the plastic bushing that is supposed to provide friction to keep the vent in a set position. Had to take it all back apart which is a major job, removing the parking brake and being so very careful. Had to put the cable in a lathe and knurl the stem to provide some friction in the bushing so the damn thing would work like the other 3 original ones. This all took almost 8 hours of labor by the time it was all done. This kind of stuff is infuriating when yiou pay almost $60.00 for a 1 ft. long manual cable that is worth about $5.00. All part of the experience I guess. It's been this way with almost every aftermarket part I have purchased. The only part I can think of that installed perfectly were the bucket seat hinge covers. Looked perfect and installed nicely. Even the seat divider between the back seat and the trunk needed extensive cutting and fitting around the little EVAP canister behind the back seat. And the divider was black instead of tan cardboard like the original one. Had to prep and paint it tan.

[jhein]

This thread has over 70,000 views. That's awesome.

[mgarblik]

That is allot of views. I appreciate the interest in this cool car and the helpful posts many people have made. It was also to great to meet and talk to several contributors to the forum at the TA Nationals last week. Dan and Dennis Jensen come to mind as well as Jeff Dennison. Hundreds of years of experience among members here. Will post some interior pics soon, want to keep this positive and interesting.

[77 TRASHCAN]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

I normally pre-fill the filters as well. Just habit. I didn't on the first fill because I was going to prime it anyway. Don't know if it makes any difference or not. Most modern cars have canister style filters on the very top of the engine. So no way to pre-fill them. I was surprised the pan was pumped mostly dry with a 5 quart fill.

There was a thread here, years ago about pre-filling or not pre-filling filters. Was WAY too long winded.
I don't understand how prefilling an oil filter could EVER be a bad thing. The first place oil is pumped to is the filter!!! Having a full filter upon startup could only be a good thing...

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Usually about 6qts with a new filter.

If you ever use 10w40 oil make sure to get engine to full operating temp before any meaningful revs.
Those 80lb pumps can blow a filter loose with ambient temp 40w and a crack of the secondaries.
I did that once .
Went right back to 10w30.

[Gator67]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

. The aftermarket stuff has been another story. Almost without exception, every part has some type of flaw or issue that renders it completely non-usable or requires extensive modification to make it look correct or function.
I will admit up front that I loath doing interior and trim work. But it's a necessary part of the project of course...So between the carpet and headliner I have thrown about $600.00 in the trash. Not the end of the world, but not great either. Learning experience fee, I guess.

I couldn't agree with you more about this...I had similar issues with carpet kits and the one-piece headliner, but there's a lot of other repro stuff that doesn't work well for one reason or another...garbage windshield and rear window molding kits, visor hinges that are too stiff and break, misshapen mirror pads, parking light housings for the early cars with defective bulb sockets, clips, miscellaneous hardware and screws, windows/glass, and so on. Sure, there's a lot of reproduction stuff that works well and I'm glad it's available, and it's possible to work with things like the carpet and and headliner kits that are available to get an outcome that's "OK" for a nice driver. But dealing with bad parts is a huge waste of time and money (roughly 3% of the total cost on the last build I did). Can't imagine the headache and cost it must take to do a #1 car with what's available.

[mgarblik]

I just received my new headliner, (foam backed material only), from Ames Performance Engineering. The box was smashed in pretty deep on one end, about 3-4 inches. I was expecting the worst. A big Kudos to Ames! They had the delicate material rolled on a thick cardboard tube with shrink wrap bands. Then they had packed the ends of the box with 6" of brown paper packing. A superior job of packing to assure it would arrive here undamaged. This material is different from the PUI stuff on the pre-assembled ABS boards. This material is from Acme interiors. It is a tiny bit thicker and has a more dense backing foam in dark gray vs white. Hopefully, it will glue on without wrinkles and drama and I can but this unpleasant part of the project behind me. The theory is the original cardboard backing fit in this exact car for 51 years. So it should go back in and fit once recovered. We will see if theory and reality align sometime in the next week. Lots of prep work to do on the original cardboard. I will take some pics of the process.

[mgarblik]

Here are some pics of the interior at this point. The big install to come is the headliner. I expect things to move forward more quickly after that. pic 1 original dash and pad. pic 2 original back seat pic 3 NOS package shelf and speaker grille pic 4 replacement seat divider, painted pic 5 original headliner backer board

[mgarblik]

Couple more pics. pic 1 dated headliner backer board. pic 2 original front seats with restored tracks.

[Held for Ransom]

Was the date on the backside of the headliner board? I never noticed one on mine.

[mgarblik]

Yes, I don't know enough about these cars to say if they all were dated. It lines up with other parts dates however.

[sdbob]

I've always used 10w40 in my street car and race car. Street car always had a good filter Delco then Fram HP,LEE,Now NAPA GOLD. The tall one. Yes I've warmed car up. Yes in race car I put RAIV spring. I havent blown filter as of now.
Following your build.i thought I was the only one that had problems with new parts.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by sdbob

I've always used 10w40 in my street car and race car. Street car always had a good filter Delco then Fram HP,LEE,Now NAPA GOLD. The tall one. Yes I've warmed car up. Yes in race car I put RAIV spring. I havent blown filter as of now.
Following your build.i thought I was the only one that had problems with new parts.

I have never had an oil filter come off a running engine in my lifetime. My experience would be many thousands of vehicles. Can't say exactly but 50 years and probably 200-300 vehicles a year. Have I seen them leak? Absolutely! Too tight, too loose, double gasket, wrong thread size for application, leaking at crimp, hole from rock or other object, I have seen all that. But a properly installed filter, correct for the car just blowing off, no. I would never say it can't happen, but very rare. I have seen multiple new filters with NO THREADS cut into the plate. So defects are out there. Most spin on's have a burst rating well over 200 PSI. Racing filters generally over 300 PSI. On our funny car nitro engine, with the 70 wt. oil and belt driven oil pump we saw 200-220 PSI on a cold start and warm up. Spin on oil filters. Down track oil pressure 160 PSI + . No canister failures in 10 years. We used WIX racing spin on filters.

[HWYSTR455]

I've run PF24s forever, never blew one off. I had one balloon some, but that was from a bad batch that came from MX (media collapsed). I have like 3 PF24s left, and a box of Wix. Since the PF24s are getting harder to come by, I'm switching over.

I am constantly battling new parts, it never ends. But what can you do? Even a lot of NOS parts are second-run stuff, you run the same risks. We should just be happy I guess, that we actually can GET parts. Was not that easy back in the 'dark ages'.



.

[mgarblik]

Spent several hours getting the cardboard headliner backing stripped and ready for new foam backed vinyl. It was a very dirty job. Recommend a full face respirator for this job. Tomorrow plan to test fit the board without the new material installed. This is to to devise a plan to get it in without damage and check the contours of the board. I removed the steering wheel and rear view mirror for better access and room to position the board. Plan to do final install late this week.

[mgarblik]

Spent several hours yesterday cutting, fitting, and gluing the foam backed vinyl headliner material to the OE backer board. We took great care to maintain the shape and curves of the backer board by not applying too much pressure when adhering the material. It is a one shot deal, no second chances. Once that foam touches the adhesive, it's over! I am happy with the results. During the 24 hour drying period, you can see the edges did pucker up where it shrunk a little and pulled tight to the board. Those edges will be trimmed off tomorrow along with the holes being cut for dome light, sun visors, shoulder belts.

[Skip Fix]

For those cardboards that have a crack or crease where they should not I have seen interior guys on the back side spray glue some posterboard to give it support.

[mgarblik]

Originally Posted by Skip Fix

For those cardboards that have a crack or crease where they should not I have seen interior guys on the back side spray glue some posterboard to give it support.

That's a good idea. There is one area near a sail panel where we may have to do something like that. We test fit the cardboard before covering it with material. One back corner area had too much bend in the board. I put a heavy weight on it for a couple days and it seemed to relax and fit better. Going to try and install it in the next couple days again. We have had a run of 5-6 days of great weather so I want to take advantage of that.