[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by srmmmm

My 70 Esprit came with the glass mount style, delivered in April of 1970. Was yours an earlier car or was it based off of Esprit vs T/A?

Its a 3rd week of March 1970 Norwood build. Had the roof mounted mirror.

My 71 is a 4th week of December 1970 Van Nuys cars, and it has the stainless mirror mounted on the glass.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

Question for you guys:

Rear view mirror. My original has gone missing, but it was the type that mounts to the roof and the sun visors tie into the mirror mount, much like a 1st gen. Flipping thru the Ames book, they show a polished stainless mirror labeled as 70-71, but it mounts to the glass like a 71+ not a 70.

Can I order a mirror, mount, and rubber trim piece for a 69? And more importantly, would that be accurate for a 70?

Incase Bruce missed it;
I think you might be in error.

The roof mounted visor bracket is a different part, which did not support the mirror.

There was an early mirror, which I have not seen, but was made aware of - it used a different ball pivot and the design changed because those mirrors would loosen over time to the point where they could not be fixed.

The common "1970" mirror is in essence the same as the one used throughout the second generation, except it had a chrome back.

HERE is a link;
Click on it, and look at the hotlinked image for item 'C16' (sunvisors) - in that image you can see the way the visors mounted, and where the mirror was.

I hope this helps

[Benziii]

Interesting thread.

[johnta1]

The early mirror was a problem keeping tight. I used a piece of paper around the ball to get it clamped tighter. Wore out quick though. Eventually used a later style with the pad on the windshield and the mirror bracket slid on it.


The pic from the thread Unruhjohnny linked:

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Incase Bruce missed it;
I think you might be in error.

The roof mounted visor bracket is a different part, which did not support the mirror.

There was an early mirror, which I have not seen, but was made aware of - it used a different ball pivot and the design changed because those mirrors would loosen over time to the point where they could not be fixed.

The common "1970" mirror is in essence the same as the one used throughout the second generation, except it had a chrome back.

HERE is a link;
Click on it, and look at the hotlinked image for item 'C16' (sunvisors) - in that image you can see the way the visors mounted, and where the mirror was.

I hope this helps

Digging thru old photos, the windshield that was in the car did have a mirror mount on it, so now idk wtf to think.

In my headliner box full of everything related to the roof was the center bracket, which has the steel inner bracket and opening for a mirror, but now seeing the old windshield having a mount glued to it is throwing me off.


I'll go with the glass mounted one, and just run the center visor mount for now. I would be interested in hearing if anyone here has a roof mounted mirror in their 70 though.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

... I would be interested in hearing if anyone here has a roof mounted mirror in their 70 though.

Please see aforementioned link, and John's post where he shows the first design (glass mounted) mirror.

Wrong (replacment) parts often find their way onto cars - there are myriads of examples, but ones which stand out to me as people digging in their heels as "being original to my car" are items like shifter knobs, window cranks, lock ferrules.

[tdavidl]

Originally Posted by johnta1

The early mirror was a problem keeping tight. I used a piece of paper around the ball to get it clamped tighter. Wore out quick though. Eventually used a later style with the pad on the windshield and the mirror bracket slid on it.

i remember that issue all too well back in the day...especially during the hot summer days...mirror would just droop down in my 70 bird...i don't recall trying paper, i tried several things, cloth, broken tooth picks, etc...some would last a while then ultimately fail...

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by unruhjonny

Please see aforementioned link, and John's post where he shows the first design (glass mounted) mirror.

I meant I was interested in anyone who is currently running one.


Anyways...

Things are progressing. The interior pieces are starting to show up. Unfortunately they sent the wrong door panels, but everything else is correct and looks awesome. I've begun breaking down the seats so I can blast and paint the springs and frames.

Here's a pic of the lower panel against the (wrong) door panel. The hood is now cut and buffed and looks like a mirror.

[72projectbird]

Found my original mirror from my 71. It's actually in pretty good shape. Has a few small scratches in the polished finish, but I think I can get them out. Unfortunately the little knob that flips the mirror is broke.

I currently have a newer Tahoe rear view in my 71 that has a compass and temperature reading on it. That car is going under the knife and changing directions, so thus original mirror is going back in.

[72projectbird]

Final batch of little pieces painted up. Although the topic of some debate, the lower edge of the nose has been painted black. Gm documentation leads me to believe this is the appropriate finish, although I've seen original cars without the blackout applied. I imagine it was hit or miss if cars actually received it, but I think it looks better with it. Final round of filling and sanding out some pitting in the headlight brackets is underway.

[72projectbird]

Got the dash back from Al Knoch. The dashboard looks amazing. The color seems to be spot on. It's pretty cool having a 55 year old dash that's soft and crack free again.



That said, potential kinda big setback. They sent me someone else's glovebox door and under colum trim. I sent my original and correct 70 only pieces, and got back parts for a later AC car. I took pics of the parts before I shipped them, so I have documentation showing what I received isn't what I sent out. The dash itself is the original and what I sent them, along with the ash tray.

I called them, and sent over pics of the issue. They claim they'll take care of it, but idk. We'll see how they handle this...

[HWYSTR455]

Wow. That dash does look amazing.

Mind if I ask what something like that would run?



.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

Wow. That dash does look amazing.

Mind if I ask what something like that would run?



.

It really does look awesome. To do the dash, along with them respraying the glove box, under colum pieces and ash tray was about $1100. They even fixed a crack in the plastic skeleton near the glovebox opening and reinforced it with a little fiberglass. They also managed to get the warp out of the top of the dash.

Considering finding a nice crack free dash will set you back almost that, and it'll still be 50ish years old and brittle, I felt like it was more than a fair deal. Now if I can get my original pieces back, I'll be happy.

[HWYSTR455]

That's totally reasonable, considering others offer the bare dash for that cost, or more.

I paid like $800 plus shipping of a core for a dash years ago, and no way was it that nice.

Shoot, I paid almost $800 for a 2nd quality dash 7 years ago.



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[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by HWYSTR455

That's totally reasonable, considering others offer the bare dash for that cost, or more.

I paid like $800 plus shipping of a core for a dash years ago, and no way was it that nice.

Shoot, I paid almost $800 for a 2nd quality dash 7 years ago.



.

I thought it was reasonable. Just Dashes wanted $2000, but then when I told them it was bright blue, they wanted something like an additional $600 to spray it blue. That's crazy to me.

Also, good news! Al Knochs son, who is in charge of production, personally went on the hunt for my original glovebox door and under colum trim, and he found them! They're shipping them to me expedited, with a return label for the parts they initially sent me.

[Formulabruce]

Before you put it in, please test fit a Radio bezel, under column piece, glove box door, AND your gauge bezel ( get a junk used one for this) And the Ash tray... that area needed a ton of cleaning out..
My buddy Allan has many DAYS of scraping out excess foam, re- glue the edges back down..
The al knoch dash also had a lot of foam at sides , had to really work it, AND the metal A pillar trim had to be forced a bunch..
Best to do it all before you even test fit it in car.
It does look great though

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Before you put it in, please test fit a Radio bezel, under column piece, glove box door, AND your gauge bezel ( get a junk used one for this) And the Ash tray... that area needed a ton of cleaning out..
My buddy Allan has many DAYS of scraping out excess foam, re- glue the edges back down..
The al knoch dash also had a lot of foam at sides , had to really work it, AND the metal A pillar trim had to be forced a bunch..
Best to do it all before you even test fit it in car.
It does look great though

Will do. I remember you mentioning what had to be done on his dash. I have a few bezels kicking around, so I'll mock everything up. I plan on mostly assembling the dash before installing it in the car.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by 72projectbird

... Also, good news! Al Knochs son, who is in charge of production, personally went on the hunt for my original glovebox door and under colum trim, and he found them! ...

That's great!

[HWYSTR455]

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Before you put it in, please test fit a Radio bezel, under column piece, glove box door, AND your gauge bezel ( get a junk used one for this) And the Ash tray... that area needed a ton of cleaning out..
My buddy Allan has many DAYS of scraping out excess foam, re- glue the edges back down..
The al knoch dash also had a lot of foam at sides , had to really work it, AND the metal A pillar trim had to be forced a bunch..
Best to do it all before you even test fit it in car.
It does look great though

This.

Those are all the areas my 2 dashes had/have issues. My understanding is that there is a difference in the dash skeleton on diff year dashes, and there are minor differences in the bezels and pillar trim.

In my case, the pillar trim from the 79-81 cars fit better than other years, and I ended up with I believe 79 ones. I had a large selection of pillar trims, but know for a fact the ones I used were 79 because they were camel/tan and recall pulling them from a donor. Some of the ones I had when checking fit left a large gap, and others were very tight on the dash side. So know there's a diff.

On the bezels/inserts, the arch along the top is slightly different I believe. Some fit well, others were very tight. On the tight ones you have to put the lower edge in first, and then 'tip' the top edge into the dash.

Since I am using a single din 'radio' I ordered a repop bezel block off for a 79-81. It was a very tight fit. Not sure if the repop ones are accurate so it may just have been an issue with that part, but heating the area helped.

My ashtray same thing but the opposite, the opening is larger than the repop ashtray. Not sure if it's the ashtray or the opening itself. This is the same situation with the glovebox door.

It may not be as bad as I'm saying, it may just be I'm picky, but that's my experience with recovered dash pads. My take may not be accurate, but that's what it all appears like to me.

It's still better than having a cracked up, warped, or chunked out dash tho. And this is the reason in my case I chose a 2NDs dash in the one car. My stuff are all drivers anyway.



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[72projectbird]

Shaker scoop cut and buffed and going back together. Can't wait to see the flap opening!