[unruhjonny]

i was going to suggest something akin to HWY suggested;
put the nuts on, just enough to slightly load it up, but give it time to settle…

[72projectbird]

I'll give that a shot. The dash does have a slight warp in the middle. Looks like Al Knoch made some attempt to get it somewhat level, but the rest of the dash fits funky.

I'll play around with it some more and see what I come up with.

[Baron Von Zeppelin]

Do you know if they for sure used your actual core ?

Different topic -
I remember somewhere earlier someone mentioned that a dash place told them that even factory installed pads were spray dyed.
That is not true. At least in musclecar era.
I used to sell a pretty good number of original dash pads in the 80s-90s from various 60s and 70s Pontiacs.

None ever had the overspray behind dash cluster area or lower frame under glovebox.
The vinyl was vat dyed in solid color.
No sin in spray dying a dash with proper prep for a garage kept restored car.

[Formulabruce]

Above the "ac" vent area, is there plastic missing? i could see what looked like a bend in the dash upwards there, when you had it on its face. May be able to heat it from behind ( bench) and form it .
Also I would put the Bottom brace on to help it keep its shape. It may pull the one side down some as well.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Baron Von Zeppelin

Do you know if they for sure used your actual core ?

It is the original. I marked the plastic core of it before I sent it. It's definitely the original to the car.

Originally Posted by Formulabruce

Above the "ac" vent area, is there plastic missing? i could see what looked like a bend in the dash upwards there, when you had it on its face. May be able to heat it from behind ( bench) and form it .
Also I would put the Bottom brace on to help it keep its shape. It may pull the one side down some as well.

Yeah, there's always been a chunk of plastic missing where the AC vents would be.

I currently have the dash back out, with some big clamps pulling the dash downward on itself. I've been periodically heating the backside with a heatgun to help it loosen up.

If it looks like it wants to spring back upwards with the clamps removed, I might rough up the backside of the dash and lay in some fiberglass strips to help it hold shape.

[72projectbird]

Got the dashboard in permanently after installing and removing it more than 10 times. Ended up heating the back of the dash skeleton with a heat gun, and put several 2ft clamps across it to help shape it. Once it cooled off, I roughed up the surface and fiberglassed the backside to help it maintain its shape. Fits 100x better than it did.

Got the seats recovered with foam from Al Knoch. The foam fits a million times better than that junk from PUI. I'll get some interior shots once I get the car down from the lift.

Speaking of being on the lift, it's time to start running the brake and fuel lines, e-brake cables, and finally the exhaust system. I figured I'd get some pics before I start bolting parts to it.

Also, Coker tire sucks. Ordered tires almost a year ago, and every time you call they say they'll be ready at the end of the month, but that was several months ago.

[jhein]

Beautiful!

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by jhein

Beautiful!

Thank you!


Question for you guys:

My understanding is non AC cars got fuel pumps without a return. I currently have a pump on the car with a return, and the fuel line kit I have also has a return.

I have a non return sending unit currently in the fuel tank. So my question is should I stick with a non return system for originality sake, or take advantage of a return style system? I figured going with a return couldn't hurt, especially with today's junk fuel.

[Transamric]

All 1970 TA's had/have the third vapor return line. If your NOR. example was not equipped with NA9 "Cal. emissions", it should have the vapor/liquid separator canister behind the rear seat top.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Transamric

All 1970 TA's had/have the third vapor return line. If your NOR. example was not equipped with NA9 "Cal. emissions", it should have the vapor/liquid separator canister behind the rear seat top.

No CA emissions. No canister behind the seat. My 71 has emissions with the canister behind the seat though. Interesting setup.


So a 70 non AC setup would still get the return?

[70TA-RAIII]

On a 70 w/o cal emissions?? I don't recall a canister/separator on a 70 non emissions car.

[Transamric]

Sorry guys, total brain fart here. Let me try that again.

All '70 - '71 TA's used the 40838 fuel pump with the third return line. '70's did NOT have the canister behind the seat back but did have that vapor return line. IIRC (big if), didn't matter whether it was A/C or not.
However, for 2 barrel equipped base and Esprits, it DID matter whether A/C or not as the non-A/C cars used a fuel pump without the third vapor line outlet. Better?

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Transamric

Sorry guys, total brain fart here. Let me try that again.

All '70 - '71 TA's used the 40838 fuel pump with the third return line. '70's did NOT have the canister behind the seat back but did have that vapor return line. IIRC (big if), didn't matter whether it was A/C or not.
However, for 2 barrel equipped base and Esprits, it DID matter whether A/C or not as the non-A/C cars used a fuel pump without the third vapor line outlet. Better?

Ahh ok. For some reason I had it in my head that 70 didn't use a return on non AC setups. Idk where it came from? lol

When I ordered the tank and sending unit, I was sent one with no return on the unit. I guess that solidified my idea that non AC 70s had no return, but looks like I just got the wrong unit.

No biggie. I'll change the sending unit out and use the fuel pump I have.

[unruhjonny]

Originally Posted by Transamric

Sorry guys, total brain fart here. Let me try that again.

All '70 - '71 TA's used the 40838 fuel pump with the third return line. '70's did …

a couple(?) years back there was a great discussion when replacement units were made available;
I missed out on that run, and have been awaiting to hear of another run of them…

[72projectbird]

Got the Gardner exhaust installed. It pretty much fell into place. Also ran the fuel lines and most of the brake lines.

I also picked up a reproduction thick steering wheel. It's much thicker than the one I had in it, and seems to measure up well against the original that unfortunately is pretty smoked.

Still plenty to do underneath, but it's coming along!

[72projectbird]

Threw the rear drums together the other day, along with some other small stuff. I painted the drums and the master cylinder with some cast iron paint to keep them from flash rusting. They look nice and natural still.

Ended up going with some generic shocks over the repro spiral shocks, as I heard they tend to ride horrible. They're black and kinda just dissappear under the car, which is nice. I might go with a set of Bilsteins down the road and paint them so they're not bright yellow.

Also grabbed some pics of the original steering wheel. It might be able to be saved, so I'll been exploring that soon.

I'll be installing the bump stops soon, but I need to replace the rubber on them. Do you guys have a source for the 70 style rubber snubbers? All the repro are the bolt on style, not the push in style found on a 70.

[Norwood]

IMHO you really need to restore the IC. Just my 2 cents

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by Norwood

IMHO you really need to restore the IC. Just my 2 cents

Yeah, I'm leaning that way. With how nice the car is coming out, it would be cool having the original and correct wheel in it.

[72projectbird]

Does anyone have an extra 70 clock adjustment knob they'd part with? I refuse to put a 71+ knob on it lol


If not, maybe some high res pics and some measurements? I could probably get it 3D printed.

[HWYSTR455]

That exhaust looks great! I'm come back and looked at that several times already!

On my 71, the brackets on the rear section of the frame rail pulled out multiple times, probably from the muffler rusting and dropping. I got the car already with a twin-muffler system on it, most likely for that reason. Can see new holes were drilled too, and the bracket was moved a couple times.

I had those at one time 'repaired', and this time around I will probably have to figure out if it was done properly, as well as figure out my approach this time around for those brackets. The rest of the frame rails are good, so not sure a full rail replacement is warranted.

I'm thinking riv-nuts or thread-serts, but will evaluate at the time of install.



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