T2K-CAR

[Gary Lewis]

That's cool, Bill.  It will be so handy to have that right there where you need it.

And, by the way, that torpedo heater puts out so much moisture it can be a big problem.  Many of my tools started rusting when I was using one in my garage in PA.  Cold metal and high humidity means lots of condensation.  

[85lebaront2]

You also smell like burned kerosene and it gets in your clothes.

[Gary Lewis]

Yep.  And your eyes water.

The best thing I did for my garage was to find an old natural gas powered furnace.  It was downdraft and I set it in the corner of the garage on 4x4's.  The warm air came out and wafted across the floor.  It was wonderful.

[85lebaront2]

If my garage was brick or concrete block instead of steel, I might add a propane furnace (no natural gas here except cow farts). I will eventually have one portion with heat and AC, the office, bathroom and wood shop area.

Since it got up to the mid 40s yesterday and mid 50s today, I got my audio system sorted, had a couple of same color wires in the wrong place and Friday I had decent sound on the left side and since I had the battery charger on low a hum on the right side. I went back through the harness plugs and tried it today, that 2001 Sebring convertible 6 channel Infinity amp sounds terrific! Ground the orange top down equalizer mode wire, sound shifts more toward the front and seems to have more depth to it.

Crutchfield gave me a good package on the speakers, fronts have to be shallow due to the window coming down right behind them, even the little ones on top of the dash are coaxial. The rear ones were originally open into the top well area in back, they provided some nice molded foam enclosures for them.

[Gary Lewis]

Great!  And yes, Crutchfield is good.  Got their catalog yesterday and read it.  They really do have good stuff and are helpful.

[FuzzFace2]

85lebaront2 wrote

If my garage was brick or concrete block instead of steel, I might add a propane furnace (no natural gas here except cow farts). I will eventually have one portion with heat and AC, the office, bathroom and wood shop area.

I have a Propane Construction Heater dual temp, think 30,000 / 125,000, in my concrete floor & wood walls 3 bay garage. It heats it up pretty fast, it does have a little smell in the garage but none that stays on you to take into the house or store if you have to run down the street for a part.
I got it through Northern Tool, don't see it listed now, and run it off I think its a 40lb tank.

I cant remember if I used it when it was say in the 30's in the garage but its been pretty cold and did not have any tool sweating that I remember.
I would start the heater then back in the house to make a cup of tea and head back out and the chill was gone. Little more time and I can take off my coat to work and I could cut the heater back to its low setting.
The down side of any fire type heater is you cant do anything with flammable vapors or BOOM!
Dave ----

ps: my garage dose not have insulation (yet)

[85lebaront2]

They are located in Charlottesville VA and they have a clearance area where you can get some really good deals on open box items. Since the dash top speakers are a royal PITA to R & R, I figured I will get them installed while the dash is out to correct a small error on the amplifier power source. It is supposed to have battery power at all times and is activated by a signal from the radio (same wire that activates the power antenna). Since Chrysler uses a strange angled plug on them, I took 2 from a very dead pair of dash speakers and super glued them to the magnets on the new speakers. I used the connection wires from the new speakers and soldered them to the terminals from the old speakers.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks like it'll work quite well, Bill.  Neatly done.  

[85lebaront2]

Thank you, it did work nicely with one small problem. The original speakers had a plastic grille with see through black screen glued to it. These are probably 3/16" tall and take up most of the space between the speaker and the top cover for the dash. When I put the new speakers in place, the mounting tabs were too wide for the well the speakers sit in and the left one's terminal board wouldn't fit due to interference with the instrument cluster recess side. Right one went in ok except for the tabs being too wide.

I ended up taking the old plastic grilles and cutting the centers out leaving me with a ring with tabs that is an exact match for the partial ring the original speakers mount on (partial, due to the cutout for the Chrysler terminal board). Since I had glued the salvaged terminal boards in the same angular position as the originals they pass right through the openings. I took the newly made spacers and found 4 M6X1.0 prevailing torque nuts that exactly fit the space between the tabs (speaker and spacer). I installed them that way and re-installed the dash.

The front door speakers I am going to mount through the door panels and use the grilles they came with as the original location is at the bottom of the doors near the hinge and the original grilles only cover about 3/4 of the speaker, the remainder is blocked by the trim on the door panel. It will mean having to remove them to get the door panels off.

Now to the rear speakers, these are located in the inside of the quarter panels, inboard of where the top mechanism folds and the back sides are open into the top well. Crutchfield supplied some nice molded foam acoustic enclosures for both door and rear speakers. The original Chrysler speakers are the same for door and rear, Crutchfield's choices are different, Retro Sound for the doors to deal with the extremely shallow area available (window front tip comes down right behind them) and Polk for the rear ones. Chrysler used two screws on a diagonal and provided alignment tabs that are used on the doors to put the  wiring board on the bottom so as not to interfere with the plastic rain shield. The Chrysler bolt circle is larger than the aftermarket speakers, but the OD of the grille area is the same. I took some heavy gauge sheet metal and made mounting rings that fit over the outside of the foam which also spaces the speaker in so it fits against the molded ring on the removeable speaker panel.

[Gary Lewis]

Ingenious!  Well done!

I was going to suggest what Crutchfield says about cutting a hole in the foam baffles to get better bass, but then realized that those are not intended for bass.  Right?  Do you have bigger speakers somewhere?

[85lebaront2]

Gary, it is a K-car convertible, meaning smaller inside than a Taurus. The original factory system was 4 5 1/4" speakers, 2 in the doors and 2 in the rear seat side panels (where the top mechanism goes) and then 2 3" on top of the dash. The baffles are to cover the normally open back side of the rear speakers and there are 2 shallower ones for the front speakers due to the windows coming down there. The normal sub woofer location would be in the rear shelf area, but a convertible doesn't have one, something about a top well with a liner and drain hoses.

Crutchfield recommended the rear baffles due to the fact that the back side of those speakers aren't enclosed. Here is a picture of the dash top speaker on the driver's side, and one of the center stack put together. The button with AC on it is the hazard warning switch, and it is the one I need to find a red or clear lens for, and if clear a red hazard triangle on it.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, got it.  And you've already talked to Crutchfield.  

On the hazard switch, we had a discussion with Steve83 quite some time ago about creating labels to do just that.  You might search for it, but I think he was saying there is a type of clear film you can print on with an inkjet printer.  Might that work?

[85lebaront2]

Probably would, just have the right diameter and go with it.

[ArdWrknTrk]

Avery makes acetate stickers you can print on.
Opacity with printer ink is an issue when something is backlit.

In commercial art we would use metallic paint or ink when we needed something light-fast.

[85lebaront2]

Nothing more on the hazard switch, but some more progress. I had gotten all of my rear interior pieces together and found in looking at the parts list that they are built in 3 sections then pop riveted together, 13 rivets per side. Chrysler serviced them per-upholstered and you ordered them by interior color code in the case of mine, cordovan, EE8, the 1985 was almond, EK1.

I drilled all the rivets out of the cordovan panels and carefully removed the upholstery and took the pieces to the shop up the road. He told me all he needed was one side, he could do a mirror image for the other. Once he has those done I will glue them on and cut the belt, access panel and light holes. I still have to find something for the speaker panels, my late wife and I did the 1985 ones in the almond with material from a shop in Hampton.

I also tried to see what was keeping the analog instrument cluster from working, it was just oxidation on the pins and connectors. I hit everything with some Radio Shack contact and volume control cleaner, plugged and unplugged everything several times, and it works perfectly (I wanted to use it as I set the odometer to the correct mileage).

Dash without the bottom panel.


Right rear quarter area and seat back support.


Left side sill cover fitted (keeps the pinch weld from destroying skin and pants).


Dash with lower cover installed.

[Gary Lewis]

Hey!  It is really started to look like a car, Bill.  

Really starting to take shape.  One of these days it'll be done and you will be driving it - and loving it!  

[FuzzFace2]

Gary Lewis wrote

Hey!  It is really started to look like a car, Bill.  

Really starting to take shape.  One of these days it'll be done and you will be driving it - and loving it!  

What he said
Its got to feel good putting stuff back on hopefully for good.
Dave ----

[85lebaront2]

Thanks guys. It was originally going to get done after the 1985 was totaled in 2009 but several things sort of got in the way, like retiring, doing some things on the house over here on Virginia's appendix, selling the house in NN etc.

[Gary Lewis]

I wouldn't know about things getting in the way of Chizzler projects.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Well, you're back in the hunt now.

Looking good, Bill!