T2K-CAR

[85lebaront2]

Thank you! Here's what I did with the panel dimmer/courtesy light control:

[Gary Lewis]

That should work out very nicely.  

[85lebaront2]

I hope so, the fuse box occupies the area on the other side so that was the best location.

[85lebaront2]

Doing some more interior work. First, I asked my body shop owner friend about something to seal the floor as it is impossible to keep water completely out of a convertible. He and I agreed on a fully hardening bed liner spray can. Once I have verified all the little holes are closed (unused screw holes and a few pinholes) and vacuumed all the little pieces and dirt up I will spray it, once it cures I have the new carpet ready to go in.

Other item I am working on is the door panels, they are cardboard and the armrests and pull straps are attached to them, and screwed to the doors with sheet metal screws. I am using M6X1.0 nutserts on the straps as that is the only thing to pull the doors shut with. The plastic "chrome" and woodgrain backings were worn and cracked so I separated the pieces, painted the "chrome" part and reassembled them. Here is the right door panel with the repaired piece and strap. The inner pair of screws are the ones that will go into the nutserts.

[grumpin]

Cool! Never dealt with a convertible before.

[Gary Lewis]

Looks like a good plan, Bill. But I’d think the bed liner would seal any pinholes.

[85lebaront2]

Seems like it did, however I brazed the pinhole in the left front floor and the no longer needed one under the seat before coating things. Here are the finished floor area sections:

[85lebaront2]

Ok, yesterday after some rearranging of the power seat wiring and securing the end of the moving portion to the floor, I unpacked and laid the carpet in. There are no holes pre-cut into it, but the molded in portions that go over the front seat crossmember provide a solid reference along with the longitudinal reinforcement "spine".

[1986F150Six]

Looks good!

[Gary Lewis]

Looks great, Bill!  What is that Jim says?  Oh yes, progress is good!

[85lebaront2]

Got a bit more done, got the switch for the power seat finally working correctly and got some of the trimming and fitting done on the wiring underneath the carpet and passenger seat (6 channel amplifier). Finally got the door panels done, both armrests were cracked, something about 30+ year old cheap plastic).

Here is the left panel:

[ArdWrknTrk]

The carpet and door panel do look great Bill!  

Yes, progress is good.  

[Gary Lewis]

Looking good, Bill!

And I understand what you mean about cheap plastic. Years ago when I worked for Conoco we had a PVC plant. I asked one of the chemists if GM or Ford used our plastic. His answer was that they wouldn’t touch us with a 10’ pole. But Chrysler did. Which explained why my 3 year old Super Bee sitting in the lot had a split seat cover.

[85lebaront2]

Thanks guys, it is definitely a pain working on this stuff.

You can see one of my reinforcements in the courtesy light opening. There is another from the front top of the rear portion that runs along under the inner portion of the pad and one in the front as the tops were warped and in the front part of the rear portion the attachment location inside the lock and mirror switch plate was broken and warped pretty badly.

There is a screw behind the light, another through the opening in the tube above and behind it, one in the front switch opening and one in the front of the pad inside the body of the armrest. and two (one on each end) of the pull strap. All except the one in the tube are concealed by either snap in covers or other components. The switch plates are attached with screws through the countersunk holes in the armrest body. The entire cardboard panel has push-in clips around three sides, back, bottom and front.

[Gary Lewis]

Yes, I see the reinforcement.  You are getting creative!  

[85lebaront2]

I made a mount for the right front speaker then took a big heavy duty trash bag and made a pair of water shields for the doors, Here is the right side, everything is done on the water shield except cutting the speaker opening and remounting it.

[Gary Lewis]

That's exactly what I did on Big Blue.  Worked well.  PROGRESS!

[85lebaront2]

Definitely better than 35 year old tar paper. This would have to be peeled off (more likely cut off), but at least is a readily available replacement.

[grumpin]

Looking good Bill! A lot of work on that car.

How did you put the trash bag on, tape? I couldn’t tell in the picture.

[85lebaront2]

Spray on adhesive as it seems that was what the original was attached with.