PART 7 – No days at the beach
Well thought it was time to update the build. Been extremely busy trying to get the old girl finished
We started on the brakes and stocked up on all the fluids we will need for re-assembly. Went with DOT 5 Silicone brake fluid so if there’s any leaks, it’s not going to harm any paint in the engine bay or anywhere else for that matter.
Made sure all the lines were tight before we got cranking and sure enough, one line was tight but leaking from the proportioning valve and there was a huge leak from the rear line> Always pays to get the brakes sorted before the engine goes in…especially a big block. Getting your hands down under the proportioning valve afterwards is a bitch
FRONT LEAK
REAR LEAK
Masked up the inside of the boot with tape along with the rear wheel wells ready for Rhino liner. While I was at it, thoughts it would be good to clean out the inner doors with a pressure washer and wire brush, mask up any holes and shoot that at the same time. Going from a restoration to overkill at this stage but it looks great. Nothing you will ever see once the door panels are on but John will know.
Mike was still dinkin with the engine so I got crackin on the inside floor of the car. Fitting Dyna mat most of the rest of the day was kinda fun. This is as far as I got with the dyna mat.
We dug out the old speedo cable to get all the engine bay sorted so we could drop the 390 in but noticed that it was trashed on a spot where a clamp was compressed against it. Considering I don’t want to replace that after the engine is in, we opted for a brand new one. Why not?...everything else is new, why stop now.
Pulled down the old seats and decided to restore the seats rather than just re-upholster them. Bought some burlap the same colour as the interior just to be different. Its meant to be a brown colour. Sandblasted the seat frames and painted in red oxide primer. Blasting took for ever as they are so intricate with all the springs.
Got sucked in by Sheri as she knew I was going to be blasting…ended up doing a table while I was at it. Didn’t bother me, I just laid the parts on top of the table and by the time I got to the table it was pretty well done. Had a bash at his original grille as well
With the engine and trans all done I thought I would spend a couple of hours rebuilding the dash fascia. Originally we were going with the black camera case style dash but like builds, things change. John decided on the ally look which I kinda like. I don’t care about it not being year model correct with tiny stuff like this. It can always be changed easily enough if you’re a purist.
I did this a week before the table was blasted. You can see the table in the picture below.
Few days later we had Sheri polish all the original window chrome ready for the next day as we had the glass guys coming to do a few other restorations front windows. Sheri is the master of chrome.
We had to do something about the finish on the paint as I was just devastated with its finish after the 2nd attempt. More orange peel than you could imagine. Tim spent 3 days on the car and now Im very happy with it. Still, very disappointing after waiting 8-10 weeks. While Tim chipped away at that, I pre-fit the dash pad before the glass went. So much easier when theres no glass in the way. I also fitted all the chrome trim tabs around the frame as it’s a pain in the X wifeto get em in after.
And just when the old shelf gets down to a few boxes, we walked around to all the differtent sections of the shop (trim section, engine section and parts section) we gathered all Johns bits and put them all back on his shelf so we could see that we had everything prepared for the next phase. It basically filled the shelf again.
Basically that’s were we are at with it. The new magnum 500’s rolled up the other day with all new centre caps and wheel nuts (14 x 7’s). I took a day off to go for a ride on the 48 with Sheri and a few friends down to our favourite Sunday breakfast joint in Safety Harbour then went on a ride around Sunny Florida. Was good to have a break.
Came in on the Saturday, did a ½ a day of panel beating/metal finishing the ute. Blasted it and got the under chassis in primer, painted the engine bay and rhino lined the wheel wells. Painted the engine bay so I could see if there were any other dents that I need to tend too….buts another build thread I think.
Im sorry there’s so many photos and they take a while to load but I would rather spend a few hours loading them in one sitting than trying to do it daily.
Hope your all enjoying the build so far
Matt
