Hey all,
Well, I've got the interior basically gutted. I've removed everything that can be removed thus far, will soon be POR-15 treating the floor, and am looking for any hints/suggestions/ideas about what I am going to be doing when I begin reassembly.
Here is the basic plan for the interior... I'm going rather minimalist. I want a black/charcoal grey scheme. I plan on painting the dash grey, having a grey carpet and headliner, and grey door panels, sail panels, kick panels, pillar posts... the seats will be black as will the dash pad and the edge mouldings around the headliner and at the top edge of the front and rear glass. Also considering a 4 point roll bar to help mount some 4 point belts.
Here are my questions...
1. Seats. I am planning on going with a pair of the Summit brand racing buckets. My question is, what all is involved with attaching them to the floor... does the bracketry bolt to the stock floor positions? Do they weld in? Can I somehow adapt them to the stock floor mounting nuts?
2. Roll Bar. Is it best to put this in before or after the rest of the interior? Or, alternatively is there any simple way to mount the 4 point harnesses without the roll bar? Also, any suggestions on where to get a kit, or should I have a shop custom fabricate one?
3. Rear Seat Delete. I plan on leaving out the rear seat (dead weight) and want to have a nice looking block off. I plan to drill the spot welds and remove the old rear seat mounting pieces and fab up a metal divider between the trunk and cabin, then covering this with grey carpet as the rest of the car... perhaps stitch a design on it to add some flair. Any ideas or suggestions?
4. Headliner. I intend to install a grey felt headliner similar to the headliner of modern cars. I posted about this awhile back and got a few responses... just wondering if anyone has anything else to add. I figure I need to make a backing piece of some sort to glue the headliner to... I'm thinking that it might be best to use some thin plastic or a sheet of aluminum? Any thoughts?
5. Painting Dash. Want to paint it the charcoal grey color (not the pad, that will be black). Any particular paints I should look into? Any primers? Will I be able to do a good job without removing the front and rear glass?
6. Dash Wiring. I plan on fabricating a plate to fit where the stock heater controls/ash tray thing/radio would go. It will house a few guages. At the same time, I want to give the interior a little bit of a "vintage trans am" sort of feel, and as such am contemplating some toggle switches... I am thinking of having the wipers, the headlights, dome light, and the brights controlled by toggle switches mounted on this panel. Any ideas or thoughts? (other than "oh gross toggle switches!"
)
7. Vinyl Dye. I'm guessing I won't be able to get new door panels, kick panels, etc in the charcoal grey color I want... any tips on dying/restoring the pieces I have? Also, I plan on reusing my old moulding pieces from around the headliner and dying those black. Any suggestions there?
8. "U" shaped console bracket and horseshoe shifter. I plan on doing away with the old console and putting in a new shifter (Hurts V-matic or one of the B&M shifters). Is it possible to remove the "U" shaped bracket without dropping the trans? Also, is there a trick to getting the horseshoe shifter cable up through the floor? It seems stuck in there pretty good.
9. Sound Deadener. I'm not too picky about it being a bit noisy in the car... but I figure I'll put something down under the carpet. I've read a few posts that talk about "death mat" among others... I'm looking for something inexpensive, that won't add too much weight but that will kill as much sound as possible (isn't that what everyone wants in sound deadener!).
10. Driveshaft Loop. I've looked at the type that bolt to the tailshaft mount of the trans, but am thinking that while I've got the carpet up it might not be a bad idea to get a bolt in style... then I could tack welt the nuts on the interior side of the floor. Any thoughts? I've got the Flowmaster American Thunder system and that H-pipe looks like it may be in the way.
That's All! (wasn't too much right? ) Thanks a lot for any tips or suggestions. Look forward to putting it back together this winter (and during the spring break) so I can get back on the road for summer. Of course, I'll be sure to take pictures for my website along the way if I can (digital camera has been acting funny).
John D.
www.geocities.com/boodlefoof
Well, I've got the interior basically gutted. I've removed everything that can be removed thus far, will soon be POR-15 treating the floor, and am looking for any hints/suggestions/ideas about what I am going to be doing when I begin reassembly.
Here is the basic plan for the interior... I'm going rather minimalist. I want a black/charcoal grey scheme. I plan on painting the dash grey, having a grey carpet and headliner, and grey door panels, sail panels, kick panels, pillar posts... the seats will be black as will the dash pad and the edge mouldings around the headliner and at the top edge of the front and rear glass. Also considering a 4 point roll bar to help mount some 4 point belts.
Here are my questions...
1. Seats. I am planning on going with a pair of the Summit brand racing buckets. My question is, what all is involved with attaching them to the floor... does the bracketry bolt to the stock floor positions? Do they weld in? Can I somehow adapt them to the stock floor mounting nuts?
2. Roll Bar. Is it best to put this in before or after the rest of the interior? Or, alternatively is there any simple way to mount the 4 point harnesses without the roll bar? Also, any suggestions on where to get a kit, or should I have a shop custom fabricate one?
3. Rear Seat Delete. I plan on leaving out the rear seat (dead weight) and want to have a nice looking block off. I plan to drill the spot welds and remove the old rear seat mounting pieces and fab up a metal divider between the trunk and cabin, then covering this with grey carpet as the rest of the car... perhaps stitch a design on it to add some flair. Any ideas or suggestions?
4. Headliner. I intend to install a grey felt headliner similar to the headliner of modern cars. I posted about this awhile back and got a few responses... just wondering if anyone has anything else to add. I figure I need to make a backing piece of some sort to glue the headliner to... I'm thinking that it might be best to use some thin plastic or a sheet of aluminum? Any thoughts?
5. Painting Dash. Want to paint it the charcoal grey color (not the pad, that will be black). Any particular paints I should look into? Any primers? Will I be able to do a good job without removing the front and rear glass?
6. Dash Wiring. I plan on fabricating a plate to fit where the stock heater controls/ash tray thing/radio would go. It will house a few guages. At the same time, I want to give the interior a little bit of a "vintage trans am" sort of feel, and as such am contemplating some toggle switches... I am thinking of having the wipers, the headlights, dome light, and the brights controlled by toggle switches mounted on this panel. Any ideas or thoughts? (other than "oh gross toggle switches!"
)7. Vinyl Dye. I'm guessing I won't be able to get new door panels, kick panels, etc in the charcoal grey color I want... any tips on dying/restoring the pieces I have? Also, I plan on reusing my old moulding pieces from around the headliner and dying those black. Any suggestions there?
8. "U" shaped console bracket and horseshoe shifter. I plan on doing away with the old console and putting in a new shifter (Hurts V-matic or one of the B&M shifters). Is it possible to remove the "U" shaped bracket without dropping the trans? Also, is there a trick to getting the horseshoe shifter cable up through the floor? It seems stuck in there pretty good.
9. Sound Deadener. I'm not too picky about it being a bit noisy in the car... but I figure I'll put something down under the carpet. I've read a few posts that talk about "death mat" among others... I'm looking for something inexpensive, that won't add too much weight but that will kill as much sound as possible (isn't that what everyone wants in sound deadener!).
10. Driveshaft Loop. I've looked at the type that bolt to the tailshaft mount of the trans, but am thinking that while I've got the carpet up it might not be a bad idea to get a bolt in style... then I could tack welt the nuts on the interior side of the floor. Any thoughts? I've got the Flowmaster American Thunder system and that H-pipe looks like it may be in the way.
That's All! (wasn't too much right?
) Thanks a lot for any tips or suggestions. Look forward to putting it back together this winter (and during the spring break) so I can get back on the road for summer. Of course, I'll be sure to take pictures for my website along the way if I can (digital camera has been acting funny). John D.
www.geocities.com/boodlefoof
