Archives for September 2013

New Door Switch

I spent a good portion of last weekend working on the electrical system, and it’s coming along. After blowing several fuses and a few bulbs, I got all of the interior running lights working, with one significant problem – they didn’t turn off when the doors closed.

I ended up replacing the switches that are supposed to turn off the lights when the doors close.

I have also started to work on replacing the sound system, and it’s proving more complicated than I originally thought. The wiring for the old radio and speakers was so jumbled and poorly done that I need to start from scratch and replace everything. That’s a work in progress.

New radio waiting to go in.

This week, we got an estimate for the paint job – $5K, and we’re just waiting on the parts to come in to repair the brakes and power-steering – hopefully next week.

Because Indiegogo campaigns can only run for a finite amount of time, mine has now concluded, but it is still possible to contribute via PayPal.

The Indiegogo campaign raised $5,271, and direct donations to date have raised another $3,510. I am just $1,219 short of my goal of $10,000, and optimistic that I can get there before the project ends.

I am immensely grateful for all the support!

I’ve been spending time, probably too much, designing a logo for the project. It’s gone through a few iterations and I’m not sure which is best. They might all be useful for different purposes as well. First below is the original image, next is the first pass at the logo (the one I think looks the best), then there is the cropped and straightened version, and finally the straightened version in the larger picture.

The Original Image

The First Pass at a Logo

Cropped and Straightened

Straightened Large Version

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Carl Zeh Auto Repair

A few days ago, at the recommendation of Joe Frizell at Joe’s Garage, I took the car in to Carl Zeh Auto Repairs in Watermill, NY.  Carl Zeh specializes in “rear end” work that Joe prefers nor to deal with. I wanted to get a diagnosis in terms of what the car needed mechanically, as well as an estimate of what it would cost.

What I learned was that the brakes are in worse shape than I thought. Two of the four brakes are not even functioning correctly, and the rest are worn down and starting to go. The car also needs work on the power steering and differential. I’m bringing it back in over the weekend to have the work done on the brakes, power steering, and to have the universal joint replaced. I’m going to skip replacing the spider gears in the differential, as it is not 100% necessary, and I’ll save over a thousand dollars.

The right, rear brake was seized from rust.

One other area of concern is that the wheels and lug nuts are worn down to the point of there being a possible risk of them flying off, if the car goes around a corner too fast. I think I will take this opportunity to replace the current wheels – plain steel rims with plastic hubcaps – with some nice steel reproduction rims.

The First of Many Shipments

The first delivery of interior parts came in the mail today – the new instrument panel, glovebox door, trunk underlayment and radio. Can’t wait to get started.