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American Auto Wire was nice enough to mail me some wire connectors so I could wire my guage plug ends directly into their bulk head.
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...DSC07274-1.jpg Wiring almost complete. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...DSC07273-1.jpg These are most of the tools that I needed to complete the job. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...DSC07275-1.jpg |
Very nice! No more hacked up wire harness. I have a dream that one day I will be in that club too. Haha!
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I have also decided on the AAW Classic update kit. It has everything I need and more. And the price is not bad either. I would love to use the ISIS products, but it seems overkill for my goals with this car.
Were you happy with your complete kit? Any fitment or quality issues? So far I have only heard good thing about it myself. |
I'm not very far into the wiring yet but it seems like a pretty good kit. The only thing that I'm not crazy about is using splice connectors to hook up all of the tail light sockets. I might put on terminal ends and then stagger them so I can hide them in the wiring harness cover. I'm not that far yet so I'm sure I will be asking some questions real soon. The only fit issue I have had so far is the emergency brake switch hits the fuse block. I need to oblong out the holes in the firewall a little to slide it over. Or I might just tweak the bracket a little. Overall it seems to be a very complete kit.
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Thanks for the input. Let me know if you run into anything please.
Have you thought about soldering & heat shrink over the connections? It would give you a longer lasting/better connection and also hide easier than bulky connectors. Just a thought. Soldering all those can't be any fun at all. Lol |
I would prefer to not have to solder every connection. I'm not a huge fan of soldering either. Every wire in the AAW kit is crimped along with most newer cars now days. Now I'm not trying to start a debate over which is better. Because I'm not sure which is better.:question:
I think they both have their place and location where they both are needed. With that being said I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet. I think a friend of mine has some soderless connections that have shrink tubing built into them. That might also be an option. |
I only meant that solder joints would hide easier in the wrap. If they crimp everything anyway, I am sure that method is fine.
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You haven't seen my solder joints then:rofl: Maybe I will give it a try again. I might need to buy a new solderding gun. (smaller) The huge Craftsman one that I have will give your bicep a workout after a few connections.:lol: |
I haven't checked in in awhile Wow! its looking great. Nice work, the trunk and dash came out geat. Gauges and wiring are nice!
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Yeah, I get it. Mine look like crappy welded lumps. Haha! With a bit of practice I should do ok.
Another option is the weather pack connections. More$$ but water proof and easy to remove if ever needed to. Tough to hide those though. Pretty bulky. |
Great updates. Nice looking gauges. Keep up the great work.
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Just finished detailing my rear tail light lenses. Some before and after pictures. Here is what I started with. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07279.jpg Buffed out the lenses. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07280.jpg Housings before powdercoating. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07281.jpg After powdercoating. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07282.jpg Lenses all cleaned up and painted black again. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07283.jpg Lenses inside housings. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07284.jpg |
Wow - those lamps look excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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By the way....
One those brake lights, make sure the inside lip of the light socket hole is clean and free from paint as well as the back side (at least one) of where the mounting bolts/nuts go to the rear body panel. The light socket doesn't have its own ground - it has to ground through the lamp housing. Just got our lamps all in over this last week and found that out...the hard way. :woot: |
Those look great, you did an excelent job.
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Thanks for the advice. I'm already in the process of adding grounds to all of the tail light sockets. I'm not a fan of how they ground in the first place. Then add in that every square inch of my trunk now has several coats of spatter paint along with clear and my tail light housings are powder coated, will make for a bad ground for sure.:lol: The tail light sockets have a small hole that I can fit a wire down and solder to the grounding clip. |
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Killer job on those lights! Want to restore mine? :D
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Excellent job! What did you use to buff the lenses?
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Not real picture worthy but, I installed my stainless steel transmission cooling lines and vacuum line. Finished up the wiring on my rear lights and installed my parking brake assembly. |
Like mentioned above I installed the parking brake assembly and the front parking brake cable. This should have been an easy project but it wasn't. The front bolt that holds the assembly to the dash was broken off in the lower dash. I tried to drill and remove it bit it would not move. I ended up going one size bigger and drilled and tapped for the next size up bolt. Which of course then needed the bracket hole drilled out to match it. After installing it the parking brake light switch was making contact with my new AAW fuse box. I had to grind away a plastic block on the side that seemed to serve no purpose but to be in the way.:lol: With all of that done I could now install the assembly.
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07288.jpg Transmission lines and vacuum line. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07289.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07296.jpg New fuel pump and lines. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07295.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07296.jpg Sanded down my rear inner wheel wells and rolled on three coats of a Eastwood bedliner/undercoating product. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07286.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07285.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07291.jpg I replaced my 12 bolt axles a while ago after noticing that the bearing surface contact area was in pretty bad shape. I finally had time to install the new bearings and seals. Old bearing and bearing puller. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07300.jpg I used the old bearing to help install the new bearings. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07298.jpg New bearing http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07297.jpg New seal http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07299.jpg] Guages are installed for what I hope will be the last time. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07287.jpg |
Nice work, the gauges look great.
What is your goal for being back on the road? |
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Mine won't see paint next year either. And that's fine, I just want to drive it. |
Prime is not a crime :) Honestly, I have a few projects going and there is no way I can compromise waiting two years to get it on the road. Yep definitely ha dto make some compromises (i.e. get engine in before cleaning up the engine bay, etc), but was the only way to keep my sanity every time I stared at the bird teasing me sitting in the garage.
I am seeing some projects that are coming out amazing (like yours), and can relate and feel your pain, but stick to it and you will be happy. I ended up getting to the point of buying another POS driver bird to drive around and enjoy to help take that edge off :) |
I really want to get mine on the road to. I just want to drive something. LOL I had a car done a few years ago and lost it in a fire. Never had a chance to drive it. Here is a link to what happened to it.
http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showth...ht=lost+my+car And here was my build thread. http://www.nastyz28.com/forum/showth...hlight=skipper |
Rob, darn SOOOOO sorry to see that argh! I had that happening with two froiends (full houses burined down along with their toys :(
really bummed to see that, but glad you recovered and dug into this project (even better that it is a Bid instead of a Z ;) Keep it coming! Gui |
Do you have a link to a build thread? I would like to see what you are building.
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I started a thread so need to dig it. You have to bare with me as I have project ADD :D
My current projects are: 67 400: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...0/IMG_2911.jpg 68 vert: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...heelmockup.jpg 68 coupe: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMG_0346.jpg Jeep Wrangler of sorts http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...d/IMGP0556.jpg among other projects... I need help, probably clinical :) |
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Rob, yep I hear ya, but tell that to my wife...supposedly these were all supposed to be 'her"car...hmmm yeah... But she is cool, puts up with me and even wrenches, so a total keeper :lol:
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Rob,
Back on the taillights, I am having a hard time finding the 3m compound any more info on what you used or a pic\product name? #M make s abunch of stuff just want to make sure I get the correct one :0 Did you do it by hand or a dril\buffer? Thanks! Gui |
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Our 68 lamps were broken so there was no hope. You know the good news is new ones aren't that expensive if you aren't able to save yours. |
Not much progress lately. Fall is a very busy time for me. Between yardwork, winterizing boats, firewood, and building my kids a fort I have only worked on the car a few hours over the last two months.
I spent a fair amount of time fixing my old rear seat frames. I had to weld in a lot of new supports. Here's a nice rusty picture before clean up. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07312.jpg Another one. I had to rebuild a good portion of this side. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07313.jpg Here's a portion of what I cut out and had to weld back in. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07314.jpg Painted and ready for new seat covers. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07317.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07316.jpg New seats installed in the car. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07326.jpg And just a few random shots that I took when the car was pushed out of the garage. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07329.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07327.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07328.jpg |
I started working on the front end brackets. I don't think there was one bracket that did not need some kind of tweaking or welding to make them fit correctly. I started with the head light buckets and brackets. I had one headlight that was mounted funny. I found out that all four headlight buckets are different. I was not sure which one I needed. But, after sandblasting them I noticed that they were all labeled with L1,L2,R1,R2. I had to come up with one to have a complete correct set. After that was achieved I moved onto the headlight bucket brackets. These were very bent up and needed about four hours to get them complately straight.
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07343.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07342.jpg Fixed, now just need to media blast them. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07346.jpg I guess the PO did not like how the front end lined up and needed more adjustment. All three of these holes were made with a torch. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07350.jpg I started with cutting out little pieces of metal and welding them in from both sides. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07349.jpg http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07351.jpg All welded in and ground down flat. http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/m...y/DSC07352.jpg |
Nice patch job its looking great.
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Rob looks like you are still making more progress in the forward direction.:thumbsup: keep it up and it will be on the road in no time.
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Needs minitubs!! :D
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