I have began looking into dash restoration companies. My folks used one way back, which is long out of business. My dad introduced me to the idea because He is going to have the dash in his Toyota pickup restored (until I showed that business was done for).
This place in Cali called just dash seems promising, but also sounds expensive.
Google yielded a few results of similar business across the u.s, but I am curious what you guys think about this.
Keep in mind I am in no hurry to do this, my dash is already cracked and I have other things to spend the money on. Plus waiting might end up with a stock uncracked OEM dash popping up somewhere.
When I first started working on the car, it appeared from the lower passenger corner. I drove it 2 years while it slowly made its way across. I finally paid safelite $150 to replace it, they discovered the crack started due to rust pushing it. Well they gave it a lifetime warranty on everything BUT that corner. They just sanded the rust and primered it. It is cracking at the same spot, so now I guess when paint finally happens, Ill be taking out the windshield to repair the rust correctly. Then maybe my next $150 glass will last longer than a year.
I posted on the Columbus oh craigslist how I needed doors and various other pieces. Bill emailed me this
"i have what is not really a parts car but a great 70k mile car very clean sounds like you would be better off using my body 950 obo it does not have an engine or trans but is a factory 5.0 now converted to 5 speed"
I'd assume its 87-88 since that is what my ad was for. 614-571-1820 "price goes up for ford show get it now"
Figured id throw it on here, my body is great minus my doors.
People always assume when you have old cars, you bought them for a reason. I always wanted a toyota 4runner, then drifted into wanting a lexus LS400. Yet I always drove my tbird, camaro, van, etc, and people never understood my choice in cars. Well they werent really anything more than a oppurtunity that I took.
How "ADD" is your car collection?
My first car was my tbird, I aquired it from my uncle because he abandoned it in 1996. It was parked in front of my grandmas house for almost 2 years, which is when all the rust started. The transmission had a little bit of slip in overdrive so he just went out and bought a suburban and just forgot about it. My dad LOVED the car, so we took it to my house and parked it out back to prevent any further salt damage. 10 years later he gave it to me for my 16th birthday. Around the time I graduated high school, I was still mowing yards and making mad dough. My neighbor across the street always had this camaro out front that just sat. His son drove it through high school, upon joining the marines, he bought a 2000-ish SS camaro which sounded sick, so of course he forgot about the little 305 camaro.
Well here I am mowing his grass, and he is out there fiddeling with it (the dad) and made a joke about paying me with a car. I kept poking at him about it until he made an offer, which was to mow for the remainder of the season, and $500.
I've yet to see another (at the time i bought it) 63k mile camaro on craigslist, let alone under $2000.
Then came my astro van, I needed something to haul my photography equipment around. It was an ok buy at $800 bucks. Someone converted the 4.3 to a 350 so needless to say it sounded like a trailer park van. It was sweet but didnt have the elegance I needed as a wedding photographer, so I sold it for $950
I drove that night to my aunts house, handed her that same $950 and bought her explorer. not bad for a '99 with under 100k.
I recently aquired my dads van. its a 1977 he bought new. It sat out back next to the tbird, and was there since 98 or so.
I'm going to practice welding on it/ make it nice. it will make him happy that we didnt take it to the s yard.
I'm trying to get his old toyota truck too, but he still has his claws deeeeeep in it haha.
Even though he hasnt driven it for 4 years or so, well hell, since I was in jr high...
So I just felt like using server space, and I know I enjoy reading stories as long as they have pictures so I figured i'd add to everyones content :)
I was pretty lucky, slowed down from 75 to about 30 before I smacked him. Bambi did some sweet acrobatics before getting up and trotting away, which sucks because he had a VERRRY nice rack.
Anywho, It only cracked my grill and my headlight. Most people I've told this to say if I hit him any faster it probably would have totaled my car.
I'm just glad it was in my truck and not my tbird or camaro. I just went to the junkyard and pulled a grille thats even the same color so I wont have to paint
next up, my "clear" ebay headlights and v-hids!
I'm curious about some of your experiences / pictures.
Seems the only chrome that is worth a on my car is what surrounds the windshield and side windows (real metal!!). I have my original peice for my driver 1/4 window, it was bent off the car 10 years ago when i tried putting a car cover on. Any leads on where to find something like this?
Also, the beltline chrome bubbled up like every other ford and lincoln on the road. Would anyone point me in the right direction to perhaps a chrome trim company, maybe have custom metal chrome strips insterted into the peices?
I found 5/8 inch fake chrome on a roll online, thats probably not the right size anyway but for what I am doing with this car, I dont mind spending more for the long run and having real chrome metal installed.
My current project since I have everything apart to replace my ignition (which fell out once the column shroud was removed) is to Spice up my cluster.
I know the old school LED's gave people problems way back when, but I've heard nothing but good about V-leds (dont know if I am allowed to say their name, sorry if i cant) So i am going to retrofit my filiment bulbs to led ones.
There are SIX 194 bulbs which light the 3 green areas. I've decided to go with white instead of green since there is orange on the screen. My question to the perfectionist nuts who know where i am coming from... for the side (type 37?) bulbs...
Would you use white there, or match the colors?
Ex. green bulbs for the turn indicators, blue for the high, amber for the check engine and red for the brake.
I dont mind buying them all, then returning what I dont need. I just dont like messing with my 20 year old harness 3 times to get the right lighting.
Opinions?
Im honestly leaning towards color matching, but as always love to hear experiences and suggestions (but still white for the 3 main clusters)
My car is an 88 LX with power windows and locks. Driver door has keyless entry. My interior id about perfect so I can swap anything into it, they just have to be rust free. I live in columbus ohio, but am ready to get this chicken in order so I can pick up anywhere in ohio (or around it)
Well, its been over a year my poor tbird has been sitting, It sucks having the funds to do the restoration, but not having anywhere to do it (or store it) keeps things from moving forward.
Well anyway, it ran perfectly fine when i parked it, broken engine mount nothing too major, but everything about the car was good. I went to move it the other day and it started in 2 seconds, idled for a good 15 minutes, kicked down after about 3 1/2 mins, just like normal.
I went to put it in reverse (column shift) and it cut out... ok.... try again same thing.
Then it wouldnt stay running except when the key was between start and run, so to move it I had to hold the key a certain way (and grinded the flywheel a few times) to get it to move.
Would this be a switch going bad, or did some basterd rodent feast on my wiring somewhere?
I noticed my hood liner has a hole now right behind the battery, are there any delecate wires I should check there? - blain
My buddies girlfriend lost her car this past week from a hit skip. A guy rode her bumper and tapped it on a snowy on ramp. It was a high ramp with no barrier, car spun off the road, midair, landed front corner onto a concrete water thing.
Good thing is shes fine minus a few scratches. Car was a total loss (they cut the door off, ouch!) My buddy is pulling the drivetrain and junking it, he has dibbs on the 4.6 and trans (maybe a ranger 4.6 project?) who knows.
I would like to stuff the 8.8 disc rear and front spindle(s) under my 88 tbird. I know the sn95 8.8 is .25 longer on each side, but if I get the matching spindles, will the tires line up .25 inches out?
Also, its an '03. most of the info on here says to hunt down a 95-96 setup... differences?
with the new spindles, do I really need sn-95 struts? I know (read) i need the ball joints because the fox ones are too big.
Im pretty sure i'll only get the driver side off the car, then buy the passenger side stuff (thats where the nose is bent up)
Im not in a real hurry to do the swap itself, I came home this weekend to help him tear it down, so if i want dibbs on anything I need to know what i need lol.
I would offer to buy his bullit rims until I find my cobras, but im pretty sure the front ones are messed up.
Lemme know guys
(where hes standing is the angle the car came from to hit the concrete)
I cant seem to find a good answer on here about replacing the wannabe chrome trim that goes around the car. Is there any type of real chrome that I could buy on a roll and glue in the trim?
I just tinted my license plate covers, put a chrome plate surround on it, and it made me realise that all of the plastic chrome is wasted.
The chrome surround on the side windows is real metal, and looks great to this day, and it looks like if it were on a straight roll it would be the perfect fit and size.
Just trying to get the parts list finalized for the big restoration even though its 2 years or so away. ( college eating all my money :beatyoass:)
