Delete

Topic: Delete (Read 63796 times) previous topic - next topic

Reply #45 – June 19, 2009, 09:47:45 AM

Quote from: rodsterh;278570

You shouldn't have to pull the dash out but it's still a tight fit.

Didn't you have your dash out?

That's interesting because when I had my 1985 Tbird many years ago I absolutely had to loosen the dash at all the mounts and pull it forward to get to the heater core... I have gotten so good with disassembly and reassembly that I can do these things pretty quick without getting overwhelmed.

Delete

Reply #46 – June 19, 2009, 11:53:18 AM

Quote from: Watchdevil;278653

Oh I was referring to the entire hard plastic dash shell (see previous posts with pics) and not the top pad. The top pad is toast. It has a giant split and literally the consistancy of burnt toast. I plan to just fill the giant spilt with a can of insulating foam and recover the original pad in vinyl because I do not like those hard plastic dash caps (which I do have one handed to me from my parents who planned to use it but never installed it). I have seen classic restorations where they just covered the pads in vinyl or leather and they look great.

Ah... well, I will still report on my experiments with the GoJo. My parts car has a perfect black dash that I hope to swap without breaking it.

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

Delete

Reply #47 – June 19, 2009, 11:15:24 PM

Quote from: ProTouring442;278680

Ah... well, I will still report on my experiments with the GoJo. My parts car has a perfect black dash that I hope to swap without breaking it.

Shiny Side Up!

Bill

I always hear great things about GoJo since I sell a lot of it at work. I had a customer who's wife won't clean stains out of carpet with anything but GoJo.

Delete

Reply #48 – June 20, 2009, 07:45:08 AM

Quote from: Watchdevil;278795

I always hear great things about GoJo since I sell a lot of it at work. I had a customer who's wife won't clean stains out of carpet with anything but GoJo.

My father has a cool little runabout, a Larson All American 19ft with a cuddy cabin, that has been kept at our house for the last several years. At some point, the fan that keeps moisture down shut down, and the interior vinyl all molded/mildewed. Last year I spent hours attempting to get the mold/mildew out of the upholstery with nearly no success despite using products "guaranteed" to work.

the other day, just for giggles, I tried GOJO on a spot, just to see what would happen... any guesses? Yeah, it very quickly removed ALL of the staining! I guess I'll be purchasing a gallon or two, eh!

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

Delete

Reply #49 – June 20, 2009, 10:17:47 AM

Doesn't GoJo have kerosene in it?

Don't you hate it when someone puts sand in your GoJo?

Delete

Reply #50 – July 11, 2009, 11:19:03 PM

Did a little work today. I was easily able to convert the HVAC controls to the rotary type. The donor HVAC control was from an ealy 90's Taurus which has the manual single cable for the cold/hot door. The wiring was a piece of cake! I cut the connectors with pigtails out of the Taurus. After examining the wire colors in the Tbird, i was easily able to pop the terminals out of the Tbird harness and install them into the Taurus connectors. I hooked the battery up and it all works like a champ. All I have to concern myself with now is relocating the rear defogger switch.

I am disgusted with the brittle plastic dash shell. I am seriously considering a 94-04 Mustang dash swap.

Delete

Reply #51 – July 12, 2009, 10:15:50 PM

Okay I bit the bullet and I am doing the Mustang dash swap. This is not going to be an easy swap to get it to fit right.

I got disgusted with the original dash shell breaking into pieces so I am going to try this one and see how it works out.

I bought the dash almost complete at Pull-A-Part. If I cannot make this work I am going to have to switch to an 85-88 style dash. I just cannot find good 83-84 style dashes. I also want something durable.

If you look at the white marks on the dash, they came out with Go-Jo... The dash is in decent shape. It's still soft and pliable.. Not brittle at all! I just have a few parts to get for it like the center stack trim, clock and side window defroster vents. I was able to make this a more complete dash by c00ching ac vents from a beige interior car and I also have the gauge trim bezel not shown here. I am lucky to find one with an airbag, though deployed. I have already removed the actual bag from the airbag unit. I plan to tape the cover shut with duct tape or maybe some silicone along the seam where it split. I will cover it in vinyl for a finished look.

These dashes are great! They come with the defroster vents assembled into it. So it was like undo a few bolts and it came right out comeplete. It is interesting how there is a large horizontal steel tube that gives the dash strength for support and safety yet also serves as the cold air trasport to the left and right dash vents.

I did a test fit. There is definitely several mating issues but I hope to work them out so I can use this dash. All the Mustang consoles in the salvage yard were broken and distroyed after people yanked them out without proper disassembly trying to get to the shifters.

Delete

Reply #52 – July 14, 2009, 12:26:15 AM

you'll basically be cutting the defroster vent off to fit the thing in your bird. along with the large steel tube for the air vents.

Delete

Reply #53 – July 14, 2009, 03:01:29 AM

Quote from: 32VFoxBird;282114

you'll basically be cutting the defroster vent off to fit the thing in your bird. along with the large steel tube for the air vents.

That steel tube is such a strange design. It makes the dash so heavy but i am sure it was incorporated for structural safety and integrity.

I am now undecided whether I really want to do all that cutting and fabricating just to make it fit. Maybe I just need enough time to work on it. I got the dash super cheap so it's no loss if I do not use it. A big obsticle would also be the instrument cluster.

I may just look for a good dash out of a 85-88 Tbird or Cougar. Those cars are still a plenty, but it's now impossible to find anything 1983-84 style. Even if I could, I would still have major issues with the plastic snapping like peanut brittle.

Delete

Reply #54 – July 18, 2009, 09:30:20 AM

I spent some times experimenting to see how I would like the Mustang dash in my Tbird. Since I had almost nothing innvested I thought I would give it a try.

Instead of trying to use the metal frame that came with the Mustang dash, I found it easier to take the dash shell off the frame and lay it over the Tbird frame. I cut the front edge of the dash shell a few inches so it will fit closer to the windhield. There was actually enough gap that I could preserve the defroster function. i was able to screw the dash shell to a few places on the Tbird dash frame. I was even able to make the Mustang defroster vent butt up satisfactorily to the Tbird heat/defroster housing. However after this experiment I just was not satisfied with the rigitity of the Mustang dash shell in the car plus I also needed to figure a way to secure the dash to the base under the windshield. At this point I started feeling like it just wasn't right for me to use this dash, so I was easily able to remove it quickly and just reinstall my peanut brittle original dash shell over the dash frame. After I got the original dash shell back on and completely assembled and screwed in place I felt much better and it is still tons more rigid assembled with the correct parts fitting together. Fortunately none of the cracked places in the original dash shell show with all the trim panels back in place.

Interesting thing I did with the Mustang dash shell installed was use a 1989-93 Tbird steering column shroud to give it the squared modern steering column look. I had to modify it to allow operation of the auto shift lever on the column but the Tbird shroud fit perfectly within the Mustang steering column opening.

With the original Tbird dash back in place I tried the 1989-93 column shroud in place and it seems to work fine with the exception of the circular gap in the lower dash pad which extends just a little below the column shroud. The 1989-93 Tbird coulum shroud will work best if the turn signal switch is converted to the 1989-93 Tbird type with the single combination wiper/turnsignal/dimmer stalk and switch. I have examined the 1989-93 Tbird steering column and it is basically the same old Fox vehicle one without a column shift and using a single turn signal/wiper stalk instead of the old two stalk switches. The newer single stalk will bolt to the same mounting screw locations as the older two stalk switches. It would be just an issue of making sure the wiring plugs in or not, or making the wiring connector adjustments so that the newer single stalk will function. My only issue is I do need the horn on the end of the turn signal stalk because I will be using the rectangular steering wheel trim for the 1983 style four spoke wheel. The rectangular trim does not include a horn function but I wanted the bird emblem in the center of that wheel. I have a newer Crown Vic Ford logo vinyl horn pad with the horn function, but I think it would look less like a truck wheel with the Tbird trim in place.

Fun and interesting experiment but I sure felt much better going back with the original dash.

Any dash swaps into our Tbirds and Cougars are best done with other Fox bodied cars besides the SN-95 Mustang. It requires no modifications to the dash shell with only instrument cluster wiring modifications and compatability with the speedometer function and HVAC controls if not a few other minor things.

Delete

Reply #55 – July 18, 2009, 10:04:49 AM

So here it is with the original Tbird dash reinstalled. I feel better with the integrity and design of the original dash in place. As long as the dash shell holds out and does not crack in a visible place I will be happy. I really do love the lower vinyl knee pads which are in great shape. I later plan to respray the painted dash shell and center console in the visible areas for a fresh look if I can find the correct color to match. This will not involve removing the dash again, but rather masking around the areas to be resprayed which is only the areas on the ends of the dash and the portions that show on the sides of the center stack flowing down to the console.

The original top dash pad will be recovered in vinyl and I will likely have custom stitching across the front edge. I suppose I will do this along with the console lid as well since the padded lid is not in the greatest shape cosmetically.

I decided to go back with the grey steering column shroud instead of using a black one. Soon I will be installing the 1990-91 Taurus HVAC rotary controls with a relocated rear defroster switch which will go in the lower center stack trim panel in place of the switch used for the premium sound system switch. The premium sound system amplifier appears to be toast so I will remove that switch and the amplifer will be bypassed easily with the added on wiring harness removed. I didn't reinstall the amplifier in the upper dash. I will use the original audio head unit for now until I can decide to replace it with something else or not.

I really like the four spoke wheel. All I am waiting for now is a virgin NOS Tbird center trim that I just won off eBay! If that trim gets here in one piece I will be very happy.

So for the interior at this point, I just have a few underdash things to reassemble. I need to order the carpet and headliner material, then proceded to gut the trim panels in the rear seat area and get those to look as best as possible. I also need to order carpet to recover the rear window shelf and install the 1986 3rd brake light.

I also need to turn my attention to reinstalling the armrest/map pockets to the door panels which is going to take some creative re-attachment since they typically had broken at some of the mounting tabs just like most of these vehicles have done. I also have to get creative and figure a way to cover the areas where the power door lock switches normally are mounted. I hate the poor assembly of the original switches plus the mounting plates are broken and will not reattach. The later year armrest/map pockets relocated them just ahead of the armrests.

I really need to turn my attention to the mechanical condition of the car. A lot to do here. I want this thing on the road!

Delete

Reply #56 – July 18, 2009, 10:28:37 AM

The NOS Tbird steering wheel trim I just won on eBay! Now I am pondering to spray the wheel gray to match. The wheel will get a new leather wrap. I saved the old worn wrap intact as a template for easy duplication. Maybe I can get the wrap done extra thick for a more subtancial feel and look. If I can remember to push in the end of the stalk for the horn if I ever need it that will be good. The design of the Tbird trim is just too good to not use it.

Delete

Reply #57 – July 18, 2009, 02:48:14 PM

Very cool!

I know what you mean when it comes to "getting it on the road!" My '88 needs to be done Now-Now-Now!! :)

Shiny Side Up!
Bill

Delete

Reply #58 – July 20, 2009, 11:34:10 AM

Today I am torn making a decision between maintaining the original Oxford Gray carpeting color or going for a dark constrast using a charcoal or darker gray...

Delete

Reply #59 – July 20, 2009, 11:48:37 AM

The darker carpet would show less dirt but the lighter color looks great too!

I like the sn95 dash in your car but the steering wheel looked out of place then, looks much better with the stock dash!

Its coming along great! Keep it up!