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1973 Road Runner resto

Just read thru your thread and you've done some amazing work.
 
Gentlemen:

after major help from my 13 year old daughter Madeleine, I finally and successfully loaded a walk around video on YouTube

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=LmF9CrCQQUI

here are also some pictures of today's progress with the rear bumper and power sunroof.

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Here is an overall of the car with the new tires mounted and finally outside now that the sunroof does not leak.

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Detail of the sunroof

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Rear bumper filler install

Still waiting on the headliner material to finish out the interior. I also replaced the speedometer cable but now the gauge is a little noisy.

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Here is a video of my friend Ivan driving the car while I video it. He's taking it a little easy and you can here the car short shifting a little. Lot of tuning and adjustment to do soon. But for now not too shabby.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IiICWciisso
 
Beautiful man and thanks for sharing .. pics look great. I can't get the vids to play .. could just be me though.
 
Thanks for all the positive feedback guys!

Went to the trim shop to personally check on the status of the headliner material from SMS..... No show.

Sent them an email because they had already charged my account for the material. Supposedly, it has arrived as of last Friday but they have been having trouble getting it out.

It all sounds like b.llsh.t to me. I'm giving it a week to see if it sorts itself out. Otherwise call the bank and get them to reverse the charge.

Not like them at all, I've ordered a lot of materials from them in the past. They have always been slow but never ever this slow. It's been over 6 weeks. Very disappointed.

Anyone out there having similar issues with SMS?

I reset the rear bumper with the jack and now it sits tight to the body on both sides like it should.

Will set the lower inner panels, do the final adjustment on all the glass, trim out the carpet, install the door sills next Saturday .... and keep waiting.
 
Your car looks great and your work is amazing. I hope you keep up this excellent thread with lots of pics of your progress. You are only going to do this car once and this is a great way to capture and preserve the whole experience forever in cyberspace ha ha!!! Seriously, I wish I had done a thread like this. Good job!
 
Sorry no pictures today.

But I did a lot of little projects. I got all the seat belts in. The shoulder belt is just finger tight but will help the trim shop when the headliner material finally comes in.

I also installed the kick plates and trimmed out the carpet for the sills. This involved sorting, cleaning and arranging all the driver side wiring set in the frame to get the kick plates in. Lot of wires with the power windows, and seat on the driver side.

Pulled and reset the console to install the passenger side remote mirror I hid in the compartment together with the power trunk release.... These came courtesy of a Cordoba I stripped a long time ago together with the drivers power seat base. The mirror heads are the same but the bases are totally different. I was able to remove the control head and switch the bases.

Cleaned up the trunk and sorted all the parts I have left to install.

Fixed the driver door window. It got stuck during the week due to the remote mirror cable coming loose from the door clip that keeps it out of the way. Luckily nothing broke so it was just an hour of hell in the heat to fish the clip back through the hole. This time I set the clip in a bit of some weather stripping glue ( the black 3M type) to also seal the hole. Not really correct but who looks there.

Door sills went in and the door jamb windlace on both sides. The sills were nos from a million years ago and the clear plastic protectors bonded to them..... Another hour of cleaning and detailing in the heat.... This is fun?!?!?!?!

I'm having the time of my life!!!
 
WOW!!
The Grey on the 73 " fits very good!!!!!
NiCE!!!!!!!
 
Thanks again for everyone's encouraging words.

I'm like the guy who's girlfriend is out of town and am counting the minutes til she gets back..... This car was a lot like my first girl friend. Met 'em both when I was young. Developed an instant crush. And I still get a special feeling every time she comes home.....

Today I brought her home. First time in four years...... Wife said "When did this get back.????"... I think she's just a little jealous.

Headliner material came in last week and my friends at "All in Leather" finished stitching it up on Friday. Car goes in on Monday morning for fitting.

Here are a few pictures from last week's trim of the door jambs and sills.

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Drivers side... Waiting til headliner is in to install uppers door panels. No need to have them damaged at the shop. I'm really happy with how the carpet and other trim is beginning to come together. A lot of hard work and patience is beginning to pay off.

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Here are some details of the rear bumper and why I need to have it rechromed.

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For some reason the top of the bumper chrome peeled off and rusted.Didn't even notice it 'til i pulled what was left of the old filler out.

I have another outer bumper shell that went in for new chrome. This one was the original that had a Toyota commit suicide on it about 20 years ago. I drove off with with a bent bumper, lower valance and licence plate frame. His Toyota was totaled. Insurance paid to have it straightened and repaired but it came out a little wavy. The other shell is straight and has only a little surface rust points. It should come out great... I hope.

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Here you can see the chrome has crazed a bit. But the fit of the end trim fillers is good.

It rained for the rest of the day. When the rain finally stopped to work on a few little things that were bugging me. the passenger side turn signal light on the fender had a very weak light and the drivers side was inop. I was able to get the turn signal lights working and the new map light installed as well before I had to get to my other job and some honey do's. The old map light was cooked.

Having some trouble with the a/c fan circuit in that it is heating up and blowing the fuse. I'm going to start a separate thread on that issue tomorrow to see if someone has run into this before.


More tomorrow... If it doesn't rain. Right now I have to put some furniture together my wife and I got from Ikea last week .... My oldest has been helping out and says that Ikea is "swedish for Satan".

Did I mention that for the last few weeks I've been remodeling closets and the girls rooms and our bathroom? My wife is really happy that we're finally getting some of our projects done around the house. And... She's mum about the time I'm spending on the car... But my back and still bum leg are killing me!
 
Well... Today I built the new bathroom cabinet. Took most of the afternoon but at least now I know where to put the reinforcement in the wall to hang it.

I was finally able to turn my attention to the road runner for some small things I could manage between the rain showers.

First, I got a new a/c vent for the drivers side from fleEbay. I noticed that the outer rim was originally chromed.

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Heres a detail:
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I decided to go back to the Bare Metal product that worked so well for me on the road runner emblem.
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This stuff is a pain to use.. It's thin and difficult to work with... Did I say thin?? It's actually really really thin.
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I found that the best burnishing tool was actually my thumb nail.
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Here it is installed...
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Now I need to do the ralley dash bezels and trim... That's sure to be a whole days work....and a/c vents.

If you looked closely to the backgrounds from the above views you can see what else I was up to at the same time. The tail light bezels were also bright finished at the interior rim of the bezels. For this, because it is an exterior finish, I went with a Krylon paint pen from the local craft store. I found it in the gold and silver leaf section and is very easy to use. First I washed it in Dawn soap as a mild degreaser to get any remaining road film off the black plastic bezel..

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And here it is on the car

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I was able to do all this on my kitchen counter where I do a lot of the little things I do.

And here is why....

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Tomorrow I take the car in for the headliner. Wish me luck!
 
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Made it to the trim shop. Drivers window is stuck. Luckily, the sunroof works fine. Very very hot!!!!
 
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Man that's a beautiful ride, That color is absolutely great!
 
Progress. Finally.

It seems the last 5% takes 50% longer than anything. I guess that's because all the little things that have been put off or worked around until now are now critical.

Example.... Headliner. Yes I wanted to get the original material and yes I guess I could have ordered it earlier. But who knew SMS would take 8 weeks just to ship the material? Usually it takes them two weeks max. I just ordered some original top material for another car and they took a week to get it including getting me a sample to approve. And I couldn't finish putting in the interior rear panels until the headliner was in because the rear trim around the window also holds in the sail panel and etc. etc. etc......

So here it is. Finally.

image.jpgimage.jpg

Now that the front and rear of the headliner is in and tight, I will be loosening the sides to install the seat belts, and hangers, coat hook.

Cant wait. ... More to come soon.... now!
 
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Yeah, where did you get those and how well do they fit?
 
Progress. Finally.

It seams the last 5% takes 50% longer than anything. I guess that's because all the little things that have been put off or worked around until now are now critical.

Example.... Headliner. Yes I wanted to get the original material and yes I guess I could have ordered it earlier. But who knew SMS would take 8 weeks just to ship the material? Usually it takes them two weeks max. I just ordered some original top material for another car and they took a week to get it including getting me a sample to approve. And I couldn't finish putting in the interior rear panels until the headliner was in because the rear trim around the window also holds in the sail panel and etc. etc. etc......

So here it is. Finally.

View attachment 133586View attachment 133587

Now that the front and rear of the headliner is in and tight, I will be loosening the sides to install the seat belts, and hangers, coat hook.

Cant wait. ... More to come soon.... now!

Looking Sweet! :)
 
Those rear window louvers are killer!!! Where did you find them?

Here you go....

http://www.andysautosport.com/plymo...indow_louvers/astra_hammond/asha01010145.html

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Yeah, where did you get those and how well do they fit?

See above for link to louvers.

Fit is ok... Not great. I do like that they fit inside the window trim. And, it does help keep the car cooler.

Some minor trimming is required for the flashing on the part .... New item on list of stuff I want to do. Never ends.
 
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