Finally, Starting To Work On The Interior

[48ply1stcar]

It's been almost four years since I brought my car home from the paint shop.  First I went to a body shop and had the floor fixed.  That included rebuilding a body mount, patching the floor, and then making new and lower and solid rocker panels.  Then to Bob Nelson in Stacy, MN.  He took off everything but the body to clean patch and paint.  Oh, forgot I bought fenders, hood and trunk an had then shipped from PA to MN. 

 

I put the car together in his shop and drove it home after 14 months.  Then in Setember of 09 the car looked as it is in my user image.

 

Last sumer I used three quarts of oil in a 20-mile round trip, went to Iowa and bought another motor.

 

This year I plan to redo the interior, install the 56 230 that I bought, change the rear to a Dakota 3.55, and have a new drive shaft made by the end of the summer. 

 

I hope that I can post my progress and use the information and knowledge I have gained from this forum.

[mrwrstory]

We all like to see projects and how they evolve.  Keep the posts and the pics coming.

[48ply1stcar]

I started by removing the headliner today.  Discovered that under or above the headliner is what appears to be a wool insulation between layers of papper then glued to the roof of the car.  The insulation toward the front of the car was chewed up and apparently the happy home of a fuzzy little creature.

 

 As you can see after the car was painted it looked really good.  But I referred to it as a 30-30.  It looked good at 30 MPH and 30 feet.

 

Edited April 5, 2013 by 48ply1stcar

[48ply1stcar]

Meant to add these:

[48ply1stcar]

Removed the interior wiring harness this morning.

 

 

WIres from the botom of the picture.

 

2 wires to the passenger door switch

2 wires to the pilar switch

1 wire to the dome light.

1 wire (red) to the brake light

1 wire to the license plate light

2 wires for tail lights, must be spliced.

2 wires to the gas gauge.

Edited April 6, 2013 by 48ply1stcar

[48ply1stcar]

DOME LIGHT HARNESS

 

Power wire from the light switch is spliced at the top of the windshield and sent to the passenger door switch and the pillar switch.

Another wire starting at the opposite terminal of the door switch returns to the harness and spliced above the pillar sending one wire to the pillar switch and the other to the dome light.

 

The circuit works like a three-way switch circuit in your house.  All of the wires are power, the switch terminals are insulated from ground.  A three-way light switch in your house has two hot terminals instead of splicing the wires as in this Direct Current application.

 

I Googled "DC three-way circuits" and found diagrams for this application.

 

[Alshere59]

Keep posting I am looking forward to seeing your interior project. Always looking for ideas as that is on my list for later on. So you have kept the car from  high school that is a long time I wish mine looked that good. My cars from those days went away a long time ago now I wish I had a few of them back. 

 

Looking at your pics will you be building your own wire harness or going with a kit? I would probably wire your dome like Joe did in his thread if building my own, fewer wires and less complicated. There is a wiring diagram for both your 48 and Joes 50 in the resource area if you want to compare they are different as mentioned.

 

Al

[48ply1stcar]

I have already rewired the car from the dashboard forward one wire at a time.  In addition to the original wiring I also have two more wires for brake and turn signals.  My brake lights run through my turn signal switch.  My tail lights work like a trailer with dual element bulbs.  Currently the center brake light is not hooked up, but I plan to reconnect it with the new wiring.  I also plan on using some type of conector/jucntion box under the dash and in the trunk.  

[48ply1stcar]

FRONT SEAT

 

The front seat is coming along nicely, the colors are Sandlewood and Cognac. 

The young lady who is re-upholstering my car has a full time job and only does this in her spare time.  She said she's never worked on a car this old and I don't think she's ever done an entire car. 

When I hit the shows this summer she might have more work than she needs.

 

[Niel Hoback]

That is beautiful. She could easily have another full time job.

[48ply1stcar]

OLD AND NEW DOOR PANELS

 

 

Again the door panels are the same color as the seat.  The unseen lady on the right side of the third picture is my upholstery lady, she always supplies refreshments when I visit my uphostery.

 

I hope to get to my engine swap soon and making the rear wiring harness. Received tact strips and windlace last week so I'll have parts and pieces on hand when Spring arrives.

 

Ap-ruary has been a tough month in Minne-snow-da.  A foot of snow 18-19 April.

 

[Mikemomd]

I love her work....and, I like her choice of cold brewskies, also!

[fstfish66]

will be nice when your finished,,,looking good

[BobT-47P15]

So you decided to use vinyl and retain an original "flavor"......................looking good.  

 

Son in law has started re-doing my interior.  Using cloth similar to original.....with a two color scheme of tan and

maroon.  On a convertible,  door panels were all leather, no cloth......in color complimentary to the seat.....dark

maroon (wine) color in my case.  

 

Edited April 30, 2013 by BobT-47P15

[Mark D]

Nice job with the sewing. Wish I had that skill.

[48ply1stcar]

TAKING A BREAK FROM THE CAR

 

We have some out-of-town guests.  My wife's aunt and uncle are visiting from Massachusetts.  They arrived April 15th about two hours after the Marathon bombing.  Then we welcomed them to a near foot of snow on the 18th of April.  Although I haven't worked on the car I was able to get in the car and take a picture of some tack-strips above the windshield and around the rear shelf for another thread.

 

 

Welcome to Minnesota, this was the morning of 19 April and we have snow in the forecast for Wednesday into Thursday.

 

[thrashingcows]

The yong lady doing your upholstry is doing a stellar job!  Coming along nicely...looks great!

[48ply1stcar]

DOOR PANELS

 

Recently I received a PM asking about my door panels.

 

I purchased waterproof panels from a local upholstery supplier, (Kraft Tan Waterproof Panel board.)  They sell this at perfectfit.com; buy it locally and save the shipping.  I bought the 32" X 48" panels.  The first panel I made was from a paper pattern I made from the old complete door panel.  Made the paper pattern and then checked it out against the actual door.  Definitely not the easiest.

 

Next I discovered that when I dissected the door panel I had three sheets of thick paper covered by the cloth.  I carefully peeled the paper apart and used the center paper as the pattern.  I stapled the paper to the panel board, traced the pattern, and then cut the panel board with a utility knife.  I made sure that I traced the cutouts for the clip, handles and screws. 

 

I think my upholstery lady glued and stapled the material to the back of the board.  As you can see I did not used the old trim to divide the material at the bottom of the door, but instead opted for the cord or piping seam (Please correct me if you know what that seam is called.)

 

 

 

 

 

[jcmiller]

Thanks for the extra info.

[Frank Elder]

What a wonderful transformation! A question for you tho.....did you know the headliner bows are numbered so the order in which they go in is easier? 

Edited May 8, 2013 by Frank Elder

[48ply1stcar]

No I didn't know the bows were numbered, but I did number them when I removed them from the headliner.  I still hope I can make the headliner using the Walmart blanket method.

[Frank Elder]

No I didn't know the bows were numbered, but I did number them when I removed them from the headliner.  I still hope I can make the headliner using the Walmart blanket method.

That was good thinking!

[48ply1stcar]

START OF THE REAR WIRING HARNESS

 

I tried a couple of methods for getting the wire down the "A" pillar after I removed the spotlight. Then I just taped seven wires together with electrical tape and then fed it down without any problem.

 

I think I'll still have room for speaker wires for the future and a 10 or 12 gauge cables to run 12 volt to the front for accessories.  Any suggestions on wire gauge for 12 volt on a long run.

 

I ran the wires to a 10 position terminal bloke, white for dome, red for the center brake (to be hooked up after everything else works), green and brown for turn signals and brakes, black for tail lights, and blue and yellow for the fuel gauge.

 

 

[bmw2002e3]

 My brake lights run through my turn signal switch.  My tail lights work like a trailer with dual element bulbs. 

 

 

Was this a hard conversion to go to dual element sockets in the taillights? 

[48ply1stcar]

BMW guy

 

Not at all.  Do you have turn signals?  If you don't have turn signals buy a after market kit that makes it an easy conversion.  Even if you have a OLD turn signal switch clamped to your steering colum, consider a new turn signal switch.  My turn signal switch has inputs for brake and flasher.  The output works like trailer lights.  The high density element is both brake and turn signal and the other element is the tail light.  I new dual element sockets at the parts store. 

 

When installing the new socket it will be easier to remove the tail light lens and housing.  I had to make the opening smaller to fit the socket.  I left the front lights single element with turn signal only.

 

If you have other questions you can always PM me with a phone number and a time.

Edited May 16, 2013 by 48ply1stcar