1963 Dart 170 2 Door Post Resto

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doesn't the headlamp switch also dim the dash lights an turn on the interior light. they're known to get dirty on the rheostat (dimmer bit) and turning the knob to and fro repeatedly can make them work. worth a try.
neil.
 
mygasser said:
doesn't the headlamp switch also dim the dash lights an turn on the interior light. they're known to get dirty on the rheostat (dimmer bit) and turning the knob to and fro repeatedly can make them work. worth a try.
neil.
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Yes, that is on the list to check. I already spun it back and forth a bunch of times and sanded the contacts while it was out. The fact that the light behind the shift selector working when I turn it on leads me to think it's an issue past the switch. I will be checking it while I'm at it just to rule it out any way.
 
So, the car shows signs of life for the first time in 3 years. :thumbsup:

I had a leak in the transmission pan gasket when I went to fill it up after install. I decided to order the Lube Locker pan gasket and be done with it. When I removed the pan I found along the front (as I suspected) the gasket got sucked in causing the leak. What I didn't expect to find was the pan mounting surface wasn't flat. It was bent up in a few spots (presumably from being over torqued and deforming the bolt hole locations). I flattened it all out as best as I could and checked it again and it was really close. I decided to try it. 5 litres in and so far so good, no leaks. And with no sealant as well, just the new gasket. I call victory on this one.

So then as I was running out of time to be in the shop and now having oil in the transmission and engine I decided to see if it would fire. Put a bit of gas down the carb and spun it over. It tries to start and comes close to actually running but not quite. Plan next time I'm out is to put fuel in the tank and try again. I may have to timing off a little as I did have it all pulled apart. Can't wait to hear it run again for the first time in 3 years.

Still have to fill the rear diff and put water in the rad (plan for now until I confirm no leaks, then flush and fill with mixed coolant) and bleed the brakes. Then the drive train is ready.

Also brought the old bumper in to remove the brackets from to blast and paint ready to put the newly chromed bumper on.

Should be polishing and waxing the car shortly as I am reaching the 60 day mark. (plan to polish this upcoming week and may wait closer to 90 days to actually wax it to be totally sure of adequate time to cure)
 
Mineallmine said:
So, the car shows signs of life for the first time in 3 years. :thumbsup:

I had a leak in the transmission pan gasket when I went to fill it up after install. I decided to order the Lube Locker pan gasket and be done with it. When I removed the pan I found along the front (as I suspected) the gasket got sucked in causing the leak. What I didn't expect to find was the pan mounting surface wasn't flat. It was bent up in a few spots (presumably from being over torqued and deforming the bolt hole locations). I flattened it all out as best as I could and checked it again and it was really close. I decided to try it. 5 litres in and so far so good, no leaks. And with no sealant as well, just the new gasket. I call victory on this one.

So then as I was running out of time to be in the shop and now having oil in the transmission and engine I decided to see if it would fire. Put a bit of gas down the carb and spun it over. It tries to start and comes close to actually running but not quite. Plan next time I'm out is to put fuel in the tank and try again. I may have to timing off a little as I did have it all pulled apart. Can't wait to hear it run again for the first time in 3 years.

Still have to fill the rear diff and put water in the rad (plan for now until I confirm no leaks, then flush and fill with mixed coolant) and bleed the brakes. Then the drive train is ready.

Also brought the old bumper in to remove the brackets from to blast and paint ready to put the newly chromed bumper on.

Should be polishing and waxing the car shortly as I am reaching the 60 day mark. (plan to polish this upcoming week and may wait closer to 90 days to actually wax it to be totally sure of adequate time to cure)
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You did it right and got the pan back to factory specs so to speak. Lol. After my Scamp sat for 20 years I had some leaks from both the tranny and the oil pans. I snugged up all the bolts and it still leaked a bit. So being a procrastinator, I drove it that way for a few months and lucky me, there are no more leaks. The gaskets must have swelled some and fixed the leaks for me. I did have to replace two seals on the power steering gear though because of leaks. Once again, great job on the restoration and keeping us informed.
 
A couple steps forward. Got the car to stay running finally. It was my dumb a$$ fault. I replaced the bulkhead connector on the car and when I was replacing the wires into the new upper connector, I accidentally put the middle upper blue ignition wire in the lower spare position. I was sure I was really careful doing this...apparently no careful enough...lol. Either way, now it runs. I just need to adjust the timing a little and the valves.

Also got the dash lights working again. It was actually a combination of a number of issues. First it was a bad connection at the dash (that was when the shift light was working). Then suddenly it stopped working too. I found i had no power at the fuse block. Checked and found the headlamp switch was working intermittently. I replaced with new. That issue resolved. Then i found the fuse holder was corroded. I sanded the contacts but apparently not enough. Sanded a little more, then I had power again. Shift lights started working and on dash bulb. After a bunch of troubleshooting and sanding contacts, I finally found a bad ground on the other 2 bulbs. The screw for the ground had enough oxidization that it wasn't grounding. A little sanding there and now I have all dash lights working. Also installed my new dimmer and my headlights work as they are supposed to again.

Even got my second horn working again. Tapped it with the wooden handle of my hammer to release the stuck contacts and good to go.

Onto my next issue. I think my voltage regulator is no good. When I first started it, it was bouncing all over. Then it stabilized but just under 12V at idle and only up to 13 when reved up. Pulled the positive off and it stays running but only shows 11.5V on the disconnected positive terminal. The alternator is brand new so hopefully it isn't a dud. I have 2 spare regulators that I can try to see if it changes (once I remember where I put them). I also have a couple spare (not so nice looking) alternators I can throw on if that doesn't work to rule it out.

Fortunately I seem to be checking off more items and issue than I am finding, so I call that progress.
 
Mineallmine said:
A couple steps forward. Got the car to stay running finally. It was my dumb a$$ fault. I replaced the bulkhead connector on the car and when I was replacing the wires into the new upper connector, I accidentally put the middle upper blue ignition wire in the lower spare position. I was sure I was really careful doing this...apparently no careful enough...lol. Either way, now it runs. I just need to adjust the timing a little and the valves.

Also got the dash lights working again. It was actually a combination of a number of issues. First it was a bad connection at the dash (that was when the shift light was working). Then suddenly it stopped working too. I found i had no power at the fuse block. Checked and found the headlamp switch was working intermittently. I replaced with new. That issue resolved. Then i found the fuse holder was corroded. I sanded the contacts but apparently not enough. Sanded a little more, then I had power again. Shift lights started working and on dash bulb. After a bunch of troubleshooting and sanding contacts, I finally found a bad ground on the other 2 bulbs. The screw for the ground had enough oxidization that it wasn't grounding. A little sanding there and now I have all dash lights working. Also installed my new dimmer and my headlights work as they are supposed to again.

Even got my second horn working again. Tapped it with the wooden handle of my hammer to release the stuck contacts and good to go.

Onto my next issue. I think my voltage regulator is no good. When I first started it, it was bouncing all over. Then it stabilized but just under 12V at idle and only up to 13 when reved up. Pulled the positive off and it stays running but only shows 11.5V on the disconnected positive terminal. The alternator is brand new so hopefully it isn't a dud. I have 2 spare regulators that I can try to see if it changes (once I remember where I put them). I also have a couple spare (not so nice looking) alternators I can throw on if that doesn't work to rule it out.

Fortunately I seem to be checking off more items and issue than I am finding, so I call that progress.
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Nice job on fixing all that stuff. If you do a search on here for charging issues you'll come up with some great troubleshooting information that will walk you through it without wasting time or parts. I made up some long jumper wires to temporarily hook everything up and figure out the problem. In my case it was the voltage regulator and the symptoms were similar to yours.
 
So, again with one step forward, one step back...twice...lol

Found my spare voltage regulator and installed it. Started the car and voila, she charges. Then I got brave and decided to fill it with water to confirm no leaks and the cooling works...bad idea apparently. As soon as I got it filled with water I notice a leak at the front of the engine. Further investigation showed it to be on the bolt on the lower side of the hose coming from the pump to the lower rad. (the one that is in the water jacket). I remembered that when I removed the old pump that bolt broke. I was able to drill it and extract it but it didn't feel "right". I guess it was corroded a bit and the threads were weak, thus why the old bolt bound up and broke. I tried to remove the bolt and add more sealant and reinstall but at this point it wouldn't take any more torque and just stripped out what threads were remaining.

Then came research time. I decided I had two options. First was to drill it out and tap it to a 7/16" bolt but I wasn't sure if the damaged threads of the 3/8" bolt would allow this. My other option was to drill it out to 1/2" and install a sleeve. While this is usually the preferred method, I was concerned if there would be enough material on that tab to allow opening it up that far or would it break once some torque was applied. I decided to order the sleeves (thin wall E-Z Lok was my choice) and as the drill bit to start with was larger than the outer diameter of a 7/16" tap, I could try the 7/16 bolt repair and if it wouldn't work I could still go for the sleeve.

Today I pulled the radiator and fan...then the upper grille brace as it just HAD to be right where the drill was going to sit. I used the pump as a guide to keep the drill level. I went to drill with a 23/64 bit and the drill just pushed in. I guess there were no threads left at all. I then moved up to the 3/8" that my tap called for and it took ever so slight of an amount of material off. This got me hopeful. I had to pull the pump to tap it as I think the pump was slightly offset to that bolt hole as the tap didn't want to start when I tried it with the pump installed. Once removed it went really smooth. Nice clean threads. Tried the bolt and had no slop. Reinstalled the pump with a super thin layer of RTV and applied sealant to the bolt threads. Reinstalled the fan and rad and alternator belt and filled it up again. NO LEAKS!! I ran it for about 20 minutes and it ran decent (have to adjust valves as I have an annoying tick). Came up to temp fine and held nice in the operating range.

Now comes the next issue (one step forward, one step back right?? :wtf:). When I grab the heater hoses the one from up by the upper water neck is hot while the other to the pump is not. I flushed out the heater core with lots of water when I had the heater all apart and it flushed out nice and clean with no sign of restrictions. I am hoping it is just air locked. I will try to bleed it out tomorrow. If that isn't the issue I will have to dig a little deeper. I did manage to get the transmission all topped up once it warmed up while I was at it.

I'll get there eventually. Most of these issues I couldn't predict as I have never had water in the car since I bought it. Little things though. One by one, check them off and should be good to go.
 
Well, here we go again....one step forward, one backward. I seem to be detecting a trend here...lol.

Went out today and pulled the rad cap. Noticed I was down on water. I figure overnight it slowly bled the air out as it took 4 more litres of water. Started it up and got it warmed up and both hoses were warm. Thermostat opened and they cooled off, then gradually warmed up again. Nice. Another problem resolved...sort of. Went to sit in the car to try the heat (which was warm by the way) and noticed what everyone dreads....drip, drip, drip. Heater core is leaking. Didn't have means to pressure test it when I flushed it out and it looked good so I went with it. Guess this is why you use water when starting off. That and the fact that it flushes out the block of the rusty sediment (water has been dirty each time. Not horrible, but dirty). Drained the rad again and went on line and ordered a replacement.

Fot those wondering, I found 2 options for the early A. One is from Spectre and one is from OSC. The one from Spectre I could get off Amazon for about $80cdn delivered but its all aluminum and reviews were hit and miss. The one from OSC is copper and brass like original and cost $160cdn delivered. I went with the OSC as its copper and brass vs aluminum. The aluminum wouldn't like the old style coolant these cars usually ran with. More so was the fact that some reviews said fitment was an issue with having to bend the pipes. I wouldn't be too comfortable doing that with an aluminum rad. Either way, time will tell if the quality of the OSC is there. The spectre is made in Mexico and I couldn't find where the OSC was actually made. Don't care as long as it fits and is decent quality. I have had both good and bad from any where items have been made. Sure, some have a better history but I don't rule out an item just for that. Reviews are usually key.
 
More progress...

Got the compound and polish all finished on the car...finally. For my first paint job I am quite happy with the results. Have finally started waxing now that the paint has had time to cure. Once this is complete I can finally start installing the emblems and trim for the final time.

I also restored the park light housing last night. I bead blasted them and gave them a coat of silver paint to help reflect the light and protect the housing from rusting. Came out pretty good.'

I also polished up one of the park lenses to see how it would come out. To my delight it came out pretty good. All the cloudiness came out and it is nice and clear. Only one done so far. Pictures are before I washed the inside with a toothbrush to get all the dirt out of the grooves.

Still waiting on the new heater core so mechanical work has stalled a little. Going to get the Evaporust container cleaned out and fresh fluid added to get the window regulators cleaned up. Then apply new white lithium grease and clean the glass and get the front windows back in.

Then lots and lots of polishing on all the trim before install. The little things really take all the time. It'll pick up for a bit, then stop while refinishing a small part...then pick up...then stop. Took me better part of an evening to get the dodge letter for the trunk all cleaned up and taped off and repainted. Look good though.

Hoping I can get the wax finished this weekend and move to the headliner to be able to start finishing the interior.

Park housing1.jpg


Park housing2.jpg


park lens refinish.jpg
 
Mineallmine said:
More progress...

Got the compound and polish all finished on the car...finally. For my first paint job I am quite happy with the results. Have finally started waxing now that the paint has had time to cure. Once this is complete I can finally start installing the emblems and trim for the final time.

I also restored the park light housing last night. I bead blasted them and gave them a coat of silver paint to help reflect the light and protect the housing from rusting. Came out pretty good.'

I also polished up one of the park lenses to see how it would come out. To my delight it came out pretty good. All the cloudiness came out and it is nice and clear. Only one done so far. Pictures are before I washed the inside with a toothbrush to get all the dirt out of the grooves.

Still waiting on the new heater core so mechanical work has stalled a little. Going to get the Evaporust container cleaned out and fresh fluid added to get the window regulators cleaned up. Then apply new white lithium grease and clean the glass and get the front windows back in.

Then lots and lots of polishing on all the trim before install. The little things really take all the time. It'll pick up for a bit, then stop while refinishing a small part...then pick up...then stop. Took me better part of an evening to get the dodge letter for the trunk all cleaned up and taped off and repainted. Look good though.

Hoping I can get the wax finished this weekend and move to the headliner to be able to start finishing the interior.

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Looks great. What kind of compound/polish did you use to clean the lenses? Thanks
 
Scamp Rhonda said:
Looks great. What kind of compound/polish did you use to clean the lenses? Thanks
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I used the chemical guys v36 to take away the haze and just a carnuba cleaner wax to bring up the shine and clarity. I have some novus plastic polish I plan to use to finish it off later.
 
Well, by now I guess you know the drill....lol. One step forward, one back.

Got the park lenses installed and working. Hapy with how they look. Went and started to prep to do the wax and get ready to start installing the door glass again. Put the front regulators into the freshly changed out evaporust and the next day took them out to wipe them off and had an unfortunate surprise. Took one out and no issues, nice and clean. Looks like new. Took the other out and also looks like new....just no spring. Looked in the container and it was broken laying in the container.

Now, I can't say that the evaporust was the cause, nor will I get into that argument. I am just stating what happened to me. This is the 4th spring steel item I put in that broke after removal. None were rusty, light surface at best, if any. Just usually attached to a part that had some surface rust I wanted removed. Either way, just to be safe, I won't be using it for spring steel items any more.

Fortunately I have an old scrap yard nearby that has lots of antique cars. Used to be a functioning scrap yard years ago. Now mostly people go to take pictures. You can still get some parts too. I was able to source a replacement from one such car.

Also started on the wax. Finally got the wax I ordered after another order screw up. Did the hood and roof and it looked great but wasn't totally happy with the "feel" of the surface. Still felt a little gritty if you will. I used the Pete's 53 by chemical guys. Really easy to apply and remove. Nice shine after, just didn't like the texture, but that's just me. So I decided to go over it again and the entire car with Mother's Carnuba cleaner wax. Gave me the nice smooth slick texture I was after. Then I went over the front clip with the Pete's 53 and it resulted in a great slick shiny surface. Just have to finish the rest with the Pete's. Started putting the emblems back on again for the final time. Have to reinstall the front bumper too (took it off to touch up one of the brackets I made).

Finally now, I can put the door glass in, finish polishing the rear stainless and install, then move on to install the headliner and roof sound deadening. Can't wait to get the glass all installed and see the interior come back together. Hopefully the new heater core comes in before long and I can get it installed and tested and finalize the cooling system.

park lens install.jpg
 
Wax finished. Even started putting some emblems on for the final time. Really liking the contrast. Still have to buff and polish the stainless but getting there. Also got the brackets and license plate light off the old rear bumper and soaking in evaporust. Once they are cleaned and painted I can install the new rear bumper and reinstall the front. Starting to look like a complete car again. Got the new regulator spring installed on the original regulator too. Was going to use the one I got but figured keep it original for now (the original had welded nuts and new had clips for nuts). Will keep it for a spare.

Didn't think there'd be much of a change after I waxed as the paint was new, but as the pictures show the reflection got better and the shine a little deeper. Liking it more and more. Just not that you can see the mess around the car more now...lol. Big clean up day coming soon.

wax finished 1.jpg


wax finished 2.jpg


wax finished 3.jpg


wax finished 5.jpg


wax finished 6.jpg


wax finished 7.jpg
 
Moving forward...with only one minor hiccup today. Got both door glass and vent assemblies installed today. Cleaned up the glass and polished the chrome and stainless as best I could. The rubber on the vent glass was still soft and in very good condition so I didn't replace that. Love how all the bolts and hardware looks new and the regulators as well. Mind you no one will see it once the panels go back on. But at least I know they were serviced and done right.

Went in much easier than expected. Wish I had a second set of hands available today for this job but I managed. Got the bumper brackets flipped over in the evaporust to clean the other side as well. Should be ready for paint in the morning. Then the rear bumper goes on.

Even got the rear roof line stainless clips installed. Got lucky there. 2 were missing the rubber rings to seal to the roof and I also broke 2 on install. I say lucky as I only needed 12 and the kit I ordered came with 14. Prepping to polish the stainless now for install. Has some scratches I want to get rid of. I had a couple dents on the one piece of stainless for the top of the quarter panel but got lucky and found a nice one on line and ordered it. I was going to work them out but the worse one was right on the bend at the rear and would be extremely difficult to get looking nice again without a lot of time.

battery hold down done too. Discovered the replacement I ordered didn't really fit properly. The shafts were way too long and would almost hit the hood when closed. I didn't want to cut them off at the top and have an obvious mark on the top so I cut off the bottom of each and rebent the hook. Worked out nice. Also had to tap one of the wing nuts as it had no threads at all. The joys of repop parts I guess. No biggie overall. If this is the worst I find in my repop parts I'll be happy.

Also got my new heater core today and it looks good. Seems like nice quality. Will update once I try to install it as to fit and if it leaks...lol.

The hiccup I ran into was the rear license plate bumpers. The ones that came in the bumper kit I ordered don't fit. They are much too small. Any one know of where I can get the correct size for these cars? Also that will ship to canada?

Door glass installed.jpg


Door glass installed2.jpg


Door glass pillar polish.jpg


Rear window stainless clips.jpg


Battery hold down.jpg


Engine bay almost done.jpg
 
A little more progress with yet another setback.

Got some of the rear stainless installed and also the rear bumper brackets all cleaned up and painted and the bumper installed and adjusted. Came out great. The setback I ran into was, I had two of my new tires installed yesterday. I did the fronts first as I was concerned about clearing the fender as the tires were wider than what I had on it. Fortunately they clear with no modifications required. I went with 215/60R14 BF Goodrich Radial T/A's on steelies. They look great. I had 195/70R14s on it in the front but They no longer make them in the Radial T/A that I wanted. The issue I ran into was the rims got scratched. I kinda expected it though as I was waiting to do my final small parts in case this happened. I think it was a prep issue I was concerned with when I originally painted them. I was reconsidering redoing them for a while and this forces me to do so, so I'm not that upset. Just hate the prep work all over again.

Getting ready now to replace the heater core and install sound deadening and then the headliner. Glass coming soon. Finally the boxes and shelves of parts are starting to get empty.

rear bumper installed.jpg


rear bumper installed2.jpg


tail lights on.jpg


headlights on.jpg


new shoes.jpg
 
So, a little more progress again, with yes, another backwards step...lol.

Got the sound deadener installed on the inside of the roof. Got the headliner bows figured out and installed. I got the headliner installed on the bows and hung to let the wrinkles fall out a little. Issue I am seeing now is that with the last bow clipped into the retainer wires in the rear window reinforcement it doesn't seem to let the bows come forward enough so that the front bow is up in position. Does anyone have their headliner out that can measure the length of the wires that hold the last bow? I am wondering if the wires were different lengths based on 2 or 4 door. I took this reinforcement out of a 4 door.

Other than that, not a lot to report. Got the other 2 tires installed and fortunately no paint damage. Got the heater core installed. The new copper reproduction is pretty good. Not a perfect match and needs a little tweaking to fit in the hole but overall looks the same and for the price, not bad.

Also ordered more clips for around the rear glass. Discovered the one clip I wasn't happy with is broke, so I plan to remove the trim again to replace that clip. Expect to break a few during removal so spares are always good. Even got lucky and finally located the proper clips (hopefully) to put the lower door stainless back on.

Got all the new glass runs installed as well this week. Happy with how that went overall. The fit was great. Just had to remove the glass again from the channels to get it in. I hoped I could get it nice and soapy and slide them in (have done it this way many times before with other cars) but no luck. Issue I found here is that the cat whiskers I bought don't fit. The clips for the inner front door don't line up. The inner and outer are the same but the holes in the door are not. The outer door skin has one more hole than the inner and of course there's a clip there. Have a question posted on the a-body page to see if anyone else has had this issue. Hoping I just got a bad set (it happens). Waiting to see. Also have an email out to another company to see what theirs are like. Hoping they get back to me. Would rather know I am not buying the same as I have to get the same issues.

If all keeps going to plan, I am hoping to finish up by the end of march. (unless I keep hitting these road blocks)
 
Mineallmine said:
Got the sound deadener installed on the inside of the roof. Got the headliner bows figured out and installed. I got the headliner installed on the bows and hung to let the wrinkles fall out a little. Issue I am seeing now is that with the last bow clipped into the retainer wires in the rear window reinforcement it doesn't seem to let the bows come forward enough so that the front bow is up in position. Does anyone have their headliner out that can measure the length of the wires that hold the last bow? I am wondering if the wires were different lengths based on 2 or 4 door. I took this reinforcement out of a 4 door.
Click to expand...

I'd measure mine, but my 66 is a hardtop. I'd imagine the HT's, sedans, and 4-doors may all be different. Do you have any photos of the issue you're running into?
 
I kinda had a eureka moment on this. Already posted a question on the interior page. What I remembered was that the rear window brace was missing from my car when I got it (see earlier in my post). I got one from a 64 4 door sedan. It was absolutely the same brace as it fit perfectly with no modifications (also noted earlier). What I didn't think about was that the 64-up cars had a bigger back window, that would push the brace forward probably 2 1/2-3 inches, requiring a shorter wire to hold the last bow.

I recall looking at a 65 coupe and the wires looked the same as the 64 4 door sedan. I am thinking the roof was basically the same on all of those models. (differences mainly being in the sail panel areas) They all had the same size back window as well.

I think if I replace mine with longer ones it might resolve my issues. I know the later darts (67-72) use a longer one. I can get those reproduction if I can't find them at my scrap yard I know of with the older cars. Might be time for another "long walk in the snow". At least what's left of it.

Here are the wires I am referring to

rear listing wires.jpg


I will try to get a picture of my issue. What is happening is the front bow (along with the others, just not as bad) is being pulled back towards the rear and is basically pointing backwards, not up at all and it won't stay up. I thought originally either a crappy headliner (possible) or needed to be stretched out (thus why I have it hanging with it clipped at front and rear). I'm thinking now I just need longer bow retainer wires.
 
mopowers said:
I'd measure mine, but my 66 is a hardtop. I'd imagine the HT's, sedans, and 4-doors may all be different. Do you have any photos of the issue you're running into?
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What would help is if you can get a picture of the last bow installed with the wires attached so i can see how the last bow should be positioned.
 
So, I went to today to have a look at the headliner (never had much time as I had to leave for work for a long shift today) and as far as I can tell my headliner bows are between 1 and 1 1/2 inches too far to the back. This matches almost perfectly with the amount of extra metal in the rear window opening that pulls the rear brace backwards. I figure if I can find a longer replacement I should be able to make replacements in the correct length. Just have to be careful bending the spring steel into shape not to break it. I plan to chop off a longer set and bend new "J" hooks by bending it around a piece of solid rod in the correct diameter. I figure if I can find more than one car in that yard I'll take a couple sets so I have spares in case they break during bending.
 
Made my trip to the antique wrecker yesterday. Managed to pick up 3 sets of the headliner bow retainer wires. 2 sets are almost the same and one is a lot longer. The shorter set is still 3 1/2 inches longer than the ones in my car so either way they will need to be shortened. At least I have 3 sets to "experiment with". Plan is to take the longest set and cut off the end and use the cut off to heat and bend to make sure I have my method down. Then I plan to make a set 1 1/2" longer than the ones in the car and try them. If still too long I can either shorten them again or make another set 1" longer and try them. Shouldn't take much to find the "sweet spot" that the headliner looks the best. Just really glad I didn't go ahead and try to install the headliner as it was. I wasn't really happy with how the front section looked all droopy due to the bow position.

Didn't get much else done. Got a good deal on brake drums so I ordered all new for the car. The ones on it were OK but not perfect. Had little grooves starting to show. Probably would've passed safety, but getting new Raybestos drums for a good deal I couldn't pass up. Plan to put the gear oil in today after work and possibly flush the engine again to get all the rusty crud out. I picked up a male and female hose attachment to put on the heater hoses (bypass the heater core) and put a supply on one and drain on the other and run it out the garage door to thoroughly flush the engine before finally hooking up the new heater core and filling it with coolant for the final time. Thens it's bleed the brakes and mechanically it should be ready to drive...finally.

So nice to finally see it coming together. Still lots of little things to finish or work out but finally seeing the finish line.
 
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