This is gonna be a nice one! What headers are those?
1972 Duster, 340/4, black on black (the endgame)
- Thread starter WymanV
- Start date
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WymanV
..you said "member"...
TTI shorties. It didn't come with any exhaust so I figured if I was going to pay a hefty chunk of change for exhaust I'll skip on the collector (over)priced OEM 340 manifolds and pay for the HP bump instead.
WymanV
..you said "member"...
So let's restore some door panels.
On my trip to Oregon a couple years ago to strip a brother 72 340/4 speed TX9 Duster for suspension parts one of the bit pieces I grabbed were the trashed door panels that were rotting away in the back seat. They were indeed trashed but they were black and they were the same deluxe panels that were original to my car. So I took those as well with the thought I may be able to do something with them.
Turns out there was...
Way back in the day (remember-this project is closing up on 40 years) I made door panels for this car from a piece of corrugated plastic packing material I picked up on an odd job I had. And being the 1980s I had no reservations about covering the panels with fake fur-you may also remember I was building the car I wanted in high school and that was the cat's *** back in the day. However, fast forward 20 years or so and that zebra stripe got to be a bit much. Door panels, package shelf, headliner and dash pad was an awful lot of cheesy so I decided it had to go. The headliner was first of course-that cardboard one gave way to a black cloth one. Then the dash, which still has to be restored but it was a solid (tan) pad underneath and quite salvageable. Next would be stripping the fur off the plastic door panels I made with the idea of stripping the vinyl off the deteriorated chipboard/pressboard the originals were made from and gluing it to the plastic.
I started with the back seat panels because I just resumed work on the doors and they're not ready for panels yet, but here are the ones I picked up as "cores":
Not in the best of shape but I really have nothing to lose by trying but a little time. Here are the backsides of the ones I made showing the plastic cores I made for them:
Since the back seat area is coming together I started with the right side rear panel:
Not good, not terrible. They're drying out around the edges but hitting it with the heat gun softened the vinyl up quick and it peeled off the core pretty easily:
I warmed it up with the heat gun to ease out some of the wrinkles in the vinyl and glued it to the plastic core with some spray adhesive. Then I flipped it and glued the edges down and around with the same glue I used on the headliner:
A little more caressing with the heat gun and a bath in Purple Power later and ta-da, one rebuilt interior panel:
Not perfect and hardly show quality but it'll do the job and save me a pretty good chunk of change I can spend on buying aftermarket panels later if I wish.
Now the left side was a bit dicey:
Yeah, it shrank back a lot. I started by clamping the top edge down to the work table and started massaging and stretching the vinyl out with the heat gun:
With that improvement I pulled the vinyl off the old core and glued the back of the top edge to the new one. Then I clamped that down to the bench and started stretching it to fit:
Stapling it down helped it hold it's form while it cooled and while I went a little far on the back edge I doubt it'll stand out once the seat is in and it actually managed to stretch out quite a bit once it was heated up:
On my trip to Oregon a couple years ago to strip a brother 72 340/4 speed TX9 Duster for suspension parts one of the bit pieces I grabbed were the trashed door panels that were rotting away in the back seat. They were indeed trashed but they were black and they were the same deluxe panels that were original to my car. So I took those as well with the thought I may be able to do something with them.
Turns out there was...
Way back in the day (remember-this project is closing up on 40 years) I made door panels for this car from a piece of corrugated plastic packing material I picked up on an odd job I had. And being the 1980s I had no reservations about covering the panels with fake fur-you may also remember I was building the car I wanted in high school and that was the cat's *** back in the day. However, fast forward 20 years or so and that zebra stripe got to be a bit much. Door panels, package shelf, headliner and dash pad was an awful lot of cheesy so I decided it had to go. The headliner was first of course-that cardboard one gave way to a black cloth one. Then the dash, which still has to be restored but it was a solid (tan) pad underneath and quite salvageable. Next would be stripping the fur off the plastic door panels I made with the idea of stripping the vinyl off the deteriorated chipboard/pressboard the originals were made from and gluing it to the plastic.
I started with the back seat panels because I just resumed work on the doors and they're not ready for panels yet, but here are the ones I picked up as "cores":
Not in the best of shape but I really have nothing to lose by trying but a little time. Here are the backsides of the ones I made showing the plastic cores I made for them:
Since the back seat area is coming together I started with the right side rear panel:
Not good, not terrible. They're drying out around the edges but hitting it with the heat gun softened the vinyl up quick and it peeled off the core pretty easily:
I warmed it up with the heat gun to ease out some of the wrinkles in the vinyl and glued it to the plastic core with some spray adhesive. Then I flipped it and glued the edges down and around with the same glue I used on the headliner:
A little more caressing with the heat gun and a bath in Purple Power later and ta-da, one rebuilt interior panel:
Not perfect and hardly show quality but it'll do the job and save me a pretty good chunk of change I can spend on buying aftermarket panels later if I wish.
Now the left side was a bit dicey:
Yeah, it shrank back a lot. I started by clamping the top edge down to the work table and started massaging and stretching the vinyl out with the heat gun:
With that improvement I pulled the vinyl off the old core and glued the back of the top edge to the new one. Then I clamped that down to the bench and started stretching it to fit:
Stapling it down helped it hold it's form while it cooled and while I went a little far on the back edge I doubt it'll stand out once the seat is in and it actually managed to stretch out quite a bit once it was heated up:
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WymanV
..you said "member"...
It'll do. Again, not show worthy but functional and cheap. I suspect the remaining wrinkles will work out over time. Black on black means it'll get plenty hot in there in the summer.
(and in my best David Lee Roth impression) Uh oh-
Oh yes he did! This is the good stuff. This is the plush stuff. This is the stuff you put your hand on and it just sucks your hand in. This is the stuff your mom was conceived on
Seriously, I wasn't going to get away without some touch of the 1970s in this car. And I had a pretty sizeable piece left over from reconditioning a bass case a few years ago so I burned it up:
And you can see that right side panel in there too.
WymanV
..you said "member"...
So here's the wrap-up on all this. Panels are in. The metal panels got painted and buffed a few weeks ago and they're in. Sill plates and kick panels are in and the carpet has had it's final trim:
And the dash is assembled. Had a false alarm with it as it's been together before but after I put the horns in the hi beams stopped working. Tore it all apart to find the crossed wire and I did-under the bolt that held a horn in
And everything works except the horns, of course but it's getting a wood steering wheel so I'll deal with that when the time comes. And happily enough my modified ashtray worked out pretty well. And even the 3 speed wiper motor and fluid pump work:
Of course there's a dashpad to deal with but that's $1300 I don't want to spend right now. Going to IPMS NATS next weekend in Madison and that'll be a costly adventure in itself.
Also added a third brake light while I was at it, because there are a whole bunch of kids out there today who never lived in a world before the third brake light and I really don't need one of them slamming into that tail light panel...again...:
And way up in front of the shop above the steering wheel you can just see the left door sitting on a sawhorse, getting prepped for repaint
And the dash is assembled. Had a false alarm with it as it's been together before but after I put the horns in the hi beams stopped working. Tore it all apart to find the crossed wire and I did-under the bolt that held a horn in
And everything works except the horns, of course but it's getting a wood steering wheel so I'll deal with that when the time comes. And happily enough my modified ashtray worked out pretty well. And even the 3 speed wiper motor and fluid pump work:Of course there's a dashpad to deal with but that's $1300 I don't want to spend right now. Going to IPMS NATS next weekend in Madison and that'll be a costly adventure in itself.
Also added a third brake light while I was at it, because there are a whole bunch of kids out there today who never lived in a world before the third brake light and I really don't need one of them slamming into that tail light panel...again...:
And way up in front of the shop above the steering wheel you can just see the left door sitting on a sawhorse, getting prepped for repaint
DionR
Well-Known Member
So here's the wrap-up on all this. Panels are in. The metal panels got painted and buffed a few weeks ago and they're in. Sill plates and kick panels are in and the carpet has had it's final trim:
View attachment 1716276192
And the dash is assembled. Had a false alarm with it as it's been together before but after I put the horns in the hi beams stopped working. Tore it all apart to find the crossed wire and I did-under the bolt that held a horn in
View attachment 1716276194
Of course there's a dashpad to deal with but that's $1300 I don't want to spend right now. Going to IPMS NATS next weekend in Madison and that'll be a costly adventure in itself.
Also added a third brake light while I was at it, because there are a whole bunch of kids out there today who never lived in a world before the third brake light and I really don't need one of them slamming into that tail light panel...again...:
View attachment 1716276195
And way up in front of the shop above the steering wheel you can just see the left door sitting on a sawhorse, getting prepped for repaint
Details on the third brake light?
I just looked and Classic Industries has a dash pad forSo here's the wrap-up on all this. Panels are in. The metal panels got painted and buffed a few weeks ago and they're in. Sill plates and kick panels are in and the carpet has had it's final trim:
View attachment 1716276192
And the dash is assembled. Had a false alarm with it as it's been together before but after I put the horns in the hi beams stopped working. Tore it all apart to find the crossed wire and I did-under the bolt that held a horn in
View attachment 1716276194
Of course there's a dashpad to deal with but that's $1300 I don't want to spend right now. Going to IPMS NATS next weekend in Madison and that'll be a costly adventure in itself.
Also added a third brake light while I was at it, because there are a whole bunch of kids out there today who never lived in a world before the third brake light and I really don't need one of them slamming into that tail light panel...again...:
View attachment 1716276195
And way up in front of the shop above the steering wheel you can just see the left door sitting on a sawhorse, getting prepped for repaint
$329
https://www.classicindustries.com/product/all-years/plymouth/all-models/parts/ma1094100.html
hcallaway
Well-Known Member
Labor of love!! Great job.
WymanV
..you said "member"...
It's something I picked up for the bike when I was working on it but it didn't fit-ended up using an LED strip on that. I had to make a bracket for this one as the one it came with was too short but it works and doesn't look too out of place. Packing for a trip but when I get back I'll get more pics.
Ooh-I can do that. I've been talking to Just Dashes about restoring the one I have but for the money I'll do this instead just as soon as I get back. Thanks for sharing
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Great work!
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