Eric even if you don't bring the car I think you and the wife might enjoy yourselves.

 

Eric - Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

 

Thanks guys.

Got just a little done today. Installed the under dash insulation and preparing other parts to start installing this weekend. I decided to get a new blower fan from the local parts store. I told my wife that if it turns out to be from China I was not going to take it and use a used one that squeals. Lucky for my ears, The one that came in is made in Canada and looks very close to the original. I tested it and works very well. I am surprised! I hope to start installing the firewall pad and under dash parts this weekend.

 

your a/c unit looks super, highly detailed. and I like the accelerator asm. u said u cant compete with the big guys from what I see they ant got nothing on u.

 

X2. Merry Christmas Eric.

 

Started out the day with plans to get the firewall pad installed and much of the under dash parts. Turned out right away that the firewall pad is not correct. It came from inline tube and is not even close to correct. I decided to work on other things that I wanted to do over the summer but couldn't because of all the life that happened. I got the brake assembly cleaned up and ready and installed the A/C compressor and alternator. Also got all the duct work cleaned and ready to install.
Called Ron Memmer and he sent out a firewall pad today. He had never heard of any troubles with his fitting so I am giving it a try. It will likely be here tomorrow.

 

Eric sorry to hear padding didnt fit, parts look amazing as usual on your project is there any coating on the ebrake assembly? I know these were not usually painted well mine wasnt from the factory, just the pedal assembly was.

 

Mine was bare steel. It had just a little brown dust on it so I cleaned it and cleared it to keep it from turning brown again. I have the E brake assembly soaking in evaporust now. It has the same brown dust on it. My brake pedal was not painted black as high up as most I have seen. I just painted the top half with Eastwoods Phosphate paint and the bottom half with semi gloss black. It turned out very close to how it was.

 

Thanks Eric, I love evaporust btw lol... its amazing

 

The new firewall pad came in from Ron Memmer today. It is the REM brand and fit very nice. The Inline Tube pad is trash and not even sure why they sell it. I called them yesterday and they said since I got it several months ago there is nothing they can do. I ask why they even sell them because it will not fit. They sent me to the tech person to leave a message and they will call me back Monday, lol. I heard that before. There are some products that I love that Inline Tube has but I hate dealing with them. Outside of those products I will not be ordering from them again. If there is an option outside of Inline Tube, that is where I will go.

I just can't get over the fact that it is made wrong and they will not make it right. They know good and well that people buy this stuff in advance to save shipping.

He has bought from me a couple times at swap meets and always try to talk me down. Not any more! I would rather not even sell to him if that is how he runs his business. If there is a next time maybe I will raise my price enough to cover the firewall pad . Sorry for the rant.

 

I have had many dealings with them and most of their products are very nice and the sale goes smoothly. When there is a problem though it's a totaly different story. I got a set of sail panel insulation pads and one was folded in the box and ruined, and let me tell you how difficult it was to get another one. Send pictures please, we never had that problem before, let me speak to the boss, and ultimately I had to speak to the boss and he sounded like I was beating him out of his last buck. I also got an exhaust system from them and one of the front pipes wasn't even close. I had to send pictures of the old one right next to the new one and then they made me ship the new incorrect one back in order to get another one along with about 5 phone calls. It may seem as I am being rough on them but I'm not, most of my transactions have been smoothe but DON'T wait to check things out when you buy from them even if the part isn't needed for months because they won't take it back..

 

From my concurrent resto thread, this is part of a post I entered the day before yesterday about ILT:

On this and my last project, my total largest spend with the Specialty Olds vendors has been with ILT. On the other car, everything went well. On this car to date, not so much. I hardly ever return anything, but I also had a issue with the body bushings (marked as Chevrolet because I did not buy the premium kit) and bought a fender brace that the quality and originality of was laughable. You just can't call and get a return authorized - you now have to wait till someone calls you back usually within 24 hours to process your request. I waited and waited, nothing. Called back again three days later and was told to leave another message. Still never got a call back so I sent an e-mail to the general office inbox explaining the situation and got a call back within an hour.

Also, the shipping within 24 hours standard has slipped. When I placed that order, I told them I needed certain parts no more than a week later. They said it will ship within 24 hours - no problem. Well, a week later no parts. After holding forever, someone told me it was shipping that day because one of the brake lines had to be fabricated. Of course I asked why had not the balance of the order already shipped, and they said they don't do that. I said then why, when I specifically asked about the delivery and told them the parts I needed, they had not called to let me know? "We Can't Do That" is what I heard.

Going to check my firewall pad and see where I bought it from. Obviously, the Specialty Olds suppliers must know we all talk since it is a pretty small community, so it is even more of a mystery as to their attitude with their customers.

 

Just as an added note to the Inline Tube issue... I have not came to this decision just because of the firewall insulation only. There has been many issues before this. Most were resolved without to much trouble but it is the quantity of the issues and their attitude.

 

I put In an order with legendary interiors Tuesday ordered a bunch of misc. interior parts included in the order is a firewall pad, believe me I will ck. the fit. I but in an ordered with motor city muscle cars on-line which is a division of ILT on e-bay. I put in an order for 2 items and then I put in an order for another one item on the same day so they could combine shipping but never received the second one item on the second order. this was no fault of mine and we went round and round they said that the item was sent to me and it never was. they kept telling me that they had the shipping # but it was the shipping # for the first order. I kept telling them that I put in two orders and never received the item for the second order.
well I finally got the item but then they block me from buying from them, yes they made the mistake and blocked me (this doesn't bother me or anyone else just get one of my sons to order the parts for me). I spoke to the guy that u mentioned eric the one buys parts with u at the nationals, his excuse was that people try to scam them that's why they are cautious. (were are the satisfaction granites)
we are a club can't we take some type of action against the businesses that give us poor service

 

Happy new year everyone!

I now have everything under the dash installed on the car and finished the back side of the dash this morning. Mounted the A/C adapters and changed a couple clamps that I was not happy with. I plan to install the dash Saturday and maybe the steering column.

I have not even started on the core support and related parts. There is no rust to deal with but still going to be a while till I can put the front end together. I have to get it blasted clean and I think I am powder coating it.

 

Great progress, I really enjoy reading about your project. Let us know how the dash I stall goes, I have to do mine soon and would welcome and tips or tricks you found to make it easier.

 

That is where the assembly manual is your best friend. It is easiest to get everything out of your way. preasemble the wire harness to the dash according to section 12 of the install manual. leave the raido out and gauges out to make it easier to get to the mounting tabs. It is still not easy if you have never done it. This will be my third dash install and I have removed likely over 20 of them. That helps more than anything.

I seen that you are going to do an EFI on your car. I would like to do that with a 200 4R conversion and suspension upgrades on a 70-72 Cutlass someday.

 

My dad was over today and I showed him the dash and told him I was going to install it Saturday. He wanted to help so we installed it today. Went real smooth. I will install the column, A/C control, and radio likely Saturday. I have all the A/C vacuum lines other than the reservoir and water valve lines. I don't have any for them that are good. I may use a green and orange one. I have a green and orange that has the color faded almost gone.

 

What ratchet/extension/socket configuration did you use on the far left nut behind the a/c vent? One of my personal favorites!!

 

That one has a push clip. Just push the stud into it and it won't come back out. I have never seen one with a nut there.

 

I removed the dash from my 72 parts car and it had a nut there but my 70 had the put in clip

 

My 70 vista has a nut there and it was/is the most miserable nut to remove and install on the entire vehicle. And though I need a dash pad, I'm not even thinking about it! Maybe at a younger age I could have gotten at it easier but not at 50.

 

Worked a little over 11 hours today but sure don't look like it. I started off by adding some edging on everything sharp under the dash. I know it is not original but I figure there is nothing wrong with a safety upgrade to keep wires from chafing. We use this stuff at work so I brought home about 4 foot and was enough to cover everything needed.

 

Hooked up the mix door cable, vacuum lines and wiring to the A/C control and installed it in the dash. I got a new A/C control faceplate from H&H and it did not fit in the recessed area. I had to use a fine file and file on a couple of the openings for over an hour till it fit like it should. Used the same headliner glue I used on the under dash insulation to glue it on. I sprayed it on a piece of cardboard and used a brush to brush it on both parts.

 

The order I did things on this dash was by far the easiest I ever done. I already had the A/C heater box installed the all the vacuum lines in place and the A/C wire harness ran from under the hood.

1, pre assemble all the wiring and driver side A/C duct to the dash but leave out the A/C control, radio, and all gauges.

2, set glove box liner in place and back out of the way. I forgot to do this and with the A/C box you can not get it in from the bottom side. I was able to get it in from the front but you have to fold the top down and the sides have to be bent to the point that they almost crease. I was able to slide it in just barely. About half way I thought I was going to destroy it.

3, set dash into place with a guy under guiding the wiring and A/C hose on the driver side. bolt the fuse box to the firewall and hook up as much wiring on the driver side as you can.

4, assemble and install the A/C control. With the radio and gauges out it makes it much easier to install the A/C control.

5, install the radio

6, install the glove box liner , hinge and door.

 

After above today, I installed the column, brake booster, and other small parts.

 

My wife had done alot of cleaning on these seat belts. I wish I had a before picture. These were very dirty and had some stains on them. They are not perfect but close enough for me. I have the covers painted and ready to go back on.

 

The H&H faceplate for the A/C control unit is missing the raised chrome edges around the levers and switches.


I scored 2 NOS faceplates (GM calls them Appliques), and there is no comparison in quality.

 

I will have to look again but it looked like my original all the way down to the font. I know the H&H 8 track faceplate is not even close but nobody makes a good reproduction for that. I am going to use my original for it.

Edit.. After looking again you are correct. My original was so beat up that I could not see it well. After looking at my extras it is obvious but only around the fan switch.

Do you want to sell one of your originals? I may try to dig out a nice used original but it would suck to have to pull the A/C control back out to change the face. Would be easier to peel this applique off and glue another on.

 

Eric your belts cam out looking very good, would like to see the covers after u paint them. I would not mess with the a/c control plate it looks great

 

From where?

 

Thanks, It is the only thing my wife has done on the project. Now she ask if there was something else that she could do! I almost fainted dead away.

 

I finished assembling the 8 Track and not 100% satisfied with it. I sold several of them the past year and now I am thinking that I should have keeped one of them. The worst part is the lower pad, Does anyone know how good the reproductions fit/look. The red lense is also not the best. The faceplate/applique is not 100% either but I can live with that over the repops. I have time before this needs to go in so maybe I will come up with another one.

 

Eric I really like your face plate on your 8 track, I bought one from h & h and regret I did, wish I would had the money back to find myself a good used one if u know of anyone please let me know.
thanks ray
p. s. the whole 8 track looks good

 

I have a faceplate from H&H also. I was not at all happy with it. From what I have seen, all the repops are he same as his. The chrome bottom edge of mine is not perfect but as little as showes up I can live with it. The bottom pad is distorted. It does not show up well in the picture but is obvious in person. I can change that out but have to paint it. I don't have any of this color left. It will be as much for a small amount of paint as the pad itself.

 

Fix that pad now, or you will always look at it first every time you get in your car.

 

I plan on it but need to find one first. I have a guy that said last summer that he had several of them. I called him the other day to have him look for them. I hope to get all he has and rebuild some more of them. I got one from him last year for $50 and was in great condition and did not need much to rebuild. I sold it before I realized I needed it.

 

My OCD of testing everything before I assemble it has paid off again. I have heard lots of stories of new aftermarket fuel senders not working correct on the gauge. I wired up my new sender and my rebuilt rally pack gauge cluster. Sure enough, the gauge did not work. I assumed it was the new sender so I grabbed another one I had and it still did not work. Then I wired up a standard fuel gauge and it worked perfect. It turned out that my rebuilt fuel gauge is not working. I had them rebuilt a year ago by redline http://www.redlineg.com/redlineg/Welcome.html so I called him up. I told him it was a year ago but just now ready to install it and it did not work. He immediately said to send it back and he will take care of it free of charge. He said he stands behind his work and was very sorry for the trouble. Made me so happy to hear someone standing by their work with no hesitation. Made me so happy I am sending my extra set to be restored now.

With the standard gauge it reads perfect. Exactly half on the level is half on the gauge. Empty and full are exactly right also.

 

Eric thanks for sharing these experiences, I am not close to this phase but am making notes from everyones tgreads on things to check, places to get the good stuff done lol, etc.
It is refreshing to see people standing behind theirvwork we used to call that quality, or integrity, far and few between nowadays after the ilt stories etc.

Nice work

 

I had not planed to take these all the way apart but found that they needed cleaned up better on the inside. I took them all the way apart and cleaned them much better and they adjust much better now. My wife washed them one more time and I reassembled everything. I am done with them now.