I forgot to mention this before. We were going to upholster the lower dash, like I said in the last post. Well, we were all set to do it when we noticed a funny mark on the vinyl. We uhfolded it and they were all over! The pen marks we had on the back to mark the cuts had bled through. Son of a …… So now we have to wait till we can have it re-done. Hopefully that won’t be long, but who knows.
The major delay in me getting my interior complete has been the gauge wiring and the vent hoses. The gauges weren’t too difficult for the most part but at this time the tachometer and oil pressure gauges don’t work. I suspect the new oil pressure sender I installed is bad which would explain that problem. I’m really not sure why the tach doesn’t work though. As far as the dash vents go, I had a great plan but it didn’t work out. I have another plan that isn’t so great but it should work. Anyway, it seems a shame to not be able to drive my car due to those minor issues. So I’ve decided to install everything and get the car back on the road now. I can worry abut details later. I don’t need a tachometer and I don’t absolutely need an oil pressure gauge, though I want to fix that sooner rather than later. I need A/C but the A/C doesn’t work in there right now anyway so I can ignore that issue for a while too. So, over the last couple of days, after it gets dark so it’s only about 100 degrees out I have been making slow progress. I had wired the gauges directly for testing purposes but I have now installed connectors. One for each gauge pod. That will make removing and installing them so much easier. My wife put the foam on the lower dash last night and we will put the upholstery on it tonight pending time constraints. Yeah, my wife rocks.
Another hold up has been the tail lights. I mentioned previously I had decided to scrap the idea of using Lambo lights and put the stockers back on. Unfortunately I had cut up the tail light harness and misplaced the connectors. I found a couple of them and spliced them on but that isn’t going to cut it, so today I will be ordering a new (used) one. I can’t wait to be able to drive my baby again.
I finally got the gauge pod and computer cover upholstered. They are not perfect but considering it was my first time I don’t think it’s too bad. Here’s a few pics.
I am making progress, slowly but surely. I mentioned in my last post that I have been gluing the gauge pod upholstery on little by little. Well, right after that I left town for a few days. So I should have the gauge pod done tonight if all goes well. I should also have the computer cover done tonight. Once the gauge pod is done I should be able to start putting the interior together. I’m putting off hooking up the vents for now and some gauges won’t work. My brand new VDO oil pressure sender doesn’t work and I lost the instructions to the tachometer. Other than that things should work. Eventually I will take things apart, get all the guages working, hook up the vents and clean up the wiring a bit. I still need to add turn signal indicator lights to the gauge cluster. While I’m doing that I might as well install the warning lights, though I may not hook them up yet. I really want to get this car back on the road so I can enjoy it for a little while. It’s been almost a year since I took it off the road. Besides, I have to have it emissions tested this month.
I should have pictures of the gauge pod and computer cover up tomorrow.
I’ve made a bit of progress over the last couple of weeks. I am having someone doing the sewing for the upholstery. She finished the gauge pod last week and gave me the lower dash and computer cover yesterday. Of course, I still have to put them on. I have been working on the gauge pod, gluing the material on little by little. I am horrified of screwing it up. I do not expect it to be perfect, this is my first time doing this, but I don’t want it to look like a child did it.
I have also rewired the main gauge pod. The first time I did it I didn’t do it very smartly. Now it looks much better. I have the gauge pod wiring mostly done, just have to connect the wires to the gauge. The only gauge left is the tach and I can’t find the instructions for it. I still have to install and wire turn signal indicators, check engine light and a warning light.
Obviously I am not going to have it driveable by tomorrow like I wanted, but it is nice seeing progress again. Once I get back from SEMA I am going to go all out trying to get it done. Well, I will get it done enough to drive it and be proud of it, then fine tune things later. You know, minor details like hooking up the vents and stuff.
More than a month later and I still haven’t accomplished much. After getting the 86 GT as done as it’s going to be, I started working on my Harley. The 86 is now my daily driver. I was going to sell it but with gas prices what they are my wife suggested we keep it for a while. I got my Harley put back together and it runs like crap. I’m very frustrated with it. I really don’t want to tear it down again. My Diablo has taken some of my attention lately also.
I haven’t completely ignored the Formula though. The other day I worked on the airbox. I was drilling holes in the plexiglass that is going to go over the airbox opening when it cracked. The plexiglass, not the airbox. That stuff was very difficult to cut and I cracked the first piece cutting it. I may just put some sealer over the crack and see if I can get away with that. It will look like hell but who cares? It won’t be visible when it’s installed.
I also tried working on the tail lights again. I had them all wired up and working at one point. Then I cut the wires so I could install the lights in the new panel. The plan was to add some extensions and use connectors behind the panel. Well, I wasn’t very good about keeping track of what wires wen’t where so now I have to figure it out again. Plus I couldn’t find the wire I bought for it. After a lot of frustration and searching I remembered I never did buy it. Oops.
I’d really like to get the car done enough to drive to Vegas for the Sema show next month. That means I have about 2.5 weeks. Everytime I think I can do it no problem I remember I have that freakin oil tube problem. That will make it very challenging. I will do what upholstery I can between now and then, but I’m still waiting on someone else to help me with the sewing. So I may just have to put those pieces in unfinished.
It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve posted an update but I have gotten a little bit of work done.
I finished cutting out the tail light panel holes, though it may still need some clean up. I finally got a body saw to make jobs like this easier, but when I was cutting the panel with it my air hose blew up. Son of a ……
I got the dash wiring cleaned up a bit. Now I can sit in the car and not get my feet tangled in the mess. Now the power door lock wiring won’t reach the switch, which is something I kind of expected anyway.
I swapped the rear wheels and wheel wells with my other car. Seemed like it took all day, but the wheel wells needed some modification and I was trying to get the other car running at the same time too.
That’s about it. I have someone lined up to do the sewing of the upholstery, just not sure when. So in the meantime I will do what I can and get the pieces in place that I can. That reminds me, I still have to mount the light switch to the lower dash and hook up the vents. There is an end in site though and I think I’m pretty close to the home stretch.
In case I never mentioned it before, there were some things I had planned that I am putting off now. I was going to install a decent stereo system and move the heater controls to behind the fake passenger side air bag cover. Then I was going to turn the air bag cover into a glove box door. Oh and make a glove box too. It’s these kinds of things that make a project drag out so darn long. In fact it’s partly why this has gone on as long as it has (Started in January), because I have held off doing some things while trying to figure out how to handle other things. In fairness to me though, I have not only been working on the interior. I’ve also converted it to a GT, added power windows and door locks and added Lamborghini tail lights. Well, I finally decided to just get it done. I’m going to put the heater controls where the stereo would go and leave the airbag cover alone. Then I can get it back on the road and enjoy it. Then I can deal with the other things as I feel ambitious.
I had to work this weekend so I didn’t do all I wanted to do. I did rewire the center gauge pod though. The first time around I looked like a mess and wasn’t done very professionally. Plus I used standard connectors which is a really bad idea since they are so close to each other. So I redid it using insulated terminals. This time I looped one wire to the next connector for all the power connections and all the ground connections. Much nicer. Here’s a before and after pic.
I’ve spent far too long messing with my oil gauge. From what I can tell the brand new sender is bad. On one hand I think I should just deal without a working oil pressure gauge temporarily. On the other hand, the threaded insert is now stuck in my oil tube so I can’t put my old sender back in. That means no working gauge and no warning light!
I have to get this done soon, no time to mess with stupid stuff like this. In two weeks the formula has to be out of the garage to make room for a Diablo chassis. Oh yeah, I’m going to rewire the gauges too. The way I did it just looks too messy and I want to use insulated terminals anyway.
I finally got around to mounting the power door lock and power window switches in the console. They work great and the window switches light up whent the lights are on. Please excuse the mess in the pic below. Eventually the console will be upholstered in tan and the insert that the switches mount to will be painted flat black.
I still have to figure out how and where to mount the light switches and power mirror switch. I’m thinking of putting the mirror switches where the ash tray goes since I don’t plan on using an ash tray. I’ve been considering putting the stock light switches next to the shifter. I think that would be easiest but I’m not sure it will fit and I’m not sure how it will look. I also have to decide if I want to use stock Fiero mirror switches or not. If I do they probably won’t be easy to mount and make look good. I was thinking of using a mirror switch from a Dodge Stealth since I had one laying around. I have been unable to find it though, so that might not work out.
