1981 LeBaron coupe - from the ground up.

Last round for now (lunch hour is almost over :D )...

Did you know that Wal-Mart's "Super Tech" carburetor cleaner makes for wicked paint stripper?

Before, during, and after on the inner fenders... yes, that final finish is rattle-can Dupli-Color T403 Pewter Metallic, with Dupli-Color Engine Clear over it for gloss. :D

Unfortunately, my last go-round with welding messed up the paint so it all has to be redone... :doh: It was fun while it lasted. :D
 

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I thought that mesh grille was LS only? I parted one awhile back and thats one of the things I saved along with the bezel and glovebox door. Mine is metal with metal inserts that can be removed.
 
Well, mine came out of a LeBaron Medallion coupe. I can't tell you more than that, as I didn't pull it... this is what I came home to find one day:
 

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that sure looks like an imperial badge tho?

love that grill....even if that style is all the rage right now with the "bling" crowd
 
carb cleaner as paint stripper...... I got a gallon of stuff at MenHards for fifteen bucks. It's running about a pint per panel, brushed onto factory paint and primer it'll do the trick in about 10 minutes with one pass, had a door that had multi coats of paint and a "float coat" of about 1/8th inch of bondo of course that took a little more work. They want to sell a neutralizer but water works fine.



wasn't that speedo discussed thoroughly "over there"??? or was that someone/thing else?
 
intresting..finaly found a pic
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1980...023QQitemZ360058016843QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

a6_1.JPG


dont you have these wheels tho?(god i hope so cause they are dead sexy for that body)


t-tops would be soooooo cool but im sure the car would have rotted to the ground long ago
AU063.jpg

 
I honked waved and generally scared the crap out of an old man driving an M sedan today.... blame it on this thread :)
 
Dr.Jass said:
Well, mine came out of a LeBaron Medallion coupe. I can't tell you more than that, as I didn't pull it... this is what I came home to find one day:
Click to expand...

"Who loves Ya"...we do Jass...and maybe your buddy too..:giggedy:
 
That's the same friend that's restoring my wheels, and yes--those wheels are the very same, 69.5. T-tops are cool when they seal, which they never did. :D There used to be a power-sunroof Fifth Ave at my favorite boneyard, but it got crushed. I wanted that roof, though.

The logos between my car and older Imperials is identical for all intents. Of course, that's where the LeBaron name originated, so it makes sense.
 
Could you get a tach in that brushed aluminum dash style? I've never seen a tach in a M-body before...but then I've never really looked that hard either...:shifty:
 
No, there's no factory M-car tach. That's another one of my projects, though. I've disassembled an Auto Meter 8-grand tach, and plan to gut the fuel gauge to install the AM unit in there, using an M-car speedo needle. What of the fuel gauge, you ax? Relocated to one of the empty idiot-light spots using a '71-'74 B-body gauge.

Probably one of the toughest projects, actually. I'll have to rearrange part the dash harness at the cluster plug, but it will be worth it if I pull off the conversion.
 
sounds like a not so bad of a conversion...probably easyer than my "factory" looking boost guage in my caravan
 
Actually, it's tougher than it sounds... there's no room for the tach's circuit board or needle motor and I'm going to likely have to hack up the factory cluster's circuit board pretty badly. Plus, the tach's motor is not separable from its circuit board, AND I see no way of removing AutoMeter's face illumination bulb (which is non-replaceable, white (the M-car's cluster illumination is green), and it actually sticks through the AutoMeter face about the same height as the needle. :doh:

Also, there's absolutely no room in the idiot-light area for a gauge, really--at least, not an easy way to mount a factory one--but that's why they made epoxy, right? :D

I have more progress pics, but since at the moment I have no internet access other than here at work (I came over here to do some other work on the PC), I won't be able to post them for a while. :(
 
what about use a sun tach? i know of some that might work better..but i forget what your cluster looks like

if ya want...gimmy a pic of the cluster and where your trying to place it and i might have some good ideas
 
There's a pic of it earlier in the thread... at least, the main cluster which is speedo and fuel only.

I'm not looking for a place to put it--I'm putting it where the fuel gauge goes, and moving the fuel gauge off to a blank spot elsewhere in the dash. The fuel gauge is the same size as the speedo, and should have been a tach from the factory. :D
 
i know your not looking for a place..the fact that you have a space to fill generaly makes the project easyer...well to a point anyway LOL

hell i know of a few tach's that will slip right into a cuda/dart gt dash with almost zero mods to the tach and ZERO modding to the dash

but i dont see the afore mentioned pic...unless your talking that offset side angle pic

...btw ive got a decal guy who works with vynle who could likely wip you up a new face that 100% matches the old style but has the correct spaceing for the new tach if ya find a tach to fit the hole...and the guy is cheep as hell too
 
See, the problem is, there is no "hole". :D I want this thing to look 100% factory, but the fuel gauge is maybe ¼" deep, and there's a large circuit board behind it that I need to retain as many functions of the cluster run through the area behind the fuel gauge, and I want to keep all the idiot lights, turn signals, etc. Both turn signals are in the fuel gauge, as are the low-fuel warning light and the "DOOR AJAR" lamp. I want everything to work, as if it were a factory installation. If I just wanted to bash a tach in there and look mildly original, I'd throw a set of Stewart Warner Green-Lines in there and be done. :D

Trust me, it's nothing like an A-body Rallye cluster. I used to build tachs for those out of new AutoMeter units and custom face decals, and sell 'em on eBay for big cash... I sold a few of 'em. Trust me, that's literally the easiest Mopar I've ever seen for which to engineer a home-made tach.
 
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