Not A Duster's Most Excellent Progress

[MyBigBlockDodge]

That's awesome Nadda! VERY happy for you. You've put a lot of work into making sure you ended up with one sweet ride, and it's all about to pay off.

Congrates!!

Adam

 

[Not A Duster]

Hey Adam

Very good to see you here. Thanks for the comments.

 

[Diplomat_Wagon]

Sorry for the sidetrack Bruce. :shifty: :doh:

 

[Not A Duster]

68:

Yeah - the things only in the vise just tight enough to keep it from spinning....and really what did I have to lose?

Doc:

I dunno I think the blue provides a delicate contrast to all of the black under the car....

DW:

No problem....

 

[Not A Duster]

Today was spent doing mudane things like hooking up the heater controls, & wiper motor linkage and other stuff that would be a major pain to do once the dash is installed.

Gonna be out of town working for the most part over the next 8 days, so I won't have too much progress to share...

 

[Fishy]

Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
*hands Fishboy a qupie doll*

:wtf:What am I supposed to do with this....oh wait [smilie=i: *throws doll to roommates bunny rabbit*:xl:

 

[Not A Duster]

Well getting close to sending her back to the body shop....gotta couple evenings off before I head back into the meatgrinder at work so I got everything all wrapped up to hopefully protect it from oversparay & dust.

 

[Not A Duster]

One thing I have always hated is the non - rally A body Instrument panels. The fake woodgrain is particularily cheezy on them and they like to peel and crack.

Pic 1 is the original panel. Pic 2 is the swap meet one I found from a newer car that had a vinyl texture rather than the woodgrain. It was really beat, but I figgered I could fix it up.

The plan is to retain the original speedo & gauges so they show the car's low mileage, but put them behind the better looking face.

 

[Not A Duster]

First polish the lenses out a bit and clean them as best as possible.

Then apply a little model paint to the faded pointers....

 

[Not A Duster]

A little semi-gloss black (pic 1) a silver paint pen (pic 2) and we put it together (pic 3) with the original cluster behind the new panel....

 

[Jester]

Lookin' Good! nice work.

 

[Not A Duster]

...and viola....is finished.

The open hole between the headlight switch and the seatbelt light was for a "check egr" light on the newer panel. I'm thinking of putting a custom back-lit graphic in there like a blue pentastar or maybe the mercedes emblem with a red circle & slash through it.[smilie=i:

 

[Not A Duster]

Thanks Jes.

 

[mr340]

Very nice!!! go with the No-Benz graphic...

 

[Not A Duster]

yeah....I'm leanin' towards that one...

 

[sleeper448]

MOST EXCELLENT !!:clap:

Most excellent indeed.:dance:

 

[a12bee]

Wow that came out really nice.

 

[68R/T]

:clap:
Donja love those low-buck improvements.

 

[gomopar440]

I like it. I'd like to see an E-body rally guage setup redone like that.:hmmm: :shifty: :toot:

 

[Not A Duster]

Thanks guys - I'm really happy with the way that dash came out.

Today the car saw the light of day for the first time since she came home from the bodyshop in November. I pushed it outside to re-arrange some stuff in the garage so it would be easier to do the little things the car needs before it returns to the painters on Wed.

I gotta say, after seeing the colour in the sun for the first time, I'm glad I chose it. I'm a very happy Nodda...You can just see the hulk of the Dart Sport in the background of the 3rd pic. It's pretty much picked clean at this point.

Did stuff like dig out the windshield moulding & reinstall the clips for same today. (Glass is being installed at the body shop.) I also sorted and got all the fasteners and accessories ready for re-installation when she gets back.