About 2 months ago I came across a beautiful billet bird that hasn't seen flight in +/- 15 yrs. Soooo .... I did what every shoot from the hip, impulsive man would do. "I bought it" !!!! And LOVE IT !!!
She sat for a week or two, not knowing anything about the motor or any fortunes that may be hidden in the trunk. " she didn't come with keys" I spent some time working to get into the trunk through the rear seat area, i was able to do so thanks to a few post here. I've since had a lock smith come out to change the ignition and door locks and I have been on my way ever since.
I went out and bought a new battery to see what would happen when I turned the key. First I tried the lights, they work!!!! Tried the power windows , they work too!!! "Well at least the driver side windows do, I don't plan on riding shotgun anyway!!!" Tried the power seat, it works... But super slow! But still super happy that it does. I tried the motor and it cranks, that one really made me smile! I did the whole oil change , spark plug change, tune up deal along with some carb cleaner and and starting fuel in hopes of a miracle but all I got was super slow cranking and no spark. I went out and got a new coil and rotor and tried it again and same result. And still no spark. Not to worried about the spark issue , so I decided to pull the carb and rebuild it, good thing I did cause it would have never fired, the carb was full gum and tarnish. I decided to pull the intake manifold and heads off too. Good thing I did, looks like my trying to turn a gummed up motor caused a few bent push rods. Stuck lifters = bad things or so I've read. The heads and carb are currently over at a KRAZY ford headman's house on the flow bench getting gone thru.
With the motor at a stand still, for the moment, I hopped into the interior. Good thing is everything is there and complete, bad thing is everything needs to be completely redone. I started by pulling the front and read side panels. I could hear her talking to me and I believe she said she wanted black on black. I have moved forward on restoring the old ,dry ,brittle and cracked panels myself, and if I must say so myself they look amazing!!!!! I am now a PAID member but still not sure how to post some pictures,but I'll figure it out soon and show the progress.
After pulling out the panels I moved right along to the seats, center console, dash tins, instrument panel, carpet,headliner and now I'm "looking" at the dash pad.
I picked up a headliner and some new leaf springs from Larry's , haven't even taken the liner out of the packaging yet, don't want to ruin it.
I have looked into some dash pad replacements, but I was wondering if any one has tried the "dash pad cap" from stock interiors . That's the 100$ plastic cap/cover? I'm really interested in the fit, I plan on refinishing it to match my door panels, color and texture. I am also starting to think about carpet kits and seat cover kits? Any good advise, Anything that anyone has tried or seen installed would be great.
Just as a side note to anyone else doing a dirty bird "billet bird".. I am going pretty deep into this one so if I could help with anything please feel free to ask.
She sat for a week or two, not knowing anything about the motor or any fortunes that may be hidden in the trunk. " she didn't come with keys" I spent some time working to get into the trunk through the rear seat area, i was able to do so thanks to a few post here. I've since had a lock smith come out to change the ignition and door locks and I have been on my way ever since.
I went out and bought a new battery to see what would happen when I turned the key. First I tried the lights, they work!!!! Tried the power windows , they work too!!! "Well at least the driver side windows do, I don't plan on riding shotgun anyway!!!" Tried the power seat, it works... But super slow! But still super happy that it does. I tried the motor and it cranks, that one really made me smile! I did the whole oil change , spark plug change, tune up deal along with some carb cleaner and and starting fuel in hopes of a miracle but all I got was super slow cranking and no spark. I went out and got a new coil and rotor and tried it again and same result. And still no spark. Not to worried about the spark issue , so I decided to pull the carb and rebuild it, good thing I did cause it would have never fired, the carb was full gum and tarnish. I decided to pull the intake manifold and heads off too. Good thing I did, looks like my trying to turn a gummed up motor caused a few bent push rods. Stuck lifters = bad things or so I've read. The heads and carb are currently over at a KRAZY ford headman's house on the flow bench getting gone thru.
With the motor at a stand still, for the moment, I hopped into the interior. Good thing is everything is there and complete, bad thing is everything needs to be completely redone. I started by pulling the front and read side panels. I could hear her talking to me and I believe she said she wanted black on black. I have moved forward on restoring the old ,dry ,brittle and cracked panels myself, and if I must say so myself they look amazing!!!!! I am now a PAID member but still not sure how to post some pictures,but I'll figure it out soon and show the progress.
After pulling out the panels I moved right along to the seats, center console, dash tins, instrument panel, carpet,headliner and now I'm "looking" at the dash pad.
I picked up a headliner and some new leaf springs from Larry's , haven't even taken the liner out of the packaging yet, don't want to ruin it.
I have looked into some dash pad replacements, but I was wondering if any one has tried the "dash pad cap" from stock interiors . That's the 100$ plastic cap/cover? I'm really interested in the fit, I plan on refinishing it to match my door panels, color and texture. I am also starting to think about carpet kits and seat cover kits? Any good advise, Anything that anyone has tried or seen installed would be great.
Just as a side note to anyone else doing a dirty bird "billet bird".. I am going pretty deep into this one so if I could help with anything please feel free to ask.
Comment