January 2005

FINAL TOUCHES, ADDITIONS, ALTERATIONS

and OUTINGS.

As the heading implies, this page will be the only page that will be added to. It will show things that I might have mentioned that I was going to do later, or things that I changed for one reason or another. It is not officially part of the build, but as we all know, rodders can't leave anything alone.

( January 2007 ) OK, here is the mess under the dash. I said I was going to fit a plastic cover to hide all the sin.

( January 2007 )This is the result. I cut the sheet with a jig saw on low speed with a fine tooth blade. I measured where the fuse panel would be and cut that out as well. I used a heat gun with the sheet clamped between some wood block in the vise. Once it was heated evenly, it bent smoothly so I ended up with a 1" side. I also cut a half round section so it sits neatly over the steering column. The other side, I made a bracket and pop riveted it to the bulk head. I then fitted a Nutsert at the panel end of the bracket. You can just see the retaining screw on the upper left. The panel stays in place fairly well and is quickly removed if needed. One thing I didn't foresee, is the cowl vent lever now hits the panel and restricts how far I can open the vent. I will have to think about it. The remaining wires that are visible will be hidden once I fit the heater unit back in.

( January 2007 ) I finally fitted my wind wings. That turned out to be a big job as I had no way of securing a nut inside the pillar. I had to use epoxy glue to set the lower mounting bracket. The top is just a Nutsert and bolt. I secured the glass into the brackets with Polymer 227. It bonds well to glass but is still fairly flexible. As I mentioned during the build, these bracket are made for a 36 roadster, I just adapted them to fit the 37.

( January 2007 ) They look quite good IMHO. They are functional as well. Marg and me went for a good drive yesterday to get some smiles and they seemed to keep the wind out of the cabin very well. So, they are both aesthetically pleasing as well as being practical. No way it can be confused with a cabriolet now:-)

( January 2007 ) Well here it is, at it's first rod run with another 160 rods. It ran great all the way up and most of the way back. ( round trip plus cruising 700kms) I say most, as the dreaded brake lock up happened again. No real drama this time as I had tools. I just leant under the car and backed the brake push rod off some more. I hope this is as far as it needs to go as there is not a lot of adjustment left. The other problem is when I arrived home, I noticed a pool of transmission fluid under the floor. It looks like the rear seal had failed. Strange thing, it was a new one. I replaced it again and I'll see how it goes. I bought a spare as well. That was the low point, the high point is that I won top open car at the run!. I was honestly surprised, as I thought there were many better open cars than mine. Still, I humbly accept it. All in all, it was a pleasure to drive. The engine runs smooth, no vibrations and it rides quite well. The temperature and oil pressure was great. I took the "run in" oil out before I went to the run and replaced it with a multigrade oil. The pressure was 70 lbs (50 at idle) all the way in all temperatures. The water temp went to 195 before the thermo fan cut in and it held it there constantly while cruising around the park on hot days.. On the highway, it dropped down to 180. That defies the myth that Clevelands run hot. The radiator seems to cope very well. The recovery tank works great as well. All in all, I am a very happy camper....I love driving it! Marg is itching to have a drive as well.....So to say I'm proud is an understatement. I'm bloody stoked !!

Here are some more pics that a rodder mate took of me and the 37. The first pic is me in a stunned state. Note, I have the trophy back to front:-) The last pic in this lot is the 37 at another run showing how it looks topless. There are a few more in the Rod Runs area, under Menangle Run.

(March 2007) OK, I finally fitted the heater. It was a bit difficult finding enough room to squeeze it in. I didn't take into account the extra stuff now encroaching in that area, like wiring loom and fire wall insulation. I spent about 2 hours just fitting the heater hoses on. There is just a small section of loom still visible. I will wrap that with convoluted tube. Note to, the dash now has all the right knobs. I got hold of some more Datsun switches so I wired in the heater fan, as well as converting the CD/Radio flap to a rotary knob instead of a push button. It is, in fact, the windscreen washer part of a wiper switch. I can use the pull out positions for later use. May be an interior light. All looks nice and balanced now. You may also notice the fire extinguisher now mounted on the left side up above the passengers feet. It's well out of the way but very accessible in the event of an emergency.

This just shows how neat the under dash is now. I'm very pleased with the result. Last pic shows how tight it is under there and you can see the water valve is still easy to access. It is in the off position at present, but the test proved the heater, valve and demisters all work very well.

(July 2007) OK, you may think this is a mistake and I am showing pictures of it last year. Well, this is as the date indicates, July 2007. I have had issues with the paint and I have been holding off until I was certain of the extent of the problem. After a summer and 12 months, it looks like most of the car will need respraying. It has blisters coming up all over the main body. The bolt on panels seem OK, or at least, not showing the same reaction. I'm not laying blame and I have had many theories from experts and novices alike. I have gone beyond laying blame, all I want is to fix it and enjoy driving it. So, as it stands, most of the car will need stripping and re spaying from the doors back. I have taken the opportunity to have smaller things finished while it's being re sprayed. Like nudge bars made, new smaller brake booster fitted as the existing one is a bit to large and the guard keeps scraping over humps. I am contemplating lowering it an inch or so after that. I have also sent the boot handle and rear number plate bracket off to be re chromed.

This is the worst section, just above the boot. Disregard the reflection of the work shop roof and notice the blisters. They are so bad in this section that some actually burst while it was being sprayed. The rest come up when it goes out into the sun. I kept popping them with a pin as they showed up.

Next pic is the 37 back home after coming back on a tilt tray.. This is a labour intensive job so I thought I would save myself some money and strip it myself. To say I hated doing this is an understatement. I used paint stripper and a jitter bug sander with 80 grit wet and dry. Even with a good quality paint stripper, it took an average of 3 applications to get most of it off. The 2 pac stuck very well to the primer. Luckily, I saved most of the primer and sanded wet the residual paint. This rear section took about 6 hours. I still have to do the the quarter panels and do some repairs to the passenger door. The new painter is keen to spray the whole car, but I don't think I can afford it, so the rear will be totally done and the front may just get another couple of coats of clear.

Even after I stripped off the paint and had a closer look at the problem areas, I can't see what caused this reaction. I will get the new painter to prime it himself after I've done my job.

Next pic, is the trim out except for the rear seat back as it's stapled into place and I didn't want to stuff it up trying to remove it. I bought a roll of plastic and masked it off fairly well. The interior is stored in my lounge room

I will place plastic over the carpet and dash. I don't want to risk getting any paint or stripper on anything. Did I mention I hated doing this.

(August 2007) What can I say. Things got out of hand. The new painter said to strip the paint, so I did. Once he discovered I used paint stripper, he the said "well now, all the bog (bondo) will need to be tripped out as it will lift in time. I didn't think so, but he's the expert, and honestly, I've had enough of this and just wanted it fixed. I said do what you think needs doing. So he did. Stripped the lot including the doors. I don't know if he will do the rear guards and boot, but I said I need it back before the 26th of September for the Valla rod run. I can remove the guards and other bolt on stuff after I come back. They are presentable as they are.

So that is 3 years of my work down the gurgler. At least, when it's done this time, I can not be blamed for any part of the end result. I was told it will be ready in a couple of weeks. That will be a pleasant surprise amongst a fair bit of despair. I still haven't been given a final price for all this. I am preparing to sell the PT Cruiser to pay for it.

OK, I know I said that this is the final page, but as you can see, there has been a huge deviation from what can be classified as "Final Touches". More like a mini re build. So to save the endless scroll, I decided to add another page. So you will see a link at the bottom of this page.

Next page, Click.... Here

Back to Build Index....Here