- #67 thunderbird dashboard update
- #67 thunderbird dashboard driver
- #67 thunderbird dashboard professional
I think they still look nice and detailed. I chose not to paint the catches themselves since with one close they would lose all their paint. I reinstalled in the same place and will use these to help guide the fitment of the hood once I get the new hinge installed. The hood catch mounts also needed to be painted so I did those at the same time and there were factory divots in the hood where they were “fitted” from the factory. A little Flame Red paint and it is ready for install. I bit the bullet and sprung for a new (original used) one from Prestige Thunderbird.
#67 thunderbird dashboard driver
Grace had been in an accident early in her life and the driver side hood hinge was bent causing the hood not to fit well. The other area that I found needed some help was the hood fitment. I think it was only around $5 for 8 feet from an eBay seller. The factory cardboard ones were not salvageable and the new pieces held really well. The second photo is a replacement rubber strip I riveted onto the seat frame for the tacks to insert into. If you are a little crazy like me, here are a few photos of the process.
#67 thunderbird dashboard professional
Honestly, its worth every penny to take it to professional to redo the seat. Tbird seats are much more complex than my previous experience with classic Mustangs. I reupholstered the original bench seat by tearing it all the way down to the springs, repainting the frame, installing new canvas, new foam, and finally new upholstery. So, I decided to work on some other projects. I ran into the same scenario again after about 5 miles so it has sat in the garage since as I just don’t have the energy to tear it apart again. For those that have R&R’s a transmission in a 55-57 Tbird you know how this is an arduous process. So, I replaced the rings and shoehorned the transmission back into Grace. After tearing it apart I found the bronze syncronizer rings were trashed. Unfortunately after just about 2 miles the transmission was not staying in 2nd gear and then eventually started making a horrible sound.
With a rebuilt engine and transmission I was excited to hit the road. The rebuilt engine is running quite well and I was even able to find an original rebuilt carburetor with the correct list number on the air horn. When I left off last I finally had the opportunity to get Grace to come to life after longer than 40 years off the road. To celebrate I decided it was time to get back to the project and have this be the year that I can say she’s finally finished. While I was taking some time away from working on Grace she celebrated her 60th birthday in December.
Also, this year I got to check one item off the bucket list: attending the Pebble Beach Concours (known by the experts as just simply “Pebble”). This has been a fun experience for both of us to find something we enjoy together. We are now in the best physical shape we’ve ever been with daily spin class or high-intensity interval training. Katie and I have had a great last couple of years.
#67 thunderbird dashboard update
It has been a long time since my last update and that is largely because motivation stalled out after some repeated issues with the transmission and I’ve been busy with other priorities.
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