LoL coming back to the darkside...partially. Caution V8 content

Started the dash today. Never done anything like this before...but its a helluva lot of fun. Thinking it'll be wrapped in suede when I'm done. Will end as completely 1 piece...but I'll let the pictures talk for me









Template was made to scale in photoshop and completely lined up on all aspects the way I wanted it. I then spray glued it to the wood I had, and spray glued all the mounts on. After that I used bondo to keep them in place. The alpine stereo cage was a freebie from a local audio shop as well. Right now I'm waiting for my dash to dry...started smoothing everything out with fiberglass and getting rid off all the imperfections/divots above the vents.

Nice work Mike. Glad you're having fun with it!

Some progress today...





Sorry, last picture is pretty dark due to ****ty camera and it being dark now. Pretty cool to see the progress of the dash panel. I'm really really happy with it so far. Hopefully should be completely done/smoothed out by the end of the week. Starter comes tomorrow, so I should have the car running this week too

More progress on the dash-





Also smoothing everything else out. Still need another coat of resin in places and to re-sand as needed








Also, accidently won a few auctions

First off, looks like I'll be making a custom set of bi-xenon projector headlights for the car. I've done retros in the past and this one will be extremely straight forward. I'll probably use the extra 2 headlight holes for ram air.

Also, won a set of IPD SS brake lines for $85 new. Not to shabby

Pretty much done. Probably go buy some black suede tomorrow to finish er up

Found an AWESOME upholstery place today. I know am 100% going to be recovering my Porsche seats myself in the upcoming weeks. I have however started to finish my dash

ok, so if it bugs you after I post this then I'm really really sorry, but the two needles on the tach & speedo being two different shades of orange would totally bug the s*** out of me.

I really didn't like the idea of a custom dash when you first started it, but now I think it looks badass. I totally shoulda just trusted your judgement, looks seriously asskicking.

amerbritcan said:

ok, so if it bugs you after I post this then I'm really really sorry, but the two needles on the tach & speedo being two different shades of orange would totally bug the s*** out of me.

I really didn't like the idea of a custom dash when you first started it, but now I think it looks badass. I totally shoulda just trusted your judgement, looks seriously asskicking.

Click to expand...

THIS!

Trust me...it's buggin the crap out of me too. Probably going to end up selling the tach and buying another one new since it looks soooo damn faded. Couldn't pass up the price though

Glad you are starting to come to terms with my dash too . I can't wait to pick up the rest of the material to finish it up. So far all I got was the foam to cover it...haven't come up with a color 100% yet...was throwing around the idea of olive suede...but it's pretty hard to find. May just settle with black again. Most definitely going to be making my own door panels as well in the future

Boomin850 said:

THIS!

Trust me...it's buggin the crap out of me too. Probably going to end up selling the tach and buying another one new since it looks soooo damn faded. Couldn't pass up the price though

Glad you are starting to come to terms with my dash too . I can't wait to pick up the rest of the material to finish it up. So far all I got was the foam to cover it...haven't come up with a color 100% yet...was throwing around the idea of olive suede...but it's pretty hard to find. May just settle with black again. Most definitely going to be making my own door panels as well in the future

Click to expand...

THISTHISTHISTHISTHIS

dear god yes. Olive would kick @$$ but suede definitely needs to happen

Inner dash is basically done. Still need to figure out how to get the LED's in place now b/c the fitment is soooo tight. All in all had to recover this panel 3 times because I cut too much the first 2 times around the gauges and left a bit of a gap. Anyways...here's a few pics. You'll notice the right side is uplifted a bit...that'll be a simple fix though. Once again...first time I've done anything like this sooo be kind

Lookin good!

Nice job on everything, this is a sweet project! Absolutely love the dash.

how are u going to pass smog?

hotrodwolf1989 said:

how are u going to pass smog?

Click to expand...

It's just...well gonna pass

Btw, car is "turn key" at this point. I'll shoot some video tomorrow. Found my slave cylinder too...'56 Austin Healey (wtf right?). Plan is to seal the rear end again, install new slave cylinder, hook up some bare bones gauges, and possibly drive her around the block as long as all goes well

nice job on the dash everything is looking great

Finally another update...after a frustrating few weeks...she drives

Ok so lets go back to by its sucked first -

Figuring out the slave cylinder situation has been a complete PITA. I finally found the original slave that was on the car was from a '56 Austin Healey . I finally came up with a rebuild kit...yet the damn thing still didn't work like it was supposed to. I finally bit the bullet and bought one of CNC's slaves/adjustable push rods. That's when I effed up...always measure twice/cut once. Well, I decided that I knew fer sure I measured the pushrod right..and made the cut. Nope too damn short. Found another grade 8 bolt with the right threads and made it work though....actually better than the original I had haha. Here's some photos so you can all see what I'm talking about.

As of now, I've given up on the cage again b/c I'm moving out to an amazing house (also very expensive) and I wanna make sure my finances are in order 100% first. I'm also starting a new job Tuesday that once it goes full time...I'll shift back to doing the cage. Too much talking - more pictures






Cut short


W/ grade 8 bolt



Complete






Yea buddy seat -



VIDEOS - Just click on em

Monster truck!

No but congrats. The thing looks awesome.

No worries on that one...I haz cracie springs - Like, springs that should leave the car sittin 2'' off the mudflaps

I love this build! Thumbs up for the dash and bezel! great work.

It's amazing to me...almost a year with no updates. Pretty funny to go back and read some of this stuff too. The last time I updated I was moving...and here I am again moving back to Ventura. The job I was at was a great learning experience, but the CEO is a complete jackass (child molester and all...the internet is an amazing thing). Hopefully starting a new job within the month (either as a title insurance rep, or marketing manager for Intuit), so lots of good stuff going on...not to mention my own mobile marketing business that should launch late this month as well if I can get the legal stuff taken care of. Now...back to the damn car -

Sadly, this thing basically sat around for the last year collecting dust. Why this didn't get finished? Iono, could be the new job + working far away + purple haze + overall lack of funds...whatever the case was, it's now just a memory. The only work I did this whole time it's been sitting was replace the clutch master cylinder with a Wilwood unit (much better). This thing needs to be driving within the next two weeks before I move...and it's totally doable. Last week I decided to rebuild the front end completely and finish up the suspension once and for all..

Rear went down on IPD springs and Bilstein HD's that were re-valved (many thanks to Robby aka 244NA)



Front came apart-


Started replacing all the bushings -


Probably a good thing I did too -


Another fun addition (Thanks again and again Robby!) -


The front suspension is in now with all new bushings, IPD springs, Bilstein HD struts, new tie rod ends, new sway bar endlinks, and IPD SS lines. I'm now waiting on all new brakes from FCP as the RX7 BBK I bought doesn't fit (now fs)the backspace of my wheels...and I REFUSE to use spacers (I have my reasons). So, in the meantime, I guess I'll paint the OEM calipers turquoise/blue/green and call it a week. I plan on ordering a new ~600cfm carb within the month, but really need to narrow down my choices. The partial cage is back on the table as well...I think it'll be fun, and I might as well since it'll only cost parts. Whenever the cage gets done, I'll have the locker put in since it's all at my cousin's shop and we could get everything done in a day probably.

Anyways, just thought I'd let you all know that this thing is far from dead; it just needed to hibernate a bit before finally awaking