Technical Tips > Pre 84

82 body conversions on a 74 frame

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Adam:
Simply amazing, and I know why YOU bought it, but why would anyone really go to all that trouble just to get somthing that was... pretty much available. I guess he really wasnt a cat person!!!:22

The interior u have now is BRILLIANT, but I see nothing wrong at all with your old one! Howcome you didn't like it?

Adam

rebel:
Brutus, the rocker covers are rare chevrolet originals as they're now discontinued. They're aluminium with the word "Chevrolet" cast into them. Ideally what I'd like to do is have the words milled to shave off about 1mm and give it that metallic look of steel whilst contrasting and preserving the rough texture of aluminium on the rest of the piece. I'm not sure how to do that though so I wait until I get an answer. I've tried to get the same effect by sandpaper but it's not quite my vision.

The alternator is also aluminium as is the fan pulley and ofcourse the Edelbrock manifold, which some fool had painted red by the way. It really needed to be sand blastered and returned to it's aluminium glory but it was easier to paint it. Having said that though, it took me half a day to mask properly. I like the look of aluminium but it's hard to keep clean so I'm searching for a clear paint that's tough, heat tolerant and won't yellow or dis-color the beauty of the grey. PPG have one but I'm cautious as you only get one crack at it and those are expensive rocker covers.

Adam, Mick picked up the car very cheap and wanted to build it as a hot rod as that's what they do and enter them in shows. Actually it was his son Robbie who did most of the work (Robbie's known in the industry as a bit of a freak and has been winning awards since he was 13. He's well respected). I'm not really sure of the motivation except that Robbie wanted to demonstrate his body building and spray skills. They have a collection of award winning rods and I guess this was going to be another but didn't make it. It was sold to a guy on Sydney's northern beaches who did more damage to the car instead of good. For example, the rear adjustment arms were bent to accomodate the after market exhausts (can you believe that Midas did that). The next owner lived in Rossmore out west and basically locked the car up for 5 yrs. This was good for the paint but not good for a number of seals and rubbers - or the chrome wheels which rusted! The interior shot you see in this post was Oyster and not in that condition when I bought the car. It was the same color as it is now, (Ferrari Cream) but it was painted and very sloppy at that! The door panles were re skinned by vacuum forming which made it thick and you couldn't make out most of the detail. The dash top looked like Bondi beach and the wood grain was faded and inconsistent. Maybe I'm too picky, too much of  a perfectionist or whatever but I thought the car was screaming for it. As it now is for the wheels to be re done. That's next year's budget though as this one's KAPUT!!

Adam:
Interior spraying, I know what thats about:b2
Some foo decided that the original beige interior was not right on my vette, so everything was sprayed black, even the carpet!

Anyway Rebel, money well spent! Although I can't imagine having a car like yours and not using it for 5 years!;eek

As for your rocker covers, try getting one of those rotating wire brushes for your drill, and it'll smooth our the edges at the same time.

77CVT:
That would make a good story board for displays and the like!

Sure puts my vinyl sprayed interior to shame!  ;laugh

Brutus:
Rebel...I've got a very nifty attatchment to one of my bench grinders. It's fitted with a scotch brite buffing belt (you can get various grades) and it works a treat with alloy parts. I have buffing wheels on another grinder next to it which gives me better finishes with each grade of cloth and rouge I use.
I might be giving my interior a complete rethink this year (time permitting) with the help of my son who is in his 3rd year as an apprentice motor trimmer. His teacher is Steve Busitill actually. I might start a thread on interiors and see what sort of ideas we can all come up with. I already have a nice pair of Recaros that we picked up for $50.00 so we'll start there and work around them.

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