68 Polara restore back on

[HWYCRZR]

Nice shot with the car in the background.

I was actually a little confused when I first saw that picture. Normally the car is behind me. I was standing on the back side of my bench when I took the picture. My first thought was how did I get a reflection of the car in the picture. Sometimes when in the zone the rest of the world around me is irrelevant.
Here’s one with my newly painted interior trim.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Received my front windshield glass today. Once I get the seal I think I am ready to schedule installation. Dash frame and pad are in, and I don’t see any reason to need to remove it to finish installation. I plan to get my heater and vent pulls in shortly and then IP. Radio and ashtray will be later as I want to convert the radio.

 

[65sporty]

Have top and bottom. I bought it used from the Snap-on guy in 1988. He let me pay a week at a time and threw in a new lid and locks. I thought that was a good deal when I was making $5 per hour. No side boxes though.
View attachment 237834

Your box looks to be in great shape for it's age. I can't say the exact age of my box, I got it from a friend after we had the shop fire 4yrs ago. He really did me a HUGE favor, he just bought a new box from the local Napa and thought about putting the Snap on one on craigslist, but after we had the fire, he brought it over for me and let me have it. Some soap and water, a little polish, a couple of drawer slides and it got a new lease on life. I will get a pic tomorrow at work.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Spent some time on the dash yesterday. Those damn heater cables are a routing nightmare. My first mistake was not reading the service manual in the setup, until I started struggling. Second was I should have installed the cables when it was out of the dash. Once I followed the manual everything seems to work and the cables seemed to find a good routing. I practice fit my radio. If I leave the glove box out and ash tray it will slide up behind without talking out the heater control. Also put in the IP.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Steering column parts all ready for assembly. Probably tomorrow. Whoops I forgot to put the column support in before I put the instrument panel in. I kept thinking something was missing. I found them when I was pulling my other parts out of the drawer. I was able to loosen the IP and squeeze it in. Much better now.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I got two wheels for Christmas. My wife said I am on my own for the other two.
I need the other two and the center caps. Maybe I will at least get these two mounted tomorrow.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Steering column in and all dash lights work. Except I am not 100% sure on my map light operation. When the doors open it comes on like it should. I can switch it off at that point with the switch. It also turns off when the door closes. But I cannot seem to turn it on with the doors closed. I tried it with the lights on. My rotary dash dimmer switch isn’t working unless it is full on. I need to find the link I saved for the guy that re builds them.
I also need to noodle through the schematic to figure out what’s in play with the map light.

 

[LocuMob]

That looks nice inside there!

 

[1970cat]

the dash dimmer rebuilder, Devinism, is a recent member here.

 

[HWYCRZR]

the dash dimmer rebuilder, Devinism, is a recent member here.

I did a search twice and found the link. Did an E-bay transaction with him. I will have to send it out tomorrow when I get the address.

 

[Fratzog]

Amazing work. Looks great.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Wheels on. Right side anyway. Need to order the other side and center caps. Both Jegs and Summit have the wheels, but the center caps show a March delivery. The Wheel Vintique site shows they have the center caps in stock, but are $5 more each and $30 shipping. A case of the manufacturer charging more than the distributor.
I can wait not going anywhere for a while anyway.

 

[ImpJay]

Also Coker Tire has those parts, but I don´t know about their availability now.

 

[Unix]

Looks like a brand new car! Great stuff , wish i could do this someday
I really like the wheels as well!

 

[HWYCRZR]

I am done underneath until I get my exhaust system. And I just ordered another speedometer cable. The one I ordered 10 years ago is 10 “ longer and doesn’t have a firewall grommet.

Drive shaft installed. Not sure why they bother with the grease zerks on the u-joint. I can only get my grease gun on them when the drive shaft is removed.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I put it down on my dollies. I needed to crank up the torsion bars a fair amount. It had a pretty good rake to it and even on the dollies I could barely fit under to get to the adjusters. Once I get my bumpers on and a full tank of fuel I should only have to tweak a little.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I would like to post a word of thanks to @Polara_500 for the donation of a jack post and @MrMoparCHP for donating the jack tie down bracket and wing bolt. Thanks to both of you. I really appreciate how members help others out. I hope to be able to do the same at some point.
Thanks to you guys it looks great.

 

[HWYCRZR]

For posterity the parts for a ‘68 Polara bumper jack storage.
I tried to get the paint color as close to original as I could. The bumper shoe, base and jack mechanism could be on shade darker grey.
The silver on the jack post and tire iron at pretty close.

Small rod and spring to hold the tire hold down bolt

The little parts needed. Tire hold down wing nut, jack hold down bracket, and jack hold down bracket wing bolt.

I made some replacement rubber bumper pads for the bumper shoe as the original had for rattle prevention from rubber belting.

Storage position per the decal

Full assembly.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Checked locally for the exhaust installation. 2nd generation exhaust and radiator shop.
I want to go with the single exhaust as close to original as possible. If I supply the muffler (to make sure I get what I want vs a generic one) he figured under $400 to make and install starting at the manifolds back to the bumper. I have the original hangers I will supply. He figured he would have the exhaust cards on file as well for the bends. If not he wasn’t too concerned. He appreciated that I had the parts book drawings as that would help if he didn’t have the right cards.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Signed up for Mopars in the Park (MSP area) Yesterday. Must have been right after @LocuMob as I got number 3502. (C bodies are in section 3500). This gives me a timeline to get finished. This will be the first car show this car has ever been to.
My to do list.
Install bumpers, front grill and tail light filler panel and driving lights. Should have bumpers and such by March.
Install windshield and back glasses. Have everything just need to schedule. Install window and headliner trim.
Speedometer cable, vacuum lines, and spark plug heat shields. Detail horns and install. Paint battery tray body color.
Finish dash bezel detailing and install. The little white letters are a *****.
Convert radio to am fm Bluetooth and install.
Trim carpet and install sill plates.
Finish sewing seat covers and install.
Install door panels and window handles.
Start car. Adjust rebuilt power steering gear.
Left side wheels
Alignment
Find LH wheel well trim. Detail door and quarter outside molding. (remove anodizing and polish)
Put on license plate, get insurance and drive.
WOW I better get going. Only 6 months.