68 Polara restore back on

[bigmoparjeff]

I never realized that the bumper hook is designed to sit on those two studs. When I buy these cars the jack parts are usually scattered around the trunk and the jack instruction sticker long gone. I did buy some repop stickers years ago but never actually looked at them before storing them away.

 

[LocuMob]

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.

That's awesome! Can't wait to see that in person, it will light a fire in me when I do. Great progress, and most of the hard stuff is behind you.

 

[HWYCRZR]

I have a tail pipe with resonator on it’s way.
Not 100% necessary, but will be cool to have an original. Besides I want to see how this is made.
Yes, I decided to stay with single exhaust.
Any suggestions for a original sounding and looking muffler?

 

[HWYCRZR]

Fender tip turn signal indicators fixed and installed. I think I had an earlier post that showed my amber lights in pieces after trying to get the cap unscrewed to get to the bulb. I clear epoxied them back together and polished.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Decided to put my front beltline moulding back on. I found 2- Nos pieces as my right front was crunched and the left was very scratched up from years of leaning over the hood. Shots of the clips for future reference.

 

[HWYCRZR]

My other pieces buffed up pretty good and are straight , but I won’t be able to get the scratches out unless I take the anodizing off and sand out. For now I am going to concentrate on finishing the seats. The scratches can wait and don’t affect drivability. That will have to wait till the end. My goal is to find someone capable of anodizing 8’ long pieces.

 

[ImpJay]

Decided to put my front beltline moulding back on. I found 2- Nos pieces as my right front was crunched and the left was very scratched up from years of leaning over the hood. Shots of the clips for future reference.
View attachment 245565 View attachment 245566 View attachment 245567 View attachment 245568 View attachment 245569 View attachment 245570 View attachment 245571

Interesting to see that the same plastic clips are used on 72-73 Imperials to attach the trim around the vinyl top.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Interesting to see that the same plastic clips are used on 72-73 Imperials to attach the trim around the vinyl top.

The plastic or the metal clips? Or both?
I have been looking for a source of the little plastic ones. They have little obscure tabs on them to keep the trim from riding on the paint. I found some that were close, didn’t have the side protection. At least my NOS pieces came with new clips, so I may have enough plastic ones to go around.

 

[ImpJay]

the plastic clips only.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Here I go back to the seats. Maybe I can get the rear bench close to finished.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Rear bench finished. Details on my seat build thread. Rear back next.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Looks great!

All that hard work is paying off.

 

[LocuMob]

Rear bench finished. Details on my seat build thread. Rear back next.
View attachment 246350

How many hours do you have into putting on those covers?

 

[HWYCRZR]

I was keeping tabs on my seat thread, so I will have to go back and check. I think I am over 110 hours total with maybe another 20 to go?
So far most of my time was getting the bases complete at the factory did it. ( burlap and threaded wire and hand staking the cotton batting).

For just the covers, I have about 35 hours in the disassembly and pattern making of the covers. Another 10 or so in the layout and tracing of the new parts in the vinyl and canvas. Another 8 or so for the stitching of the 4 panels (I am getting faster) and about 8 more yesterday sewing the full rear seat cover and installing.
So about 61 hours invested in the seat covers so far. I think I can finish in another 20 hours.

Full details at the link below. I will have to keep up on my times better. The slowdown of figuring out (R&D) the springwire stay's in the burlap took me off task for a while. Also my car actually showed up around then also.

Epic 68 Polara bench seat rebuild for originality

 

[LocuMob]

I was keeping tabs on my seat thread, so I will have to go back and check. I think I am over 110 hours total with maybe another 20 to go?
So far most of my time was getting the bases complete at the factory did it. ( burlap and threaded wire and hand staking the cotton batting).

For just the covers, I have about 35 hours in the disassembly and pattern making of the covers. Another 10 or so in the layout and tracing of the new parts in the vinyl and canvas. Another 8 or so for the stitching of the 4 panels (I am getting faster) and about 8 more yesterday sewing the full rear seat cover and installing.
So about 61 hours invested in the seat covers so far. I think I can finish in another 20 hours.

Full details at the link below. I will have to keep up on my times better. The slowdown of figuring out (R&D) the springwire stay's in the burlap took me off task for a while. Also my car actually showed up around then also.

Epic 68 Polara bench seat rebuild for originality

I was just weighing wether or not I want to do my Dart seats, the only car I can get covers for, the springs look a bit daunting, but I see people seemingly slapping them together like it's nothing. I guess I'll decide if I farm it out when I get to it.

 

[HWYCRZR]

Really if you aren't as anal as me you would use listing wire and maybe a jute pad in place of the elaborate spring wire.
I would tie the springs together as a system, using listing wire and clips. Then I would either throw a layer of burlap over the springs to protect your foam, then depending on your cushioning either jute automotive insulation or go straight to high density foam. The nice thing about the batting on the rear seat backs is that it is softer than foam, but really not sure if it make that much difference. Key is to make sure your new bulk ( padding) is the same as your old bulk, so your covers fit tight.

 

[HWYCRZR]

How many hours do you have into putting on those covers?

To answer your first reply the time just to put on the finished cover on the padded seat was about an hour. I took my time as it was my first one.
I stretched it over and connected one or two center hog rings to hold it, then used a little heat from the heat gun and slowly worked it around the edges. Then I flipped it back over and secured each side edge to hold it tight, and then worked front to back alternating and going from middle to edge.

 

[LocuMob]

To answer your first reply the time just to put on the finished cover on the padded seat was about an hour. I took my time as it was my first one.
I stretched it over and connected one or two center hog rings to hold it, then used a little heat from the heat gun and slowly worked it around the edges. Then I flipped it back over and secured each side edge to hold it tight, and then worked front to back alternating and going from middle to edge.

Did you follow the FSM?

 

[HWYCRZR]

Did you follow the FSM?

You know, I am usually the first to go to the manual, but in this case I didn't think to look to see if it was even mentioned. I just went back to my disassembly pictures and used the logic to center it and work from the middle out stretching to the edges.
Now I am going to have to look in there to see if I did it right. If there is in fact such a section.

 

[HWYCRZR]

There are illusions, but not much instruction.