Path to a Finished Interior

I haven't had much time to work on the car recently.  I've been extremely busy at work, and helping to get Dad's estate planning in order.

I did get "Nell" back from Ford Guy.  He did a great job with the windshield and side windows.  It turns out that the speedometer issue was a broken drive gear.  At my request, he replaced the original 19 tooth speedo gear with a 22 tooth gear.  With my current tires (205/75R15's), the speedo was reading 60mph when GPS said I was going 50.  That was about 20% high, but with the new gear it's pretty accurate.

I'm glad I don't have to mess too much with the windows.  My next milestone is to complete the interior, including the door panels and trim. Before I can install the door panels, however, I need to get the door garnish rails ready.  Even though I will keep the old vinyl, which is in remarkably good condition, I still had to replace the "cat whiskers" (a.k.a rattle guards) that provide soft edges to seal against the window glass.  The old cat whiskers were held on with heavy staples, and it was very difficult to get to the back side.  I had to use a Dremel to grind through the staples and pry them off from the front..

These staples are pretty tough, and kind of a pain to remove.  I replaced them with standard grade roofing staples.

Once the old staples were out, I inserted new staples from the back to mark the back cat whisker, and show where I needed to drill holes.

New cat whisker in place.  The stainless trim rail just above it in the picture uses clips to bolt onto the garnish rail.

The garnish rails slide into place on the door, lining up the door lock rod though the hole and screwing in the knob.  The door panels slide up underneath the garnish rail once it is in place.

 Two other things need to happen before I install the door panels, however.  First, I need check all of the power window and seat wiring.  Then I need to be sure that the window stops are properly adjusted so that they fit the window frame in the hard top.  I'm afraid that if the windows are a little to high, slamming the door with the top on could be an expensive mistake!  The driver's window seemed to be too high when it was raised all the way.  It turns out that Ford Guy didn't put the rear lift stop in the door, and the back of the window was raising up too high. 

Note the temporary panel I made for mounting the window switches.  I didn't know how long it would be before I could install the door panels.

I could take it back to him, but it's only a $5 part and very easy to install.  A quick online order, and 3 days later I had the part installed and the window was working fine.  

To check if the window fits to the hardtop, however, I need to first install all the weatherstripping on the top and mount it back on the car.  I got a good weatherstripping in a kit many months ago, but installing it is not really straightforward.  First, I had to clean up the over-window stainless trim & gutter.

That's 4 layers of old paint in the rain gutter... including my teenage contribution of Ford Bright Lime!

20 minutes of lacquer thinner and greenie, and it comes clean.

I reused the original asphalt shims and fastened the window trim/gutter onto the top.  It uses four flathead screws on each side, directly into the fiberglass.  Next it's time to install the window weatherstripping.  The kit has two pieces, each having the outer seal over the windshield, the window seal itself, and part of the rear seal, all in a single molded piece.  It is pretty cool to have this as once piece, since it is less likely to leak... but my car didn't come that way.  It just doesn't fit!

I had to cut and notch the over-windshield piece, so I could use the original metal retainer.  Kind of scary, because these things are rather expensive!  I really wish things would fit, but my car is an early '55, and the top is a little unique.  Once again, the screws go right into the top fiberglass, and will spin out if I use too much torque.  I learned this the hard way, and I'm getting much more careful with these screws.  It's clear that I will need to spend much more time on this top than I had anticipated.  Oh well.

 I should mention that I got a folding stand for the hard top, which allows me to roll it around and work on it.  The one I got folds up smaller than anything I have seen, is remarkably stable, and stows nicely in the trunk.  I figured it would be very cool to have on long trips.  When Ford Guy's wife saw this, she immediately wanted to have a few in the shop!  Sadly, I checked with the company I got mine from, and they are now no longer available.  Bummer!

Today I didn't finish the top.  That's OK.  I'm not really in a rush.  It's likely to rain for the next few days, and I can take my time working on my t-bird punch list.  I'd like the car ready for Dad's next trip to the oncologist on Thursday, hopefully with door panels installed and the heater & power seat working... maybe even with windshield wipers.  I may also try polishing out the paint myself, but that's fodder for a different post.

Yesterday, however, I took a few hours to update the routing of some plumbing at the front of the engine.  Using '57 manifold and carburetor required rerouting a few things in my '55 engine bay.  I looked at all kinds of pictures, but no two '57 birds had the plumbing routed exactly the same way.  That wasn't very helpful, so I just did my best to make the routing look nice.  The re-routed fuel line allowed me to finally install a huge '57 Thunderbird air cleaner.  Now it looks like a bona fide Thunderbird engine bay!  Here's a celebration shot.

I'm very fortunate... I can take three weeks vacation over the holidays!  I'm really looking forward to the refreshment and restoration God has in store for me.  I'll need to keep from obsessing on "getting the car done", and just relax and enjoy the journey.  More to follow...