4/11/2013 Dashboard, Upholstery, Battery

We are finally starting to see some visible changes. The upholstery is complete, although I had to remove it prior to the final work on the body and paint. Not exactly as I had planned, but neither are some other things that are happening. I can see you just have to be a bit flexible.

The trailer is down to the last coat of primer, prior to final paint, the tires and wheels for the trailer are 100% complete.

The dash is painted and ready for gauges.

This is the selection of burl wood we chose for the dash and the leather for the seats, door panels etc.

This is the base paint for the dash, prior to the burl wood being added.



Here is my helper for the dash coating, along with the burl wood. "My garage helped is better looking than yours". 

Keep away from those fumes.

I've placed the burl wood film on the water and am now adding the activator.



Here I'm lowering the dash through the film.



Almost completely submersed.



Completely submersed.



Burl wood film completed.



This is after a couple of layers of clear have been added.



Classic Instrument Gauges added.



Door panel completed with carpet lower

Here is a picture of the trunk with all of the upholstery added.



Battery installed in the first location behind the passenger seat. Since Optima batteries are completely sealed they can be installed inside the car without venting. BTW, they can also be installed on their sides. I think they can be installed in any position except upside down.

In the upper right of the picture you can see the black convertible top which is very close to the battery. It's even closer when moving the top to the up position. Not too sure if this will work but I don't like having the battery take up room in the trunk.

Here is another picture of the battery taken from the front looking to the rear of the car



After some further investigation I found that Optima also makes 6V batteries, which you can see are essentially a 12v just cut in half. Will, how about two of them in series. 



Mounted on the right they will be completely behind the right side trunk panel. There will be a little issue, on the top,  with the power antenna but I'll have to work around it.

These tires might be a little smaller than needed, but I'll wait till the trailer is behind the car before making any further changes.

Now, I know that my helper didn't breath in too much of the activator, but nonetheless we'll be out for a couple of weeks. I know that with her driver she will be back to 100% very soon.

With the aid of the new Mako operating machine and a very capable Dr. she was able to have her knee resurfaced and rebuilt with titanium and plastic instead of being removed. The machine was explained to me as essentially being a CNC guiding a router head.

I for one really do like those computer operated operating machines.