The stripes arrived yesterday and I put them on with some soapy water and a squeegy. The hard part is trying to get them symmetrically located on both sides. That took a couple hours. I think it worked out rather well in the end. Nice and subtle. The stripes seem to fade away in direct sunlight but in the shade they really pop.

Looks sweet!

Jason

I think they add to the car without being flashy.

Looks great

Ryan W31

Can you give a rundown on how you located them? Look great Steve.

I used the lower window trim on the door as a guide and measured 2 inches below that line for the main section of the door stripe.

And another part on order. The original dash speaker stopped working recently for the factory AM/FM mono radio. I pulled out the A/C ducting and accessed the wiring. I was able to confirm the bad speaker by using a jumper wire to an old Kraco 6x10 speaker.

I ordered a replacement speaker from Electro-Tech. I have bought their 4x10 replacement speaker before and it worked very well and fit perfectly into the factory under dash bracket. They are the correct 8-ohm rating that will work with the factory radios, versus all the 4-ohm replacement versions out there that will fry your original radio eventually.

With shipping it was around $59

http://www.turnswitch.com/speakers.htm

I spent a couple hours today installing it. You have to drop the steering column and remove the gauge pod to access the speaker and get to the screw that holds the speaker bracket in place. Removing the A/C plastic ductwork really helps also. At the same time I replaced the non-existent foam seal on the main A/C duct. The original had turned to dust decades ago, leaving a 3/4" gap between the heater box and the main duct. Got everything buttoned up and now the front and back speakers sound just like new (like 1970's new, that is)

I saw a write-up where the guy installed two modern 4" speakers in a modified tray that fit nicely into the center speaker bracket thing. http://nastyz28.com/threads/how-do-i...y-dash.210474/


I think when I get to working on my future-firebird project I am going that route.
I spent years on the fence about tearing into door panels for higher quality 6" modern speakers, because most jobs I've seen just really kill the awesome interior of these cars. However I don't want a car with a stereo that sounds that old, so I think I will end up doing door speakers anyways.
Two 6x9's in the rear, 6" in the doors, two 4"s in the center. Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe a small 6" subwoofer suspended from the package tray to stay out of the way. At this point I'll probably also have to factor in a small amp.




I am not a stereo guy whatsoever, and this hypothetical car doesn't even exist in my life yet, so I've got a while to think on it.




P.S. One of my first theories was to substitute the door speakers by stuffing them under the dash on each side of the dash....But I don't know if they have anywhere to go.

The other day I spent a few hours trying to solve the "bent nail puzzle" of removing the original transmission cooler lines and replacing them with new ones from Inline Tube. Quite an entertaining conundrum of turn, twist, pull, (curse) and repeat X10. Eventually got it all done with only a minimum amount of tranny fluid on the floor.

The original set had some bad kink/twists where they were over tightened onto the fitting at the transmission case decades ago. I was worried that they'd spring a leak one of these days at the least opportune moment.

So I now have successfully replaced every corroded steel line in the car over the past couple months. What did I win?

(piece of mind, I guess) :-)

By the way, I did not use the front sections of the driver's side fuel line that goes from the front fender well to the pump, and both passenger side vent and return line sections that go from the back of the subframe to the charcoal canister, and the fuel pump. My originals were still perfect from being covered in grease all those years. Does anyone need those lines? I believe they are unique to the 74/75 to 81 cars?

Added three gallons of 100 octane leaded avgas to the tank today and took her for a cruise. Chirps second gear quite nicely without even trying...and the exhaust smells so nice.

Looky what I found!

A NOS set of the same brown/tan/orange/yellow-ish "Plasticolor" floor mats that my Gramma bought for the car when it was new. The original set got rather chewed up by four and a half decades of foot travel.

Found them on ebay for $115. I have been searching for years for a set and got the search alert on Saturday morning at 6:30 AM. I immediately ht the buy-it-now button. They just arrived today.

Just need some scrubbing and cleaning and they will be fine.