Time to dig in...softie conversion

[speedo]

This which has been rebuilt for a while..

..."put me in coach"

And the floorboards after being trimmed and reinforced get bolted down

Pretty attractive handbrake assembly...and where does this wire go?

The wire attaches to this piece of plastic behind the e-brake ratchet and goes to ground when the brake is pulled which illuminates the dash warning light. The grey overspray is from the etching primer wand that I dragged through the tunnel to seal it up. The rest of the debris is the grease from the factory and sand that found it's way into the tunnel from the sandblasting...this will all get freshened. Here is a better view of the wire attachment point


The brake assembly really needs to come out, get cleaned up.

So be it...

It is killing me that I have to keep ignoring this thing...

...waiting patiently for a year. No exciting stuff (engine-trannie-wheels-seats) gets installed till the minutia is done...must resist.

Speedo

[merbesfield]

Keep up the hard work and let the icing on the cake be your guiding light to finish.

[vintagecarlover]

im in albeit late.

[Matt Monson]

Smells like teen spirit.

[speedo]

I want to get the tunnel finished. Everything needs attention...the e-brake, the cold start lever, the heater lever.
The e-brake was disgusting...looks better as do the engine crossbar supports.

All this stuff needs to be cleaned up, re-assembled and installed

There we go...

The nylon contraption that enables the cold start lever to work...was shot. The new one installed, needed to be adjusted. This is the capture on the throttle cable that can be adjusted. The throw of the lever is not much more than 1/2 to 3/4s of an inch throw.

That is done

Moving on to the shifter...overspray form the etching-primer in the tunnel

Next up. New bushings help the normally sloppy dogleg shifter work marginally better. Last time around I converted a 915 shifter to a gated dogleg shifter. This time I'll stick with the correct setup.


Decision time...new knob, used knob or crappy looking knob.

[speedo]

Of course...crowd favorite, the crappy looking knob. This one came from Florida courtesy of BVD. And to be fair, he represented it accurately. I'm just not sure how if Florida is so humid and is so toxic for exposed steel, how did this sucker dry out so completely

Like the wood wasn't done growing when it was captured and made into a shift knob. The badge and enamel are in nice shape

But I need to address a few cracks...not to many, just five or six


Soaked the cracks overnight in superglue for wood, and called up
the vertical lathe...

Four grades of sand paper later

And six coats of satin urethane

That's done

[speedo]

I am using later reinforced doors....with SWB door handles on the interior. The trigger for the SWB handles points up vs the later handles point down...I found this out earlier today. The door panels were due a week and a half ago. However, my upholsterer is obviously related to my painter...and the panels are "coming along", but not done. So...I need to get the hardware for the windows, and door latches in the doors.

This is the correct lock mechanism for the right door

Left side is totally wrong...in fact I think it is actually the right side mechanism from a much later car...but we can work with it.

A new pivot is in order...modeled off the right side

And a modification to the bracket that holds the pivot to the door

And installed...works perfectly

Complete left side assembled with the pivot pointing north

To wrap things up, I need to disassemble and re-key the doors

What a mess

But done and ready to install and complete the doors

Slow progress...but progress nonetheless. About half of the last snow storm has melted...phew!
But the next storm moves in tonight...12 inches in the next two days. Dreams of Targa California....

Speedo

[vintagecarlover]

Wow incredible talent

[Racerbvd]

Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matt Monson]

With the lights on, we're still strangers...

[speedo]

Becomes a much larger task. In this case it was not "avoiding" significant expense. My doors and windows are later SC parts. Don't want power windows, so I had to settle on converting the early manual scissors to work with the later power window tracks. If I post the complex conversion it would help people backdating early cars, but it was a PIA. I would rather post the results. Not something the average shade tree mechanic will want to undergo, but as I couldn't find a thread detailing this conversion...maybe the details will help somebody. Let me know...it is all operational now and I wish I had stumbled on this thread...before I had to do it all from scratch.

Speedo

[speedo]

The right regulator vs the wrong regulators (power)...sounds like I'm talking about gov't

The sliders on the manual that need to be swapped out for the sliders on the power


Off they come

And here is how we will attach them

The screws and nuts need to be turned down to sit flush with the face of the round slider

There we go

And these go away

[vintagecarlover]

Hey bro, Thx for posting this. Really! I was thinking about just exactly this subject on Friday nite LATE as I'm doing a backdate now and wondered 'do I use later or early doors and swap in guts'? What brought this to mind is I'm having an issue with the alarm going off in my SC driver (not the one I'm backdating) and was thinking hang a pr of 68 door that have manual cranks already or swap cranks into SC doors either way ill deal with the harness issues from SC to early and the factory alarms that are integroated into the harness so yes I'm very interested in swqpping early guts into later doors. Also the locking stuff, what and how to delete, if u did any picture taking or can impart ur knoledge I'd appreciate any and all help. Guessing its easier to leave harness and swap over cranks and internals and don't mess with factory alarm system which goes into fuel shut off ect. I would post it here for all but ill settle for pm'ing stuff to me. Regards and Thx for detail ur build.

[speedo]

The manual regulator arms are too long...so we "take an inch off" please

Assembly time
Check the slider fitting on the manual regulator to the power track

Trial fit

Small problem....this track isn't ideally positioned. It is the right length, but in the wrong place. I need to close the two inch gap here...

By shifting the two inch excess here

Drill out the welds, shift it back and re-weld it

While I'm at it I need to figure out two neutral areas (where the sliders won't be) to create access for the sliders to be introduced to the track once inside the door

[speedo]

Shifted and welded back up

The correctly sized slots

Trial fit...dress rehearsal

Bingo...works great and all my clearances were good

Unfortunately my rubber gasket kit did not include window guide felt so I cannot install the guides just yet. Not a big deal as after close examination, I have some work to do on the vent window seal

This ought to be fun

But...these can get installed. Feel like I am treating myself

Slowly but surely...

[speedo]

I couldn't remember how they came apart...not that hard

New meaning to... "laying down that fresh rubber". Sure does look nice

This is the window track after 32 years...pretty much toast


Waiting on the replacement...
Meanwhile, the A pillar interior vinyl trim, needs to be replaced. I tried to trace out replacements from the original...that is trashed

The new "sewed" trim...(no I did not sew it myself) but I had some dirt on someone who sewed it for me

Trial hang...I am not a huge fan of hanging headliners, so we will see how hanging this trim goes...


As soon as I get the trim laid down, I can work on getting the targa top A pillar rubber installed...which means I can get the front windshield glass installed.
Don't let me forget to install the dash before the glass gets installed.

Speedo

[speedo]

I have two sets of targa door tracks. I grabbed the pair with the lite green tint to the vent windows that match the door windows. After replacing the vent window seals...I realized that the chrome on the other set was better. Drats...so I switched and swapped parts to get decent chrome all the way around. The felt for the window channels came in (thanks host) and this was installed on the leading edge channel. The rear channel is a stubbie. The trailing edge of the window has a steel reinforced piece of plastic at the base, and I couldn't remember if the channel had felt or not. Clearly not many other people were knowledgeable in this area as I had plenty of views...
I'm replacing the door felt and need a measurement
But no replies. Turns out I was able to dig up and old thread on targas, and a similar question was asked...no felt at all in the rear channel. So with the mixed and matched pieces of the frankensteined vent window, and the rear window channel, we get the windows installed for good...or worse
I hate replacing the rubber window squeegee in the aluminum outer door top trim as the rubber gets tighter and tighter over time. All the rubber trim is installed and it fits...
Door top aluminum trim goes next


Starting to look like it is supposed to look...

Now would be a good time to cycle the regulators to see if I get full range of movement...fortunately so. I did have a small "issue" with my alignment holes for the regulator, the holes lined up perfectly for the window at exactly the TDC and wanted to pop out. I made a minor modification which will make it easier to remove them down the road should it be needed. I will post the mod shortly.
Finished door still needing internal upholstery panel installed, but exterior minus mirror is done. Door top trim installed.

[speedo]

The factory inside vinyl trim for the A pillar /windshield was barely good enough for a pattern. This needs to be done before the replacement targa top (expensive) rubber molding is installed. And before the door gasket gets installed. For you welders and engine builders...skip this part. If you send your projects to the local upholsterer (as you should because they do a better job than I do), skip this part. This voyage for me is always time consuming and measure-cut-fit, measure-cut-fit. The vinyl sized and sewed

Working from the front of the windshield back

And stretching as we go


Then the sides


And to the left



Long day, but I was dreading this as I had to create the trim AND install it...it is working out ok

Speedo

[speedo]

Trying to work from the front of the car to the back. The targa rubber is a bit more expensive than the coupe rubber for obvious reasons...(Haycait feel free to weigh in here), targas have a propensity to leak. As such, the parts should be more expensive. Therefore, installing the expensive gaskets should be done carefully. I finish up the pillar trim...

Nice homemade seams

The aluminum ledge installed

Vin reinstalled on the fresh drivers A pillar

Next up is the dash

Goes here

Trial fit


Speedo

[speedo]

Totally bondo'd over my PORSCHE letters on my decklid.

Need to carefully re-drill these

Money shot...


Now that I have the A pillar gasket in place, I need to re-trim the vinyl for the B pillar lower latch panel area



Done...left side next

Speedo