72 TA : New Project

[akcamaro]

I have a question about the console with the 8 track player. Is the console the same as one without 8 track, just with added parts that come out (like the face plate), or is the face plate an actual fixed piece to the console?

[njsteve]

There are 2 consoles for all the 2nd gen Firebirds: a four speed model and an automatic model based on where the shifter hole is. They are different than Camaro 2nd gen consoles. Normally a plastic "map pocket" insert covers the area where the 8-track player goes. If you check out the diagram a couple posts above this, the map pocket insert is shown as item #11.

[mockingbird812]

All in favor of mandatory reassignment of handle from <font color="red"> njsteve </font> to <font color="red"> MacGyver </font> raise your hand (thumb)!

[njsteve]

Only if I get one of them "MacGyver Sucks" banners.

[njsteve]

Here are some more of the latest bady shop photos. Enoch is spending a lot of time sanding, priming, resanding, repriming...He's not gonna stop til it's to his satisfaction, despite all my harassment about getting the car done quickly. (which I do appreciate. Though I want to get this car on the road before 2008, which is 173 days away).

[njsteve]

Okay, so I was posting to the companion novel I have of my progress on the T/A, at the Performance Years website and this guy jokingly asks me how I am going to "restore" that grungy old 8-track tape of the "Pontiac Stereo 8-track Sounds for 1972".

Having laid down the gauntlet I decided to go ahead and do just that, just to bust his balz.

Here is the before tape:








I took the tape and scanned all three surfaces of the label into my computer, and converted it into a jpeg. I then spent about 12 hours on the Microsoft Paint program at 800% magnification, erasing all the yellow from the background and from between every single letter, pixel by pixel. It was like Pac-Man on a massive scale. (I should have let my kids do it, it would have went much faster). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a wonderful thing. Once that was done, I cut and pasted the three images together into one image file. The next fun was the 2 hours of adjusting the size so it printed out in the exact same size as the original decal. I had to keep adding to the length of the image to get it to center properly on paper with the right width and length.

Here is the final version. I printed it out on adhesive backed label paper that I had at the house. A glossier paper would be better but this gives you an idea of how it looks. Now all I need is a nice clean blank 8-track to put it on. Anybody have one?

[SS427]

Wow Steve, the lengths you go to. Unbelievable!

[southernfriedcj]

[ QUOTE ]
Okay, so I was posting to the companion novel I have of my progress on the T/A, at the Performance Years website and this guy jokingly asks me how I am going to "restore" that grungy old 8-track tape of the "Pontiac Stereo 8-track Sounds for 1972".

Having laid down the gauntlet I decided to go ahead and do just that, just to bust his balz.

Here is the before tape:








I took the tape and scanned all three surfaces of the label into my computer, and converted it into a jpeg. I then spent about 12 hours on the Microsoft Paint program at 800% magnification, erasing all the yellow from the background and from between every single letter, pixel by pixel. It was like Pac-Man on a massive scale. (I should have let my kids do it, it would have went much faster). Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is a wonderful thing. Once that was done, I cut and pasted the three images together into one image file. The next fun was the 2 hours of adjusting the size so it printed out in the exact same size as the original decal. I had to keep adding to the length of the image to get it to center properly on paper with the right width and length.

Here is the final version. I printed it out on adhesive backed label paper that I had at the house. A glossier paper would be better but this gives you an idea of how it looks. Now all I need is a nice clean blank 8-track to put it on. Anybody have one?





[/ QUOTE ]

Steve, you are unbelievable! Your T/A is going to be awesome when done.