72 TA : New Project - Page 74

**njsteve** · #**731** 06-29-2009, 04:17 AM

While waiting for the headliner to stretch I pulled out the dash and vacuumed out the body shop dust out of everything. There was a ton of dust and crud in the lower footwells and inside the dash ductwork. Glad I got all the garbage out now instead of the first time I turned on the A/C.

The second gen Firebirds use a giant one piece dash. It's not a dash pad, per se, it's an entire housing for everything. That is why these things are so hard to find and so damn expensive when you locate one. They don't age well and most of them have the radio mounting area gouged out. Mine has been "trimmed" by a previous owner but the factory AM/FM face plate holds the front of the radio in fine. Other than that, the pad is mint.

Here's the pad during the hose down:

**njsteve** · #**732** 06-29-2009, 04:22 AM

Here's the pad after cleaning and spraying with a light coat of SEM Landau Black. That stuff works great. I also misted the plastic interior panels and kick panels. Can't say enough about that SEM stuff, it works great covers quick and dries instantly. And it looks exactly like the original black vinyl.

Sure glad I've kept that 17 year old Viper all these years...makes the best workbench ever!

**njsteve** · #**733** 07-01-2009, 05:53 AM

Taking a few days off to work on the car...
Got the dash back in and all the gauges, ventilation and stuff installed. Everything actually works including that damn annoying key in the ignition buzzer!

Of course now there's more stuff I'm missing - the two ducts that go under the steering column and behind the console. These connect the main heater/ac box to the driver's side of the dash. I actually forgot that I needed to hunt those parts down after all these years. I guess its ebay time.

I'm keeping the crappy steering wheel in there until the car is finally back home for good. Don't want to risk damaging it when it goes back to the body shop.

**njsteve** · #**734** 07-01-2009, 05:56 AM

Got more of the interior done and the back seats installed. The console and front seats go in next.

**njsteve** · #**735** 07-01-2009, 06:33 AM

Here's the 2 ducts I need to find now, just in case anyone has these in a pile in their garage. (I have a duct pile but I seem to have extras for everything but these two).

1) The center-to-steering column duct:

2) and the steering column-to-drivers vent tube duct:

**gb70** · #**736** 07-01-2009, 08:24 AM

awesome!

southernfriedcj · #**737** 07-01-2009, 07:24 PM

Steve, the car is looking great and your attention to detail is amazing.
When it's done what are your plans? Drive it, trailer it, flog it?

**mockingbird812** · #**738** 07-01-2009, 07:42 PM

Nice work Steve

. Its gotta be a real joy to be throwing this beauty back together. Not that I need to tell you this, but....keep us posted!

Postsedan · #**739** 07-01-2009, 08:15 PM

keep us posted!

hey, that`s my line!

Dan.

**njsteve** · #**740** 07-01-2009, 11:43 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Steve, the car is looking great and your attention to detail is amazing.
When it's done what are your plans? Drive it, trailer it, flog it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Gonna drive it. (Since my trailer is 18 years old now and needs a restoration...and my diesel Suburban just passed 100,000 while picking up the T/A. I even got a photo of the odometer rolling over - cheap thrill!)

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