Before I take this ride out for its inaugural “get some thumbs up” spin I thought I would take you for one last trip around the car.

St art ing at the front of the car I discarded the front bumper to give the car a little more streamlined look. I also did away with the chrome on the grille and added a valance panel underneath.

On the sides of the car I welded the running boards to the rocker panels and the rear fenders. I think it cleaned up the look of the car by getting rid of a lot of body seams. I am p art icularly pleased with the outcome of having welded the rear fenders to the body.

Moving to the deck lid I opted to round off all four corners of the lid. This is a very rounded car and it just didn’t seem right to leave the squared off corners of the deck lid, especially the top two corners.

At the rear of the car I spent quite a bit of time hacking, chopping, and welding in search of the perfect hidden license plate housing. In the end I think this flip down door really completes the look.

Opening the door to look inside the car I decided to move away from the considered norm of painting the dash the same color as the exterior of the car. Instead I painted the dash a silver metallic color to compliment the gray interior and gave it a red stripe for the sole purpose of bringing the outside in. I think it worked out pretty well.

I could talk on and on about things I did to this car, the changes I made during the process of building this car, and whether the end result is worth all of the effort. Instead, I think I’ll discuss a few of the more important factors such as time, money, and budget.

I never enter into a project this size with a written in stone time line. I do know from experience roughly how long a complete rebuild such as this is going to take, but if that time frame comes and goes and the car isn’t finished I don’t get into a panic over not having the car finished. A build like this takes as long as it takes.

So how much time did it take? I spent roughly four hours a day, five days a week for almost two years working on this car. You can calculate the total if desired while I go on to the budgetary aspects of a build like this.

I won’t disclose how much money was spent on this build, but I can tell you that I know the amount right down to the last penny. Is the car worth the amount of money I spent building it? Yes, without a doubt.

I can’t tell you how many people I’ve talked to over the years who thought they could restore an old car or build a hot rod for a few hundred bucks. They seem almost shocked when I tell them the job they are considering will actually cost in the five figure range if not a lot more. What that tells me is that they never bothered to work out a cost budget, which is the easiest thing in the world to do, especially after the invention of the PC.

Most home computers come equipped with some form of spread sheet software. What’s a spread sheet? It is little more than a page filled with limitless rows and columns, each one of which can be summed and totaled to your he art ’s desire. P art names can be listed, p art sources can be listed, and p art prices can be listed. That gives me a proposed budget before I ever turn a wrench and lets me continually compare my actual spending to my estimated spending. You’ll be surprise d h ow thrilled you can become seeing the actual cost of a buil d h overing below the estimated cost. This is a wife pleasing moment.

What p art s should be listed? I list every conceivable p art the car will ever need. I’m talked about everything, including the price of solder for making wire connections and the cost of hand soap for cleaning up before dinner. Yes, I know listing p art s can be a daunting task, but list everything you can think of and don’t hesitate to add rows to the spread sheet as you move deeper into the project and find more p art s you need.

Once the initial p art s list is complete I browse catalogs, Internet sites, and even call my local p art s store for prices. Each p art is priced and the source is named. Six months from now when I need a pair of power window regulators it helps to know where I got the price listed on the spread sheet.

One thing I don’t do is include the cost of labor in the budget. I do ninety five percent of the labor myself and my labor rate varies depending upon my attitude on a given day. The remaining five percent of the labor cost is rolled into the cost of the p art . A good example is engine work. Engine p art s only cost so much. It is the labor to make all those p art s work correctly that drive the cost of a good engine through the roof.

Something else I don’t list on the spread sheet is tool cost. Those are considered capital expenses as they don’t leave with the car. But I do pay close attention to tool cost because every car built needs special tools, some of which may be used once then stored until the next car comes in. For that reason I never buy cheap tools. I purchase quality only. You can buy the cheap stuff, but you will be replacing it quite often. It doesn’t take long to over run the cost of a quality product. That’s one reason I keep an Eastwood catalog on my desk and another reason I so blatantly mention Eastwood product numbers at every opportunity. As I said, I like quality, and I especially like dealing with companies with quality people. Thanks Eastwood, and John, and Joe, and Nick, and John. This has been a pleasure.

Will I let Eastwood into the shop for another project? Maybe. I have an A/C Cobra replica collecting dust in the shop at this writing. Send some feedback and we’ll see.

Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for the e-mails. Thanks for this opportunity.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles

LPL Body Works, LLC

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Don’t think I’ve screwed things up and failed to get the wheel widths correct. That’s not the case. This is one of those “things you ought to know about before you wrinkle a fender because of a wide wheel”.

This is the Eastwood Fender Roller # 31158 in action. We’ve all seen them, the low rider or 20-inch wheel ride with the fenders all bent to heck because the tires rub the fender edges during a turn. It’s an ugly look.

I can’t tell you how many first generation Mustangs I’ve hammer and dolly worked the fenders and qu art er panel wheel opening flanges to get them flat enough, or flared enough, to accept wide wheels. Nor can I tell you how many imports I’ve witnessed with the fenders bent out of shape due to the tires rubbing. It’s just plain ugly.

This machine is the cure. You’ll need about five minutes to mount the machine and maybe fifteen minutes to roll a flange. That will keep the wheel openings looking good and maybe even save you to price of a tire or two.

Okay, here’s a few tips. Try warming up the wheel opening area using a heat gun (#43522) to keep from cracking the paint as you work. Keep the heat gun at least twelve inches from the paint. Any closer and you’ll need my services and I charge a lot to fix burned paint.

Don’t try to get a full roll with one pass. Let the machine slowly massage the flange into shape. Light pressure is better than heavy pressure in that it allows you to watch the movement of the opening as you work and keeps the stress on the metal down. Stressed metal is not good. It results in cracked paint.

Don’t be alarmed when the fender pushes outboard as the roller works, especially with imports and small trucks. These rides are made of very light metal and the panels move….a lot.

Don’t try to completely flatten the lip of the flange. That can lead to the paint cracking. Besides, a soft roll looks better.

Do take your time. Do read the instructions. Do show your new flares to your buds. They’ll be impressed.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works, LLC

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.LPLBodyWorks.com

What about the speedometer? Is it accurate? That depends upon a few variables, such as the rear axle ratio, the tire diameter, the drive gear size, and the driven gear size.

Let’s st art with the easy ones, the axle ratio and tire diameter. To find the axle ratio jack up the rear of the car and turn both rear wheels the same direction one full turn while counting the drive shaft revolutions as the wheels turn. In this case I know my rear end ratio is 3.42.

To determine the tire diameter I sit the car back on the ground and measure from the floor to the center of the rear axle. That measurement is 13.5-inches. Multiply that times two and I have the accurate diameter of the tire with the full weight of the car on it. 27-inches.

Next I need to know which drive and driven gears are in my GM T350 transmission. To do that I remove the speedometer cable and the speedometer housing from the transmission. The cable is screwed into place, the housing is held in place using a retainer.

With the speedometer housing removed I can see the speedometer drive gear mounted on the transmission tail shaft inside the unit. Mine is red. The pic is a borrowed cut-away view for demonstration purposes.

GM uses four different colors of drive gears - Gray = 15 teeth, Red = 17 teeth, Blue = 18 teeth, and Yellow = 19 teeth.

The driven gear will come out of the transmission with the speedometer housing. Mine is green which means is has 42 teeth.

GM uses twelve different driven gears. 34 = Light Green, 35 = Orange , 36 = White, 37 = Red, 38 = Blue, 39 = Brown, 40 = Black, 41 = Yellow, 42 = Green, 43 = Purple, 44 = Dark Gray, 45 = Light Blue.

Armed with this information I can now determine if my speedometer is accurate or if I need to change to a different driven gear size. Here is the formula.

1001 = Driven gear teeth

Tire revolutions per mile = 20168/Tire diameter

You can do the math if you want, but my calculations come out to equal the need for a 43 tooth gear, or in this case a Purple driven gear.

You can also go to the web and google up a speedometer calibration program that will do the math for you.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works, LLC

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

How’s the right height? I assume it is perfect as I no longer have a choice when it comes to altering the suspension height up front. That’s okay as I spent a lot of time working out the proposed curb height for this car back when I modified the frame. With the wheels and tires on the car I can see my calculations were pretty close.

The rear suspension is a little more forgiving. Back here I installed adjustable coil over shock absorbers that will allow me to increase the tension on the springs to push the rear of the car upward, or release a little tension to allow the rear of the car to drop. As the car now sits I have a slight rake to the front which I think is about perfect.

Let me warn you. Get the ride height correct before delivering the car to the front end shop for an alignment. Even a slight change to the way the car sits can alter the setting on the front suspension. If you change the stance of the car after having the front end aligned it is imperative that you have the front end aligned again.

The next things this ride needs are fluids. The rear axle needs a qu art of axle grease, the automatic transmission will require roughly two gallons of Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF), the engine will need five qu art s of motor oil, the power steering unit will need about two qu art s of power steering fluid, the radiator will need two gallons of antifreeze, and the windshield washer tank will need a qu art of washer fluid. To be certain the fuel gauge is working properly I’ll add at least five gallons of gasoline to the gas tank.

After fluids I can power up the car and give the electrical system a final once over. I check the lights, the turn signals, brake lights, license plate light, interior lighting, and lastly the sound system. When I’m satisfied that no wires are smoking and all circuits are go it is time to bring out the Affordable Fuel Injection manual and go through the recommended st art up procedure. The best way to do this is to fold the manual open, climb into the driver’s seat and st art reading.

Step One is to turn the ignition switch to the ON position and listen for the fuel pump to turn on for a few seconds then turn off. Turn the ignition switch to OFF for at least ten seconds and repeat. The fuel pump should cycle and turn off.

Next I check the fuel system for leaks. If none are found it is time to st art the engine. The engine should st art without having to depress the accelerator pedal. After the engine has warmed to operating temperature I can set the timing.

To do that I disconnect the single lead wire located behind the distributor. With this lead disconnected I rest art the engine and set the timing to 6 degrees BTC (before top dead center), kill the engine, reconnect the lead, wait at least ten seconds and rest art the engine. A code 42 may show on the Check Engine light and if so disconnecting the battery for at least one minute before rest art ing the engine will clear the code. At this point the fuel injection system should take over the engine management and yield a lot of nice driving.

Air Conditioning.

Charging the Hot Rod Air, air conditioning unit is not a do-it-yourself task. The system must be mechanically evacuated until a vacuum is created within the system an d h eld there for at least an hour before adding R134a refrigerant. The amount of R134a introduced into the system is also critical. This p art icular unit calls for exactly 1.8 pounds of R134a refrigerant. An under charge of gas will result in insufficient cooling while an over charge of gas can damage the system.

It is also a good idea to have the shop doing the work to introduce a leak detecting charge to the system as they fill it. Generally a leak in the system will reveal itself when the system initially refuses to hold a vacuum prior to adding the R134a. However, on occasion the leak will be so slight that it takes several weeks for the system to leak down to a detectable level. What’s a detectable level? No more cold air out of the vents. A leak detecting charge will contain a dye that can be seen at the sight of the leak no matter how slight the leak. Finding any leak won’t be difficult.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works, LLC

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.LPLBodyWorks.com

The time has come to put this ride on the ground. That means wheels and tires and that means decisions on styles and sizes. Have you seen the selections available? I have. If it is round, someone has designed it into a wheel and wrapped some rubber around it.

In the end I decided to stay with the old school look that has been prevalent throughout this build and went with American Racing Wheels, Torq Thrust D style wheels. These are fifteen-inch wheels that are seven inches wide with gray painted spokes and a brushed aluminum rim.

How did I settle on fifteen inch wheels that are seven inches wide? Fifteen inch diameter wheels are the most common sized wheels out there and since the theme of this car has been and still is old school the choice came naturally. To determine the correct width all I had to do was to figure out the needed tire clearance and the wheel offset and that left me with the correct wheel width.

Okay, there is a little more to it than that. The first step to determining wheel width is to determine the tire clearance. If you mount a fat radial tire on a seven inch wide wheel you automatically have a total tire width of about nine inches. I have eleven inches of rear wheel well space as measured from the inside edge of the rear fender to the inside of the wheel well. Subtract nine inches of tire width from the eleven inches of wheel well space and I end up with about an inch of clearance on the inside and an inch of clearance on the outside. Thus the need for seven inch wide wheels.

That’s the easy part . The hard p art st art s when you pick up the phone to call the wheel guy an d h e asks about the desired wheel offset. What’s wheel offset?

Off set is defined as the distance from the edge of the back of the wheel to the mounting flange. In conjunction with off set you will also hear the term “back spacing”. These are two different measurements but result in the same outcome as far as wheel widths are concerned.

Here is how it works. If a seven inch wide wheel has a back spacing of 3.5-inches (the distance from the mounting flange to the inside edge of the wheel) it also has an off set of zero. That means the mounting flange is centered in the wheel (7 - 3.5 = 3.5). If a seven inch wide wheel has a back spacing of 2.5-inches it also has an off set of negative 1.0-inches. (7- (2.5+1.0) = 3.5) Negative off set simply means the mounting flange has been moved inboard, or closer to the inside edge of the wheel. A good example would be a seven inch wide “deep dish” wheel. This wheel coul d h ave an offset of up to negative five inches. Positive off set would be more like a wheel you see on newer vehicles where the wheel looks basically flat. The mounting flange is located near the outside edge of the wheel.

To determine what off set will work best I st art by laying a straight edge vertically on the axle mounting flange then measure the distance from the mounting flange to the inside edge of the fender wheel opening. That measurement is six inches.

Knowing that a seven inch wide wheel with a zero off set has a measurement of 3.5 inches from the mounting flange to the outside edge of the wheel, plus roughly one more inch taking into consideration the width of the mounted tire, and that leaves me with roughly one and a half inches of clearance between the tire and the fender. That’s not bad, but if you take a closer look at the pic you can see I’ve added a half inch wheel spacer to the axle for the purpose of doing some comparison work to see if adding more off set to the wheel would improve on the look. In the end I elected to go with seven inch wide wheels with a zero off set an d h ung the wheel spacer back on the wall.

You should also notice that I used the rear wheel well to make all of my calculations. Front wheel wells are always deeper and roomier to provide the needed clearance for turning and therefore don’t lend themselves well to calculating wheel sizes and off sets. You should, however, test fit the wheel of choice on the front just to be sure no clearance problems exist.

As for tires I’ll be going with BF Goodrich Radial T/A P215/65R 15 tires on the front and BF Goodrich Radial T /A P225/70 R15 tires on the rear. How does the car look with this combination? Nice!

Next on the interior list is the floor pan carpeting.  The carpet is glued in place over the rebond padding using Eastwood # 520001zp adhesive. Notice that I also covered the seat mounting brackets and note how clean the seam line is between the floor carpet and the console carpet. That’s what I’m looking for.

Next are the windshield and center door pillar posts covers. To make these panels I cut matching pieces of Lauan plywood, two for the windshield pillars and two for the door post, then covered all four pieces with 1/8-inch thick foam and the light gray vinyl.  A little silicone adhesive will be used to hold them in place.

After that I covered the sun visors using the light gray vinyl. Luckily I still had the frames of the old visors which I refinished using the same metallic gray paint I used to paint the dash. Next I traced the outline of the old visors onto sheets of cardboard adding an inch all around. The idea here is to have enough cardboard to sandwich over the old visors. Since passengers always need a mirror I took an auto parts store mirror and glued it to the right hand visor. After the glue dried I add 1/8-inch thick foam to both visors.  That gives me a flat smooth surface to glue my new cardboard covers over the old visors.

To complete the new covers I cut an opening for the mirror in the right hand visor then covered both covers with 1/8-inch thick foam.  Finally, the new visor covers are covered with the light gray vinyl then wrapped around the old visors. The results are a couple of very nice looking visors.

Finishing the Trunk

            The trunk compartment gets basically the same treatment I gave the cab of the car. I start by making new side panels using the light gray vinyl then cover the floor pan with carpet.  Also notice in the photo I added a Painless Performance battery cut off switch (upper right rear corner). What’s the hole in the right trim panel? I’ll be adding a switch panel here that has a switch for the trunk light and a push button to open the driver’s door.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo, TX 79109

www.LPLBodyWorks.com

Here’s a good question. Out in the dry heat of west Texas we don’t worry too much about humidity destroying our interiors. Does anyone know how the cardboard we used to construct the headliner base will hold up in a wetter climate? E-mail me.

            Carpet first, then console? Or is it the other way around? Actually it is both. I need to install some of the carpet before the console can be mounted, but because the console will be built in place I’d rather not have all of the carpet installed. Building the console in place means a lot of crawling in and out of the car, a lot of wood splinters from the construction and errant drops of glue hitting here and there inside the car as I cover the console with the dark gray vinyl. This is no environment for pristine carpet.

As you move through the next few photographs notice that the side trim panels are not in the car. Leaving them out will let me extend the floor pan carpet past the bottom edges of the panels and that insures that once the trim panels are installed the carpet will be tucked neatly beneath the trim panels with no gaps or exposed areas of the floor pan showing.

 The rebond padding is glued into place. I’m still using Eastwood # 520001zp

adhesive to get everything stuck into place. Notice that I didn’t pad the drive shaft tunnel. No need for padding here as the console will cover the bulk of the tunnel. Also notice that I left an inch of space between the rebond and the edges where the carpet will tuck under the side trim panels as well as along the sides of the drive shaft tunnel and around the seat mounting brackets.

This reduces the amount of material build up that has to be forced beneath the side trim panels once they are installed. It also allows me to carpet the drive shaft tunnel and glue that carpet directly to the floor pan.  That, in turn, allows the floor pan carpet, once it is installed, to overlap this selvage edge for a clean look.

Console Construction.

            The plan calls for a console that extends the full length of the cab. It will start just underneath the center of the dash and work its way to the rear of the cab where it will transition into a center arm rest for the rear seat passengers.

The console will also serve as a conduit for the wiring that leads to the rear of the car and for that reason will become a permanent fixture inside the car. Once completed the console will give the illusion of being two separate pieces, a front section and a rear section. That’s because the rear section will only be half as wide as the front section.

            As mentioned above the rear section will basically be an elongated arm rest. I’ll add a couple of cup holders for passenger convenience as well as a power outlet to plug in those digital gismos kids can’t seem to do without these days.

I’ll st art by making the base for the center section of the headliner. This is the only p art of the headliner that will not be made in place on the roof. It will be a separate panel made of Lauan plywood and will extend the full length of the roof. Once the side panels are completed it will be put into place and anchored to the roof using the same plastic retainers I used to attach the door and qu art er trim panels.

To make the panel visually appealing it will be twenty inches wide at the front and twenty six inches wide at the rear. That gives me a st art ing place so the next step is to make the side panels.

To make the side panels I use the same heavy cardboard I used previously to construct the templates for the door and qu art er panel trim panels. I use the largest sheets possible and glue each one into place over my wooden framework until I have a base for the foam to be added next. This base needs to consist of at least three layers of cardboard to give it the needed strength to hold the foam and vinyl coverings.

To make the curves at the back of the roof I cut the cardboard into smaller pieces and carefully sculpt the needed curves. I don’t use any staples here because once the sides have been covered and shaped the cardboard will need to sanded smooth using a dual action sander with 80-grit sand paper attached. Imperfections such as overlapped edges of the cardboard will telegraph through the foam and must be remove. The 80-grit will easily remove those edges.

A final note to the last pic is that I didn’t bother to extend the cardboard or the foam to the center of the roof panel as most of this area will be covered by the center section. I also used qu art er inch thick closed cell foam gluing it into place over the cardboard using Eastwood # 520001zp adhesive. To remove any wrinkles that form in the foam, especially in the corners, I pulled the foam at the base of the wrinkle until the foam smoothed out. Any wrinkles that didn’t pull out were sanded smooth using 80-grit sand paper.

Also notice in the last pic that I cut the foam along a very straight line where this p art of the headliner will meet the center section. This straight line is essential to the overall look of the headliner and was drawn using the center section base panel as the pattern.

Notice that the center piece is flipped over exposing the push in clips. I didn’t want to risk damaging the clips by pushing them through the plywood then pulling them back out in order to remove the panel. Also notice that I cut an opening for the dome light in the center section.

The next step is to cover the side panels with vinyl material. I st art by coating both the foam and the vinyl with adhesive (520001zp). The adhesive is allowed to dry to the touch before attempting installation. This is a very important step as allowing the adhesive to dry will let me lightly stick the vinyl to the foam and if needed lift the vinyl to reposition it without worry of tearing the foam. Only after the vinyl is in place and wrinkle free do I press it firmly to the foam. I repeat this exercise on the left side and the roof is ready for the center section.

Since I’ve already constructed the base of the center section out of Lauan plywood all that is left to do is cover it with a layer of eighth inch thick foam and cover that with the darker vinyl material. Why did I switch to the eighth inch thick foam and not use the qu art er inch thick foam? Using the thicker foam would make the edges of the center section stand proud of the side panels and create a shadowing effect. The thinner foam prevents that. How does the final product look? I think it looks pretty good.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.LPLBodyWorks.com

Before I get st art e d h ere is something I neglected to mention. To attach the trim panels to the doors, qu art er panel structure, and cowl area I used plastic push in clips. These are the same style clips GM has used for years to attach door panels. These come from Crest Industries, # 15866, and are attached to the panel by drilling 5/16-inch holes in the panels (and the door frame) spaced about six inches ap art , then pushing the clips through the holes. 

Next on the list is the headliner. The important thing to understand is that this headliner isn’t like the one in your Toyota . It doesn’t fall down after removing a few screws. Once installed it is in the car forever. That means any wiring for a dome light, speakers, or anything else you might want overhead must be done beforehand.

Here is the completed frame work for the new headliner. Eventually this frame work will be covered with cardboard, foam and vinyl material to form the new headliner. Notice that the wires for the dome light have already been routed.

To make this frame work I st art ed by cutting new headliner bows from half inch plywood. Each one is cut about two inches wide an d h ave been shaped to fit the contour of the roof panel. Originally these bows woul d h ave been made of metal rods and woul d h ave extended across the width of the roof at various intervals. The original headliner woul d h ave been attached to the rods the same way curtains are attached to curtain rods and stretched across the roof panel. My headliner will be glued and stapled into place using these wooden bows as support.

Referring back to the first pic of the roof notice that I added qu art er inch thick plywood strips lengthwise on the roof to help position and secure the cross bows. Also notice the square piece of half inch thick plywood near the center of the roof. This is the mounting platform for the dome light. Finally, notice that I added additional qu art er inch thick plywood strips around the back glass opening and between the qu art er glass openings and the rear sail panels. I needed extra support in these areas to provide attachment points for the cardboard base panels to be added later. Everything you see here has either been glued (Eastwood # 520001zp) and stapled together using one inch long staples or screwed to the metal frame work of the car using one inch, # 8 sheet metal screws.

The next step is to add more insulation to the car. I’m using the same recycled foam rebond material I used to insulate the firewall earlier. It is glued into place on the roof panel using 3M # 8090 Super Trim Adhesive (520001zp).

Because I’m a novice at this I’m not going to attempt to install a full headliner. Most fabrics and vinyl materials come in fifty four-inch wide rolls and I need about eighty inches to span the entire width of my roof. In order to accomplish that feat I would need to sew two pieces of vinyl together.

To get around the need for sewing I’ll break this headliner into three separate sections, a left side, a right side, and a center section. The right and left sides will be covered with the light gray vinyl material and the center section will be covered with the dark gray vinyl. The result will be a somewhat dramatic effect and no one will ever suspect my inability to sew a straight line.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo, TX

www.LPLBodyWorks.com

To cover the armrest I st art by cutting a piece of the dark gray vinyl that is slightly larger than the arm rest then add adhesive to both the arm rest and the back of the vinyl. Which adhesive? I use 3M 8090 (Eastwood # 520001zp).

Here’s a trick you can only pick up by watching the pro’s ply their craft. Before trying to cover the arm rest the edge of the vinyl is cemented to the work bench. It’s like gaining an extra hand when it comes to stretching the vinyl tightly over the arm rest. It takes a lot of stretching and pulling to get wrinkle free results. By the way vinyl has a grain that allows it to stretch more in one direction than in the other. Use that stretching action lengthwise on the arm rest to get a glove tight fit. 

To trim out the door panel I st art by covering the panel with ¼-inch thick foam. Notice in the next pic that I cut out the areas of the trim panel where the red stripe and armrest will be located then coated the entire panel with adhesive. You’ll have to pardon the absence of a pic of the light gray being added to the trim panel. Digital pics aren’t like 35mm. Sometimes they just go away and never come back. Anyway, on to the red stripe.

To make the red insert for the door panel. I st art by cutting a length of Lauan plywood to match the insert I drew on the door template pattern. I cover the piece of plywood with foam then cover the foam with a strip of red vinyl.

All that is left is to attach the arm rest and red striped panel to the door trim panel. I st art with a generous application of adhesive then screw and staple both pieces to the trim panel. The trick to stapling is in selecting the correct length staple, in this case half inch long staples work best. One inch long wood screws are used in the area of the arm rest where I added the scrap plywood for support. Finally both ends of the red stripe and the single end of the arm rest are wrapped around the edges of the trim panel and secured with staples. The result is a very nice looking door panel.

Be sure to notice that I added cut outs for the inside door handle and the power window switch.

The kick panels and the quarter panel trim panels are constructed using the same techniques used to make the door trim panel, with a template and a little Lauan plywood.  What are the holes for? The holes are for the speakers and the seat belt retractor. Yep, that’s what a little preplanning will do for you.

With the glue on my arm rest frame having dried over night the next step is to cover the frame with cardboard. This is the same material I used to make the trim panel templates and it will span the gap between the outer edge of the top piece and the bottom of the base. The cardboard is cut two inches larger overall than the base plate then glued and stapled in place. I’ll apply three layers of cardboard for extra strength.

Here are some details that aren’t so obvious. When attaching the top plate to the base plate I positioned the top plate ¼-inch below the top edge. That allows for the qu art er inch thick foam padding I’ll be adding to the top. I also stacked and glued two pieces of scrap half-inch plywood under the top. That will add support to the top as well as provide a very secure place to screw the arm rest to the trim panel. 

To cover the han d h old I cut an oval shaped piece of cardboard and glue it into place on the arm rest. The arm rest is now ready for foam.

The best foam padding to use when constructing automotive trim panels is 1/8 and ¼-inch thick closed cell foam. Both thicknesses’ come in fifty four-inch wide rolls up to thirty yards long. Knowing how much to buy depends upon the size of the car being trimmed out an d h ow complicated your design will be. For example, I’ll use ¼-inch thick foam on the door, qu art er panel trim panels, and roof so I’ll need about six yards. I’ll use 1/8-inch thick foam padding to make the accent pieces such as the red bands on the side panels and the center piece for the roof panel so I won’t need quite so much of this material. I’ll order three yards.

If there is anything to know about gluing closed cell foam padding to the base panels and vinyl covering it is that the surface of the foam must be sanded to break the film on the surface. If this film isn’t broken it can easily separate from the padding beneath and ruin all of your hard work. I use 80-grit sand paper to roughen up the foam surface and break the film.

I begin by spraying both the foam piece and the arm rest with 3M # 8090 Super Trim Adhesive Yellow. The important thing here is to allow the adhesive to dry to the touch before covering the arm rest. Once the adhesive dries the arm rest is then covered in foam.

Tip. Wrinkles in the foam can be removed by gently pulling on the wrinkle to smooth it. Any wrinkles that won’t pull out can be sanded smooth. You’ll notice in the pic that I’ve sanded the foam inside the han d h old to remove the rough edges.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Before I get st art ed on this No Sew interior here are some of the tools I’ll be using. They include two different staple guns, one is a pneumatic gun that fires staples up to 1.5 inches in length, the other is a manual version that handles staples up to 5/8-inches in length. I use the pneumatic gun for that you’ll see later and the manual gun for securing the vinyl covering to the backings I’ll be using. The last tool is a wide jaw pair of pliers. You’ll never tear whatever you are stretching using this tool. It beats the heck out of tugging and pulling using your fingers.

The first piece of interior trim will be the right door panel. I st art by cutting the base from a 4 X 8 sheet of Lauan plywood using the template made previously as a pattern. After the base is cut to size I attach it to the door using a couple of sheet metal screws. The screws allow me to correctly position the base on the door no matter how many times I remove it to refine the fit.

How do I refine the fit? I use a belt sander or hand sanding blocks to remove any p art of the trim panel base that doesn’t fit right. What’s a good fit? In this case a good fit means locating the trim panel a half inch inboard of the door frame all around the door.

Once the fit is correct I add plastic push in retainers, visible in the first pic, around the perimeter of the base as a means of final attachment. These are the same style retainers GM has used to attach door trim panels on their vehicles for more than twenty years, These are Crest Industries # 15866 and measure 5/16-inch diameter by 1-1/16-inch long.

Also notice in the first pic I’ve added the frame work for the arm rest. The base for the arm rest is cut from Lauan plywood and the top is cut from one half inch thick plywood. The top is glued and screwed to the base plate. How did I determine the size and shape of the base place? Go back and look at the template on the previous installment. The base of the arm rest is drawn out and marked “arm rest”.

The han d h old in the arm rest is an oval slot cut both into the base plate and the top. The edges of the slot are rounded off to improve comfort when gripping the arm rest. What’s a good length for the han d h old? Anything large enough to accommodate all four fingers comfortably. In my case that’s about four inches.

The location of the arm rest on the door isn’t random. Measure any vehicle door out there and you will find the arm rest is normally located eight to nine inches below the door glass belt line and st art s roughly at the half way point across the door where it extends back towards the rear edge of the door. This arm rest will be placed about eight inches below the belt molding, but I’m going to move it closer to the front of the door so I can add the han d h old. This forward positioning of the arm rest plus the addition of the han d h old will provide a good place to grab the door and pull it shut.

One thing I didn’t show you was that I installed the right front seat just to be sure the position of the arm rest was comfortable. It was, so next time I’ll forge ahead and finish the construction of the arm rest.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

When it comes to installing interior trim you really only have two options, do the work yourself, or have someone else do it. In the restoration world, doing the work yourself usually means browsing catalogs for replacement pieces then doing the install yourself. In the “it ain’t strictly stock” world of automotive construction it isn’t likely you will be able to earmark any catalog pages where all you need to decide upon is the color of the trim. I’m not aware of any company making headliners tailored to fit chopped tops or carpet kits designed to work with shop engineered drive shaft tunnels. That’s where do-it-yourself takes on a whole new meaning an d h aving someone else do it can suddenly seem like the best thing to do.

Okay, let’s consider turning this project over to a professional an d h ave him do the interior. The first step is to find a qualified trim shop and look at their work. Most shops are happy to show off their work. Don’t be surprised if they are reluctant to have you walking around the shop alone. Insurance is very costly and safety is paramount. When you do get to see their work look for details such as straight seam lines and trim panels that fit. Like everything else, quality shows through and you’ll know almost immediately if the shop is worth consideration.

Then ask about scheduling. Most good trim shops are busy, very busy. They may only install one or two full interiors at a time and each one may take months to complete. Be ready to get in line.

Then there is the question of how much. Okay, it varies. If you want leather expect to pay more, much more. If you want vinyl that looks like leather you’ll pay a little less. Is leather better? Yes and no. Leather is considered the top of the heap in custom interiors. You just can’t beat the look and feel of genuine leather. On the flip side leather seats look great for a while, then they begin to show wear in the form of wrinkles and shiny spots. Leather will also stain. Vinyl won’t. Consider that if you have grand kids waiting to take a spin in the new ride.

Didn’t know the trim guys charged that much? Now you do. So what’s left? How about a do it yourself interior that won’t require any sewing on your p art ? Sound good? You bet.

The first thing you need is a plan. Custom interiors don’t just happen, they are planned down to the last detail then constructed according to that plan. The second thing you need is something with which to construct the interior.

What’s the plan for this car an d h ow did I arrive at such a lay out? The plan calls for a vinyl interior using three different colors of material. The two base colors, a light gray and a darker gray, were derived from the colors in the seats I lucked into finding on one of my excursions to the automotive reclamation center. Those seats are two tone gray.

The third color is red. This will be used as an accent piece and will coordinate with the red band on the dash as well as bring the red exterior graphics color into the car. This keeps the flow of the car in tune, and as my art istic mother woul d h ave put it, “completes the touch”. 

The material list consists of vinyl trim, foam padding, a suitable backing material, and something from which to make templates. I’ll go into more detail about these materials as I move deeper into the process, but right now I need to complete my plan. It is hard to order materials if you don’t know how much you need.

Look through the window of any street rod and the first piece of interior trim you will see is the opposite door trim panel. Since this is the first p art of the interior seen this is also the best place to st art the interior trim scheme layout. I’m using heavy cardboard to make my templates and they will serve as the drawing boards for laying out the interior design. How heavy is the cardboard? In print shop terms it is twenty five point. In body shop terms it is .025 thick.

I’ve taken the time to carefully trim and fit the template to the door. You’ll notice from all of the drawing that I had several fits and st art s before I arrived at a final layout.

To explain what I’ve come up with here the area of the template covered with masking tape denotes the placement of the red stripe. This stripe actually begins on the dash panel and will flow across the door and end on the qu art er panel trim piece. Notice that the stripe gets progressively wider as it moves towards the rear of the passenger comp art ment. Parallel lines are very difficult to construct and can detract from the looks of the car if not done right. Allowing the red band to widen as it moves rearward eliminates that problem.

Just below the red stripe on the door panel I’ve penciled in the position of the arm rest. Since the bulk of this trim panel will be covered with the light gray material I’ll cover the arm rest with the darker gray. Like I did with the red stripe, I’ll let the darker gray material continue on and move across the qu art er panel trim piece.

So now I know I need several yards of the light gray vinyl, I’ll order ten, and at least as much of the dark gray vinyl. I’ll order another ten yards of this material. I won’t need much of the red so a couple of yards will do. As for foam I’ll order ten yards of qu art er inch thick closed cell foam and ten yards of eighth inch thick closed cell foam. I’ll also drop by my local home improvement center and pick up two sheets of eighth inch thick Lauan plywood.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

Remember the saying about good cooks? “When the chef turns on the stove your job is to sit in the corner and peel potatoes.” Good glass guys are the same way. They’d rather you go somewhere else and peel potatoes while they work. It results in far less glass breakage.

To get glass into the ’46 we st art ed with the back glass. Since my top chop allowed me to stay with a stock sized glass we ordered a new replacement clear back glass an d h ad it tinted to match the sided windows, which will be cut from dark tinted glass.

As mentioned, the side glasses were cut from a sheet of dark tinted laminated sheet glass. This is the same type of glass found in the side windows of Suburbans and Explorers in that it appears somewhat dark and reflective when viewed from the outside but almost clear when viewed from inside the car. That’s a good attribute when you need a clear view of the traffic around you.

The actual method used to cut the glass is somewhat of a secret but as I understand it the process is similar to the sand blasting method used to engrave stone. But what do I know? Since the qu art er glasses are stationary the installers set these glasses in urethane. They aren’t coming out, ever. The door glasses are urethane set in the power window run channels.

The windshield consist of two pieces of flat, green tinted laminated glass cut and beveled so that the pieces can be butt joined in the middle. I’ve seen a number of hot rods with no center mounted vertical bar between the two pieces of glass. It’s a good look, but that I am aware of the seal between the two glasses is made using clear silicone. That works great for a while, but sooner or later the silicone will be affected by UV penetration and break down. That means replacement at some point. To avoid this problem I elected to use a narrow black plastic strip as a vertical bar. It has a very clean look to it and since I can urethane it into place it will be there forever, no digging it out to replace it due to it degrading.

As for installation the installers wrapped a black plastic beading that measures one half inch wide around each windshield glass then urethane set the glasses into place one at a time.

The center bar, which is a 3/8-inch wide strip of black plastic, is urethane glued between the two glasses only after the two windshiel d h alves are in place. How does the new windshield look? Not bad. The plastic beading may be there to help hold the windshiel d h alves in place, but it really gives the installation a very professional look.

Here’s a very good tip. Notice in the next pic that we added a black painted stripe all around the inside edges of the windshield. What this does for the car is to hide the layer of urethane adhesive holding the glass in place. It is just one of those subtle little detail things, but very necessary to clean up the look of the installation.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

It seems everyone likes my dash. Thanks.

If you have ever tried to build a dash you know how difficult it can be. In case you are ready to build your own here is a little background information on the construction.

There is always a trick or two to keeping things simple. The first involves getting the new dash to mount in the car. Look close and you can see the familiar look of an aging ’46 Ford metal dash back here. That’s the key to getting a new dash to fit. I used the old dash as a template-slash-base so that every modification I made to the dash could be done so that once the new dash was completed it would bolt right up to the original dash mounting points. I didn’t have to figure out how to mount the dash or fabricate brackets or pull my hair out. It fit, just like it woul d h ave had I left the old dash alone. I guess you could call what I did a face lift.

That face lift was accomplished with fiberglass. I st art ed with four fiberglass kits # 50765. I needed lots of resin and mat. I didn’t use fiberglass cloth. Mat is a little thicker and I needed the thickness. Next I turned a work bench into a mold by covering it with wax paper then layering up a 60 x 24 sheet of fiberglass. I gave me fiberglass sheet three layer of mat and resin and let it cure.

Pardon the pics but I never intended to divulge this method of construction. Here is p art of the fiberglass sheet made from my mold. What was the point of making this sheet of fiberglass? It allowed me to cut out a new face for the dash, the p art where the gauges are mounted, and a new top. You’ll notice the top is flat, it just slopes downward, and the face is flat. Both of these pieces were easily cut from the fiberglass sheet molded on the work bench. 

But what about the rounded edges? Here’s that second trick. Again, pardon the blur, but what you are seeing is a length of ½-inch electrical conduit split lengthwise and slipped over the edge of the fiberglass panel. I used this rounding effect where the top of the dash meets the face and as a means of softly finishing the bottom edge of the dash face. 

How did I bond the fiberglass face to the metal dash? I used Norton Speedgrip epoxy # 11991. This stuff will bond anything and with a 90 minute working time I don’t have to worry about the epoxy setting up before I’m ready.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

With the painting completed it is time to st art putting pieces on this car. I st art by mounting the windshield wiper motor and the Hot Rod Air heating and air conditioning unit. Be sure to note that I also routed the defroster duct work, the condensation drain hose for the Hot Rod Air unit and the bulkhead plate that transitions the air conditioning hoses from the engine comp art ment to the interior comp art ment.  

The refrigerant hoses that come with the Hot Rod Air kit are in bulk length and therefore must be cut to fit and the connector ends crimped on. This is not a do-it-yourself project so the first thing I did was to install the connector ends to the unit mounted under the dash, the bulkhead plate, the dryer, the compressor, and the condenser. Next I measured for the hose lengths needed to join all of the components and cut the hoses to length. Once that was done I delivered the hoses, there are six of them, to my local automotive air conditioner specialist an d h ad the connectors crimped to the hoses.

Notice that I marked the position of the connector ends on each hose before sending them out for crimping. I use a length of masking tape to mark each hose. This insures the connector is facing the right direction and that the hose does not have to be twisted to make the connection. Twisting can reduce the life of the hose.

Hose installation is a matter of installing the O-rings provided in the kit onto each of the connectors and assembling the pieces. What I won’t do at this time is evacuate the system and add a charge of R134A refrigerant. I’ll save that until I have the car running.

Inside the car I have a couple of cosmetic considerations to think about when it comes to delivering that crisp, cold air to the occupants. First is where to locate the controls. The control panel that comes with the kit is designed to be mounted underneath the dash. I elected to modify the control panel and incorporate it into the dash. That will make the controls easy to reach and extremely functional.

Next I had to think about where to position the duct outlets. The outlets are nice looking pieces and will look good no matter where I place them. The only condition to placement is to mount the outlets so that each one, and there are four of them, can be easily directed towards the occupants.

This is something that I gave some serious thought to earlier in the project. I knew I wanted the face of the dash to be uncluttered so I didn’t want to try and mount all four outlets to that panel. Instead I elected to place two of the outlets near the center of the dash and the other two below the dash on each cowl post. 

Where did I get the dash? This is a shop made unit. I used the original dash as a template and constructed this dash out of fiberglass. I gave the new dash a sloping top, in keeping with the shape of the original dash, and a flat front. The flat front gives the dash that clean and uncluttered look I’m looking for as well as provides an excellent platform upon which I can mount the gauges and switches.

The gauges are from the Auto Meter Street Rod Arctic White series and consist of a tachometer, speedometer, fuel gauge, oil pressure gauge, temperature gauge, volt gauge and a clock. A clock? You bet. The clock helps balance the gauges across the dash and since it is from Auto Meter it matches the other gauges.

The dash is refinished in a metallic gray to coordinate with the gray interior colors and is accented by the red band across the bottom. The red band is there to bring the outside graphics work into the car and will be continued onto the doors in the form of red vinyl trim once I reach that point in the build.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

www.lplbodyworks.com

Previously I took care of a number of basic car building issues that had to be accomplished before I could get serious about assembling this ride. With those things out of the way it is time to complete the painting process and begin the final build up. I’ll st art by getting some color on the front sheet metal pieces.

The front end appears to consist of two fenders, a hood, and a grille. But when you break the front end sheet metal section of this car down into individual pieces it actually consists of ten p art s; the hood, both fenders, two fender skirts, an upper radiator shield, a lower radiator shield, two side shields for the radiator, and a grille assembly. Luckily, the hood is the only p art of this section that will require more than a single color.

That means I can give the remaining nine p art s a coat of sealer, three coats of under base black, three coats of purple, and three coats of clear then install them on the car. The hood will get a single coat of clear, after which I’ll install it and complete the graphics work began earlier.

Here you can see I’ve already painted the fenders, skirts, and other pieces, an d h ave mounted them on the car. That puts me in position to mount the hood and complete the graphics work by laying out the tape lines for the two graphics colors, red and light purple.

If you look close you can see I’ve already lightly sanded the entire hood. That lets me apply the graphic colors and go straight to the clear coats.

To lay out the graphic lines I prefer using 3M Fine Line Tape (Eastwood # 37165 (1/8)) and # 37166 (1/4). This tape gives me the perfect edge I need when separating colors. Masking tape, the stuff I use to mask off cars to prevent over spray (Eastwood # 34243), just can’t compete when it comes to leaving perfect edges.

Here’s a tip to getting the tape lines straight. Stick the end of tape to the end of the panel and gently unroll the tape along the length of the panel taking care not to allow the tape to touch the panel. Once you have reached the other end of the panel pull the tape taunt, be careful that you don’t stretch the tape, then allow the tape to lay down on the panel st art ing at the point f art hest away from you. Pin stripers use this same technique to insure their stripes are perfectly straight.

At the front of the hood I decided to turn the stripes downward and bring them to a point.

Next I mask off the hood and spray on the two colors. Notice that I didn’t bother to remove the hood before applying these colors. Base colors don’t tend to over spray like clear coats. Once these colors are dry enough for the hood to be safely handled, in about two hours, I’ll finish removing the striping tape then take the hood back to the booth for more coats of clear. Once that is done I’ll call the painting portion of this project done.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

In order to answer a few questions about the steering set up for this ride I thought I’d add a supplemental installment.

The Flaming River steering column is a brushed stainless steel column with tilt. This column does not have the integrated ignition switch. My ignition switch will be located on the dash. The column itself is twenty four inches long. That’s short for most applications, but it allowed me to reduce down to the ¾-inch DD shaft before the DD shaft exited the firewall.

Notice in the next pic that I added a chrome plate and a ball type firewall mount where the DD shaft exits the firewall. This did two things for me. First it allowed me to start bending the steering column down as it exited the firewall and second it provided me an excellent way to seal the exit point to stop the wind.

Moving down the steering shaft take note of the bend where the first u-joint is located. This bend is exactly 30 degrees. A steeper bend might be okay, but it has been my experience that 30 degrees is a good target bend to insure the u-joint doesn’t bind when the steering wheel is turned.

Which brings me to the subject of steering shaft flop. Adding one u-joint to get a steering shaft to bend is fine. Adding two u-joints usually equates to the need for adding a pillow block type bearing between the two u-joints to be sure the shaft doesn’t wobble when turned. If you are not sure what a pillow block bearing looks like it is the same bearing mount found on the end of the squirrel cage in a swamp cooler air conditioner.

Finally, you have to think about spindle stops. Detroit put them on just about every ride they ever produced and the stop’s purpose is to stop the turn of the wheel, either right or left, before a strain is placed on the steering components, things like the steering pump.

Some after market front ends come without these stops so it is well work checking your front end to be sure it is equipped with stops. To make that determination turn the wheel full right, remove the left tire and look to see if the spindle is bumping the lower control arm as some point. That point may be a bolt added to the control arm or even a welded on bump. If you don’t see a stop or if the spindle is not touching the lower control arm anywhere the stoppage to the right (and left) is due to the steering gear, or rack and pinion, being maxed out. That’s not good as it puts a strain on the unit.

How do you add a stop if your ride doesn’t have one? I hesitate to tell you to just start welding and add a bump stop to the lower control arm because some arms are chrome, some are exotic metals and others just shouldn’t be welded on period. What’s the solution? If you know who manufactured your front end give them a call. They may even have a retro-fit bump stop package you can purchase. Beyond that I would remove the lower control arms and deliver them to a professional welder and explain what you need, a bump stop added to the front of both control arms.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.LpLBodyworks.com

The next step is to hook up the steering. I have a steering column and the rack and pinion unit but at this point no way to connect the two. For that I’ll need a steel steering shaft and it will have to snake its way through the firewall, down past the left hand exhaust pipe and along side the frame rail. This is by no means a straight line so it will be necessary to add at least two universal joint type couplers to get the shaft to bend where necessary.

The shaft I’ll be using is a twenty four inch long, ¾-inch diameter DD shaft. What is DD shaft? The DD stands for “Double D” and that describes the cross sectional shape of the shaft This is a very common steel steering shaft used to make up steering links between the steering wheel and the steering gear box or rack and pinion unit.

The universal joints are specifically designed for this purpose and are best purchased from the same source of the DD shaft. Notice that the universal joints are the bolt on types and not weld on types. Weld on joints are fine but I prefer the bolt on units.

At the end of the shaft, where it bolts to the rack and pinion unit, I’ve added a vibration dampening coupling. This coupling separates the shaft from the rack and pinion unit to prevent road vibration from telegraphing up through the shaft to the steering wheel.

Once I have everything connected I need to center the steering wheel. This is by no means a way to align the front suspension, rather what I am doing is verifying that the suspension work already performe d h as been done correctly and that when I deliver the ’46 to the front end alignment shop for an alignment all will go well.

Centering the steering wheel requires raising the front of the car with a floor jack and placing jack stands at a point under the frame just behind the front wheels. I need the spindles to move free.

Now I turn the steering wheel full right. With the wheel turned full right I turn the wheel full left counting the revolutions until the steering wheel stops. That’s two and a half turns, divided in half equals one and three qu art ers turns. Now I turn the steering wheel back one and three qu art ers turns to center it.

Looking at the front brake rotor disks they should be pointed straight ahead. If not I use the tie rod end adjustments at the rack and pinion unit to adjust each spindle, one at a time, until the rotors are pointed straight ahead. I tighten the adjustment nuts to secure the tie rods. The steering wheel is centered as best can be without the aide of a pro.

The last concern here is to be sure the turn signal switch in the steering column operates correctly. To do that I flip the switch lever down, turn the steering wheel to the left a half turn then return the wheel to center. The switch lever should click and return to the off position. I repeat this procedure to the right. The switch lever should click and return to the off position.

What steering column did I use? This one is a Flaming River brand with the tilt feature.

Project provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com

Before I delve into the next phase of this build I have a question to answer about installing the Painless Performance Products harness. You’ll need a few tools and those include; a battery charger (a battery cranks out too many amps and could fry a circuit if wired incorrectly), a multi-meter or at the least a test light, wire crimping pliers, electrical tape, cold shrink tape # 25051, liquid tape # 25012Z, harness tape # 25000, and a good soldering gun #14266. I also have a new tool to introduce that I wish I woul d h ave had a few weeks ago when I st art ed wiring this car. It is the HSS five piece jobber length drill bit set # 50132. These bits are twelve inches long and that makes them perfect for drilling through thick bulkheads, rocker panels and anywhere else a longer than standard drill bit might be needed.

Early into this project I made the decision to toss the carburetor and go with a more up to date fuel management system. With gasoline surpassing $3.00 per gallon the decision just made good sense.

I opted for an Affordable Fuel Injection system. This is a TBI (Throttle Body Injection) unit and one of my thoughts when selecting this p art icular unit was that I wanted a great looking unit that could be installed without a hitch and that at a quick glance could pass for a carburetor sitting atop the engine. Once I install a chrome air breather on top of this unit it will be hard to tell this is not a carburetor.

The best thing about selecting a unit from Affordable is that the unit is set up specifically for the engine being used. What does that mean? I gave the engine specifications, camshaft specifications, and desired performance specifications to the guys at Affordable and they built and calibrated the unit to fit my car. I don’t need a laptop with graphs I can’t decipher or a travel agent to entice someone into coming to the shop just to make my car run. All I need to do is follow the easy to read instructions and all will be well.

Of course there are other considerations to work out when installing a fuel injection unit. Take a look at the next pic. These are some of the other components that come with the kit and they include an ECM (Electronic Control Module), distributor, wiring harness, fuel pump, fuel pump regulator, and various sensors.

Some of these remaining components, such as the distributor, wiring harness, and sensors, can be installed on the engine now. The ECM box will need to be mounted somewhere under the dash and a hole will need to be drilled through the firewall to route the wiring harness from the engine to the ECM. These are considerations that I will have to delay until I have more of the dash assembled. I can’t afford to drill any holes in the firewall that might interfere with the mounting of something else. Nor can I mount the ECM until I know where it will fit best. I’m thinking behind the old glove box location and just above the heater box will be the ideal location.

Installation always st art s with reading the instruction manual. Once you’ve read it, you’ll wonder why you ever tolerated a carburetor. The manual is thorough and every component is connector coded so you can’t mess things up. It only took me a couple of hours to make the installation and all I’ll have to do later is provide a 12 volt source to the ECM and to the fuel pump.

Project car provided by:

Larry Lyles, owner

LPL Body Works

Amarillo , TX 79109

www.lplbodyworks.com