Part 9 - Fitting out the interior

22/2/11     I had two old brake boosters from AJ tested at All Brake & one is apparently OK, which is fortunate. Collected numerous bits & pieces from AY’s place today.  Spent this afternoon, cleaning, painting & fitting the OK brake booster. Fitted a new O ring & then had the difficult job redoing the nuts right up the top of the firewall. Finally got it all back together & connected master cylinder & I hope it all goes well tomorrow.

                                    

23/2/11     A rather long & frustrating day again. Firstly, I checked to see if the booster was working & at first it seemed OK but then it appears to be leaking with a loud hissing noise coming from inside the cabin. Not very good but I am going to leave it for the moment. Refitted front dash section. All slow going as finding the right screws and lining it all up takes time. Also fitted air demister hoses, front kick panel & front pillar trims.

                I started to refit the rear window frames only to find that they are different to the ones I had cleaned & painted. The vertical piece on the door frame doesn’t have the facility for seat belts & luckily I had brought two old panels back & they are the ones suitable to this model. (I subsequently found out that the 1969 model had a narrower door frame to the later models & this prevents the seat belt anchorage bolt being fitted.) Completed the LH window frame, back parcel tray fittings & LH back side trim. Getting there but slowly.

24/2/11     I re-glued some corners of the roof lining. Redid the LH window trim as it is different to where the clips are & had to drill another hole. Installed LH door rubber & one side is starting to look good. I think the master cylinder is leaking. Will have to investigate a bit more & the booster is still causing a problem.

25/2/11     I fitted the interior panels on RHS. The front kick panel was a real problem due to the new fuse panel. I actually had to remove it to fit the panel. (Again, that fuse panel has caused me more grief!)Fitted RHS door rubber.

                                                                                                     

26/2/11     Made up a new set of inner window felts, removed clips from the old frames & fitted them to the new door panels. Bought two new packets of door clips for both doors but can’t fit RH side until I have the exterior mirror fitted. I spent the rest of the day fitting the locking strips to the windscreens. A really time consuming & terrible job. I could hardly move my fingers at the end of finishing the back one but they look good.                        

28/2/11     I started to put the trim back on the LH door & found that it would not lock. After fiddling around for some time I realised that the key did not fit the lock. (This key fitted everything else.) Luckily I had two spare door handles in the box of spares & the LH one did fit the key & was the correct one for the car. So the door handle had to come off & the correct handle went on but the lock mechanism is not quite right yet so I did some thing else. Put on the two sets of FORD letters & they look good. Reconnected loose wire from the back of the fuse box & car started OK. Collected mirror from Archer Glass & put that on & it looks good. Put on RH door trim, plus widow winder & door handle inserts & they look good. Put the grommets in the floor ready for the carpet but a few more are needed as the old ones are pretty damaged.

                                                                                                    

3/3/11       I removed, cleaned & oiled LH door lock & locking mechanism now working. Fitted door panel, window winder & door handle insert. Looks pretty good. Cleaned interior & fitted rubber grommets to all remaining drain holes. Cleaned carpet & attempted to fit it. I found that the front section is fine but the rear section has had a section cut out for the handbrake lever but it is the wrong place. This effectively ruins the whole back section. Cut underfelt to fit. Fitted rear window corner pieces. Fitted new ball to old gear stick so that is ready to put in. Cleaned parcel tray to see if it can be repaired & I should be able to fibreglass the back of it.

                                                                                                           

4/3/11       Repaired/fibreglassed broken rear parcel tray & cleaned a few more items e.g. ash tray.

7/3/11       I removed the brake booster (for the second time!) & took it to Salisbury for repair ($170). Not sure whether the master cylinder is leaking so I will leave it for the moment. I think it is leaking from the top plastic section where it is joined to the base section. Cut & fitted underlay for carpet. Fitted rear & front carpet but rear section needs a larger hole around handbrake as hole that was cut was not in the correct place. Fitted replacement gear lever but it pops out when you really try to tighten it. I will have to redo it with some type of nylon/plastic adhesive.