1979 Coupe-The Tangerine Machine

[conmech]

Waiting to see pics of all of the parts I sent you in place........ HURRY UP!!!!


j/k, I know it is a long road doing something this detailed. Parts I got from you are STILL in the boxes........... Parts are probably gonna freak out WHEN they get put into sunlight.

[82GTforME]

Waiting to see pics of all of the parts I sent you in place........ HURRY UP!!!!

I wish too Marshall! That would mean I am almost done!

[82GTforME]

I have been off for an extra couple of days around the long weekend but could not get motivated to do more body work (yet).

I had to do something and I know that one thing holding up any interior install would be the lack of headliner. I had already had the board cut and had replacement vinyl fabric.

Seeing as the wiring and bracket were there already and me having some spare map lights, I chose one with the extra dome light from a T-top (because it was black already). Okay, I actually screwed myself by using this one as the template and cutting the hole this size not the non-dome size I have to switch the actual light over from one to the other but I found a really informative link in an old thread (the search worked! http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...ork-any-advice ) done by a member here (negusm). http://www.ascmclarencoupe.com/Proje...htRestoration/ I will give it a whirl another day.

The little map light (later version at least) actually doesn't fit this bracket correctly.




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I used the dome light and the map light installed for dimension reference to lay out the extra hole. The original headliner never had the hole in it.

I cut the hole in the board and then used this as the template for the fabric.




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[Travis T]

That tank you just got should be 15.4 gallons. Your 79 has a whopping 10 gallon tank! Not sure what is involved in swapping them as I have never personally done it.

[82GTforME]

The original headliner board had creases in it so it could fold and conform to the shape of the roof better. The PVC based material I have for a board is flexible but does not "bend" like that and I think would have looked "curved" when installed. I used the edge of a saw horse, a straight edge and a small propane torch to heat and form the plastic.




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A trial fit with the lights in to hold it. It didn't fit too bad. A little more trimming in the front where the corners meet and it should be good. Now...what type of glue to use?? Can anyone recommend a spray on adhesive that would work? I'm tempted to use PVC cement (if it would go on smooth enough) to create a better bondable surface before gluing the fabric. That or I am going to get the orbital out and scuff it with 80 grit. We'll see. The results are encouraging!! I'm in for $130 so far (and have half a sheet of PVC material left) with no adhesives and more time to go yet.

Hindsight: the $250 for the reproduction may have been the better way to go but we're in this far


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[STANGMAN116]

Looking great!!!

[82GTforME]

So after kicking myself in the spring for not getting a decent replacement off a junk yard coupe, deciding to "refurbish" the existing one while adding speaker holes and then wrecking the deteriorating fabric in the process had me now figuring out the "new" way to do this. http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...=1#post1646882

When I was looking for other headliner fabric options I saw this mesh they called "bug screen" oddly enough and thought it would look and hopefully work great.

The original mesh seems to be natural material (top). Kind of like hemp or manilla. The new material appears to be almost rubberized with a mesh nylon core.


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By cutting the holes in the board for the speakers, I was worried that the new mesh adds no protection for our newly added vintage '82 speakers. I got out the glue gun, found some old aluminum screen and secured them good!


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I used the old piece of fabric for the template and cut a new piece of mesh. The board is a pressed fibre board and was previously black looking (looked painted) with the black mesh. I gave it a good coat of primer and then some flat black enamel paint before laying the new mesh on. The old stuff was stitched at the back seat end but this is hidden where it folds down so the hot glue was the perfect choice! It holds good!


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I argued over wanting to do a spray adhesive to glue the flat part all down also. What ever I chose would need to be invisible. I chose to just wrap it as tight as I could, fold it over and glue it. It ended up quite taut.


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I think it looks great! As I said though with it being "rubberized" I am worried about the long term damage, stretching or slight sagging in the speaker holes from the sun beating in the back window. Time will tell I guess.



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[IDMooseMan]

Excellent progress, Darran. BTW, the gas tank on my 1979 Ghia is a 12-gallon tank. I'd like to increase that capacity, too, but I'm a long way off from doing a gas tank swap.

[82GTforME]

Excellent progress, Darran. BTW, the gas tank on my 1979 Ghia is a 12-gallon tank. I'd like to increase that capacity, too, but I'm a long way off from doing a gas tank swap.

Me too Craig. Trying to take opportunities, but maybe this is more difficult than I think. See below...

That tank you just got should be 15.4 gallons. Your 79 has a whopping 10 gallon tank! Not sure what is involved in swapping them as I have never personally done it.

A bigger tank would be a good upgrade, but just be warned it will take a little work to get it in. Nice progress!

Leave it to the Mustang encyclopedia Travis to know the differences!

I honestly didn't do my homework. Mavbe it is physically impossible without modification. That's another year (more) and probably pages and pages further in the future of this thread

Just looking and I see American Muscle only has 81-86 non-EFI tanks. Nothing earlier. Maybe due to a size change.

From the library

1979 (Canada): 10.4 Imperial gallons


1979 (US): 12.5 US gallons


Assuming the tank I got is 1984: (Canada) 12.8 imperial gallons


Assuming the tank I got is 1984: (US) 15.4 US gallons

[Travis T]

It may have been almost 12 gallons, not 10. It's been a while since I owned a 79. 79 and 80 most definitely had smaller tanks. I have seen threads on FEP about doing the swap.

[STL79Coupe]

They are 12.5 gallon tanks and you can get new tanks for the 79-80 made by spectra if I remember correctly. The later tanks will fit but you have to massage the trunk floor for the hump in the newer tanks. You also have to move the straps or lenghten them something like that. You can get tRockauto for $167 but only 4 remain from what it says. Autozone list them for $278 or somethimg.

I'm probably going to sell my orange 80 coupe if you want the following year. It rust free.....

[82GTforME]

Well, I'll have to deal with the fuel tank issue in the future. The things you learn along the way...

Moving on:

I decided to replace the existing factory tar underlay. Even though there weren't many problems underneath, it was lifting in some places.

After removing it all, there was a little more surface rust found under the back seats. Maybe something spilled or water got in there and sat?


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When removing the back seat belt bolts would you believe the spot welds on the nut to the body broke on one of them!? Looks like only one spot was really only fused.


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This was a product though Unlimited Performance called "Performance Underlay". I assume it is just like Hushmat etc. Peel and stick, no odor butyl backed, dimpled aluminum.

So, practically eight hours later I am quite pleased. Would you believe I am about one square foot short from doing the last strip in the trunk behind the seat!






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I did the roof also. Try to chew on that mice!


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[82GTforME]

As quick as I would have put 2 more cylinders and a 3rd pedal in this thing, I like what you are doing to it.

Not the third pedal you are referring to but even though "dead", it is a pedal. I hope the location is good. With no holes (or another car here right now) for reference or even a seat to sit in to try it, I guessed but it can't be that for off.


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[STL79Coupe]

What's the cost of the underlayment?

[84StangSVT]

Your project is looking good! I'm also curious on the cost of the underlay as I'm definitely going to deaden mine, with something, before the interior goes back in.

[82GTforME]

What's the cost of the underlayment?

Your project is looking good! I'm also curious on the cost of the underlay as I'm definitely going to deaden mine, with something, before the interior goes back in.

That 50 square foot roll cost $200 (Canadian). Quite pricey but I think the name brand 'Hushmat' is as much. It did come with the handy-dandy wooden roller to press it down. My FEP buddy Bruce Mohacsy up north of me convinced me that it was "brain dead" easy to do. The cost is nothing if you can do it yourself. I wished there was a little more; I may have done the entire trunk and not just the single strip behind the back seat.

Good luck!

[82GTforME]

Next to the headliner, getting the underlay down was another hurdle to untimately getting the interior ready to put back in. I needed the underlay done in order to get the brand new ACC carpet readied. This was one of the top five things to do when we got the car. I've had the carpet sitting over top of the old one upside down in the basement for months "regaining it's shape" after being folded in a box (read: I was longer getting to this step than I thought).

I dragged them both out to the garage to inspect them side by side a little closer. The only real difference other than the holes not being cut was the driver's side plastic heel thingy is further back than the original. Weird. Note this is the 1979-1981 carpet. I believe the depth of the floorpans changed after that and the carpets aren't interchangeable.

Original. You can see where the mice were tunneling:


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New:


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I put the new carpet upside down, used blocks of wood to fill the voids and laid the original over it for the hole template.


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A few obvious jute pad differences on the new carpet but was I ever surprised how well they fit each other!


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Ready to go!


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So of course I couldn't do all of this and not try it. Was I expecting it to fit badly? Sort of, but I must say I think these are very good quality and with some weight on key places plus the fasteners in it will be just fine! Of course it has to come out agian



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[82GTforME]

I plan on scuffing the plastic board before the still TBD adhesive.

Can anyone recommend a spray on adhesive that would work?

Well, I found this stuff on the shelf at Canadian Tire. Says it works on pretty much everything. I've got a couple of test samples on the go already. Scuffed and not scuffed plastic. I'll leave them out in the sun and see what happens.


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Again if it doesn't work out long term, we will have learned our lesson and probably have to get a reproduction. Something to be said trying and doing it yourself though.

With a headliner (almost) done and a carpet and floor done all that really needs to be done before putting the interior together is verifying the new (to us and the car) 1982 AM/FM cassette radio and speakers work (plans in motion for that too)! Oh wait...still waiting for a paint job

Stay tuned.

[84StangSVT]

Progress is looking great! Keep up the great work! As for the drivers side heel pad, it definitely looks like a slight manufacturing error in the placement of it, but assuming you are going to use decent floormats to protect your new carpet it won't even be noticed.

[pre89street]

Nice work Darren! The underlay seem to be good quality, this interior will be awesome !

[IDMooseMan]

Seeing the underlay and the carpet installed changes the entire "feel" of the project. Looking good, Darran.

[Mike1157]

For somebody who claims to be a newb to this, you are the one that should be considered an inspiration. The work you're doing is top notch, What you are doing here is basically an instruction book for somebody to follow. That underlayment is a testimonial to how anal you must really be. It looks perfect. Did you have a little roller to persuade it to lay down? I ask this because I cannot see evidence of the roller marks. additionally, most people just wing the cut outs on the carpet, sometimes I'm sure that bites more people in the ass then not, but the way you're doing it should guarantee a perfect fit.

**And THAT was the cream, minus the puff.

[82GTforME]

For somebody who claims to be a newb to this, you are the one that should be considered an inspiration. The work you're doing is top notch, What you are doing here is basically an instruction book for somebody to follow. That underlayment is a testimonial to how anal you must really be. It looks perfect. Did you have a little roller to persuade it to lay down? I ask this because I cannot see evidence of the roller marks. additionally, most people just wing the cut outs on the carpet, sometimes I'm sure that bites more people in the ass then not, but the way you're doing it should guarantee a perfect fit.

**And THAT was the cream, minus the puff.

Well I can't really say I've been called anal before, but I guess I can see what you see now. I wonder how many miles that little 1-1/2" diameter by 1-1/2" wide roller went in my quest for perfect contour?

My issue is that I do not hang personally with any car guys right now. While my '82 sat for 11 years plus family and all having new different interests, we all moved on. This place is my new support group currently.

My problem is not knowing where the bar is set. With no one to sit in my garage with me to say "you aren't doing this (or that) enough", or "that's just enough" or even "wtf, that's way overkill!" I have to make those judgement calls myself. I guess this is mainly what I come up with.

Thanks for the compliments Mike1157. This isn't designing a custom induction, turbo, suspension Gila Monster car though. This is just showing a survivor some love and attention and handing my son something he will be proud of. To (hopefully) take care of himself and maybe create a new "car guy" in the process!

[82GTforME]

Flash back...Car was originally a no radio car. Dealer installed AM radio and single center speaker. Teenager=

It DID work, just not a lot of selection

Aw yeah, Premium speakers out of an '86 with matching tweeters.



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The speakers above were salvaged and installed with a purpose. A couple of months before that even, I had picked up a factory AM/FM cassette deck out of an '82 GLX in the JY I didn't even know if it worked but asked a question in another thread about hook ups, testing etc. http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...er#post1640338

Of course forum members coming through with good advice helped me get to this the other day:

Lights on!


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And we have sound! Jackson was inside and didn't know what I was doing that day. I asked him to come out and I turned it on. Talk about a smile! Not the best sound ever of course but all four speakers, the fade and tone worked! (Yes, I was too chicken to try the cassette yet)


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[82GTforME]

Not sure if these were shift numbers and number three wanted to be flashier...


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Car is 9/78 on the door tag. This must be an install date? Unless it was manufactured and then installed in the end of the month.

SEPT 18 1978!


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