I dug the exhaust system out of the basement, first hosed it off, then took an angle grinder to it with a wire wheel on it. After stripping the full exhaust system clean, I then painted it with a high temp black enamel. You may wonder why I would bother painting it after all the work of stripping it. Well, between the road grime and automotive fluids that get cooked occasionally on the exhaust, it's been impossible to keep it looking good. I had painted the exhaust with a silver paint in the past, but chose black this time, so it'll blend with the underside of the car.
After that, I did a quickie wash of the car itself, as it was getting really dusty. Unfortunately, it's still got dirt on it, and water spotted. I'll have to make a second attempt when I have time to actually soap it up, as all I did was spray it down with the garden hose. Plus, without any front and rear glass, I'm left mopping up the interior floor pans after each and every wash. At least it looks better now than it did.
Next on the agenda was installing the seats. I did this for two reasons, one, I was tired of looking at them all wrapped up down in the basement, and two, it looks more like a car with all the seats installed. As you can see, the rear seat will essentially be useless, I'm not even sure if the dogs will be able to fit back there or not, as the bars really get in the way. For right now, I think I'm going to keep the backseat, as it makes the car look more streetable than an all out race car.
The front seats I simply put in place, not bolted in. The seats will come out and back in many times before it's all said and done. I still have some welding to do, as the dash needs tack welded in many places from when they cut it up for the cage. I also need to figure out what I'm going to do for a dash, since the stock unit will no longer fit, again, because of the cage. Considering I can only weld good enough to get me by, and I don't own a metal brake, my customization ability is somewhat limited. I've considered buying a metal brake, but will likely try something different. I may simply go with a mostly flat piece of sheet metal, with bezels for the gages and the radio along with switches in the dash. Relatively simple, straight forward, and easy. I'm going for functional, not show winner, judged shows were never my cup of tea.
So as you can see, the interior still has a long ways to go. I need to install sound deadener yet, find some matching plush carpet, cut up my current dash pad, then buy a new one after I've got it fitted, and do the same to it. I need to figure out my speaker arrangement, since the bar went through my speaker holes in the package tray. This car HAS to have a radio, as without it you'll get a massive headache from the 3 inch exhaust and even the shortest of trips. I need a plenty powerful system to drown it out. I also need to put a few more coats of paint on the cage itself, as it's barely been covered. The door panels will be an issue, as there isn't room for the inside door handles because of the cross bars. I'm either going to shave the handles, or perhaps make some custom interior panels with billet handles and window cranks. So you can see, I have my work cut out for me.
Even though I now have my basement fairly well organized, it's still gonna be a real bitch to find where all the parts are. Sure, they are neatly stored away, it's simply finding WHERE they are neatly stored away. Perhaps one night this week I will clean up all my gages again, wrap them up in plastic, and get them all in a box together.
