Interior
The first thing I did
was to find the right place to install the stereo speakers. I
considered multiple locations and fellow builders offered up their thoughts
as well. In the end, I decided to keep it simple and just do a flat
install against the trunk wall. The black surround piece is plywood.
It will be covered in leather by the interior guy. The rest of the
rear firewall will be covered in carpet.
I gave a lot of
thought to the layout of the interior. In the end, my wife convinced
me to keep the interior more true to the original car and stay simple.
I had thought about painted fiberglass and wood inlays but unlimited decided
to keep it more simple. In this picture, I had to install a permanent
plywood piece about 3/4" thick to get the right height for the brake boot to
fit properly.
Next up I built a
center console. This sets back from the front face of the instrument
panel. It will be covered in leather.
The final part of the
center console is this three part plywood piece that will be covered in
leather. I glued and glassed the three pieces together to make one
part. The carpet will come up the side of the tunnel and the leather
will sit on top.
While I was in the
area of the transmission, I decided to roll my own on the shifter. I
used some cardboard to mock up a couple of different versions. I sat
in the car and kept adjusting the mock up until I got the right hand
positioned comfortably. I then had to angle the shifter so it emerged
from the tunnel in the center of the ring. Once the shape was
finalized, I cut a couple of parts from some scrap steel plate.
After welding,
grinding, and sanding, this is the part I ended up with. I went to the
local hardware store and bought a couple of bolts for the top to mount the
handle to. It all worked out pretty good.
Next step I cut out a
couple of sheets of aluminum to make up the instrument and switch panels.
I used some construction paper to mock up the shapes and then cut the sheets
with my sabre saw. The mounting holes were a guess after looking at
pictures of finished cars.
After figuring out the
layout of the switch panel, I decided to locate all my small electrical
parts in this box. I painted it white to make it easier to see once
the car is all assembled. What I have in here are the bright light
unit, dimmer for the LEDs, and all the relays. The three holes align
with holes in the tunnel for the incoming wires from the trunk and engine
compartment.
Here's the front of
the panel. This will be covered in leather and I have some custom
engraved switch panels for each switch. You'll have to wait for the
Final Assembly section to see the finished product.
On the instrument
layout, I tried to keep it somewhat traditional. I also wanted to
avoid my tendency to make it look symmetrical. Also, I wanted to leave
room for a glove box although I am undecided at this point whether to add
one.
With the layout
completed, it was just a matter of using my circle cutter carefully
to cut out the holes. One bad cut can ruin the whole panel so care and
patience are the order of the day.
Here's a shot of the
panel with the Autometer gauges installed. I also went non-traditional
on the location of the turn signal and bright light locations. There's
a trim ring that will go around the steering column so I didn't have enough
space to mount the lights in the center of the column. So I decided to
split them on either side. The bright light indicator is located where
there's an open space that is unobstructed by the handles on the steering
column.
Next up was to make
room on the fiberglass panel for the aluminum one. I cut out open
spaces for the clusters while trying to leave enough in place to support the
bottom edge adequately. The openings around the mounting locations are
to support the use of nut clips.
That finishes up the
interior work for now. I have more interior work to do but it will
have to wait until after the body comes back from the painter. Next up
is to get all the remaining body work completed and prepped for the painter.
That work will show up as updates to existing sections of the construction
log so this is probably the end of the construction phase. It's on to
paint!
| 
