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T2K-CAR

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Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

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Yippee! Now you can start installing some of that fancy powder-coated hardware!

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

Dad's: '81 F150 Ranger XLT 4x4: Down for restomod: Full-roller "stroked 351M" w/Trick Flow heads & intake, EEC-V SEFI/E4OD/3.50 gears w/Kevlar clutches
Blue: 2015 F150 Platinum 4x4 SuperCrew wearing Blue Jeans & sporting a 3.5L EB & Max Tow
Big Blue: 1985 F250HD 4x4: 460/ZF5/3.55's, D60 w/Ox locker & 10.25 Sterling/Trutrac, Blue Top & Borgeson, & EEC-V MAF/SEFI

ArdWrknTrk

Re: T2K-CAR

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In reply to this post by 85lebaront2

Why the right to left ruler marked out above the glass?

Jim,
Lil'Red is a '87 F250 HD, 4.10's, 1356 4x4, Zf-5, 3G, PMGR, Saginaw PS, desmogged with a Holley 80508 and Performer intake.
Too much other stuff to mention.

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

It was to get a profile of the windshield curvature at the dashboard area, they are based on 1" spacing at the bottom and are roughly 0.85" apart. The 1989 dash bolts in, but the windshield on the 1986 is not raked back as much as the 1989 one. I was measuring how much of a filler I will need so the bolts holding the top of the dash in are hidden.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

"Getting old is inevitable, growing up is optional" Darth Vader 1986 F350 460 converted to MAF/SEFI, E4OD 12X3 1/2 rear brakes, traction loc 3:55 gear, 160 amp 3G alternator Wife's 2011 Flex Limited Daily Driver 2009 Flex Limited with factory tow package Project car 1986 Chrysler LeBaron convertible 2.2L Turbo II, modified A413

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

In reply to this post by Gary Lewis

Actually, the fancy powder coated hardware has been on for a while. Today I got the windshield outside trim on with nice CRES #8 X 3/4" sheet metal screws. The side pieces are primarily retained by the weatherstrip channels for the front windows. I put the 2001 Sebring convertible rear view mirror on and plugged it in, so I now have a higher level courtesy light than under dash and doors.

Then, since the tachometer in the analog dash works when it feels like it, I put one of the $10 digital ones in.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Ahhh! I see. You are making progress.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

1986F150Six

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Gary Lewis wrote

Ahhh! I see. You are making progress.

And, progress is good!

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Amen, brother!

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

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Ok some more progress, first I dug into my stash of NOS parts for the front window guides. On the convertible since there is no frame for the window the guides are two small pieces of what is probably nylon running on an oval tube that is bolted into the door top and bottom.

I did the left side first as I knew those were broken, when I got to the right side, I found those were in good shape and everything just needed readjusting. The up stop on the 1986 is greatly improved from 1985 and earlier, it is a large metal tab bolted to the window with no up-down adjustment. It engages a bracket with a nylon sleeve that (a) stops the rear portion of the window going up and (b) holds it solidly in place. The adjustments are: window for and aft, front of the window up or down and the guide assembly allows some in/out tilt and fore and aft tilt adjustment. The front up or down is used to level the window. When everything is right, the window comes solidly against the weatherstrip on the windshield frame and sits level parallel to the top of the door.

The rear quarter windows are interesting, they use a drive tape and the adjustments on them are a royal PITA. The windows are operated by a drive tape (toothed plastic) that literally crosses itself due to the cramped location. The window attaches with two big washered 1/4-20 nuts through roughly 3/4 X 3/4" square openings in the window "carrier" that slides up and down in a channel. The fore and aft positions and top to bottom tilt are adjusted there, in and out and in and out tilt along with vertical position are done by 6 bolts and one nut for up and down and 3 bolts and one other nut for in and out and in and out tilt. The previous picture has both left side windows up after all adjustments were made.

Today I worked on the area in front of the deck lid and down the sides where the trim around the top goes, which also holds the top boot on with the top down. Because this trim (a) drops down over the inside at the back of the top well and (b) drops down over the quarter panels to hide the pop rivets that tie the sections together, I decided to play body man. I had removed the small panel between the top well and deck lid to facilitate saving the molding clips. Since it was glued, pop riveted and sealed to the main part of the body shell this was loads of fun. I removed the panel by taking the deck lid loose from the hinges and letting the pneumatic lift struts push it back clear of the opening. with the hinges flat, I could dig the caulking out and remove the two self tapping screws, then drill 3 5/32" pop rivets out and pry the back edge up until the epoxy broke. After that I was able to slide it from under the molding clips. This allowed me enough slack that I could use a pair of channel locks and a 3/8" socket to push the small metal retaining bolts up through the clips enough to be able to hold the heads with a pair of Vice Grips while I broke 33 years of accumulated rust and sealer loose. Once I had them off, it was time to reinstall the filler panel (maybe 2" deep) with fresh epoxy (J B Weld) and sealer and 3 new pop rivets. Today after the sealer and epoxy had set, I removed the clips again along with the side ones and masked the adjacent areas and sanded and primed them with gray Rustoleum primer. The correct paint is ordered so I can paint the inaccessible areas before I put the clips and trim back on.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Adjusting the back windows sounds complicated.

Glad you got them done.

And breaking everything loose w/o breaking anything, or bending it, seems like a chore. Glad that went well.

So, when are you painting it? And, are you doing the painting yourself?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

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I am just painting the areas that are pretty well inaccessible once the trim is installed. Most likely my friend who owns the big MAACO in Hampton VA. will be painting it.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

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Sounds like a good plan, Stan.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

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Got the paint in, the description name is "tusk white" so it is more of an off white. I am sure that in 33 years the car has been painted at least once if not more. I masked, primed and then put roughly 3 coats of the color and same of the clear coat.

After the final clear coat dried, I put the left side and rear trim back on, before I do the right side I need some more 3/16" short aluminum pop rivets for the outer window weatherstrip and support pad piece.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Looks good, Bill. Did you have to prime? You weren't going over the rust?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

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I sanded the areas, washed it with lacquer thinner and primed it with a rust preventing primer, then the color and clear coat.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

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That is very thorough. Well done.

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

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As Gary pointed out, I haven't really brought this up to date. Several reasons, first of which was wife's health, she ended up being hospitalized for emergency abdominal surgery in early December (her birthday to be exact) and was in there until 19 December 2019 then in a care facility 22 miles up the road in Parksley VA. from 19 December 2019 until 4 February 2020.

As a result her health from late summer until 3 Dec had me worried and concerned. Due to the owners of our local hospital being Riverside Regional Medical Center in Newport News VA, when we were informed she needed to go to a larger facility and I requested they send her to Sentara Leigh Memorial in Norfolk, I got "we have problems when we send people to Sentara". I'm sure, ever since Sentara Health Care bought Hampton General they have been in fierce competition in Hampton and Newport News. Upshot was they sent her to Riverside, a roughly 160 mile round trip + $20 round trip toll. She was returned to home on 4 February 2020 and still needed assistance in moving around etc.

She had the final hospital stay from 28 May 2020 till 2 June 2020 to restore her back to more normal conditions.

Back to our regularly scheduled program. Sometime late last year I went out to do some more interior work and found the battery completely dead. I connected the battery charger and shortly afterwards the power lock relays started chattering, followed by a small pop and smoke leaking out of the body computer. Unfortunately my jar of Lucas 530433 was not a suitable replacement. I spent, in between doctors and hospital visits, several months trying to either find a replacement or someone to rebuild it. A fellow Chrysler nut on Facebook in a Turbo Dodge parts group asked if a 1990 BCM would work in place of the 1995 one and he wanted to sell the inside wiring harnesses with it. After looking at the pictures he sent, I went ahead and bought the parts from him, He later found some of the underhood parts and asked if I wanted them too for the shipping cost, I told him yes.

Now is where it got interesting, the dash I am using is from a 1989 Lebaron 2 dr coupe, the wiring harnesses are form a 1990 Lebaron convertible so a lot of the convertible specific items, like 4 power windows with no separate rear controls, the power wiring for the hydraulic pump and it's relays and switch were all there. The big change between 1989 and 1990 was steering column and instrument panel. 1989 all the main inside harness is run across the dash with an inverted connection (female on the underhood and male on the dash) both have the connector inside rather than in the firewall. The 1990 all the inside wiring runs across the firewall in a plastic channel, then the connections to the rear of the car are back by the rear wheel wells. It is nicer, because once the wiring is installed it stays there, the dash and steering column essentially plug in as the wiring to the various modules (cluster, warning system, radio, HVAC and traveler along with the dash speakers) all has enough slacek to allow the dash to be rolled back and removed.

The issue is the changes to the Lebaron coupe and convertible and Dodge Daytona for 1990. Instrument cluster is in a pod similar to the early T-birds and 1955/56 Fords and the headlight, panel dimmer, fog lights, turn signals and wipers are one the sides of the pod with the steering column only having horn, turn signal cancel and hazard switches and the cruise control ones are relocated in the steering wheel they were also built with air bags. I had two choices, find a useable 1990 up dash and steering column or modify what I have to work with the newer system. I opted for the second choice.

Now, all the lighting functions on the 1990 are controlled by relays, whose coils are grounded by the switches. Good part, low current switches are all that is needed, bad part, the panel dimmer and a few other items are not at all compatible with the 1989 headlight switch. Wipers are the same issue, but that had already been addressed for the 1995 BCM. End result, I modified a Taurus headlight switch to fit in place of the pull knob style which now meant I needed a separate dimmer control, which is an interesting system, the dimmer is a dual variable resistor, one side increases from dim to bright, the other decreases, resistance goes from around 20 ohms to 10.2K ohms and the dimmer portion goes to a nice little electronic module that then controls the panel lights. The electronic dimming is the last 1/4 of travel followed by the courtesy lights on position. No problem right? Wrong, it is part of the headlight switch. I canabalised a Lebaron switch for the resistor and switch, then because it moves in a arc, had to come up with a method of operating it, another Taurus part to the rescue, a dimmer thumbwheel, gutted and modified to move the slider and it even ended up with the detent in correct location in it's travel.

Pictures to follow.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Pictures to go with previous dissertation:
Dash harness as received draped over a 2.5L Turbo short block.

The 1986 fuse block has 16 fuses, this one 28 each headlamp side is individually fused

These are the relays that control all the lighting, door locks, horn and part of the audio system.

More to follow.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

Gary Lewis

Re: T2K-CAR

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In reply to this post by 85lebaront2

Bill - Sorry to see that your wife had so many problems. Glad she's home and hope she's healing.

As for the car, you appear to have resolved a number of problems. Well done!

What's left to do on that front?

Gary, AKA "Gary fellow": Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

In reply to this post by 85lebaront2

Pictures continued:
1990 BCM installed and harness mocked in position.

Right end of harness channel, screws and metal is where it was broken. Harness above is the power windows, locks and mirrors portion that goes from door to door (original 1986 one went across the floor).

50 way connector plug, this is the female or engine side.

Harnesses pretty well set in place. Small hoses are side window demisters.

From the other side.

Rear of left side, top frame is just to check cylinder to connecter plug and wiring clearance through it's stroke.

Slight location issue with the connection to the console for the top controls.

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

85lebaront2

Re: T2K-CAR

Administrator

Here is the original 1990-95 Lebaron convertible headlight switch out of it's pod location.

Modified Taurus dimmer and courtesy light control. Screw was to replace the peened rivet head.

Full dim position.

Fully bright, no courtesy lights.

Full bright and courtesy lights on.

Wire colors are, yellow, courtesy light control, yellow/black. electronic dimming, orange/black, dimmer module control and black/orange ground (replaced by a larger single wire now).

Bill AKA "LOBO" Profile

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