As the body is still in the paint shop, I switched my attention to the cars switch gear. First thing I did was put the switch for an immobilizer in the dashboard. Thought it would take me less than 30 minutes to drill a few holes and screw the switch in. But as is probably normal with all small jobs it took me quite a lot longer. Mainly caused by the dome shaped stainless steel bolts I wanted to use because they are in sight. Turned out that their thread wasn’t as it should be, so needed to re-cut their threads to get the nuts to fit (couldn’t pick another pair as I only had one). As they are stainless re-cutting them was heavy work, which of course damaged the head of one of the bolts. So another 15 minutes extra to get the damage polished out with a variety of files and sanding pads. But after two hours the switch was in place;
After that it was time for the next switches, the switches and panel in the centre of the dashboard. First thing to do was to take the panel assembly apart;
And clean the two panels and provide them with a black coating. With that sorted it was time for the switches. I started with the most important one, the light switch. There are loads of horror stories around about their un-reliability, but in my opinion they are rather solid and reliable units (knock on wood :-), as long as they are cleaned so now and then. I always use a thin coat of copper grease on the contacts and till date never had a switch failure caused by corrosion. And as expected the light switch didn’t reveal any horrors, some very mild oxidation on the contacts that was pretty easy to remove;
Compared to the light-switch, the fog-light-switch was in a rather sorry state. Probably caused by the fact that it hasn’t been used since the car left the dealership on the 6th of June 1980, with no fog lights fitted;
But even this switch came up pretty well after a good clean with a copper-wire-brush on the trusty little Dremel tool;
Last switch to get a makeover was the hazard light switch, which didn’t reveal any horrors, just some mild corrosion and a bit of dirt. And to finish a good nights work I cleaned the clear plastic light bar, filled in the letters with fresh white paint and assembled the whole lot, making sure the light bar was properly blacked-out;
But probably most important news on the cars progress at the moment is that painting of the outside will start this Wednesday!
After that it was time for the next switches, the switches and panel in the centre of the dashboard. First thing to do was to take the panel assembly apart;
And clean the two panels and provide them with a black coating. With that sorted it was time for the switches. I started with the most important one, the light switch. There are loads of horror stories around about their un-reliability, but in my opinion they are rather solid and reliable units (knock on wood :-), as long as they are cleaned so now and then. I always use a thin coat of copper grease on the contacts and till date never had a switch failure caused by corrosion. And as expected the light switch didn’t reveal any horrors, some very mild oxidation on the contacts that was pretty easy to remove;
Compared to the light-switch, the fog-light-switch was in a rather sorry state. Probably caused by the fact that it hasn’t been used since the car left the dealership on the 6th of June 1980, with no fog lights fitted;
But even this switch came up pretty well after a good clean with a copper-wire-brush on the trusty little Dremel tool;
Last switch to get a makeover was the hazard light switch, which didn’t reveal any horrors, just some mild corrosion and a bit of dirt. And to finish a good nights work I cleaned the clear plastic light bar, filled in the letters with fresh white paint and assembled the whole lot, making sure the light bar was properly blacked-out;
But probably most important news on the cars progress at the moment is that painting of the outside will start this Wednesday!
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