Another hot rod

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Originally Posted by 70SATMan

Wow, OK, this is giving me some great ideas, Thanks Tom! Those look like they might be the standard bungs used for the 70 production front mounts and flush welded or is there an additional stiffener plate with the bung and welded over the top of the sill and tunnel material to distribute the load? I like the position of those mounts better than the SWBs! Keeps long belts out of the fray.

I think the standard fixtures are reinforced on the back side of the rear quarter panel for the retractables but in the case of the STs I would think the sills and tunnels were already part of the tub so the mounts would have been added later. If so, it would make sense to stiffen those up a bit like they did with the rears.

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Michael:

Thanks for the thoughtful observations.

The shop fabricated stiffener plates with self locking nuts welded to them to provide for a secure mounting point for the lap belts. Just as you point out, the stiffener plates distribute the load over a wide area in the event of an untoward incident and should provide a good margin of safety under load.

The plates are located so that the nut is positioned in the same spot as the 2,5L ST reference picture posted earlier in the thread.

Once the desired location is determined, an outline is scribed in grease pencil on the sill.

The longitudinal then was carefully relieved with a hole saw to receive the side with the threaded fastener.

Next the plates are tack welded to the outline scribed on the longitudinal.

In the final step the plates are finish welded to the sill.

These plates were copied from an RSR that had been extensively campaigned in the U.S.

The attached pics illustrate the procedure followed on the hot rod.

This 71S came from San Diego so while the underside of the chassis looked really good, exposure to UV from all that SoCal sunshine had taken a toll on the dash pad which had a small crack between the speaker hole and the passenger side de-froster vent.

We had stockpiled an un-cracked original dash several years ago but it had also suffered from too much UV light when the donor car was left outside for some years before being parted out. As a result, it had faded noticeably in spots.

The shop had successfully re-dyed original dash pads so we decided to treat the used but un-cracked dash pad accordingly.

The before and after photos show that this approach worked nicely for the hot rod.

The un-cracked dash pad came from a board member out on Long Island, New York.

We liked the look of the fender mounted Cibie Pallas lamps nestled up against the headlamps just like the ones on the Gr 4 911S 2,3L car sponsored by Hart Ski in 1970. Another board member's MY 1972 2,5L ST has the tell-tale bondo worms from having had Pallas lamps mounted in this same location.

The fender mount alternative, as opposed to hood mount, seems to have been the preferred Race Department solution for an ST built with a balsa front lid.

Nowadays, some consider these lamps to be a cliche for long hood hot rods. That may be so, but even well-worn themes bear repeating, especially ones used so frequently by the Race Department.

Some prefer to leave the Cibie lamp housings in their original industrial gray while others paint them satin black. However, like Tom McMahon and Mark Morrissey we like them best in body color and decided to paint the lamp housings 3939 Olive to match the panels.

The second image shows the mounting holes drilled on the front fenders prior to the final color coat. Auto Associates works on alot of cars but the last time they mounted a set of Pallas lamps on the fenders of a long hood was in 1987.

The final image shows the painted and assembled Pallas lamps mounted in position on the hot rod's fenders, giving a frontal aspect reminiscent of the 2,3L ST sponsored by Hart Ski.

This final image also shows how nicely the paint buffed out.

The lamps have clear lenses with yellow tinted bulbs and came from a board member in Birmingham, Alabama.

Fantastic project - the car looks great! Question: What brand of vinyl dye did you use? The dash looks great. Thanks.

T6dpilot:

Thanks for the nice feedback; I will get the name of the product.

It made sense to us to re-dye the used dash pad so as to avoid the problems most encounter when fitting the currently available factory replacement.

The re-dyed dash pad dropped in without issues.

The attached image shows the re-dyed dash pad as well as the original basket weave vinyl covering for the lower dash that was simply cleaned before re-installation.

The factory radio blanking plate and its matching factory basket weave covering are in place.

The Race Department deleted the glove box on the factory prepped ST. However, staring at the empty cavity on the dash takes some getting used to and until then, the glove box lid remains.

Tom:

The project is coming along just fantastically. I like the cibies on the fenders rather than the hood. Do they have any adjustment capability...how do they get aimed? About the glove box door.....it's a boat anchor...sell it to a guy restoring to 'stock'. For those of us who look mostly at pics of STs and RSRs, it looks very natural to see that opening staring at you.

Gib

Hello Gib,

Thanks for the encouragement!

I think the internal mounts on the lamp provide for adjustment of the beam on the Cibies. Attached is a pic.

As I look at the image of the dash, I am coming around to your point of view and think the glove box door will go back on the shelf.

Tom

Top quality work, I am with the glove box cover removed group!

I am also interested in the type of vinyl spray and how it was applied, gives a great depth to the colour of the dash without looking over restored.

Noticed the fan heating controls don't have the chrome surround, if you have one great, if not give me a shout because I am sure I have a NOS one somewhere that deserves to sit on a proper car.

(Gib - I have not forgotten about the photos, Phil and Neil are still away in Portugal racing but I will be seeing them on their return, sorry it has taken so long).

Tim

I've used this product. I'm fairly sure they used to make a gas tank paint that looked just like factory when applied over a freshly "Shutzed" tank.

Tom


http://www.leatherique.com/leatherique_colors/

Tom,

Ditch the glove box door.:)

John