MikeW

If they do have pins you might be able to push them out from the underside.

Very nice. I even like how they modified the new video footage to look like old film by fading the colors and adding dust and scratches. It really makes you think it's old footage.

When you first posted this I started to reply asking for your opinion of the price estimate but decided not to put you on the spot and hit cancel instead. I'm glad to hear that you think it's conservative. Strangely enough the only time I've heard that expression is in reference to Body Coddington's legal troubles - which is precisely what's being discussed here regarding a car with numerous parts changed out as opposed to the traditional joke about the Axe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boyd_Coddington

Welcome to the club. Post some pictures if you can. At first I did a double take when you mentioned it had a CD player but had been garaged for 20 years. I then sadly realized that I bought my first home CD player almost 25 years ago.

Old thread brought back to life by an amazingly good robot spammer. Previous spammer in 2009 added typical vague comment but this one managed to at least post some relevant text stolen from elsewhere.

If it's a wrap the good news is that it doesn't add too much extra weight to the car.

I saw one get totaled once. The guy was next to me in bumper to bumper traffic when he decided to turn right at the stop light we were both slowly approaching. It was the kind of light that had a separate triangular island and a yield sign. There was no cross traffic so he didn't really have to worry about making a right, even on red. As he was looking over his left shoulder to verify no oncoming traffic he gunned it. A few seconds later he slammed head on into a bronco that was a wrong-way driver coming in his lane. The air bags deployed and the front half of the car was destroyed. At this point I figured that since I was a witness I ought to hang around and speak to the police if needed. Clearly the viper driver was not at fault - at least not compared to the other driver. I made the right myself and pulled over. At this point some words were exchanged between the drivers and things got understandably tense. The wrong way driver made some bad comment and the viper driver went after him. At this point I jumped on the viper driver and got him in an arm hold. He understandably had no idea why I did that until I explained that if he assaulted the other guy, which was understandable and I'd have done myself, he'd have been the one in trouble with the police when they arrived. At that point he understood and became less agitated. Some of his employees arrived from their nearby business and they further calmed him down. He even offered me a cold drink from the convenience store which he sent one of his guys after. When the police showed up a few minutes later the officer got statements from the drivers and put the viper driver in the back of the police car. I didn't think anything of that at the time. She later brought me over to give my account of events and I proceeded to explain the whole sequence. She finally stopped me and said she didn't need to know about the car accident and instead wanted an explanation of how he assaulted the other driver because the other driver had made that claim to her. I explained that he did lunge at the guy but didn't actually touch him and that if anything I had been slightly scraped up and I certainly didn't care about that. She then let him leave. One of the buddies explained that the viper was just one of many "toys" and that he'd just get a new one. I certainly later realized that I could have easily gotten myself hurt but it just was one of those instinctive reactions.

What's funny is that if you read the history on that site you'll see that "Brooks" ketchup is actually made in Canada. By the way, I'll be in Toronto in a few weeks with my family on vacation. I've got a business trip to London in September but couldn't justify airfare for the family. Toronto seems like a nice compromise. You guys even have the queen on your money.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=%22world%27s+largest+catsup+bottle%22+&l=1

Ok, here are some pictures. I'm not sure if they are helpful. First of all, my interior is non-standard as you can tell by the gray carpets, seatcovers, and vinyl. The first picture has the driver seat slid all the way forward and tilted forward looking straight down on the retractor mechanism. You can see the outboard bolt under the retractor cover near the bottom of the picture. As I recall this bolt location is used by the non-retracting belts. Near the top of the picture is the extra bolt that you should have a plugged hole for in your pockets. The second picture shows the driver side inside seatbelt buckle mechanism. Compared to the original lapbelt-only design this uses a stiff assembly that mostly stays in place. I believe this is required for a switch and the wiring that you see exposed in the picture - the dreaded seatbelt buzzer. Note that my wiring is not even hooked up - I don't know if I even have the required wires available. The third picture is across to the passenger side retractor mechanism. Note that the shoulder belt does not retract. I just goes along for the ride when the lap belt retracts and extends. I believe later models had a retraction mechanism for the shoulder belt mounted near the roof pillar.

I don't have any pictures with me. I'll try to get some when I get home later.

I also added OEM retractable belts to my 9/71 model which came with the pockets but without the retractors. I did not have to drill any holes. In my case the pockets have an extra bolt hole that was not being used and was sealed with a rubber plug. The non-retracting belt only requires one bolt per side but the retractor mechanism requires two. If you do have to drill holes I'd be concerned about the safety. This is not just a hole in the sheet metal floorpan but a reinforced and threaded hole designed specifically to mount a seatbelt.

That's funny. It's went for more ($167.50) than the BIN price ($160) but less than what he listed on CL ($175).

It seems to me that without an overflow tank having a lower pressure cap would make it more likely that you'd lose coolant and overheat. I agree that the lower pressure cap would reduce strain on the whole system only because the cap would never let the pressure get higher than the 7PSI. According to how stuff works a 15 PSI cap raises the boiling point by 45 degrees F. Let's assume that 7 PSI would raise it by 20 degrees (212 up to 232). You can then consult your antifreeze container for the boiling point of varying mixtures. Instead of 50/50 (antifreeze/water) you could go to 60/40 which would also raise the boiling point. For normal driving I doubt you'll have a problem. The fact that you're at sea level also helps. If you do a lot of stop and go traffic in hot weather then I'd start to worry. The bottom line is I think you'll be fine with 7PSI as long as it never actually opens up.

That one seems to match the description (just a dime-sized dent) and location (Huntington Beach, CA) of the eBay ad I posted.

As much as I hate insurance companies it seems to me that their responsibility should be to pay whatever it takes to get your car back to the condition it was in before the accident. If you had a perfect NOS bumper then that's what you deserve. If you had a rusted out and dented old bumper it's not really fair for them to have to buy you a shiny new unobtainium bumper. The rear center section has been NLA for many years now so they're getting harder and harder to find, especially in new condition.

Here's one on eBay right now with a "buy it now" price of $160. I obviously have no knowledge of the the seller but it doesn't look bad in the pictures and that seems like a really good price for something so hard to find. You could probably get it straightened and rechromed for a couple hundred more if the current condition is not good enough.

My body guy straightened out years of waves in my roof (someone sitting on it, etc.) with a 2x4. I watched him pound away from the inside - through the headliner - thinking there's no way that's going to work. It worked beautifully. As far as I know my roof is perfect with no filler to speak of.

I'm just kidding. My co-worker in Minnesota has explained how you have to sometimes shovel a foot of snow off of your car in order to begin work on the 1 inch layer of ice beneath that. I realize that it can get plenty hot there in the summer. All time high in Minnesota: 114 degrees F All time high in Georgia: 112 degrees F http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_temperature_extremes

In Minnesota

I'll take E's statement one further and say they more than likely found food in the car, not just nesting material. You must have forgotten about that extra large chocolate milkshake you spilled down the sides of the center console. Ok, maybe it's something like half an Oreo but I know the one time I had ants in a car it was from something that spilled. In some way you need to give the little guys credit for helping clean the inside of your car.

I hate to break it to you but it's possible that even with a new rheostat the lights will still be dim. A rheostat is just a variable resistor and you can simply bypass it to see how bright the lights will be with a working rheostat turned all the way up. You may find that you've got some burned out bulbs and others that just don't measure up. New lights may be in order.

It must look a lot better in person than in the pictures because in the pictures I don't see anything that would preclude a 1, 2, or even 3 before those numbers. That's not necessarily a bad thing. Generally speaking a low mileage used car is better than one with high mileage simply because of reliability and wear and tear. With a 40 year old car I don't think it matters so much. I'd rather have a high mileage car in great condition than a low mileage car that's been rusting away somewhere. My car had 41,000 miles on the odometer it when I bought it in 1985 but a previous title from a few years earlier showed 14,000 miles. From that I have to assume that it had rolled over at least once. 25 years later and it only has 189,000 and most if that was before 1990.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showpost.php?p=52365&postcount=8

Arne - thanks for the clarification. I wasn't aware of the later change and would never intentionally spread misinformation. Gary's HLS30-91415 is clearly a mid 1972 model which makes it a candidate for the earlier tach based on your "late '72" guess.