It's All in the Details

Progress is coming along nicely. The weather has been cooperating and I've been able to spent a few days out in the garage.

The front valence has been added, as well as headlight buckets. 

Although I'm using a new wiring harness the original  headlight leads are in good enough shape to reuse. I removed the old cloth cover and replaced it with heat shrink, they should last another 50 years.

  

The new harness installation is going smoothly, although the bullet connectors are a little tight and require a bit of force to fit together..

I'm maintaining the original wiring with the exception of the 12g yellow wire which will carry any extra amperage from the new alternator directly to the battery.
Mounted on the fire wall from left to right: Voltage Regulator (control box), Fuse Block (2 fuses for the whole car ), Flasher Unit and the silver box is the Turn Signal Relay (unique to the 1500).


The master cylinder and wiper motor (behind)  have been installed.

-The bolt here used to attach the pedal springs is not factory original 

-Throttle pedal stop needs to be installed

Here you can see the splash guards installed using proper rubber seals and "rivets"

Rear bumper was off and on a few times before I figured out the proper assembly order, but in the end all is well. 

More Body Fittings

The bonnet lid was attached along with all it's fittings.

 

Like the factory, the prop rod was left black.  A wooden bracer piece along with a felt backing was installed at the nose to help to stiffen this area. A felt piece was also glued further back which when the hood is down will rest on the radiator, forcing air through the rad instead of around it.

The following two pictures show the bonnet installed but not aligned yet (slightly raised on the drivers side, half way down). The door fit can be viewed here also, although the door bumpers need to be trimmed to allow the door to close all the way.

To align the bonnet, small shims were used so the curve between the body tub and bonnet is consistent. The release latch and wind latch were attached and aligned. 

With the car being back home progress will slow down a bit, although this winter is warm my garage is not heated. Work will be reserved for particularly warm days.