[image98]

I like the direction the project is going. Makes me want to take on some of your ideas.

Thanks. Go for it! Glad I could provide some inspiration.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Like what you did with the seat mounting. You bend the L brackets or use angle iron?

 

[image98]

Like what you did with the seat mounting. You bend the L brackets or use angle iron?

Thanks. I cut and drilled some angle iron that I pulled from a scrap pile. The setup feels plenty strong, but I may reinforce the back of the seat plate adapters where they extent out about 6" behind the seat platform.

 

[image98]

AC Vents, Mounting Console, Door Seals, Interior Quarter Panels, Seat Belts.

Taking care of a few more interior components. Mounted the Vintage Air under dash AC vents. I found it easier to drill out the sheet metal screw holes on the plastic housing about 3/8 of an inch and use washers to allow for some adjustability. I’ll probably epoxy and paint the plastic housings prior to the final install. I mounted the MTF console to the tunnel by modifying an OEM console bracket. I used a structural brace and drilled two holes under the removable cup holders.

http://www.joshuareis.com/VMF_Conv/IMG_33h_ConsoleMounting_2hd.jpg[IMG]

Installed door seals. The RH door didn’t have any guide holes, so drilled my own using the seal as a template.

[IMG]http://www.joshuareis.com/VMF_Conv/IMG_33h_DoorSeals_1hd.jpg

I ordered a second set of convertible inner quarter panels to create cutouts for the roll bar. However, I quickly discovered that the new pair of plastic interior quarter panels are significantly different from the first set of reproductions that I purchased about two years ago. So, the good news is the reproductions have improved. The bad news, I feel it is best to start over using the new pair. Such is the life with reproduction parts. I installed and tested the rear Electric Life power window motors. Due to limited space, the motor must be first installed set at about ¾ height, followed by the window rail assembly, and glass third. I also had to grind some of the power window bracket to gain some clearance. The rear Electric Life power windows use metric 6mm thread bolts, which are not included. The front motors came with bolt hardware. So I ordered a set of 6mm x 1.0 threaded bolts with 12mm underhead length and 10mm wrench diameter.

I also mocked up the three-point seat belt and welded in a pair of seat belt bungs onto the roll bar for 7/16-20 bolts. I need to get a tig welder.

Originally, I had hoped to use a factory style window crank switch, but I didn’t see how there was going to be enough room between the electric motor and interior trim panel. This might have been easier to do with the Nu-relic power windows, I don’t know. So I determined that the best way forward was to mount a billet push button switch (same used in the console) into the interior quarter panels adjacent to the factory ashtray. I ordered a pair of Dynacorn interior quarter trim panels so that I didn’t have to modify my original panels. They took a little trimming to match the OEM metal panels, but the stamping was really good. I figured I might as well keep a stock set of interior quarter panels and then modify the aftermarket stuff to accommodate the roll bar and power window switches. Once I had my second pair of rear interior quarter panels assembled, I plugged the factory crank hole. I will smooth and eliminate the wrinkle finish with surface primer. It has been a bit of trail and error customizing these parts to work for my application.

 

[image98]

Installing Power Door Lock Actuators

I opted to go with the Electric Life 5-wire door actuators. The 5 wire actuators have built in switches that can trigger an alarm or communicate with a module. Also, turning the key or triggering the lock knobs in one of the doors will cause the other to lock or unlock in parallel unlike a 2-wire actuator. I fabricated a pair of mounting brackets to reduce the offset between the actuators and pull knob rod.

 

[image98]

Door Wiring Harness

With the actuators mounted, I modified the 5-wire harness and worked on the door electrical wiring. Each door has two harnesses. For harness #1, I modified a factory style pony door harness #C6ZZ-13A769-A. The black and blue wires on the 2-pin Deutsch connectors are for the reverse polarity power window. Black is the ground, second black wire is for the mirror negative, the factory 2-pin plug is for the pony door courtesy light, and the capped red wire is a spare.

For harness #2, both pairs of 2 pin Deutsch connectors are for the door lock actuator, red is for the mirror turn signal hot, a pair 16 AWG speaker wires, and a black shared ground that ties into harness #1 for the door lock actuator fifth ground wire. The stainless door loom is made by Keep It Clean and has a ¾ inch OD like the OEM factory wiring loom. I referenced a 1966 OEM Mustang shell for loom positioning.