zep

Poop is not my colour theme unfortunately.

19 hours ago, fletch said:

maybe cheaper on rockauto?

 

Yeah, I'll have a look. Would be good to get a warranty locally if possible. Shipping might push the price up too.

Is it worth buying this? What is this brand like?

https://www.savageperformanceandspares.com/products/holden-commodore-vt-vz-5-7l-gen-3-ls1-v8-140a-alternator?_pos=19&_sid=6343e4a29&_ss=r

Ideally I can find this unit at Pick-a-part or from a TM wreck.

37 minutes ago, datlow said:

serpentine (commodore/falcon) or v belt (landcruiser)?

 

Serpentine, although I suppose you can change the pulley...

As the title says, I'm looking for an OEM car that has a big alternator - preferably a car that is common. Any ideas?

Cheers

Agreed. I am happy to do the whole dash one day, just now now

I've had a couch fixed by Fibernew before. I thought the price was good. $130 to fix 3 burn holes.

I guess I could always add the bypass and switch in later if it causes a problem.

I understand that some cars have their heaters plumbed like that as stock. I wonder how much radiant heat you would really feel from a little radiator like the T7 one.

Hey y'all

I'm looking at installing a heater back in my car, primarily for demisting - probably one of these: https://www.t7design.co.uk/3-5kw-lightweight-heater-with-side-vents-12v-187-d1e-05a.html

I have two options (I think):

1. Use the heater core as the bypass, or
2. Have a switch that opens and closes the heater route, keeping the bypass, but when the heater is open the bypass is also still open.

I guess my question is, is there any issue with doing 1. and always having water flowing through the heater core? Or, if I put in a switch, will the heater core get enough water - while water is also going though the bypass - to get good heat?

Cheers fullas.

21 hours ago, flyingbrick said:

Can nearly guarantee you'll wish you had done something else.

No chance of finding a mint dash in australia and having it sent over?

 

Nah, mine is in better condition than 99% of stock dashes in Aussie. Their sun wreckes them.

I called Dashboard Restorations and he quoted me $1500ish. I might just leave it for now - it's not that bad and is something I can always do later.

I looked into flocking. Not my thing, it looks cheap to me.

Where can I look for the "recover in vinyl, for a few hundy" option?

I need to look into this flocked thing. I am trying to get a good mix of restomod/stock look.

2 hours ago, dabuzz said:

a few options,

1 - recover with vinyl, for a few hundy

2- sand bog and paint with a rubberised paint - wont look amazing though, but will get you by

3 - send to dashbooard restorations on the shore, it'll be perfect, but you'll be $2000 lighter in the pocket 

 

Does option 1 include redoing the padding, or just the vinyl?

Hey y'all,

Does anyone know where I can go to have some small cracks in my dash fixed? Auckland preferably...

I'd rather not recover the whole thing if I can avoid it.

7 hours ago, Adoom said:

Was that Howat Engineering in Lower Hutt you used? What did he charge you for cutting the splines? 

....I've got some CV shafts I need to get shortened and was planning to go see Brian about it eventually. 

They were like $100 each to be cut, welded up (due to the dip in the axle after the spines), resplined and heat treated. Ridiculous!

1 hour ago, GARDRB said:

I've been thinking about making an MDF door handle/lower pocket/speaker pod that I can upholster with my doors in my KE70 and try and make it look somewhat OEM

I guess you could make a whole raised section and maybe trim it contrast it could work. Something to think about.

1 hour ago, Early jap nuter said:

It’s easy to hide speakers, just have to make a insert or a little pod type thing with a insert if you need the depth. There’s heaps of speaker grill cloth to match any fabric you choose. 

It's that pod thing that I hate the look of. I'd rather put them in the kick panel perhaps.

The other thing I'm interested in is speakers in the door. Ideally I would hide them, but there isn't room. Not really interested in spacers, so thinking about how to integrate some low profile, speakers and grilles into the doors while still looking ok.

10 hours ago, Snoozin said:

I think tying it into the seats is the key aspect to be honest.

What seats have you got?

Integra Type R trims/seats are a good example - they use the Recaro seat fabric insert on the door trims also, so I think if you had black microsuede seats or something, pull that fabric or something similar to it across to your door trims.

Alternatively, retrim the seat centres to match your door card fabric choice too, I wouldn't have done one of the other, it was always going to be a decision I made based on the whole interior.

Yep - agreed. Initially I was just going to do the doors, but now I will also do the seat cushions. I have a set of Cobra Nogaros on the way. They have removable cushions so it'll be easy to retrim that section.

Typically Geminis have terrible retrims, but I do like this one:

On 03/07/2022 at 09:41, yoeddynz said:

This thread is of interest to me because I will look to redoing my imps interior in the future. I do love the look of Ritchies kp interior and style of the singer interiors that inspired him.

I'll be the first to admit being a copycat because I'll be looking to do something retromod singer style. Just not sure on colours. It's very easy to make an interior too dark and close in that lovely airy feeling that our old cars have. Especially with little cars like starlets, imps and Geminis etc.  I'll be aiming for lighter colours and keeping it simple in style. 

One of my favourite imps is this one.. 

The young fella who built it is an automotive upholsterer and its a great job but I feel its just too dark inside.. (plus the seats, although comfy I bet, look pretty big in there) 

(note the matching leather clad helmet.. Pretty neat) 

 

 

I agree but I'm too far gone down the black interior to change now. So I need some lighter highlights to open it up again. I reckon if the guy who built that Imp had done a lighter seat and door insert, it would feel more open in there.

Def into the Singer/restomod style. I just need to find some nice fabric. Struggling to find stuff out there that is a bit more interesting than Tartan or Houndstooth. Justin Plaeck has this cool old Porche stuff:

And then you can still buy the Recaro confetti, but that's quite dark too. SMS Fabrics has heaps but it's almost impossible to search their site other than by car make/model/year.

1 hour ago, datlow said:

So you dont Like this style?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CWG2YsMLmTd/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

 

Not so much. I almost prefer any other tartan colours!