The Day We Dove Under the Dash
The gal pals are moving right along as we spent another day of ripping apart the car. Since our goal is to get the body to paint as soon as possible, some major visual pieces are being stripped away. Our day was full of small victories like disassembling the steering column and taking the entire dash apart – gauge by gauge. Which makes you feel crazy successful – and it’s probably the exact motivation we need.
#TinyT dove right up under the dash and removed the gauges with #PretTyinPink’s help. Everyone should experience laying upside down in a fiberglass body with a screwdriver over their head at some point in their lives.
As the gauges were removed, the wires were labeled (to make re-assembly “easier”) and everything was carefully placed in a nicely labeled Ziplock bag (thanks #cuteasabucket). Except for this, but I mean, how bad can that be?
As that team was working on the gauges, #BucketBetty lead the charge of taking out the steering column and removing the double-d steering shaft and u-joints. Which was easy peasey after tearing the garage apart to find the right size T-handle allen wrench. We’d show you the video, but there’s a little too much swearing. Which – we think means we’re now officially a fully functioning garage…
We also: • Removed Headers • Disconnected Spark Plug Wires • Removed Carburetor (Stuffing rags into the open intake manifold)
Knowing we’d be tackling the front end next week, we loosened the radius rod bolts and removed the tie rod (which connected the pitman arm to the passenger side steering arm) and the drag link (which connected the passenger side steering arm to the driver side steering arm.) And took apart the headlights to remove them from their mounts (which are actually the front shock mounts.) Removing a small bolt loosens the bezel, which is what holds the headlight to the bucket. The turn signals came off as well because they shared the same mounting bolts.
I enjoy the excitement in the air as parts are stripped off and each gal gets a boost in confidence. We’re doing this. Yes, we may fight a stubborn bolt here and be lacking the correct tool there, but we’re making progress. We’re learning, laughing, sometimes cussing, and bonding. Most importantly, we’re reinforcing each other. We’re building a t-bucket, but we’re building each other too.