Its alive!

[Fu Manchu]

Whoops. I should be more specific.
I need to remove the floor trims on the seat rail. in particular the one closest to the passenger side nearest the doors.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Got the trims sorted today.
Easy enough.

Thought I’d post the interior trim which formed part of this project.

The dash spears I love. A black suede instead of cheesy silver painted plastic.

Then there’s the roof. All Pilar trims done in suede and rear parcel shelf.
All panels are insulated too.
The original fabric was hanging like a Bedouin tent.

Today, I had the seat out from the back again and had some stuff left. Made up an insulation panel over some good songs and a cup of tea.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Oh, Also, when I redid the glove box, I removed the front skin and put a layer of sound absorbing felt in there. Just a little touch but it gives a nice solid feel when closing it. Subtle. Not so plasticy and hollow sounding.

 

[Fu Manchu]

The finished engine bay.
A touch of the “Peter Anderson’s” with the new gold zinc anodized high tensile bolts.

Some may notice I painted the black plastic trims in the bumper. I wanted a gloss black. A little more buffing to do on it but for now will do.

Painted the intake manifold and fixed the vacuum ports with the help of this forum.

Off for first drive soon.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Went beautiful.
Really stoked with achieving this.

The fam are excited too.

 

[Fu Manchu]

Thought I got the steering column positioning right when installing. I used paint marks. I would suggest etching the metal with a scribe for a more precise mark.

Turns out it was way off. Will redo the steering wheel as a “it’ll do for now” fix.

 

[VS_Pete]

Like the bolts
The nuts that hold the wiper arms down on mine have rust on them can I get something like the bolts?

 

[Fu Manchu]

Those nuts are a little like the ones for the brake booster and the brake master cylinder. They have a slight oval shape to the hole.
I haven’t replaced the wiper arm nuts. Will do though with a nylock nut.

I did clean my nuts up with a wire brush. I was careful of my fingers doing it. Maybe spraying my nuts with a cold galv paint would also help spruce them up?

 

[Lex]

Those nuts are a little like the ones for the brake booster and the brake master cylinder. They have a slight oval shape to the hole.
I haven’t replaced the wiper arm nuts. Will do though with a nylock nut.

I did clean my nuts up with a wire brush. I was careful of my fingers doing it. Maybe spraying my nuts with a cold galv paint would also help spruce them up?

I had a little laugh & shuttered over you cleaning your nuts with a wire brush.

 

[VFSV6FORME]

Started the Calais today.
Took a while to get going.

A new battery in.

It’s been 5mths. Dropped some liquimoly octane booster in. Gave it a few more starts.
She chugged into life.
Took maybe 5 or 6 goes getting it to kick over.
Not a noise from the motor. No clunks or anything. Some of you might recall my questions about starting it. If I should disconnect the fuel pump fuse. The advise was no and I’m happy with the choice.
It all looks quite new under there now. No smoke, no burning... so far.

Running better than before.

Radiator needs to bled next.

Fricken wiper motor is a puzzle.
It’s going backwards. So off comes the cowl and adjust the position of the arm linkage. The VE VF doesn't have a notched spindle like previous models.

I redid the wiper assembly.

Forgot the DVD was on the fritz prior to the roof retrim. Not going to sort that now it’s in. That was a ct of job getting the roof lining back in.

No movies for the small humans.

Thought I'd share that because it’s a good, and sometimes anxious, moment getting the car started for the first time.

I was anxious hooking the battery the first time, checking all the wiring and connections, worked well. Checked and triple checked nearly all steps so it was done well in one go.

Should have made reference marks on the wiper assembly though.

Just noticed this NOW!!
GOOD on you for doing this