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Big project this spring


DAVES89

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That's a great outcome for the long and hard journey you have been on to put your car in top shape. You should be proud that you were able to pull it off without encountering any major problems. You had some great friends helping you out.

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Ronnie, truer words have never been spoken. 

 Kendall for his willingness to do the swap. 2Seater for his input and enthusium during the "acquiring parts" phase, you for your input to think about this or that and what to watch out for, Ryan for doing the paint and body work and when I start the dash phase, Bob my newly retired machinist friend that can pretty much repair anything.

Also Dave the engine builder, and my luck in getting a rebuildable engine and a good used tranny at a great price.

 Right now the car is under a light car cover. I will post pictures soon.

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So how long before the paint is fully cured and can you wax it or put some type of sealer on it or does it need it? I am excited to see the pictures, of course nothing beat seeing it in person, but I guess pictures will have to do.

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I'll snap pictures of it this morning. I think I will wait a week or so before polishing it. Right now the paint all the way around is almost flawless so I don't want to drive it. I have been driving the 'vert in the meantime as the Black is in storage.

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Here a few photos of the new paint job.

1746881069_newpaint-2.jpg.1e680f9839c33cf712144e96c0e3e24a.jpg

1924214396_newpaint-3.jpg.7612470af8a08b512f692f4d926d8317.jpg

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1871457401_newpaint-5.jpg.9ea6bf8e1748f1339a8c704c4222fb85.jpg

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Looks great Dave!. Would you like to do the front of my red Reatta next?

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Looks great Dave!. Would you like to do the front of my red Reatta next?

 

I'm next in line behind Ronnie!   :D

 

All joking aside, CONGRATS Dave for a successful project completion!  Your Investment into the drivetrain and paint will pay big dividends for years to come!

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Thanks guys! It was a long pull but now I am done. I still have the dash to do but that can be done anytime. I did finally get the car out and drove it about 120 miles north to my buddy's house to help him with a home repair project. So it is now sitting in his yard surrounded by pine trees in the process of dropping sap. The car will get washed Monday and a coat of wax goes on.

I really like how the project came together.

I will "big picture" my expenses so if anyone wants to do this they will have an idea of cost;

Engine $150.00

Rebuilder $1600.00

Rack and Pinion $75.00

Alignment with wheel rotation and balance $100.00

Transmission $250.00

Misc. Parts $200.00 Motor mount, plugs and wires, a different head gasket set, thermostat, anti freeze, oil and filter,trans fluid and filter [2] etc.

Kendall labor $500.00 [That is all he would take] He spent about 20 hours on this

Front end paint job in two stage paint [fenders, hood, head light covers, front area above and below bumper and bumper] with pin stripe [tape] $740.00

Total price about $3600.00

Dash was $60.00 but as it was a 1990 I traded it with another guy on the forum for his extra '88/89 dash I paid $40.00 for freight.

I got off easy on labor for both the mechanical and body work which could easily add another $1000.00 to the project.

I justify the money spent as I use this car [and the Black] for work cars and can deduct the miles. I also sell car parts. So between the miles and the sales of parts I came out pretty good.

I don't think I will do this again. This was a big project and you might remember about 18 months ago I swapped out the Black's transmission so this will be it for this type of work.

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Just a word of caution. Talk to your paint guy before heavy washing or waxing. A friend of mine who owns a body shop always recommends waiting 30 days before doing so. Even though the paint is dry to the touch it may take a while to get completely hard so it won't scratch easily. Rubbing hard to get the sap off might dull the new paint. It might depend on the type of hardener used in the two step paint process how soon you can treat it normally. Your paint guy will know. Ask him the best way to get the sap off.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Dash arrived today from Kdirk, a friend of mine in the St Louis area. He has come to my house to part out Reattas with me and then junkin at Gibson's. Long story short we parted out an '89 Red w/Tan interior Reatta about 2 years ago and he got the dash. I found a great dash from that West Bend '90 Red/Tan Reatta that I got so many parts from, so we swapped. I sent him the '90 dash and he sent me the '89 back.

It goes in tomorrow.

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Opened the box and as Kevin warned me the grill behind the IPC was broke. I glued it as best I could and then resprayed it with some touch up paint as it was more sun weathered then I remember. Finished up good. Best part about this dash is no cracks anywhere which is a big improvement.

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Okay dash is installed. It took three tries but we got it done. First time took about 4 hours but we ended up with a dead short. Pulled the dash did some testing to find the short but everything seemed fine. Reinstalled the dash [this time about 2 hours] and still a short. Pulled the dash again and replaced the blown fuse [#2 which didn't blow with the dash out] and watched the courtesy light as we installed the dash for the third time to determine if the fuse would blow [this time about an hour] always watching the courtesy lights. The fuse didn't blow until we got to the very end and it turned out that my buddy inadvertantly pinched the courtesy light lead located on the drivers side in the steering wheel bracket. We repaired the lead and finished up [in about another hour] installing the Headlight/Wiper Switches, IPC, CRT, Cassette Deck, top dash pad and vent panel. We also had to reinstall the dog house [which houses the Cassette Deck] and we were pretty much done.

I can give a tutorial on this if anyone is interested, just let me know.

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Dave would this be about the same procedure for the 1990 do you know?

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I would think so.

This is how we did the '89.

I started by disconnecting the battery, removing all the instrumentation, IPC, CRT, Cassette Deck, Headlight/Wiper switches. Then remove the narrow vent panel on the top of the dash, followed by removing the dash pad using the "puller" tool discussed in ronnie's tutorial. You will have to remove the console and set that aside. To do the console remove the two console front side panels then pull the console storage box and remove the two 10mm nuts. Then remove the shifter panel [held in place by snap clips, followed by the two torx screws holding the long panel in place. We did not remove the long panel but left the rear screws in place. We then removed the two bolts holding down the "dog house, removed the two screws that fasten through the back of the dog house. You then "work the dog house out to the passenger side.

Then remove the two kick panels located under each dash, then the steering colimn collar.

On the '89 there are the four steering wheel bolts and three bolts along the bottom of the dash to hold the bottom in place. Then there are 3 torx screws holding the top of the dash in place.

By now you should see that the dash is loose and ready to come out but there are a couple of things more to do. You must remove the vent hose at the point where it is attached to the dash pad and you must remove the screw that holds the junction plug together.

At this point you should be able to remove the dash, it pays to have two people as you want to be careful not to damage anything on the removal of the old dash and then when putting the new one back in place.

Once again this was for the '88/89. I did not remove the '90/91 dash that I swapped with Kevin, the price for them to remove it was too cheap and I didn't want to drive 75 miles to do it myself.

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I'll pipe up here. First, glad you got the dash in successfully, despite the troubles with the short circuit. The 90/91 dash removal and installation is similar but a bit more difficult due to an additional support bracket at the lower center part that bolts to the firewall. This is a dog to get to, and if you miss it you can damage the Dash by cracking the plastic superstructure.

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This is a dog to get to, and if you miss it you can damage the Dash by cracking the plastic superstructure.

 

Great something else that can be broken if we are not careful... :S   Thanks for the info though and you too Dave great write-up, maybe Ronnie can make a tutorial if there is enough response.

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On the '89 there are the four steering wheel bolts and three bolts along the bottom of the dash to hold the bottom in place.

 

Good write-up Dave. Are the four steering wheel bolts you refer to the bolts holding the steering column or are those bolts different?

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You are correct Ronnie. The 4 bolts I refer to are the ones that hold up the steering column. Btw I used a small T shirt to protect the steering wheel. I also removed both seats and used the nuts that hold the seats upside down as the nuts have integrated washers on them. I then used the floor mats to protect us from the seat bolts with the nuts on them.

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I'll pipe up here. First, glad you got the dash in successfully, despite the troubles with the short circuit. The 90/91 dash removal and installation is similar but a bit more difficult due to an additional support bracket at the lower center part that bolts to the firewall. This is a dog to get to, and if you miss it you can damage the Dash by cracking the plastic superstructure.

 

 That makes sense as on the '88/89 the dash is screwed to the "dog house" which gives both [the dog house and the dash] extra support.

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