8/16/09

Under dash area is now being assembled. Spent some time over the past 6 weeks documenting the various shades of black painted parts throughout the car. This will take some of the guesswork out of painting parts when it comes time. Have also spent a considerable amount of time getting my phosphate/oil process down. Finally have settled on manganese phosphate. Will post a follow-up on that in the next few days after I complete all the fasteners.

For now, here are a few pics from the under dash area. As you can see, the firewall pad is in gorgeous condition. It is the proper "dotted" San Jose variety. I highly recommend that anyone trying to do a high level restoration search out the correct firewall pad for your car. Reason I mention "correct" is that there were 4 versions of these through the '65 model year. The main differences are the dotted and textured firewall pads. But, the other difference has to do with the A/C hose location where it goes through the firewall. In early '65, there was not a knock-out plug on the firewall for the A/C hoses. Instead, 2 holes were drilled out and rubber grommets for each hose used. There is a punch-out on the firewall pad to reflect this location on a factory installed A/C car. On later cars, there is an oval knock-out, which has an accompanying oval punch-out on the later firewall pads. The change probably occurred sometime in March '65.

One unique detail that some may note is the felt shifter rod seal setup. The seal and retainer are the original ones from the K convertible. A unique piece that most associate with 64.5 cars, but like many of these "64.5" parts, they were used well into '65 production.

Another minor detail to mention is the firewall pad clips. The San Jose ones used at this time period simply had the 2 tabs near the head. No teeth locks.