Dashboard Recovered

So even after all my bragging about how well the dashboard came out from all the painting it didn't look great in all light. I guess I'm too much of a perfectionist for that then. I took the dashboard to an upholsterer to get it professionally done.

I think it came out phenomenally. Check it out:

Shift Linkage

When going through the wiring I found that the reverse-switch wasn't being tripped properly. The way the switch works is by literally pushing the button down when the shifter is locked into reverse. The problem was that said switch wasn't even being touched when reverse was "engaged". The linkage was always problematic when driving the car. Upon inspection the linkage is adjustable, so I removed the shifter, and the linkage.

The bracket that holds the shift handle had a huge lump of booger weld on it that I'm sure wasn't great for functionality. So I ground that off.

After a little more inspection after disassemblly I found what may be the problem with the shift linkage...

Yeah, that ain't a SAAB logo. I think I've got the linkage out of a f*@king beetle. I mean if you're gonna rob the linkage out of a car it might as well be the most common one on the planet. All the drawings I've found the linkage looks eerily similar so after a little modification I think I can make it work.

the bolt that holds tight the position on this bar needs a groove to fit in, so closest is the stock one and the second groove I made.

Tightened on

All reinstalled, I adjusted the linkage to about 2 to 3 inches shorter

re-greased the ball joint at the bottom of the shifter

Wiring: FINISHED

After god knows how many hours and how many feet of new wire, rebuild kits, the electrical system is finished! I finally got the wiper motor fixed after a $40 new brush plate, hours of modifying said brush plate, and more struggle it finally works. The heater fan works, the radiator fan works, the lights work, the back up switch work. If I'm honest I'm not 100% sure all the stuff in the gauges work but that will be an issue with the gauge not the wiring.

I've added an aftermarket radio to go in the hole the previous owner chopped through the dash. Wired up the spots for the speakers. So pictures of the beauty of my wiring to follow.

Wiper Motor Rebuild:

old plate on the table (top mounted brushes)

new brush plate installed, had to use longer screws than stock due to spacers

So the issue as it turns out with the wiper motor was with the old brush plate. Finding a new replacement was a pain in the ass because while Lucas (Lord of Darkness) put similar wiper motors in just about every single European developed car of the late 60's and 70's. Emphasize on "similar" as in not the same. So I bought a $40 new brush-plate for a Hillman Avenger. Which of course didn't fit right out of the box, so I spent close to 2 hours hacking it up with a Dremel tool. It then fit but the new plate has the brushes mounted in the middle instead of the top. So the new brushes were grounding out on the case, so after I added 2 nylon spacing washers to each screw, add power and the motor worked like a dream... or whatever it is Lucas parts work like.

Trunk Pan

The old trunk pan obviously was a little worse for wear. It's design allows for any moisture in the vehicle to pool there are rust through. Obviously that's not great for structural pieces to be so full of rust holes.

I took the old pan to 3 different metal shops in my area. None of them could help me. I'm pretty irritated that 2 shops that "specialize in metal fabrication" couldn't do a little bit of metal-brake work. So I splurged and bought the $110 plans for sheet metal from the Ashcrafts in Oregon. When they come I'm gonna do it my damn self.