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'70 Gremlin gets new Interior

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Fluffy73 View Drop Down
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    Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 1:53am
This years' project has taken some time, but I'm getting there.  Quite honestly, this started out as a small project of "just fix the items that annoy me" but, like most projects.... it snowballed.  Big Time.

So, I wanted to have the seat covers Tony gave me something like 7 years ago put on, but then the upholstery won't match so I had to have a back seat made.  Well, if I'm having a back seat made, I might as well get the side cards re-upholstered as well. 

If I'm having the front seats done, I might as well order new turtle shells for them.

If all of that is coming out, I might as well buy a carpet kit so I can do the wheel houses and cargo area!

Well sheesh, if I'm doing carpet and seats - I might as well get the door panels reproduced!

Door hinges are rebuilt and on the way now. I also bought new door seals and will definitely repaint the upper portions of the door as well.  Got new strikers as well.

And I have all the parts I need now to rebuild the steering column so that the wheel will lock and the key switch will go into accessory.  That will probably happen over winter.  Anyway, here's a teaser of the new upholstery:



The really amazing part is that I took an inordinate amount of time to measure and draw everything out exactly like I wanted and this new upholsterer I tried out actually turned my drawing into a reality. This back seat almost perfectly matches the '70 AMX upholstery on the front seats!

What you also can't see is hours of Dynamatting the entire floor and wheel houses. I only partially did the cargo area as there will need to be some rust repair done in the near future.  But also, the open areas behind the C-pillar inserts and the seat side cards - I've riveted in some heavy gauge sheet metal, also glued down with body sealant and Dynamatted over that as well. I'm hoping for the car to become a much quieter car.

The overall plan at this point is to turn her into a bit of a Grand Tourer. I'm very pleased with the 232/2barrel and 3 speed stick. I'm also keeping the 3.08 open diff that I had rebuilt a few years back.
I'm well on my way to adding a Laycock de-Normanville Electric overdrive and I now have an Eagle rear sway bar that I can add to help balance out the Gremlin's handling.

I might even add power brakes.  Haven't crossed that bridge yet.


Edited by Fluffy73 - Oct/15/2017 at 2:01am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pdok Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 8:40am
Can't wait to see the rest of it!  I feel your pain on the Dynamat.  I cheaped out and did Fatmat instead, but it helped.  I decided to take out the headliner and do the roof too.  I think you'll appreciate the difference.  One place there's a lot of noise is rear wheel wells, and since mine has vinyl glued over them, I couldn't mat them.

Curious choice on the O/D.  Do you think there's enough room for it?  It's 7.5in tall, and 6.5 inch wide, 14.5 or so long.  I've lusted after the Gearvendors O/D for a while, but it's more expensive than a whole drivetrain transplant, or even a 200-4R swap.

What keeps you from considering a 5-speed swap instead? Seems like fewer complications with driveline that way.
76 Grem X 258/904,4.0 head/MPFI, Comp X250H cam, Hughes springs, Clifford header, serpentine swap.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote amxdreamer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 1:34pm
Looks great Darrin! Well worth the financial and time invested!
Tony
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fluffy73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 2:20pm
Originally posted by Pdok Pdok wrote:

Curious choice on the O/D.  Do you think there's enough room for it?  It's 7.5in tall, and 6.5 inch wide, 14.5 or so long.  I've lusted after the Gearvendors O/D for a while, but it's more expensive than a whole drivetrain transplant, or even a 200-4R swap.

What keeps you from considering a 5-speed swap instead? Seems like fewer complications with driveline that way.


What deters me from a 5-speed swap?  Me.  I did it to my yellow Hornet and while relatively simple, I've done it and don't want to do it again.

The deNormanville setup is relatively straight forward. If they installed them in Gremlins in '75 and '76, there's no reason it shouldn't fit in a '70. The LdN setup is virtually identical to a Gear Vendors as it was GV who purchased LdN when they went bankrupt in the late '70s. I lucked into a virtually complete LdN setup for about $300. All I really need to do is get a yoke, cut a driveshaft to proper length and swap over to the later crossmember.  Me being paranoid though, I'd like to have somebody service the O/D unit first as I'd hate to install it only to have it not work.

The long answer is my overall "theme" for the car is a very involved "Day-2" car.  All of the modifications (except the sway bar) are items that potentially could have been added to the car in the early 70's.

The Quadraphonic 8-track Deck
The 1970-only 2-barrel intake/carb (not available on Gremlin, only Hornet and big cars)
The LdN electric Overdrive
Magnum 500 Wheels
Rear Sway Bar
The "Custom" AMX interior. Entirely possible that it could have been done back then. The only reason I went this route is that finding the "knitted" insert material for the '70 Gremlin proved to be impossible. Nobody had the material or could even find it. I went as far as tracking down an upholstery shop in Germany and even they said "Nine". Sleepy  So, when the AMX front covers came along, I decided that was the route I'd take.

With the rear bar, I could have used one from the later 70's AMXs, but again, I've done that already on my Yellow Hornet AND I don't want the modification to be visible.  The Eagle bar tucks up on the frame so it is virtually invisible but also doesn't add to sprung weight either. 

There is a madness to my method, I agree. LOL


Edited by Fluffy73 - Oct/15/2017 at 2:56pm
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Pdok Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 3:55pm
That's a fun project list, I get it now.  I remember hearing GV had bought someone back in the day, didn't recognize the connection.

I'd heard from an old-school upholstery guy that a lot of the really hard-to-find NOS rolls he gets have quite a bit of unusable pieces due to improper storage.  Or, they were available because they were factory seconds with blemishes, thus ending up on the shelves of the NOS secondary market instead of in cars.

Looking forward to seeing the final photos!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote amcglass Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 5:36pm
looks good so far. I would like to see more pictures as well.... so I guess I have to wait also.  I like the ideas you talk about doing as well   would be nice to see them upgrades in pictures too
Javmanpres

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fluffy73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/15/2017 at 8:24pm
Today was a full day.  Seat belts are in, shifter back in, kick panels and the passenger seat.  Pictures will come!

Still may be several weeks before the door panels show though.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Fluffy73 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/16/2017 at 12:46am
They're In!!






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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote jpnjim Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/16/2017 at 6:34am
Beautiful!

Are those ft seats leather or vinyl?

(they look leather & perfect!)
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote amxdreamer Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: Oct/16/2017 at 1:00pm
Those are custom made vinyl. I had them made for my AMX but shortly after I started enjoying my car Legendary made the correct(ish) reproduction ventilair seats so i switched them. 
Tony
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