So I thought it would be a good idea to track all that is going into the restoration of Betty and I decided to take some pics (with the help of kate of course) tonight.
The problem with a car that is 21 years old is that everything inside it decides to become brittle with age. That means when removing dash pieces (or anything for that matter), you have to be reallllly careful to not break things because you just can't go to the dealer and replace them anymore.
After taking apart the dash today to find the shorted out wire, we noticed that the ac/heater controls were loose due to a missing security clip lost by the previous owner. The plastic hinge was also showing a hairline crack which would only be bad news in the future (as the used part goes for upwards of a hundred bucks, yikes!).
Plastic welding 101:
(pic of hairline)
Heat up soldring iron to highest level of heat and slowly melt the crack together again while holding breath. Why hold yer breath? Plastic fumes produce cyanide. Cyanide is lethal when inhaled. Bad!
Now some gorilla glue™ for good measure
Voila! Wait to dry, add security clip fashioned from old speaker clips and yer done!
And now, an unnecessary pic of Kate's sweet, sweet booty. w00t!
The problem with a car that is 21 years old is that everything inside it decides to become brittle with age. That means when removing dash pieces (or anything for that matter), you have to be reallllly careful to not break things because you just can't go to the dealer and replace them anymore.
After taking apart the dash today to find the shorted out wire, we noticed that the ac/heater controls were loose due to a missing security clip lost by the previous owner. The plastic hinge was also showing a hairline crack which would only be bad news in the future (as the used part goes for upwards of a hundred bucks, yikes!).
Plastic welding 101:
(pic of hairline)
Heat up soldring iron to highest level of heat and slowly melt the crack together again while holding breath. Why hold yer breath? Plastic fumes produce cyanide. Cyanide is lethal when inhaled. Bad!
Now some gorilla glue™ for good measure
Voila! Wait to dry, add security clip fashioned from old speaker clips and yer done!
And now, an unnecessary pic of Kate's sweet, sweet booty. w00t!
I totally should've turned to the side, get a better view since the lighting sucks. hahahaha.
I do like the color combo though. whee! next time I would like to help more with betty (:
I used to fix plastic parts of my RC cars by using super glue + salt (or sugar i don't remember well..) It helps the glue to dry quickly and forms a plasticlike shield around the cracks. you can even shape that. It is very strong.