And worked the control box plus vent into place. Another tight fit.

With the special retaining bolt (flat-plate head with a rolled edge on one side--sorry, I did not get a picture) inserted from above, I slipped the distributor baffle on, from under the dash, and nutted it in place. My car had only one retaining nut per side, so I will need to track down two more.

I then started on the right side control box, and connected the cables that sync it with the left box. Note: in my first attempt I installed the box reversed front to back--THIS PHOTO SHOWS THE BOX WRONG.

While attaching the right vent with the spring clips, one got away from me and magically fell into this hole.

After a brief bit of swearing, I was able to fish it out with my magnet probe.

Then I attached the vent and got the box plus vent into place. This side was even tighter.

About here I figured out I had the right control box reversed front to rear, and had to undo the vent and cable connections, and start over. After that I got it reconnected and then installed. I adjusted all the cable settings on the left control box so all the baffles fully opened and closed. Eventually I will see if I did it right.

Note in this photo the right box is correct.

Bob,

You could try to drop that clip into that hole 100 times and you would miss 99...lol. Glad to know I'm not the only one that has those brief swearing moments.

QUOTE(ElCee @ Mar 12 2021, 01:20 AM) *
You better paint these two spots black.

Aren't there a couple of plastic vent outlets that fit in there? confused24.gif


In my 1970 orange 914, I can look at the body color through some holes near the air vents. In the case of my car, the factory had already painted these two places black, so that the body color was not discernable in the black dashboard.
I reckon this would be particularly noticeable with a yellow body.
I attached a photo of one of an other members and added a circle where the opening is what I am referring to.Click to view attachment

Groet, ElCee

I do like the idea, but it probably will not happen on my car. The transition from test fitting the dash to final (I hope) installation went quickly, as did the vent installation. Maybe next time!

More air system work, with the replacement hoses from 914 Rubber.

Short hoses for center air box to controllers. Right side.

And left side.

Then the feed hoses from the long tubes. A bit tricky to feed them through the new rubber grommets.

Attached to the long outlet.

Then time for the drain tube.

Pretty easy to put together, and push the hose onto the fittings. I made sure the cross piece slopes down to the T.

Outlet under car.

But I failed to get the hose clamp rings on properly. The hose OD might be too big.

I also tried my plan for this stuff: black vinyl welting, with a 1/4 inch round edge.

I was not happy with the fit between the new dash top and the vinyl. It looks worse here since I have the dash top attachment bolts loosened.

Here's my idea: use the welting between the dash top and the padded vinyl.

To make the end of the welting dive into the corner, I split about an inch and cut the internal cord.

That makes for a flattened end. I also notched the segments that will bend around the cowl corners.

With the dash top loose, I was able to sneak the welting flap into the gap.

Where I could reach, I added a bit of all-purpose glue.

I then straightened the welting and tightened the dash top bolts. I like it.

The sides of the cowl look much better.

One last bit of exploration today. I will install a washer pump, and somehow live without the OE clever method of using the spare tire as a pressure source.

One possible location: under the washer reservoir.

This could work.

Nice fix on the dash. Looks good!

Bob,

I will have to look to see where my electric pump is located on the /6. I'm not sure where it is.

i believe I've seen them in this general area - with the little rubber nipple/insulators showing in the area above the footwell in the cabinClick to view attachment

Good use of the welting on your instrument cluster. Nice

i will be doing this soon too, so very interested to see where you mount this and also how you wire it. only difference is I already installed the Carmagic switch in the steering column , the new switch is activated by the same lever that turned on the original system. so that has to be wired to the pump, but everything else would be the same. where will you take the pump wire and relay to, meaning which fuse will you connect it to?

Thanks, Doug. I am much happier now with the replacement dash top. I even like the look of the welting as an extra design detail.

Thanks, Brian. Before I drill and dress new holes I might try some industrial double-side tape. The location I proposed might work better for that since the surface is planar.

I also installed the Carmagic switch, and added a connector and wires for the pump to the harness. Check earlier in my thread for how I did that.

I trimmed the leads for the pump and crimped on new connectors. I did add an insulating cover to the positive lead.

The power lead comes from the fuse block, and the ground feeds through the new Carmagic switch I installed in the column.

For now, I installed the pump with double-side auto adhesive. I want to test operations before drilling any holes.

Looks great ... kind of how finishing a room with crown molding does

Bob's car now has "crown moulding."
Kind of like that.

As long as its not Crown Vic moulding.

I'm just sorry you didn't pick the pink/white motif instead of your yellow....seriously.

A friend modified his turquoise/white 2-door '55 station wagon with the 'Crown Vic' treatment to match his dad's Crown Vic... possibly the only 'Vic Wagon' in existence (?)

He sold it years ago, but I'll see if I can get a pic or two of it from him ...

Only real men can drive pink.

Had some more deliveries, so caught up with a few things.

Here's a 30mm hole in the dash, that I think is where the original washer fluid lines passed through.

It took a couple of tries, but eventually I found some 30mm blanking grommets.

Installed.