You should be making $$$$ with the photo op.  Find an old Polaroid camara

This guy was fired up. He walked into the parts store and yelled “who’s Bonneville is out front”!

3 hours ago, Bonneville convertable64 said:

This guy was fired up. He walked into the parts store and yelled “who’s Bonneville is out front”!

I'll take a photo of you IN my car IF, you buy me the missing center cap for the front wheel.

I have 4 extra caps but haven’t had time to get one in without denting it. It doesn’t want to go on. I need to spend a little time bending it to fit.

Well… .. it’s never a good time to take Bonnie out of commission. It’s time to tackle several things that are all good to do together due to having to go deep. 1) install hydraulic convertible system including power and switch. 2) go through wires with schematics to get about 10 things back to factory. 3) install Courtesy lights and power to make them work. Whoever did the new vinyl covered over where lights should be. 4) remove all dash parts and paint it. I also have a nicer chrome dash purchased 8 months ago. While in there I will open up speedometer case and clean.  
   Here we go. Rear seats and trim out, dash out.

21 minutes ago, Bonneville convertable64 said:

I have 4 extra caps but haven’t had time to get one in without denting it. It doesn’t want to go on. I need to spend a little time bending it to fit.

Justa joking with ya.  I've never had anyone want a photo op with my car. Other than kids N the Tiger.

Edited September 2, 20214 yr by JUSTA6

The dash was painted by a 5 yr. old I’m guessing. It has terrible runs and isn’t even fully painted. I have been looking forward to fixing this. Also it is great to finally have access to all the wires to finally track down all issues.

   I’m not looking for perfection because I don’t want to go very long without the ultimate cruiser. If nothing jumps out as crappy, I’m happy. I sanded out runs and put a can of spray color and spray clear. Looks good to my son so I’m happy.

Looks good.

While that’s drying I’m installing Convertable hydraulic lift. Cylinder came out by removing three bolts and swinging bracket up to remove two screws. Always good to dig deep and find potential future issues. I was missing bolts to hold top bracket.

I assembled the cylinders and pump lines before I put it in the car which helps. I found the power to run top and the switch is still good. What a relief. 

 

I ran the pump off of a battery in the trunk so I could bleed line and make sure it was good before locating the original power and top switch.

Edited September 2, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

After many hours I have the wires sorted out the way they should be. There was a break in the line to courtesy light which may explain why they removed them. It happened to be a break under the door trim plate. I guess they like to use crimps for wire splits at the factory. I saw a few and came to the conclusion that was original. The wire broke at the crimp.

Lights installed and seats back in. Wire repaired and so far so good. Nice to have interior lights. I need to swing by the store for some bulbs. Can’t wait to click the lenses in.

Haha that’s exactly what I did this morning Del !! Down to the auto sparky to get bulbs for my interior and tail lights  😎

Nice work too mate 👍👍

certainly easier to work on the Electrical’s with the dash out 

and you would have seen how easy it is to get into the speedo too 👍👍

2 hours ago, JUSTA6 said:

8 minutes ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

Haha that’s exactly what I did this morning Del !! Down to the auto sparky to get bulbs for my interior and tail lights  😎

Wow. We are a half a world away doing the same thing. I’m not a big fan of leds but bought a few colors to test.

Edited September 3, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

Sweet glow! Living with the light on! I guess it calls for a 12w bulb. I also picked up 7.5w. Since it seems to get hot I think a little less bright 7.5 is good. I see you have 5w bulbs Kiwi. I couldn’t find that low or I would have bought them.

Edited September 3, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

1 hour ago, Bonneville convertable64 said:

Sweet glow! Living with the light on! I guess it calls for a 12w bulb. I also picked up 7.5w. Since it seems to get hot I think a little less bright 7.5 is good. I see you have 5w bulbs Kiwi. I couldn’t find that low or I would have bought them.

yes mate i couldnt read what was on the old bulbs so the sparky said 5 watt would be fine

14 hours ago, Bonneville convertable64 said:

Well… .. it’s never a good time to take Bonnie out of commission. It’s time to tackle several things that are all good to do together due to having to go deep. 1) install hydraulic convertible system including power and switch. 2) go through wires with schematics to get about 10 things back to factory. 3) install Courtesy lights and power to make them work. Whoever did the new vinyl covered over where lights should be. 4) remove all dash parts and paint it. I also have a nicer chrome dash purchased 8 months ago. While in there I will open up speedometer case and clean.  
   Here we go. Rear seats and trim out, dash out.

This is like deja vu all over again for me with Lucy back in 2019. I had to gut the interior to replace the heater core and fix a hydraulic leak for the power top. I still don't have her back together yet. I am hoping to spend some time on her this Labor Day weekend.

This may be overkill but it may help someone else looking for help. I removed the clock and found it necessary to get replacement guts. Clocksandgauges.com is the place to get them. Everything came out and back in nicely. Ready for the dash.

Everything came out of the dash and all parts were cleaned up. The heater mech needed to be cleaned, rust removed, and greased again. Ready for the dash now! I find these little things add to the artistic beauty of the awesome design almost 60 years ago. Gotta love the chrome. The patterns from the background lines and 3 circles holding gauges are cool. Chrome Push buttons everywhere are sweet.

Edited September 5, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

After spending a good amount of time with dash wire issues it’s ready for assembly. I noticed the Bonnie emblem could be lit up the make it glow. It would be a shame to not highlight it. I pulled together three pinball light sockets and located them above   Emblem for the perfect glow. I was going to encase the light but liked how it spilled onto the floor., Everything is back to it’s former glory and we are back to family cruises!

That is simply amazing.  Awesome job!!! Great pic's.

nice work Del 👍 and some great pictures of the dash parts stripped down !! thats one thing i love about these cars is the fix ablity of each component

 have you put a blue bulb in the 3 round gauges ?

51 minutes ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

nice work Del 👍 and some great pictures of the dash parts stripped down !! thats one thing i love about these cars is the fix ablity of each component

 have you put a blue bulb in the 3 round gauges ?

Yes. Same blue bulb used for emblem. It is a little more subtle than white as you can see in the speedometer box. Looking at the pictures, I would say the blue looks softer in person.

Edited September 5, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

Looks like Bonnie is on the cover of Beach boys album 

Wouldn't it be nice if.........there was a GTO too?

Another Bonnie fan with a big smile!

Edited September 7, 20214 yr by Bonneville convertable64

6 hours ago, Bonneville convertable64 said:

Looks like Bonnie is on the cover of Beach boys album 

ahhhhhh !!!!!!!! head light bezel ........ the 2 items i am lacking

Edited September 7, 20214 yr by 64 kiwi boni