1993 Mark VIII convertible progress

[billcu]

I finally got a chance to clean up under the hood. Here's a before and after.

 

[tixer]

Much improved, my friend.

I'd see if you can track down an extra battery cover like my gen2 had. it should help the cosmetics tremendously. cover up that ugly green battery..

 

[billcu]

Yes, my Black car came with an ugly yellow battery, I covered that one with the battery cover.

Here's a photo I found, of the rear window through the speaker hole.

 

[tixer]

Wow. There's not a lot of room left to work with there, is there.

Maybe retrofit something like a 4x6 plate speaker? you'd definitely drop your lows though. You'd be forced to get some sort of subwoofer, but I like my trunk space..

 

[billcu]

I installed the front license plate yesterday.

We don't need front license plates in MI, but this car came with the bracket installed already.

 

[driller]

Nice! :thumbsup:

 

[tixer]

Looks great, Bill.

There's something about a green car in the sunshine, too..

 

[billcu]

Thanks guys.

I've been doing some small detail stuff to the car here and there.

I test fitted my black sun visors, they're from a sunroof car, so they are a bit shorter, but that's ok. They're the double visors, for some reason the original conversion didn't have the doubles.

I'll be painting the mocha headliner material black to match the visors.

I've been road testing the car the last two weekends in the sun and it just runs and drives great.

I think I got lucky with this one.

I happened to look down the sides of the car, and I only saw one small ding in a quarter panel (I'm not telling where) I had to take pictures.

 

[steve]

Looks to be on target for Carlisle

 

[billcu]

Not a whole lot of progress on the convertible lately.

I had to bleed the power top hydraulics, the top needed help to go up. To bleed it, you have to disconnect the hydraulic cylinders from the top. Then, run them up and down a few times while letting the fluid spill out of the pump reservoir fill hole, and topping it back off between cycles.

You can use a small tube in the fill hole going to a container, but I've got a nice tin Christmas cookie tray that fits under the pump that worked great for catching the fluid.

I also cleaned the top boot and let it dry, I'm waiting for a nice warm day to paint it black.

I test fitted bolting the tweeters to the speaker grille frame and putting the JBL midrange in. I think I can get them to seal much better than before.

If it works out OK, I might look into replacing the original plastic grille frames with something like a fiber board type of material to make it stronger.

 

[tixer]

Great progress on the speakers, Bill. I hope that works out.

Flushing that hydraulic system sounds like a heck of a lot of work..
I've also made a mental note to consider the consequences of accepting any Christmas Cookies from you in the future..

 

[billcu]

Thanks Mike.

Those Christmas cookie trays and cans are great in the garage, I use them all the time.

 

[billcu]

I finished installing the rear JBL speakers today. I sealed them up using some RTV and through bolted the tweeters to the plates.

They actually sound really good with the top down. I was next to a Harley today, and just turned it up a bit to mask off the bike noise.

And this is just with FM, as I haven't wired up the CD changer yet.

I also painted the visor area and top boot black, to match the interior.

 

[nemisismarkviii]

Hey dude it was me that was the crazy scooter guy waving you down to get a look at your beautiful coachbuilders green Mark VIII Today.

 

[billcu]

Thanks, it was nice meeting you today Jon.

It took me a while to realize you were trying to pull me over in a scooter.

Once I saw the Continental star on the helmet, I figured I'd pull over.

 

[tixer]

It took me a while to realize you were trying to pull me over in a scooter.

Once I saw the Continental star on the helmet, I figured I'd pull over.

I think we need to see this sweet ride.

 

[billcu]

I should clarify this, it was a 25 mph neighborhood where he pulled me over.

 

[biobug1]

i would cut an access panel to get to the fuel pump.

 

[billcu]

I really don't need to get to the fuel pump now though.

 

[billcu]

I drove the car to work and stopped by Jeremi's on the way home to show him the progress.

It's had a little problem with the grille on the driver side since I bought it. I've been meaning to get to it, it was on the list.

It bugged Jeremi, he had to fix it for me.

He also had some original black license plate screws and screvits for the headlight cover

Thanks again Jeremi!:thumbsup:

Here's a before and after that shows the problem fixed: