Off season Aspen projects have begun

Aspen500 · Apr 4, 2017

The seats are done(!) Just have to get up there to pick them up now. Was more than the original estimate by about $200 or so. He had to do a lot more foam addition and shaping than it looked like was needed but that's fine. I'd rather pay a little more and have them done right AND feel right (meaning comfortable) when sitting in them.
Only wish is the shop wasn't at the end of that gravel goat path they call West Cassidy Lane up on the far NW side, especially since we've been having so much rain lately.

Aspen500 · Apr 5, 2017

The seats are back home. Soon, they'll be back in the car. They turned out darn nice.

old yellow 78 · Apr 5, 2017

Wow! Really nice job! That will probably even bring back the "new car smell."

kitcar Chris · Apr 7, 2017

Pulled the interior out a month ago when I changed the heater core. Threw some NOS stuff at it on the re-install ( dashpad, gauge bezel, map light).

DCAspen · Apr 7, 2017

Looks nice Chris,Are you bringing it to Carlisle?

kitcar Chris · Apr 7, 2017

That's the plan Kevin. With my new 2017 Ram. ( of course they will alk match!) Gotta plan on bringing parts out and back home. Hate to tow it but......or maybe just bring the wagon again, man I love driving that thing!! Its like Elvis is back in town!!

Aspen500 · Apr 8, 2017

Elvis isn't dead you know. He just went home

Don't shoot me for "brand X" pics but, this is the car I bought. Found out it's a California car and has only been in WI for 3 years. The guy I bought it from never drove it in winter and neither will I. That's what I'm keeping the '96 Dakota for. Downside is, California emissions.

Hope to get the seats back in the Aspen this afternoon and maybe, just maybe, go for a short drive up the frontage road and back. Most streets haven't been swept yet, but that one has AND, last Monday and into Tuesday morning we got almost 2" of rain so the salt should be gone. Haven't noticed any white dust on the black Dakota the past couple days so it should be good. I sure hope that darn rear seal doesn't leak anymore. I've done everything humanly possible over the winter to get it fixed once and for all. Time will tell I suppose. Only leaked after freeway driving or more than "normal" acceleration. Seemed to have more to do with rpm than anything else. Wish me luck!

Aspen500 · Apr 8, 2017

The car is a complete car once again. Now I can relax, lol. I must be getting old. Putting seats in a car didn't used to be so tough. Wish I was 20 years younger..........
Only thing now is, what looked like a perfectly good backseat, suddenly looks 40 years old. Something to take care of NEXT winter.

Kitcar Chris, your interior looks perfect, right down to the unbroken seat belt buckle straps on the center console.

barbee6043 · Apr 9, 2017

good work!! buckets?? ha try putting in and out BENCH seat! I am not just old, I am old and woreout!!!!!

Aspen500 · Apr 9, 2017

Yeah, a bench seat is a 2 person job no matter how old or young you are.
What I did was pull the center console, then bolt the seat bottoms in and assembled the backrest and back cover afterwards. I pulled them in one piece and that wasn't really the best way to do it. Too heavy and awkward that way. Plus, way more chance of accidental damage to the seat or something else, like the unobtainium NOS door sill plates even with a moving blanket draped over the sill. Scratch one of those and I'd be an unhappy camper.

I guess Aspen buckets are light compared with nowdays. When I was an Audi tech, had to pull the drivers seat out of an Audi Q7. I swear, 100 lbs at least. Heated and cooled, million way power adjustable, side air bag, massage feature, etc, etc, etc. Son of a...............

BudW · Apr 11, 2017

Those seat studs are what you have to keep a watchful eye on.

It is a toss-up on having studs welded on floor going up – which are hard to access if seat motor quits, or studs going down where they can get rusty (but at lease seat can be removed if something breaks).
BudW

Aspen500 · Apr 16, 2017

I prefer the studs pointed up or bolts pointed down from inside the car but yes, it can cause grief if it's a power seat and you need to remove it for repair because it doesn't work.

Silverstreak90 · Apr 20, 2017

Everything looks impressive!

Aspen500 · May 3, 2017

My winter rear main seal fix, didn't. Managed to make it way worse. So,,,,,,,,,I tore it apart again. Used a Fel-Pro tan seal and on the seal retainer put anerobic sealer ("strawberry jam") on to the inside of the square cut side seals of the retainer and Permatex #2 on the outer side, for a double chance of sealing. Made sure the retainer stayed perfectly flush with the back of the block when torquing the bolts, etc, etc, etc. Then let it all cure for the past few days. Dumped oil in and took it for a short drive, about 5 miles. So far, I give it a cautious thumbs up. Not a trace of oil on the bell or converter shield. I really hope this time was the charm, I really do.

Oh yeah, I also opened up the holes on the breather caps as much as possible, on both the air inlet cap and the PCV valve cap, just to be sure the ventilation was adequate.

Before:

After:

Aspen500 · May 7, 2017

Put about 30 miles on the car this morning, down to work and back to charge the A/C. Mostly highway speeds and,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,not a trace of oil anywhere(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) Happy doesn't even begin to describe how I feel now. With that stupid, annoying leak finally gone, even the rock chips on the rockers don't bother me anymore (much). I suppose the saying is "real cars have rock chips" so I'll have to live with it. Wouldn't be that tough to repaint just the rockers but not this year.

BudW · May 9, 2017

Aspen500 said:
not a trace of oil anywhere

Great news!

80 Lebaron Coupe · May 15, 2017

Those seats look fantastic Aspen 500.
Are those seat covers or did the upholstery shop fab them up?

I wish legendary or someone would make covers for our cars,

Aspen500 · May 15, 2017

The seats were done by a one man operation local upholstery shop. Wasn't cheap (about $1,500 for the pair) but he did an excellent job. The results kind of softened the sticker shock,,,,,,,some.

BudW · May 16, 2017

I was wondering, what rear gears you have in your Aspen?

Aspen500 · May 16, 2017

The rear gears are 3.23's

Not sure if I mentioned it here but I'm changing mufflers from Super Dynomax to Dynomax Ultra Flow welded. I like the Super's sound out the t-pipes but the interior drone on the highway is unbearable. At 65 it's impossible to have a conversation the noise is so loud from the resonance. Everything I read said MagnaFlow and the Ultra Flow's sounded good and were drone free. Was going to go with MF but the ones I need are B.O. until sometime in June so went with the Dynomax's instead. They;re both the exact same construction except the MF's look a little better. I'll just paint these with the same VHT silver as the rest of the exhaust and it should be fine.

I had a Super Dynomax cat back system on my Dakota ('96, 3.9L) and it had a bad drone also, except no where near as loud. Got to the point after a couple years I took the perfectly good muffler off and replaced it with a stock type one. Should have been a hint to not put them on my Aspen I suppose, lol.

Looking at the weather forecast, I've got plenty of time to put them on and won't know the results for at least the next 7 days. Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.......EVERY BLEEPING DAY.

Off season Aspen projects have begun

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