I have posted comments and pictures of my coach rehab on other threads but I figured it’s time to start my own thread.
Front Cap Mods: As many of us have discovered, the plastic in these coaches hasn’t held up well over the past 40+ years. Both my front cap speaker/light plastic bezels were trashed and unsalvageable so I decided to make my own bezels. Fiberglass bezels are not available.
The original radio was removed at some point and replaced with a single din Kenwood radio with a Jerry-rigged electrical/speaker wiring system (I posted that mess on another thread). The original speakers in the front cap bezels were removed during the radio upgrade so that left a lot of unused space on the original bezels and they are now just light bezels.
I repaired the rear cabinet eye-ball lights during the cabinet/blind rehab and managed to find a pair of dual eye-ball lights that I used on the new light bezels. Since I am adding fans under the rear view mirror and want the switches near the driver, I pulled wiring across the header to the driver light bezel. It will require re-wiring the fans to not use the tiny switch on the fan body but that’s no big deal. I am using a bundled wire set from electric side mirrors since it’s only .8 amps per fan and 18 gauge wire is sufficient.
Rocker switches and bezels were sourced from 66-67 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Vista Cruiser - used and NOS - and I rehab’d the switches for my purposes. 1970 Toronado used a “Nite Watch” switch that was connected to a relay to provide about 1 minute of headlight brightness when engaged (pressing switch down once and then it returned). I converted these switches to on/off switches by deconstructing them and re-using the internal notched spring metal from another switch. This new on/off switch was included on the light bezel to disconnect power to all switches on the bezel.
New appliqués are being made to overlay the text on the switch bezels since they no longer apply. My painter that resprayed the remainder of the ceiling is coming by next week to paint the front cap to match the light bezels.
Front Cap Mods: As many of us have discovered, the plastic in these coaches hasn’t held up well over the past 40+ years. Both my front cap speaker/light plastic bezels were trashed and unsalvageable so I decided to make my own bezels. Fiberglass bezels are not available.
The original radio was removed at some point and replaced with a single din Kenwood radio with a Jerry-rigged electrical/speaker wiring system (I posted that mess on another thread). The original speakers in the front cap bezels were removed during the radio upgrade so that left a lot of unused space on the original bezels and they are now just light bezels.
I repaired the rear cabinet eye-ball lights during the cabinet/blind rehab and managed to find a pair of dual eye-ball lights that I used on the new light bezels. Since I am adding fans under the rear view mirror and want the switches near the driver, I pulled wiring across the header to the driver light bezel. It will require re-wiring the fans to not use the tiny switch on the fan body but that’s no big deal. I am using a bundled wire set from electric side mirrors since it’s only .8 amps per fan and 18 gauge wire is sufficient.
Rocker switches and bezels were sourced from 66-67 Oldsmobile Cutlass/Vista Cruiser - used and NOS - and I rehab’d the switches for my purposes. 1970 Toronado used a “Nite Watch” switch that was connected to a relay to provide about 1 minute of headlight brightness when engaged (pressing switch down once and then it returned). I converted these switches to on/off switches by deconstructing them and re-using the internal notched spring metal from another switch. This new on/off switch was included on the light bezel to disconnect power to all switches on the bezel.
New appliqués are being made to overlay the text on the switch bezels since they no longer apply. My painter that resprayed the remainder of the ceiling is coming by next week to paint the front cap to match the light bezels.
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