The Daytona: August 23, 2006
by Russ Knize on Aug.23, 2006, under Daytona
Actually have quite a bit done, just haven’t updated in a while. The interior is in…just have a few odds and ends to hook up (like the guages) that need to wait until the end. The picture shows the interior after the dash was up and the center console was finally mounted, but before the carpet/seats went in. The power train is in, as is the core support. The front part of the core is tacked to the sheetmetal on the cowl, but I’m going to wait until I have the intercooler plumbing all figured out before I finish it up and paint it. The RP triple core intercooler is mounted and I have designed the layout of the tubing. It’s a really tight fit, but I’m pretty happy with it. I didn’t even have to move the radiator. The early G-bodies have a lot of room behind the nose, but some carving of the plastic was required.
December 17th, 2008 on 7:00 pm
I was wondering how well the new style interior fit in to the car, and what modifications you had to to do the brackets and such that hod the dash in, and if the shifter from the older car ended up sitting in the correct place to line up with the new center console, or if you had to move it at all? I would love to to this swap in my 89 i am just a little apprehensive to have the car off the road for a long period of time as it is my dd.
Thank you for any advice
William Foley
mondo1982
December 18th, 2008 on 9:28 am
The dash bolts in easily. The door panels mount differently and have a different arrangement for the locks and such. My original doors were damaged and so I picked up a set of ’90 doors along with the interior. However as long as you grab all of the brackets and internals, I believe an early door could be retrofitted for the later panel.
The center console mount that is welded to the floorpan is quite different. I could have cut one out of a newer car and welded it in, but I opted to adapt the old mount to the new console backet. Some metal plates, some extra bolts, and a couple of new holes and it mounted up fine. Once the backet is mounted, everything bolted up fine. I added some bolts in a few areas where the new bracket did get any support, such as where the e-brake handle mounts. Note that you have to buy later e-brake cables and route them through the rear floor pans as well.
So the biggest fabrication challenge for me was the center console. There was also a great deal of wire splicing involved to adapt the new dash to the old wiring.