Over the past several weeks I have started many sub-projects... few of which have been completed for one reason or another.  I want to keep the progress up to date regardless of any actual accomplishments so I'll post what I have done.

Soon after completing the heater box I pulled the steering column down from the attic to see just what all the fuss was about in restoring one.  Some resto places want upwards of $300 to go through these things.  The column I have is original to the car and still has the half-horn ring steering wheel attached.  This steering wheel has more cracks than a dried up lake bed so I just tossed it... yes, it was that bad.  I found an online "how to" for restoring one of these things at the Mopar Muscle Magazine website.  I'll refer to it, as I need it but as I started taking things apart everything looked pretty straightforward.  I did take some pictures as there are a few snap rings and clips that I surely would forget which way and where they went.  On my new parts shelf I have a new ignition/lock and turn signal arm.  It looked to me as though the big deal with restoring this steering column was going to be the refinishing.  After everything was apart I bead blasted the main shaft, the outer reverse lock shaft and the outer housing pieces.  I simply painted the main shaft one of the Eastwood metal tones and will have the reverse lockout tube a contrasting metal color.  The outer housing pieces needed to be painted in an interior B7 blue and in an eggshell finish.  Actually, the dash frame will need this same color so I needed to get this paint pinned down.  To make a long story short my paint supplier did not have a mix for the code I gave him out of the service manual for the correct "suede" finish.  Just to try something I took home a pint of the glossy interior B7 of which he did have a mix for, along with some flattener.  Back home I goofed around with this color and the flatteners but correct flatness or not, it just wasn't the right color.  I still had the original dash frame that gave me something to compare with.  Anyhoo, that got me no where.  I really didn't have any other resource for the correct paint ...so I just started asking those who might have experience with it.  I emailed 4 or 5 restoration shops whose ads were in Mopar magazines and asked for their help.  Of 5 places I asked, guess how many different methods of getting the right color/texture I got... right... 5.  They all made sense and any one of them was worth a try.  The first thing I tried (by suggestion) was to contact "Mo-Paint".  They advertise factory interior suede finishes.  Great, I'm thinking. I don't have to do anything but load the gun and shoot!  Well, after waiting a week for an answer on my color availability, I was told they ran out of the suede texturing agent and it could be months before they had more... HUH?  That should put a crimp in their cash flow.  My second best alternative was to take one shops offer to mix some up for me.  This sounded great to me.  It would save me bunches of time and money as whichever paint I used I would have to mix my own color.  I cut off a nice clean 3"x3" piece of the original dash frame and sent it to the restorer for matching.  I'm expecting the paint any time.

Along with the steering column parts the dash frame needs this same color.  The cars original frame was nice and totally rust free but had been butchered around the radio mounting area.  My original intent was to splice in a good section from one of the extra dash frames I had.  I actually had cut the donor piece off a frame and cut the original dash to accept it.  Before I did any actual welding I took a good look at the 3rd frame I had in the attic and it looked way good enough to use.  Just a few holes from an after market tach needed to be filled along with some minor pitting near the glass edge.  I pushed the original dash aside and planned a day to sandblast the frame I was to use.  After sandblasting I filled the few holes and spread a bit of putty on the pitting. That's where the dash and column sit, waiting for some paint.

The rear brakes were assembled a long time ago and are waiting their turn on the parts shelf.  The front rotor had not been addressed.  These are original to the car and had not done any stopping since well before 1980.  I knocked out the old bearing races and bead blasted both rotors down to nice, rust free bare metal.  I tried some of Eastwoods caliper paint on these.  It spayed on pretty well and appears to have a lot of solids in it.  Once dry I knocked in the new races, packed the new bearings, put them all together and had NAPA re-surface them for me.  It all went smooth and they look as good as new.