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"BADGirl" - Holden Gemini Page 10

The Interior & Re~Assembly:

The Interior and Re~Assembly.

When We got the Car Back to Our Upholsterer Friends Garage We Started with the Task of Assembly . Numerous Small Items Such as Plastic Clips and Brackets were Either Missing and or Broken, So My Boyfriend Had to Remake, Scrounge Wrecking Yards and Hunt around the Holden Spare Parts Sections as Assembly Went Ahead . The Original Tint was Removed with Razor Blades Plus Thinners Soaked Rags, and I Don't Mind Saying that the Old Masking Tape was Used on Quiet a Few Occasions to Stem the Blood Flow ! Ouch !

Well Our Friend, as Kind as He was, Had a Few Personal Problems of His Own, So the Job of Upholstering Took a Little Longer Than Was First Anticipated, But as a Self Taught Man His Work was First Class and Also Helped to Add to My Trophy List . To Speed Things Up, Brian Z Stitched Up the Upholstery, and Fitted the Hood lining While My Boyfriend Fitted the Seat Coverings, Made Up New Door Cards and Covered Them With the Trim supplied, Made Up the Parcel Shelf, Boot Panels, Padded and Covered the Front - Centre and Rear Pillars Plus a Whole Lot of Other Little Things That Needed Covering in Carpet, Vinyl or Velvet . As All Lights and Fittings Were Put in, They were Sealed with Sikaflex, a Wonderful Sealer That Hardens Like the Side Walls of a Tyre, Thankfully I Never Had to Pull the Car Apart ! Also Before the Interior Went in, All the Interior Panels, Frames and Chassis Were Sprayed with 8 Litres of Tectyl Rust Proofer and 4 Litres of Sound Deadener .

I Had Purchased Knox Super Plush Pile Black Carpet for the Interior, and Due to the Underlay (5 to 8 Layers) and the Thickness of the Carpet it Made for Some Real Fun to Fit up . I Also Purchased some of the same to do the Bottom of the Door Trims, the Parcel Shelf and the Panels in Front of the Rear Seat . The Boot was Covered in Black Automotive Carpet, and the Boot Floor was also Treated to Underlay Before Covering, One Thing for Sure, when "BADGirl" Finally Hit the Road, She was Whisper Quiet On The roughest of Roads !

As the Stereo and Car Alarm was Partially Installed into the Roof Console, all Wiring for the Power, Equalizer and Speakers etc was Routed Through the Turret Frames and Front Windscreen Pillars before the Interior Upholstery was Installed . The Stereo Consisted of a Radio/Cassette Head Unit, 4 Channel x 25 Watts, 100 Watt Equalizer, 6 1/2 inch Rear Speakers in the Parcel Shelf, 1 inch Tweeters Fitted to the Roof Above the Rear Window, and 4 1/2 inch Midrange Speakers in the Front Doors along with 4 inch Split Tweeters . The Rear Speakers were Lankars, and Had Incredible Bass for Such a Little Speaker, But seeing as the Fuel Tank was Located Under the Rear Parcel Shelf, I was Limited as to What Size Speakers Could be Flush Fitted for a Cleaner Look . The Front Speakers were Incredibly Clear, and When the Stereo was Cranked Up It Felt as if Someone was Trying to Remove Your Eardrums with a Pair of Metal Tweezers ! All Without any Distortion ! When I Cranked Up 'Wiggle It', a Techno / Rap Song, it was Incredible, It Was so Loud and Clear it Made You Dizzy . It Was a Shame I Had to Let the Stereo Go With the Car .

A Special 1 cm Thick Sound Deadening Material as used in Speaker Systems was Purchased and Glued into the Turret, along with Between 5 to 8 Layers of Underlay on the Floors, Under the Rear Seat, Parcel Shelf, Boot Floor and behind the Firewall . Brand New Door Rubbers and Weather Seals were Purchased and Fitted as Well . A ZZ/Z Parcel Shelf was Fitted to the Under Dash area on the Left Hand Side for a Little Extra Needed Storage Space . A full Black SLX Dash was Fitted Instead of the Brown and Tan SL Original to Continue the Black Theme, Along with an SLX Rear Seat which had the Mini Headrests Built-in, These were Slightly Re-Shaped to be more Comfortable to the Two Outer Rear Seat Passengers . The Recaro Front Buckets were Fitted to new Gemini Seat Runners . A 3 spoke SAAS Sports Wheel was also Fitted, this Replacing the Gold Anodized 4 Spoke Sports Wheel that Forever Blinded Me on Every Turn of the Wheel on Every Sunny Day !

New Door and Boot locks were Fitted as well, these being of the Tubular Security Barrel Key Design, Mongrels to Fit but Unlike the Originals, You Couldn't Jam a Screw Driver into the Lock and Twist it Open .

I Searched High and Low for a Set of Interior Window Winders to Match the Black Door Trims instead of the Original Brown Ones, and Ended up Finding a Set of Dark Blue Items in a Wrecking Yard, Close Enough at $20 each, Until One Day When I was at My Local Holden Dealer and Commented on the said Window Winders . The Ever so Helpful Salesman Informed Me that the After Market Winders Only Came in One Colour ....... Black ! AND The Price ? Around $5.00 each ! Bugger ! Well Without Saying, I Bought a New Set, Anyone Interested in a Good set of Dark Blue Window Winders at $80.00 the set ?

Nah! Didn't think so .

Brand New Black Safe 'n' Sound Inertia Reel Seat Belts were Fitted into the Front, along with 3 Brand New Black Inertia Reel Seat belts of the Same Brand in the Rear for the Rear Seat Passengers, No Untidy Seat Belts Hanging Over the Rear Seat this way . It was also a Better Incentive to get the Kid's to Wear Their Seat Belts, At Least They were the Right Fit Each and Every Time . The Rears Had 6 inch Square 1/4 inch Thick Steel Plate Fitted Under the Parcel Shelf just in case the Belts Were Ever Called Upon to do More than was Ever Required of Them .

The Whole Wiring Loom Was Replaced As Well From Headlights to Taillights . The Original Loom Had Been Chopped and Changed so much it was Verging on Dangerous . My Boyfriend Re-wrapped the Whole New Loom with Black Insulation Tape, Hid a Few of the Under Bonnet Items to the Under Dash Area to Clean Things Up, Shortened and Lengthened Wires Where Necessary and Run Rubber Insulated Clamps Under the Guards in the Engine Bay to Keep the Wiring Back Out of the Way . He also Installed Integrated Air-conditioning, Twin Thermo Fans, Spot Lights all the Stereo gear, Police Scanner, AM CB Radio, Relays, Switches and Alarm Gear As Well . All the Air Vents and Tubing Behind the Dash was Sealed with Sikaflex to Make Sure no Cool Air Escaped Anywhere except the Air Vents . The Dash and all the Plastic Trim Pieces were Installed and Sealed with Sikaflex so as to Minimize Squeaks and Rattles . All the Interior Trim on the Rear Pillars, Center Pillars and Windscreen Pillars had Foam Glued Under it Before the Velour was Fitted over it, and the Hood Lining had a 2 inch Padded Strip Stitched into it Along the Tops of the Door Openings for Something Different, Also Protected the Old Head if for Any Reason Our Heads were to Hit the Inside Edge of the Roof . Certainly Looked Classy when it was Finished Too !

The Sunroof was Re-Fitted and Sealed with Sikaflex, and Luckily Never Ever Leaked, even in the Worst of Storms, and I Got Caught in Some Beauty storms on My Way Back from a Few Shows . The only Killer was I also Received some Good Doses of Sunburn through that Damned Glass Roof at times, But on a Hot Day it was Great to be able to Open it up and let out the Hot Air, Plus it Really Increased the Air Flow . The Front and Rear Screens were also Sealed with Sikaflex as well .