I finally made time to install my blower pulley and found a great puller that would allow me to remove the factory pulley on the car without damaging it.

Anyone considering a pulley swap, I suggest you check eBay, there is a company (same place I bought the 6% pulley from) that will rent you the tool. You pay $60 for the tool and a ~$30 shipping fee, he sends the tool and when you return it the $60 is refunded. Basically renting the tool for the $30 shipping fee. WELL worth it, all I had to do was unbolt the coolant 'bridge' and swing it out of the way. Entire job is under an hour depending on if you drain the coolant.





My issue was that I took the pulley off and immediately felt it was aluminum so I went through all the trouble to replace a 6% pulley from the PO with a 6% pulley. At least it was a hair smaller! Since I didn't ruin the pulley taking it off I can now sell my old pulley online and recoup a few $$.

Since I didn't want to end on a bad note I decide to recover my A-pillars and the windshield header panel. Like all other cars this age, the cloth was sagging and dirty. I wasn't thrilled about recovering with cloth so I searched around and found an automotive vinyl that matches my factory oatmeal interior perfectly. I recovered the three parts in about an hour. I didn't think I would need to use any padding since the vinyl is thicker than the cloth so there are a few areas where padding might have looked better but right now it is 1000% better looking, easier to clean and matches the leather interior great. I also bought plenty of extra vinyl so I can re-cover with foam padding down the road. In fact it matches SO good that I am not even going to recover the visors in vinyl.

Not great pics since the garage was dark and there are a few wrinkles I need pull out once I get the top down.






Anyone interested in matching their oatmeal interior this is a perfect match. I reached out to several upholstery suppliers and few were willing to help me for such a small order but this company was great at helping, they let me send a sample piece left over from when I recovered my seats and within 3 day sent me samples of 3 that were the best match. Once I placed the order the vinyl delivered very fast! Couldn't be happier.

Corinthian "Shale Beige" - YourAutoTrim.com

 

Looking good! It appears to be a great match.

How many yards did it take to do the job? I'm guessing just one.

 

When you do the visors please take a lot of pics along the way. I am curious to see how that goes.

 

I bought 3 yards expecting to do the visors and cover a kids booster seat, but yea, probably less than half a yard and I was liberal with my cuts.

At this point I am not going to do the visors right away, they really do match that good that you don't notice they are cloth. If I do give it a go I'll take more pics.