Portland Swap Meet and Paint

Dennis K and I spent last weekend selling parts at the Portland Swap Meet.  This is a HUGE swap meet that goes for 2 1/2 days.  We had one 10'x10' spot and it was chocked full of stuff.  We came with 2 truck loads and left with half a load.  We had a great time and got rid of a lot of excess parts.

This was our view but the picture only shows a 1/3 of the building.  There were 3 other buildings like this one.  The outdoor section was 3 times as big as all of the indoor buildings combined.

OK, back to business.  It's time to paint.  This is the Flaming River tilt column and wheel adaptor I purchased last year.  I cleaned and masked the parts to get them ready for paint. 

I also prepped the two windshield wiper grills and the speaker cover.  Here they are already in primer.  I used the same paint I used on the car.

These are aluminum blinker and tilt wheel levers supplied with the steering column.  They're nice but not very 1963-ish.  I decided to modify them. 

This is the original blinker switch from our car.  I want our new switches to look like this.

These are the same switches shown above.  I put them in the lathe and modified them.  I masked then painted the ends to look like plastic.  They're not though, these are still solid aluminum. 

The speaker cover had a little corrosion.  The little green specks are primer that filled in the defects.  This is smooth to the touch but still gets another coat of primer.  I don't want any metal showing when I shoot color. 

Check it out!  The steering column looks spectacular.  The switches look great too. 

It looks great from the passenger side as well.

And how about those wiper grills?  I couldn't have asked for better.  I am very pleased.

But the speaker grill sucks.  Really sucks.  So, I need to find a good dark blue or black color, probably with a semi-gloss or satin finish.  I am not sure which.  Wish me luck.

I'll work on the speaker grill next.  It really needs to be toned way down.

Thanks for watching. 

Gauge Cluster Installation

Before I stuck my head under the dash I did everything I could to  make sure I was ready.  I triple checked to make sure all the wires were marked and the dash bulbs were installed, made sure the tachometer and speedometer cables were positioned properly, and I made sure the oil line from the oil pressure gauge was fed through the proper hole in the fire wall.  I also installed the trip odometer reset cable to the gauge cluster. 

I installed my homemade aluminum rods into the dash screw holes then I slid the dash cluster into position.  These rods give me a little extra room to hook up the wires.

I used zip ties to keep the dash cluster from sliding off.  Some electrical connections were easier to make from the outside.  These included the light switch (shown), the ignition switch, and the three bulbs located at the top of the cluster.  All other connections were made from behind the dash.

I installed the tachometer and the oil line to the gauges first then I made the engine compartment connections.  This allowed me to slide the cluster without getting push back. 

Hooking up the dash cluster was a little overwhelming to begin with but as each wire was connected the job became less intimidating.  When all the connections were made  the cluster was pushed into position.  One by one the aluminum rods were removed and replaced with a dash screw.  It's tight behind there but everything fit.   

Check out the dash lights.  I like it!

This is a video of the dashboard in action.  Enjoy.

Dash Gauges in Action

Dash and Dash Pads

The dash is made up of three components, the center section (shown) and two dash pads often called eyebrows.  Our pieces are brittle, cracked, damaged and in need of TLC.  The center section is a fiberglass frame covered with vinyl.  It will be recovered with new molded vinyl.  

   Most of the dash was brittle but some places were still soft. 

The center section has two metal pieces.  These were removed, painted and re-installed.

The worse part of the entire process was trying to remove the old covering.  I tried a pick, screwdriver, Exacto knife, needle gun and other utensils.  The pick worked well but was very slow.

The best tool ultimately was the Fien Multi-Master fitted with a flat blade.

There were several areas that needed minor fiberglass repair. 

 My dual action sander was the last step.  The total process took about 4 hours. 

I chose this contact cement to bond the new cover to the fiberglass frame.

The cover was glued down one section at a time.  Clamps were used on all the edges.

 The results look like new and I couldn't be happier.

The dash pads were replaced, not recovered.  After 50 years in the sun the foam cores have turned brittle making the pads pretty much worthless.  The new pads, however, on a per pound basis, are the most expensive item purchased to date.  These were $1250 for the pair.

The dash and dash pads look awesome!

Installation has already begun.  More on that will follow.

As always, thanks for watching.

Heater Delete & Wiper Motor

 The block-off plate for the heater motor is the last piece on our car that has rust issues.  There are also several drilled holes that are not original.  The one rusted hole in the upper right.

The Heater Delete block-off plate is rare.  I hesitate to make repairs as I am concerned that I may loose distinguishing marks that show authenticity.  The gasket number is a good example.

Welding was kept to short intermitent durations to prevent warping and to prevent the gasket from melting.  The rusted area in the corner was drilled out just large enough to get to sound metal.

Using a scribe, I marked a plug out of same gauge metal.

Using a copper backing bar, I made a series of alternating tack welds to minimize heat.

This is as much restoration as I am willing to do.  The block-off plate gets tucked up behind the passenger fender in the engine compartment against the fire wall.  It will be hard to see.  

A couple coats of flat black paint makes it look acceptable.

The original gasket survived and it will work as intended.

It's there.  Right in the middle of the picture.

The windshield wiper motor...what can I say.  After restoring the wrong one I searched E-bay for a replacement.  I bought this original, properly coded, fully restored motor.  All finishes are correct and the restoration included the washer pump assembly. 

Look close and you'll see 3 different plug-in locations.  The lone one is for the ground.

New rubber mounting hardware was included.

Clips, fasteners, plastic and rubber parts are all new.

As viewed from inside the car, installation was a easy with the dash removed.

It looks good and it tucked up nicely behind the distributor.

The wiper transmission is a simple design.  I put it in the blast box and freshened it up with crushed walnut.  Hoppies lubricant was used on all moving parts and it's now good as new.

This is the wiper transmission in the neutral configuration, or off position.  To insure proper wiper motion the left wiper lever must be positioned up and the right wiper lever positioned down.

The wipers work great and they look awesome.

More interior work is next.  Check back often for updates!