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