I've been working on the rear over riders and the internal mounts for the turn signals as well as the internal latch release for the trunk. Also got some primer on some more parts.
This a cautionary tale. I have been playing around with my dashboard and various related modified pieces getting them ready for primer. The ash tray parts were de rusted and cleaned up some years ago, but the chrome clip parts that attach to the rear of the tray were in okay condition, but the was a little rust. I had never treated them before, so what the heck, I dropped them in some acid I keep handy in a coffee mug. Only half an inch or so deep. Next morning I thought I'd better check how they are. Well, they were not good! In fact this is what I was left with, seems that under the chrome there was not much real metal. EEK!: What remains is the fact that these are now obviously toast, so I'm going to need replacements. Such a simple part, but where are they? Of course the lesson is to be careful with thin metal and acid. Even a few hours can be terminal!
Could try All Ford Parts, Ive just been looking at their catalogue, loads of parts http://www.allfordparts.com/shop/content/parts-inquiry-form
Thanks, I'll take a look. I know I can get complete ash trays new, which include the bits I need, but I don't need/want to pay for complete ones.
I know it's important to keep build threads moving, but I have been doing fiddly, small, not really photoworthy things, but I'll post something soon.
It's been a while! As my last post said, I've been doing fiddly things. One was getting the dash ready for epoxy and that meant finalising and finishing a lot of things that had been roughed in. I'd made a sub dash to do a few things, including hide the bottom of the a/c and mount ducts, so first up was to trim and finalise fitment of that. I've a duct at each end and a third one through the radio hole (I'll get to that.) Made some demister ducts as well and painted them. I made these from metal and the a/c ones from glass. Also needed to mount the heater water valve. As a side note, this is a Vintage Air a/c and heater, which is great, but as anyone in a RHD country will know, making parts oriented for LHD can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, having to route things the opposite way. So this is my centre a/c duct solution. I used the radio location, but don't want to see the duct, except when in use. I used the delete cover like this: And made a hinge to swing it up and clear of the duct like this when in use:
That hinged radio cover is so neat. There is more work there than meets the eye. Had to look close to see those two little slots where the hinge arm disappears.
I will second that. What a great idea on the centre outlet cover. That sub dash rail is nice and subtle also. Michael
Great ideas and workmanship! I was curious when I saw the sketches in the cardboard in the first picture. I thought you were working on a hinge for the speaker grill... but that is one cool way to hide that duct outlet! I am going to see if i can save this thumbs up imogee that 1 shot used for future use. will need to use every time you post for sure.
Ha-ha! I often wonder how much peripheral stuff people inspect in pictures. Actually, those drawings are for something else...on the car. Don't know how far I'll get with that. I spent many nights staring at the ceiling in the dark imagining various hinge arrangements. It's really easy to overcomplicate things in those situations. Then I really can't sleep. Seems like small thing, but I'm glad it's over. Of course, there's always something else.
Speaking of what else we can see in your photos... What can you tell us about that vise? I don't think I have ever seen one like it.
It's an offset vice which allows you to hold long things vertically. Very useful feature. This is similar to mine:
I really like the design of hiding the AC vent behind the radio plate. Can you share more info with us on the hinges? Close-ups or dimensioned drawings? Thanks!!
Appreciate the interest. At first I was trying to work out something tricky, but in the end and via frustration settled on something simple. I don't have drawings or dimensions or anything, but I'll take some pics. The basics are that the recess is deep enough for the duct I'm using to just clear the blank off plate. The pivot point for the hinge arm is as high as reasonable on the dash side and as low as reasonable the other way on the cover plate. The hinge arms themselves are simple ladle shapes, with the 'cup' of the ladle at the top. As 34 Gaz observed, I cut slots for the ladle bottoms to go into when in the closed position.
Some more of finalising the subdash. You can see the rectangular cutout for the a/c. Next thing I thought I would tackle was a gear position indicator for the transmission. I had already made and fitted a gate for this behind the column drop. First thing was to figure out the size and sweep for a quadrant. I wanted as small as possible. A bent piece of pointy scrap and masking tape came into play. Once in the general zone I made quadrant shapes in cardboard, experimented with that then transferred to Lexan. I also had to mount it, so some fortunate diameter exhaust tube came into play. Mmm, this could work...with some trimming. This is just an experiment, but fingers crossed it's okay at this point.
Trim, trim... Closer. Never mind the lines, they are for gear positions. If this goes well I'll make a good piece and have letters engraved like a real one. And this is where it will sit: So, do the pointer, quadrant and gate all sing the same song? Have to wait for the next exciting episode when I connect the lever at the end of the column to the transmission linkage. In the mean time, the general arrangement looks like this. Including a dash mount hand/emergency/parking brake.
Very shifty and I hate to rain on your parade mate but that column is in front of the passenger seat. If my wife is riding shotgun that would be a baaaad call.
Things being what they are in this neck of the woods, it's actually a LDNRP, which is harder to pronounce.
Ha haaa! Well that's just bass-ackwards... wait... I just looked at a globe & I have a question; How do you chaps keep your hats on always hangin' up-side down like that?
This is a question that comes up a lot and the answer is quite simple really when you find out that for hundreds of years - so long in fact that it's become accepted as 'reality' - globe manufacturers have been mounting their products upside down. They took their lead from European cartographers who, in the European convention, start writing from the top left of a page and hence drew their maps the same way. And wasn't that a mistake!
The Jalopy Journal
