project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[PhilA]

I think for Halloween, smoke machine, cardboard teeth covered in tin foil in the grille, more red and orange lights scattered about and a lightning light for outside the back window of the garage.

 

Phil

[busmansholiday]

I think for Halloween, smoke machine, cardboard teeth covered in tin foil in the grille, more red and orange lights scattered about and a lightning light for outside the back window of the garage.

 

Phil

And the theme music from Jaws playing in the background??

[PhilA]

Haha, probably just a thunder and lightning track playing on the hifi.

 

Phil

[captain_70s]

And the theme music from Jaws playing in the background??

 

[PhilA]

 

Added ambiance.

[tooSavvy]

^^ Fill the garage with WhiteSmoke.... Unveil by raising door.... Full light set up to provide BackLight.... Roll car out to AlsoSprach.... When everyone restores composure >> pop boot and serve Cocktails

[PhilA]

Updated the rear lights to LED. They're now definitely red. Slightly strange with the immediate on/off for the indicators but that's the way it goes.

 

 

Also did all the dash illumination with the new LED bulbs I bought.

 

 

Clean white. It's probably about the color they wished it would have been back in the day (painting the inside of the gauges blue to make the light a bit more white looking). Camera got a little upset with the actual color and made it look a bit funny.

 

Also fixed the ash tray handle with a screw that was stuck down between the exhaust and intake manifold that had probably been there for decades, and also the light inside the ash tray which comes on with the lights and is switched by pulling it out. Pull it just a little way and it illuminates the floor (by design, it seems) which is neat. I need to look more because no light gets into the ash tray itself. Not that it'll be used, but eh.

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

Updated the rear lights to LED. They're now definitely red. Slightly strange with the immediate on/off for the indicators but that's the way it goes.

 

Write a routine for an arduino to fade the LEDs on and off?

[tooSavvy]

"..on with the lights and is switched by pulling it out. Pull it just a little way and it illuminates the floor (by design, it seems) which is neat. I need to look more because no light gets into the ash tray itself. Not that it'll be used, but eh.."

 

I have a green light glows down [into the ashtray] with the lights on.

I have removed the ashtray [don't smoke] and the slot is set for use as the location for my Reversing Camera TFT. It will flip out & down and, because I have araldited the ashtray 'front lip' onto the screen bottom you wouldn't know it was a mod...

 

[PhilA]

Write a routine for an arduino to fade the LEDs on and off?

I already wrote a thing for an Arduino that fades the light in and out accurately..

 

Doesn't need the added complexity, the lights come on nice and brightly and are easily visible. They were just a little pink/yellow before.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Can of paint arrived. Going to see if it works on stainless for the logos on the wheels.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Old wheel trim centers were looking a little tired on the front.

 

 

2500 grit and soapy water and a little effort later:

 

 

All masked up carefully.

 

 

And finally, 3 coats of clear red later (dried a little hazy, will polish it once it's fully hardened).

 

 

 

Looking much better. Now 3 more to do and possibly the two rear badges also.

 

 

Phil

[bigstraight6]

Nice one Phil, it’s all this attention to detail that’s making this car stunning.

[PhilA]

Well, it was something that was giving me the irrits when I walked into the garage and saw it each time.

 

This was somewhat experimental, but turned out okay. It's not perfect but it's better than it was. I'll pull one of the rear ones off that's been painted with red Dulux as a comparison at a later date.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

The effect with the Clear Red over the chrome is amazing its almost got that enamel feel to it!

Wish it woud stop piddling down here so I could get some work done

Your stormin ahead on this Phil

Keep it coming

That's kinda the look I am going for. On the smooth metal it should hopefully come up polish and wax. The emblems on the back are molded with deco diamonds and I'm not sure how well it'll sit on the edges. It may pay to actually do them in enamel.

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Paint the chieftain the red and leave the circle polished - see how that is

[320touring]

I did wiry stuff on the Oxford today, unfortunately nae time for Cardboard teef:(

[PhilA]

The circle isn't in the best shape, under the chrome, the emblem is just pot metal.

 

I may experiment a bit more before I go down that route.

[PhilA]

The effect with the Clear Red over the chrome is amazing its almost got that enamel feel to it!

Wish it woud stop piddling down here so I could get some work done

Your stormin ahead on this Phil

Keep it coming

Paint was hardened up nicely so I had a go with polish and wax.

 

 

Agreeable outcome.

 

 

Looks good at an oblique angle too. I'll pull the car out before Halloween and give it a wash, hopefully it'll be sunny.

 

*

 

For this task? Under initial conditions, recommend this as a good clear red colour. Would do well on faded light lenses also.

 

Phil

 

 

*Bonus Where's Wally content

[purplebargeken]

That looks bloody great.

 

Such a lovely car

[somewhatfoolish]

20181013_214918.jpg*

 

Mr Chieftain looks like a fist 'flipping the bird' (as americans are wont to say) in this one.

[PhilA]

Went to Wally World this morning and bought some paint stripper and some cheap toothbrushes.

 

I'm going to pull one of the badges off, also the rear wheels have been painted with some fairly thick red paint so I figured instead of possibly scratching the metal up I'd strip it chemically.

 

More to follow

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Yeah, this looks not so good. I think it was painted with the thickest paint they could find.

 

 

Paint stripper steps in to save the day.

 

 

Pour and wait.

 

 

It's bubbling and catching flies as I write this. Excellent!

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Wheel emblem looks nice in the sun. Took it off and put it outside to look while the paint was coming off the rear badge.

 

 

Looks better already. Just drying it out, then I think I'll mask it up and give it a go with the red lacquer.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Masked up.

 

 

Painted.

 

 

Comparison.

 

 

The rest will be done the same!

 

 

Phil

[PhilA]

I got all paint-happy this afternoon.

 

 

I did the other flank badge.

 

 

I redid the front badge the way it should be.

 

 

And I did the rear badges with a mild custom touch, the pinstripes and "EIGHT" in red.

 

No, it's nothing towards actually making the car go on the road but psychologically it's making progress.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Bloody Ell

She sure has a lot of Badges!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry Emblems

Think Merican Must Think Merican!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sterling work and results as always

It sure does. It's missing one that's very hard to get though.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

 

Orange or white front lights?

 

That's a proper old cadmium glass bulb too, so a nice shade of orange (sadly it's counterpart broke many years ago).

 

Phil

[LightBulbFun]

20181014_211229.jpg

 

Orange or white front lights?

 

That's a proper old cadmium glass bulb too, so a nice shade of orange (sadly it's counterpart broke many years ago).

 

Phil

 

leave it like that and then fit 1 french yellow head light on the opposite side to really fuck with people 

 

on a more serious note do ya have a picture of the old cadmium glass indicator bulb? im curious about its details I dont think iv come across a Proper coloured glass indicator bulb before, just Cadmium yellow head lamp bulbs (but iv never heavily focused on automative lighting)

 

as to what I prefer hard for me to say, as these are running lights not just indicators right?

[PhilA]

leave it like that and then fit 1 french yellow head light on the opposite side to really fuck with people 

 

on a more serious note do ya have a picture of the old cadmium glass indicator bulb? im curious about its details I dont think iv come across a Proper coloured glass indicator bulb before, just Cadmium yellow head lamp bulbs (but iv never heavily focused on automative lighting)

 

as to what I prefer hard for me to say, as these are running lights not just indicators right?

Tomorrow I can. It's a standard 1157NA bulb. Very similar to the 5/21W twin filament (it's 8/23W) used in tail/brake lights there. In this instance it's parking light (sidelight) and indicator rolled into one.

 

Phil