project 1951 Pontiac Chieftain

[hairnet]

Oof

[PhilA]

I think I'll have a hard time getting mine to look like that.

Mechanical bits first, making it pretty second.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Started out today by disassembling the old fuse holder and redoing the wiring and solder cups that contact the fuse.

A couple of the interior lights had eyelets in the bases as contacts. These are easy to unsolder and add new wire.

Takes a bit of time but it's worth it.

One lamp, with significantly less chance of conflagration. This one is operated by pulling the ash tray out and illuminates the floor.

More in-depth wiring then occurred.

Switch on parking lights, get parking lights

Switch on headlights, get headlights. Also, chief. This is all slightly more complicated than it should be because the parking lights go off when the headlights come on; that's an age thing in terms of function. However, the chief is technically on the tail light circuit so that has to be brought up to the front of the car.. additional complication.

Tail lights also work, which is a bonus.

Tomorrow, rear lights and turn signals. The switch is complicated and has 6 wires, which I need to trace out.

Phil

[PhilA]

[somewhatfoolish]

Is it wrong that I want the chief to flash when you put the hazards on?

[LightBulbFun]

2 minutes ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Is it wrong that I want the chief to flash when you put the hazards on?

hah that would be funny

does it even have hazards in the first place?

(theres a fun pub question, what was the first car to feature hazards?)

[PhilA]

Nope, no hazards. That took until about 1956 to appear as a default item. Heck, the turn signals were an optional extra on this!

 

Phil

[Heidel_Kakao]

My Cedric doesn't have hazards either and it's from 1969.

[PhilA]

I need a better pair of small snap ring pliers.

 

I have lost count of how many times I had the damn gearbox in pieces today because it was binding up when tightened down. 

I think I've narrowed it down to one of the new pieces being slightly taller than the old one and the snap ring isn't fully seating in its groove and throwing everything off

 

Phil

[Skizzer]

On 8/28/2019 at 6:34 PM, Heidel_Kakao said:

My Cedric doesn't have hazards either and it's from 1969.

Nor my Renault 16, which is 1976!

[PhilA]

Federal requirements were for the car to have hazards by 1956, as far as I can see.

Also, Federal spec headlights are actually pretty good when they have decent wire to run them. Original spec was 16 gauge wire for the dip beams, one 16ga wire for both.

I've used 16ga for the dash illumination.. 10ga for the feed to each lamp, 12 down to the bulbs from the terminal block. 

I've had crappy wiring make my headlights terrible before. Not this time round.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Something's wrong, it's binding up when I tighten it down. Apart again to see what's fallen out of line when I put it together.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Okay. Good news and bad news.

Bad news first:- I'm a moron and broke the retaining flange off the oil pump.

Good news:- Should be able to correctly shim the gearbox up but I need to order another shim. Also should be able to make some spreader plates and JB Weld the broken pieces of flange back on.

 

Still, upset at myself but we are getting places. The gasket set had the wrong thickness gasket in, meaning the endfloat was way too tight. I've cut a new gasket for the rear, probably will do one for the front and that should see it shimmed up correctly. Bloody stupid, both it and I.

 

Phil

[STUNO]

You are making it sound like you reassemble 1951 GM hydromatics for a living and you suddenly got one wrong ! 

[PhilA]

Ha. Almost, I could start up shop fixing them though, if I had the parts. Or the clientele.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

To take my mind off other things for a while, I rebuilt the wiring harness for the dash gauges.

 

Extra special bonus, it all works.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Test fit. Ammeter registers a discharge with the lights on, turn signal and high beam telltales work, dash dimmer kinda sorta does its thing, gearshift light works and even the gas gauge shows me the tank isn't completely empty.

 

Phil

[mercedade]

I know it's small potatoes in the grand scheme of this marvellous thread, but I love that dash so much. The font for the labels on the gauges looks like something Batman should be driving.

[PhilA]

Yeah, it really is a nice place to sit.

The old adage that "A good motor car makes the journey an enjoyable part of any trip" is true, I believe.

 

New oil pump for the gearbox comes in at a only-used-on-1951-units cost of $317

Fun times. My wallet doesn't like this gearbox

 

Phil

[hairnet]

Fek

Even at 7am 25c

Sweaty

[somewhatfoolish]

Is the broken flange not amenable to being brazed or welded? That is a lot of beer tokens.

[hairnet]

gotta be a fab wizard local who could sort it....?

 

[STUNO]

Fix it..you know you can?

[PhilA]

Cast iron that's been soaked in oil for nearly seventy years. Pig to weld up then it has to be utterly flat else it'll leak like a sieve and push the bearing out of line.

I'm just biting the bullet on this one, it's the only part of the gearbox that stops the gearbox destroying itself.

 

In slightly brighter news I rummaged through the Leftover Crap and found 2 bulb holders. Had a head scratching moment and remembered where they go, so rewired them and put them in place.

Heater controls and ignition switch light. 

I'm almost to the point of being able to wrap the loom up.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Got a couple things left to do:- wire in the reverse lights to the switch, run the wire for the alternator, starter button to the inhibitor switch, ignition feed to the distributor, a return line back from the other side of the distributor for a tachometer, warning light wire for the alternator and possibly oil pressure warning light wire.

Next item though is to pull the heater facia of the dash and remove, test and rewire the heater fan switch.

 

Phil

[PhilA]

Started in on the heater panel. Lower bezel, all rather dirty.

 

Cleaned up real nice.

 

Removed the upper heater bezel. Out of the car it looks filthy.

 

Cleaned up the switch and removed the old wires.

 

Scrubbed the grooves. Through years of dirt and metal polish some black paint became visible.

 

It all came up looking nice though.

 

Next up I added some wires with some connectors to a little warning light.

 

Years ago someone had drilled a hole under the dash. I fitted the lamp socket into the hole, which was a reasonably good fit.

 

Lamp itself doesn't look too much out of place and is tucked away but still visible when you're driving.

 

Hopefully a little more tonight

 

Phil

[somewhatfoolish]

Is that to illuminate your hushpuppies?

[hairnet]

comfy loafers.................

[Momentary Lapse Of Reason]

4 hours ago, PhilA said:

 

Started in on the heater panel. Lower bezel, all rather dirty.

Cleaned up real nice.

 

Removed the upper heater bezel. Out of the car it looks filthy.

Cleaned up the switch and removed the old wires.

Scrubbed the grooves. Through years of dirt and metal polish some black paint became visible.

 

It all came up looking nice though.

 

 

Before and After Y Tho candidates!

[purplebargeken]

The dash looks ace but the style of the MPH numbers makes my eyes hurt, not entirely a fan.  Everything else looks superb.