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1951 Pontiac Chieftain


PhilA

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The other aspect of this is using the same gauge wire, I'm running lower current.

 

So, to fit the analogy, I can have the smaller team pull harder by reducing the number of people pulling and replacing people with noodle arms for people who are physically bigger and stronger, but they take up more room because now muscle bulk so I can fit fewer on the rope.

Therefore, I remove two weaker people and replace one stronger, all that happens is I get the same pull but the one person has now to work much harder for the same net result.

 

I'm going to add a second rope to it and see if that helps. If it does I'll invest in people who are stronger and a slightly longer rope.

 

Phil

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Coerced the wife into helping in the garage.

 

Unwound 1000 turns (3 times up and down the garage), started winding it back on, got 300 turns in and the old wire broke.

 

post-5454-0-87830400-1545006073_thumb.jpg

 

She was real enthusiastic about being out in the cold.

 

Going to unwind it and start over tomorrow.

 

Phil

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Found a little time to experiment and actually look at the way the thing's wired- the right hand coil is actually in series. The coils are wired center tap Y.

 

So I put a resistor in series with the left hand coil.

 

post-5454-0-22151600-1545102078_thumb.jpg

 

Initial experimentation proves promising, with odd bias due to the winding of the coils as they currently are. I'm going to rewind the coils back to stock and try bring the left coil down a little with the trimpot.

 

Phil

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Freshly wound coils, 1000 turns and 1500 turns.

 

I need to solder up a couple new trimpots- with the other testing before I have burned some "null" spots in the current ones right around the value I need them to be smooth, but it feels like from here all that's needed is a bit of adjustment and pfaff.

 

post-5454-0-45293800-1545364815_thumb.jpg

 

Should be able to use a fixed value resistor afterwards and have it accurate enough as a bias.

 

It'll then be nice to actually get back to doing something that's not actually gauges on the car! I need to start redoing wires for the dash illumination, and then the rest of the car.

 

Phil

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I think I've got it. With 120 Ohms across the left coil the gauge is pretty accurate.

 

post-5454-0-05093500-1545522001_thumb.jpg

 

I need to get a resistor capable of at least 2 Watts power handling to put in line. Soon to be on order.

 

post-5454-0-86209400-1545522084_thumb.jpg

 

I also took apart and cleaned up the cigar lighter assembly. That was quite therapeutic.

 

Phil

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It's accurate to the center of the scale and towards the hot side. It over-reads by about 10F at the bottom of the scale. I decided it was more important to know if the engine was hot than if it is cold.

 

Also now looking for 3/16" brass oval head tubular rivets. I don't want to solder the original rivets for the center pin connection on the bulb holders. I want to reproduce the original crimped style connection to tolerate heat better in case I decide to nix the LED dash illumination...

 

 

Phil

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Pulled the gauges out of the frame. Started taking the old black paint off.

 

post-5454-0-53384300-1545884928_thumb.jpg

 

Looks quite nice with the chrome all shiny but while impractical for sunshine reflections.

 

post-5454-0-44791000-1545884976_thumb.jpg

 

Masked it all up with fine line tape.

 

post-5454-0-23840800-1545885033_thumb.jpg

 

Blown over with satin black.

 

post-5454-0-74458400-1545885084_thumb.jpg

 

All pulled off and gauges back in.

 

post-5454-0-53545600-1545885112_thumb.jpg

 

Oh yes, that'll do.

 

 

Phil

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I've seen pictures where people have taken the paint off and polished the metal up, however I really like the contrasting black and silver. Here though- sunshine is definitely an issue! The upper edge of the little "shelf" that sticks out would be evil for bright reflections. You can see how bright the fluorescent lights above my bench reflect in a line in the pictures.

 

I may temporarily pop it back in the dash today to see what it looks like. It may yet get a bit of a rub down and a repaint, haven't decided. Depends how lumpy the paint came out. By now it should be mostly dry (it's warm but humid with rain).

 

Phil

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Saw an area that I missed with the paint last night.

 

post-5454-0-17025200-1545932851_thumb.jpg

Started to mask it all back up again.

 

post-5454-0-67974800-1545932985_thumb.jpg

Rubbed it down with 1000 grit.

 

post-5454-0-84556400-1545933020_thumb.jpg

Nice new even coat of black.

 

post-5454-0-64628900-1545933066_thumb.jpg

All the masking removed. That's better.

 

post-5454-0-21121000-1545933130_thumb.jpg

Greased up the gears in the odometer.

 

post-5454-0-50284400-1545933165_thumb.jpg

Repainted the speedometer bucket and reassembled it.

 

post-5454-0-19670100-1545933203_thumb.jpg

And put it all together with the lights all lit.

 

Going to wait for the paint to fully harden, but that's one thing off the checklist.

 

Phil

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Freshly wound coils, 1000 turns and 1500 turns.

 

I need to solder up a couple new trimpots- with the other testing before I have burned some "null" spots in the current ones right around the value I need them to be smooth, but it feels like from here all that's needed is a bit of adjustment and pfaff.

 

attachicon.gif20181220_210544.jpg

 

Should be able to use a fixed value resistor afterwards and have it accurate enough as a bias.

 

It'll then be nice to actually get back to doing something that's not actually gauges on the car! I need to start redoing wires for the dash illumination, and then the rest of the car.

 

Phil

Somewhere in the UK a BT phone installation is missing some wire... :)
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