47-55.1 1954 3100 ignition/key bezel question

[11Werner11]

Feel free to skip the long story and go to my bolded question below.

Per my intro in the welcome area, I've become the mechanic for my mother-in-law's 1954 Chevy Truck. We live in Los Angeles and she recently had to evacuate from her home and lost her house to the fire. She chose to drive her 3100 out of the fire rather than her 2020 Mini. She's my hero! Thankfully, the Mini got out with only a little melting to the side of the car.

She parked the truck at our house the first night and, the very next day, we had to evacuate here as well (our house did not burn). She had parked in the driveway and I moved the truck forward a little after she got out. I stupidly left the key on and burned up the coil. The next day, when we had to evacuate, the truck wouldn't start and we had to push it onto the street in order to get our car and truck out of our single lane driveway. I didn't know at the time that it was the coil. I came back home at 3AM when the evacuation was lifted and the truck was still parked on the street. Phew!

The next morning, I went out to investigate why the truck wouldn't start and found the ignition switch dangling from its wires under the dash and a mostly dead battery. The tumbler was missing and so was the bezel which holds the ignition into the dash. So some jerk tried to steal it but couldn't get it started. I then tested the coil and igniter, replaced the coil and got it into the driveway, however, I now need to replace the ignition tumbler (and other locks) and also the bezel. Hence my question below:

I don't recall whether the bezel had three or four indents on it. I've looked online in various places for stock photos, but I haven't been successful. Some sellers have the version with 3-indents every 120 degrees and list it for 1947-1954 while others have a 4-indent bezel every 90 degrees and list it for 1953-1956. Should a 1954 C3100 have 3 or 4 indents on the ignition bezel on the dash?

I apologize for being so long-winded, but I figured someone might say, "Just look at the old bezel", which I can't do. Thanks for any help.

[leegreen]

Sorry to hear you MIL lost her house, but on behalf of the forum she gets a big attagirl from us for saving the '54 !

The little indents on the bezel are just for turning it to tighten, so unless you are looking for points at concurs the main thing is that it fits the ignition switch threads. If I had a choice I'd go for 4 indents as it would be easier to cut a piece of sheetmetal to fit across two to tighten it.

[nvrdone]

So you need the switch bezel. Unless you are looking for a 100 pt restoration, I dont think it makes a difference.
Having said that, How is the wiring? Can you stick a screwdriver in the switch and turn it on / start the truck?
All the parts you need should be available from Brothers Truck, CPP and others. All are in the LA area.
You will probably get many posts from people on this forum with lots of info.
Glad you guys survived.

[11Werner11]

Originally Posted by leegreen

Sorry to hear you MIL lost her house, but on behalf of the forum she gets a big attagirl from us for saving the '54 !

The little indents on the bezel are just for turning it to tighten, so unless you are looking for points at concurs the main thing is that it fits the ignition switch threads. If I had a choice I'd go for 4 indents as it would be easier to cut a piece of sheetmetal to fit across two to tighten it.

She sure does get a big attagirl! Thanks for sharing your practical thought about 4 indents. That makes sense to me. I'm not worried about concours presentation of the truck, but I usually do like keep things true to stock form. My MIL will never notice that detail.

[11Werner11]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

So you need the switch bezel. Unless you are looking for a 100 pt restoration, I dont think it makes a difference.
Having said that,
All the parts you need should be available from Brothers Truck, CPP and others. All are in the LA area.
You will probably get many posts from people on this forum with lots of info.
Glad you guys survived.

Thanks for the feedback and also the info on Brothers Truck and CPP. I'll check them out.

Originally Posted by nvrdone

How is the wiring? Can you stick a screwdriver in the switch and turn it on / start the truck?

Nope, because they stole the tumbler out of the switch. I think that means that the thieves were unable to use a screw driver to turn the truck on and had to remove the ignition to hotwire it. They must have actually been a little sophisticated. I believe you can't remove the bezel until you've removed the tumbler. I'm not sure how they got them both out and I'm annoyed that they took them both. They did create a small bend in the dash sheet metal where the hole for the key tumbler sits. I haven't noticed any other damage, thankfully.

[nvrdone]

all you need to remove the key cylinder is a key that fits. put the key in, stick the paper clip end into the little hole, turn left & out pops the cylinder. then stick a flat blade screw driver in the slot that the key cylinder fits into and turn right and the ignition turns on. But wait - does the truck have a foot stomp starter?

[11Werner11]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

But wait - does the truck have a foot stomp starter?

It sure does have the stomp pedal starter. But I wonder if I could still use the screwdriver to turn the key to the run position. I'll have to try that.

I just used the wiring diagram to figure out which connections were made when the key was turned to run. Then I used a pair of wires with alligator clips to make those connections and hit the starter pedal. It's a bit fiddly and, if I can do it with a screwdriver instead, I will do that until the new keys/locks show up.

[mr48chev]

That is a bummer.
I'd just connect in a hiden toggle switch for on and off until you get the parts to fix it right.

Dumb potential thieves as that truck can be hot wired with a piece of wire from the battery cable at the starter to the coil. Twist a piece of wire to the terminal at the battery and at the coil and go inside and hit the stomp pedal.

The filing station shows to have the correct parts to put it back together if they actually have them in stock.

7 The filling station has the correct Bezel and switch althogh you should be able to find them elsewhere and the filling station shows the correct lock cylinder and agan you should be able to find it in other places. The pages also tell you what else those pieces fit.

[mr48chev]

I did some more searching and am not finding what I see as the correct pieces on other sites.

You can use a univesal parts house switch with keys but my experience says those will tear up the hole and the dash in a while and always are coming loose in a stock Chevy ignition switch hole. Fine in a flat dash that you drill an exact size hole in but not good for stock holes. If I used one of those as a 10 buck temporary fix so it can be driven and somewhat secure i'd make a bracket for the switch and hang it under the dash.

[11Werner11]

Originally Posted by nvrdone

How is the wiring? Can you stick a screwdriver in the switch and turn it on / start the truck?
.

You could probably tell from my earlier reply that I completely misunderstood your question... I thought you were asking whether a thief could stick in a screwdriver and turn the switch, before the attempted theft. But I now understand that you were asking if it was possible for me to use a screwdriver to turn the ignition switch. Not sure where my mind was at that moment. Like I said, I'll give it a try tomorrow.

[11Werner11]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

I did some more searching and am not finding what I see as the correct pieces on other sites.

You can use a univesal parts house switch with keys but my experience says those will tear up the hole and the dash in a while and always are coming loose in a stock Chevy ignition switch hole. Fine in a flat dash that you drill an exact size hole in but not good for stock holes. If I used one of those as a 10 buck temporary fix so it can be driven and somewhat secure i'd make a bracket for the switch and hang it under the dash.

Thanks for the posts and info. I was going to try Chevs of the 40s for some of the parts because they had really good prices. But it looks like The Filling Station has an even better price for the bezel.

[mr48chev]

I like Chevs of the 40's because they actually say if it is in stock or not. I use the Filling station to see if something exists in the aftermarket quite often but have ordered from them. My experince with them that I have to believe that on slow moving items they may order them in on a stock order from the supplier and it does take some time for the parts to show up.

I use Classic parts a lot https://classicparts.com/ because they will put what ever you order (small stuff) in the size of priority mail box that it fits in, charge you the exact cost of the priiority mail box and you get it in short order. They didn't show switch or Bezel though.

For me Chevs of the 40's is a three hour road trip in each direction and my wife calls it going for a ride and getting to eat out. Even taking the HHR I probably don't save money over shipping costs .