A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by notsolo

You did really well cutting those out Greg, only other option is having someone else do it with expensive tools for cutting clean holes in metal ...Drop them off somewhere, wait 2 weeks and see if they lost them.

thanks, a buddy of mine has a plasma cutter CNC machine table thingie but I haven't used it yet, if he ever lets me try it I may just get hooked, but in the meantime we gots to do what we gots to do during this Virus Season, plus I knew the bezels on the gauges would cover up the imperfections allowing me more room for error

[Gregski]

guys I know you won't believe me but after I came up with what I thought was my own gauge layout I finally wen't looking for ideas on the Google this morning, when I came across this 1963-1967 Corvette design, OMG I have never seen this before yet this is totally what I was going for, how do I go back in time to the 60s and tell them they stole my design? ha ha

actually makes you feel kinda good that your idea is something, my ex boss has a really keen eye for automotive design, and I am convinced Mazda and or Acura stole some of his graphics ideas, since he went to a Mazda reveal show once and two years later he showed me some pics of their factory prototype and OMG the decals were almost an exact copy, but hey what can you do

don't worry Mr. Foose, your job is safe ... [for now]!

[notsolo]

Your gonna need a bigger hole saw..they do look good....old style gauges look better in IMO.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Your gonna need a bigger hole saw..they do look good....old style gauges look better in IMO.

Oh, I meant smaller gauges but in this layout, with the two smaller ones at an angle on each side like that

[Gregski]

got the aircraft style fuel capacitor installed today

[Gregski]

someday it will be mounted flush but not today - I got lucky and it spanned two boards for strengthtability

[Gregski]

I bought like three different angle hoses cause they measure them all reverse like, for example what I would call a 120° they call 60°, so I have no idea which one I ended up using, but these are specifically fuel hoses

[Gregski]

then it was back to the gauges - weldered them up using the Tejas two step method: well a little grind a little

this is after the first dance

[Gregski]

I think this is after the third round

[Gregski]

I was soooo nervous heading into this project, but man, I am loving the way these are turning out, whacha all think?

[Gregski]

now just to pull off the other one

man I apologize for the bad lighting, my garage door faces west and no matter what I do leave it open or close it I can't win

[Gregski]

I only gotz the four gauges so far ( hinted at the kids to maybe go in on a Volts gauge for my B day, fingers crossed )

[Gregski]

here I'm just testing all the holes after the welding, as things did get distorted and a bit of manual tickling with a hand file was to be had

[Gregski]

squirted some primer on 'em and called it a day

[Wide Open]

Originally Posted by Gregski

squirted some primer on 'em and called it a day

Dang that’s some high quality H2O!

[oldman3]

Came out great...Jim

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by oldman3

Came out great...Jim

Thank you Jim, pushing the large circles to the edge makes them look funny but I was trying to squeeze out the most real estate that I could out of those factory circles, and the gauge bezels cover it all up nicely anyway

[Gregski]

well guys and gals, here we are It's Hell Week and I'm still aiming to have Busty ronnin' and drivin' by my birthday - May 25th!

Left Ta Do: (as of Saturday May 23nd, 2020)

1. ☑ Finish driver side tailpipe
2. ☑ Install sending unit & plumb fuel line
3. ☑ Install drive shaft
4. ☑ Bolt down bed floor
5. ☑ Put front clip back on
6. ☐ Wire electric fan
   
7. ☑ Replace ignition switch (a bit of scope creep)
8. ☑ Finish painting inside of cab (it was do it now or never)
9. ☐ Check / Bleed the brakes (probably just a good idea)

[8man]

Good luck with the drive! Totally agree, get it done now or it won't happen.
The gauges look good.

Oh, and the 25th is a memorial day, my dad was born then, it was a bit longer ago, 1931.

[Gregski]

a little each day - I nuked and paved the extra holige in the dash

A little Top Tip: I know logic tells us to put the backing plate on the back or the magnet on the back of the piece to hold it in place, but if you front it, it does make the piece flusher as not all 16 gauge sheet metal for example was created the same thickness and what not

[Gregski]

I am upgrading from the two position OEM ignition ie OFF and ON to the four position ACCESSORY - OFF - ON - START more modern universal ignition switch

and it really took some work to make the larger cylinder fit into the stock location as there was plenty of grindage to be done behind the scenes, I tried three different hand files before crawling my 5'11" 190 lbs butt behind the dash armed with a 4 1/2 angle grinder determined to make some fine adjustments

I also welded up the keyed notch in the round hole and made the East and West sides of it flat, man I kept burning through that paper thin dash wall, it seems like it was only that thin by the ignition and not around the other holes, yet its solid no rust at all, go figure

[Gregski]

afterwards I vacuumed all the fine metal shavings off the floor for what I hope was the final time, wiped it all down with Denatured Alcohol, and finally, and I mean finally spray bombed the firewall KRYLON gloss black to match the rest of the floor (I used two cans on the firewall and the kick panels - a dozen thin coats or so)

all this will be getting the SEM undercoating treatment as soon as it arrives, (I'm looking at you AMAZON)

massive, massive amount of work, but ladies and gentlemen who have done this so worth it, am I right?

[Gregski]

I usually find something to do in between coats as I am painting, this forces me to wait for the coats to become tacky - so the column of the steering needed attention so it got it, which involved a good green scotch bright pad scrubbin first

[8man]

The dash looks good. Nice work.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

The dash looks good. Nice work.

Thanks Robert, it's all B+ effort, ha ha