Ffreeb

That’s a very good idea.

Hopefully, this will help someone in the future. It’s a lot easier if you remove the speedometer. The speedometer won’t come out until you remove the high beam turn signal indicator. The high beam bulb socket is a nut that you turn to remove the indicator.

Back together.

I want to thank everyone who helped me with this! I used a combination of heat and pressure. I believe part of the problem is that there’s two different types of plastic. A gold colored layer and a clear layer. In the end I used a combination of heat and pressure. I warmed it up in the oven, then I squeezed it with a wood vice with wood jaws. It’s nowhere near like new, but it’s much better than it was.

I can’t say how it got that way. I just got it in the mail, I bought it on eBay. I only had part of the broken glass, I didn’t have the plastic part, the metal bracket that goes behind it or the frame that holds it all to the gauge frame.

Thank you Tom, I didn’t think of that.

It’s not metal, it’s some kind of plastic. I thought about trying to iron it with layers of cloth to protect it. I decided to ask here before I tried. It’s useless the way it is, so I’ve got nothing to lose. Thank you for your reply!

Has anyone found a way to flatten these? If not does anyone know where to find a replacement?

Andyd, I don’t know where I’m going with it, it’s not my plan to restore it. I’ve spent too much money on it already. The car means a lot to me. My dad gave it to me when I was about 15 and I’m 68 now. I will probably be more surprised than anyone else where it ends up.

Andyd. I have a friend who builds street rods and collects 70’s cars. He came to help me bleed the brakes. He kept looking at the body and saying, I can’t believe how good a shape this car is in. The car has been under cover since about 1965 that I know of. There are some small rust holes in the floor, but all in all the car is in good shape. I’ve said for years that my grandkids are going to ride in that car. I got hoodwinked into starting to work on it last spring.

Andyd, thank you for the reply. I think mine is different. Here’s a picture.

Relined shoes, new wheel cylinder and the rivet press I used.

Grinding valves and seats

Rebuilding torque converter

Pulling engine

Joe, you asked for pictures. This is when I pulled it out from where it had been sitting for almost 43 years.

Thank you Joe! When I laid on my back on the floor and looked up there I thought, I’m not going to like this! It’s not really much worse than so far. I had the car done except for the interior 45 years ago. We bought the farm I live on in 82 and the car has sat in the barn ever since. I started working on it last spring. It wasn’t set up, but the valves were. Oil was running on the ground as fast as I was putting it in from the torque converter when I tried to fill it. I pulled the engine and transmission, rebuilt the torque converter, did a valve job on the engine and put the engine and transmission back in. I had to replace the armature in the generator to get it charging. I started on the brakes next, all new wheel cylinders, new master cylinder and all new brake lines. Next I replaced the fuel line. That brought me to where I am now.

Joe, thank you for the reply. The temperature gauge is no good, the tube is broken. That’s what started this. The amp gauge doesn’t work and the other 2 are barely rusted. I have bought on eBay, and probably paid too much for, NOS gauges to replace them all. There are switches and cables underneath the gauge cluster and it doesn’t come out twards the driver’s seat. It appears that it has to go twards the firewall. I was hoping someone on here had done it before and could give some pointers to make it go better. I started to take out the speedometer thinking I could reach it through the hole where the speedometer is. I then thought I would ask if someone has done it.

Replace with NOS.

I’m going to replace all of the gauges in my 41 D19 convertible. Does anyone have any tips for doing this job?