47 Dodge Turkey Truck Build

[Young Ed]

Here's the first one with a polished up housing, cleaned glass, and new housing gaskets. I have an extra gauge face like the one on the right I can swap onto the left non matching one. Just want to wait until I have it all setup before I go modifying that gauge. 

 

[55 Fargo]

Looks good Ed

[Young Ed]

Got a second set of 53 dodge sedan gauges off ebay a week ago. Finished up the second housing. Had trouble polishing through the plating and ending up copper. This one started to do that in one of the corners so I called it good enough. 

 

 

 

[Jerry Roberts]

 Looking good Ed . For those who don't know , all of that chrome around the outer edge doesn't show , it is all mounted behind the dash . Only the very center chrome is exposed to view .

[Young Ed]

 Looking good Ed . For those who don't know , all of that chrome around the outer edge doesn't show , it is all mounted behind the dash . Only the very center chrome is exposed to view .

 

Thanks for pointing that out. Today I took them and installed them in a spare dash. Everyone has one of those laying around don't they??

 

[48Dodger]

....Today I took them and installed them in a spare dash. Everyone has one of those laying around don't they??.....

 

"You know you're a redneck when....."

 

48D

[Young Ed]

Discovered something cool yesterday. I was under the impression that the numbers on the glass were silk screened. I discovered that they are actually etched into the glass. So with removal of the old paint they could be color changed. So many more possibilites now for changing up these gauges. Here's a test one I did. The left is actualy silver but it doesn't show up too well in the photo. The red looks splotchy because I didnt take the time to remove the little remnants of the remaining white.

[Dave72dt]

now you can color cordinate to your truck's body color.  Cool!

[Young Ed]

Dave or anyone. Whats a glass safe paint remover? Cant you use lighter fluid or something??

[Dave72dt]

I know you can etch glass with some type of acid so that won't work.  I wonder how nail polish remover would work.  i've used lacquer thinner on garage window glass and fluorescent lights when they get some overspray buildup.

[Jerry Roberts]

 The lenses that are pre-war are etched and painted , post war they are silk screened . 

[Plymouthy Adams]

Ed..only an acid is going to mess with the glass..about any solvent would do good on cleaning the glass..acetone comes to mind and or a good paint remover followed by a solvent wipe.

[ggdad1951]

Do the gasket masks work?

[Young Ed]

Do the gasket masks work?

 

Yup they work great. The thin one is still somewhat of a paint but I found an exacto knife with a chisel type blade works great. The back one with the screw holes works good too. I made all 4 yesterday to install my replated bezels in the 46.

[Young Ed]

Wow so the last post on this build was over a year ago! I did manage to do a little work yesterday. As part of Dads leftovers from his 40 pickup build there was a sandplasted and primered frame sitting out at the resto shop. Yesterday we went and retrieved it. All was well until we flipped it over at the cabin. RUST!! Its still fixable but the bottom of the engine craddle needs some serious attention. I think we probably let it sit out too long

[55 Fargo]

Sorry to hear that Ed, was it on the grass? I know frames and sheet metal can stay outdoors a long time, if there elevated up off the ground , but if they lay in wet grass, or a lot of muddy ground, it don't take long to rot out.... My Fargo frame was lying on the ground for 5 years, I was lucky, not much rust...

[Young Ed]

Sorry to hear that Ed, was it on the grass? I know frames and sheet metal can stay outdoors a long time, if there elevated up off the ground , but if they lay in wet grass, or a lot of muddy ground, it don't take long to rot out.... My Fargo frame was lying on the ground for 5 years, I was lucky, not much rust...

 

Nope it was sitting on another chassis of some sort that still had its suspension. However it was under a pine tree and those needles can be a killer. Of course no saying how bad it was to start either.

[Merle Coggins]

I thought you already had a frame for this project. Was this the one you were planning to use all along?

[Young Ed]

I thought you already had a frame for this project. Was this the one you were planning to use all along?

One of them ya. I do have another thats also been sitting out. Thourough inspection of that one is next.

[TrampSteer]

I feel for ya, having had frame issues myself.

[Young Ed]

I feel for ya, having had frame issues myself.

Thanks. This won't be quite as bad as I'm not dealing with a complete truck. The frame with the rust issues is literally just a frame. The other one does have its suspension and a cab sitting on it so that one won't be able to be flipped over and checked as carefully.

[Young Ed]

Now that they make reproduction tanks I got this one of of storage thinking I'd toss it. The bottom is caved in but I peaked inside and I didn't see a spec of rust. Salvagable? I think to get the bottom back to somewhat flat you'd have to cut a hole in the top to get in.

 

[Don Coatney]

Did you try a toilet plunger?

[TodFitch]

Might want to try sealing the tank off and putting some pressurized air into it to see if it will pop back out. On the other hand there is a risk of doing other damage, so if it doesn't work you did not hear it here.

[Merle Coggins]

I've heard of using that method for dented motorcycle tanks. They'll wrap and support the areas that they don't want to expand under pressure.

 

Merle