A few little tweaks

[Don Coatney]

Thanks for educating all of us.

[wallytoo]

jeff,

the interior looks outstanding. very impressive.

wally

[Young Ed]

Awesome but Vic must be hanging around too many Fords if he's surprised about the quiteness of a mopar flathead.

[pflaming]

Your dash ranks among one of the nicest I've seen. Now that's an opinion, I know, but the unusual color really sets off the additions. I don't like knobs but your arrangement is very attractive. Did you re-chrome all items? It is so consistent you may have. We need a thread showing dash treatments. Lots of good ideas in the different 'designs'. The overall look outside is also very striking. 2 inches lower and WOW! LOL

I did not see a radio. Did you hide it?

 

It's often said, "If I were to do it over". . . Well I have that 'opportunity'. I've been looking at Jeff's dash,  not to duplicate but just to learn.  It takes a lot of thinking /  planning to lay out a dash like that. Great job, great result. . 

Edited December 14, 2014 by pflaming

[Jeff Balazs]

Hi Guy's.

Thanks I am glad you like it.

 

Don; I was quite surprised to find out about these bearings the way I did. I had read and re read through all the threads I could find on bearing replacement and never saw a word about these up graded bearings for fluid drives. I even called Gary Roberts and he didn't seem to know anything about this subject. Any way from what I have been able to garner the rear main bearing is the only one in the set that has a different composition. And I suppose if you think about it this make sense. With the added weight of the fluid drive so close to the rear main it would almost certainly have to cause additional wear on that bearing over the standard arrangement. I suspect it is something that was discovered as these engines started to go in for rebuild and this bearing was Federal Moguls response to a need for something better.

 

Ed; You might be right. I know he has owned a few but he is by no means a Mopar only junkie. I met Vic years ago through our shared love of AJS and Matchless motorcycles. The day I first visited him he was rebuilding and making missing parts for an old Hispano-Suiza. Not too many folks get called in to do that. One thing I have found out over the years is that if you can name it.... he has either had one....worked on one or knows where you can find it. A truly amazing guy with a ton of talent. I felt very fortunate when he offered to help me with this little job. When he said it was a good job .... I know it is.

 

Paul;

I didn't re chrome anything. Some of it is NOS and other items were just cleaned and buffed out. The knobs to the left of the wheel are all new and control stuff I added like an electric cooling fan and the additional running lights. I knew about the under dash pod for the heater controls but really didn't care for how it looked. As I am going to use this truck until I drop I decided I may as well have it the way I wanted it to look inside. It does have a stereo that is tucked under the dash on the drivers side. It is just hooked up to play from an Ipod. 

 

Jeff

[Jeff Balazs]

For any of you fluid drive owners who are interested the upgraded Federal Mogul bearing set is SB 890M vs CA 855M for engines without a fluid drive. As far as I know the only real difference in the set is the composition of the rear main bearing. Hope this is helpful to some of you.

 

Jeff

[Jeff Balazs]

A few more little tweaks.

The kids got me a dash cam for Xmas. Of course it is 12 volt, So I decided to upgrade my 6V -12V power converter for the stereo and use the little one I already had to power the cigarette lighter. That worked well and this can now be used to power up other 12 volt. accessories.

 

I had to really search to find a upgraded power converter for the stereo. There didn't seem to be too many options for an quality upgrade under $300 but I found and decided on a unit made by Cruising Electronics out of NZ. Nice unit! Way more power now and at a reasonable price. My stereo is much happier now.

 

I found a nice NOS backup lamp on ebay. Have mounted it and just need to come up with a switch mount for the shifter.

 

Jeff