1937 Dodge, Ol Bessy Is Coming Home!

[pflaming]

Another lost and found story but not a Mopar. We found Dad's 34 John Deere Model D. Had it restored. We know it is his because our names are in the concrete. We poured that concrete circa 1947.

[Sharps40]

Very cool. 

[Sharps40]

Located turn signal indicators for the new dash.  New Old Stock Case IH indicators.  I'll likely have to black them out, they look chrome but that's no issue, it'll make em disappear into the walnut burl.

[Sharps40]

Turn signal indicators arrived.  Very nice.  Original stock and a good size.  Glass lens, black arrow, green bulb, easy fit in a hole in the dash panel and even a tab to keep the arrow from rotating when you twist/snap the light socket into the housing.

 

They'll be dark against the burl walnut except for the fine chrome rim.  (Might have to go chrome rim gauge pack now....will look nice on the dark wood.)  And then, the black arrow will be back lit by green when I signal a turn.  Should be kinda vintage looking all the way.

 

 

 

[Sharps40]

Timing now. Blast shop is waiting. Paint booth will be freed up soon. Blast the last of the rust from the roof, get Bessy in the booth for good prime. Repairs to the trunk and roll pan and left rear quarter are looking much better now. And, all other rust/accident damage repairs look right as rain. Some parts are done and set aside for assembly at this point. They have pretty much had all the repair/blocking done on them. All the work is paid up through complete prime and ready for color. Next steps, july/august time frame are suspension and assembly and color. Last is power pack.

For now....photos!

Wrinkled mangled firewall is hammered straight.

Unneeded holes for coil and foot starter are plugged.

Both front quarters have all rust damage and holes repaired.

The most significantly damaged, lr quarter. Shaping up much better on the rework.

[Sharps40]

The ugly trunk seams from before are cleaned up, smoothed and properly seam sealed now. What I can see without moving parts around looks grand.

The complete new rear roll pan is getting its final shaping and the lip to the trunk is looking much more "stock".

[Sharps40]

Some drip rail work

Window mechanism tested and functional....good tape and crank.

Capturing some pics of my old work on woodgraining the steel dash to help with the burl walnut dash insert to be made up.

The completed nose, stashed out of harms way.

Fenders and other sheet metal, completed and stashed out of harms way.

[Sharps40]

[Sharps40]

Found the gauge cluster from the Raleigh parts car. Havn't found the original one yet but we keep digging....a Ford was in the way, didn't want to dig much and risk dropping a part on someone elses car!

But....can start the new gauge pack soon.

Found the original running board mounts so won't need these aftermarket universal fit jobbies.

Front spindles, backing plates, steering arms, shock mounts and spring perches I won't be needing....

[Sharps40]

Some of the other work in the shop this weekend....

http://i.imgur.com/CrEipb6.jpg

[Sharps40]

First step in getting the gauge cluster into the 21st Century....break out My First Craftsman and get busy carefully releasing the crimps that hold the front chromed brass bezel to the rear mounting case.

Three crimps top and bottom and one crimp on each end.

Once those are loose, I flip it over and start to remove what is left of the gauges, speedo, amp and fuel.

Fuel gauge is out, packed for now but i'll put a lightbulb on it for a load later and if it reads 1/3 to 1/2 it should be good to go to somebody that wants to restore their original gauge cluster.

Amp gauge is out....I'll have to get some low current running through it and see if I get a deflection to positive...if so, another potentially good gauge a restorer!

On the old 37 D5, a single 30 amp fuze here kept it all going. Soup to nuts, one fuze.

Speedo is out....Floating Power, be recreating that on the new dash face in brass. For now, this speedo needs at least swarfed out an lubed, perhaps rebuilt. But also good for somebody restoring. Not good for me. Its out with the old here too.

http://i.imgur.com/XuOcoun.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/sM5lYxV.jpg

[Sharps40]

The face separated from the base.

Removing the inner glass. Good for a restorer. all the numbers and lines are engraved, fill em with new paint and Viola! Perfect new dash face.

Removing the outer glass. Clear, probably won't reuse it as the new gauges are domed glass faced and the turn lamps are also glass....so, perhaps black out the inside of the base and reassemble the trim bezel over the burl walnut insert I'll be making up.

This is what I'm left with for the dash cluster. Base, middle and outer bezel. All the rest of the old is out and the new will go inside. When done, it'll fit nicely back into the dash on its original mounting tabs. And....NO POLISHED BILLET ALUMINUM! YEAH!!!!

[Niel Hoback]

Excellent work!

[Sharps40]

Thanks. Should have burl and gauges soon. Meantime I have some polish and paint work to do on the base and trim.

[Sharps40]

The burl walnut is not flat.  Lots of movement in the grain and the thin sections do not dry flat.  So, for starters, careful work (not overheating the wood) with the belt and palm sanders to level the face and back of the panel selected for the dash cluster.  Once there and through very worn 120 grit for a polished finish, the face grain is frozen for further sanding and polishing later using a deeply penetrating urethane finish.  Next step will be to laminate the burl to a 1/4" thick section of oak plywood for strength and potentially to decorate the edges of the cluster face with stainless steel screws, not sure on that but for now plenty of work to do to get ready for gauges and lights and grounding bar.

 

 

I'll use the face frame to help decide where to make the final cuts on the perimeter to fit the gauge face down in the base of the cluster.

 

[Sharps40]

Chrome plated brass....79 years of oxidation and soft and bendy.  A ticklish polishing job.  Can't bring it to a new shine without cutting through the chrome to the brass, but.....before the clean up....

And after....

Now to get the paint and rust off the mid piece and the gauge bucket in preparation for an interior coat of matt black.

[Sharps40]

Slowly coming together.

The burl.

The backer to be glued to the burl.

Titebond, best there is .... burl sammich....

Paint and rust wire wheeled off the middle piece and the gauge bucket. 

Priming the middle piece.

[Sharps40]

Flat blacking the middle piece.

Establishing a drill and shaping pattern for the burl and its backer after the glue sets in 24 hours.

Establishing center lines and margins on the pattern for test drilling when the gauges arrive.

[Sharps40]

Still a good bit of wire brush work, filing and final fitting to do, but, good for now, till the gauges come in and I can see just where to tweek the bucket and put in attachment screws.....

[Sharps40]

Pattern is used to find the part of the wood I like and its traced out in pencil.

The burl sammich plus the pattern bring the face of the burl to the right height inside the bucket.....top edge of the burl just at the edge of the light window.  (Originally, this window left in light for the dash bulbs in the sockets just above.  Later, I'll likely install small blue bulbs and when the high beams are on, the dash will have a soft blue glow.  I think it'll be better than a glaring blue light in the middle of the face of the burl.)

With the freshly blackened mid piece and the chrome trim set on top, it starts to shape up.  After the gauges are installed, I can finish blacking out the inside and outside of the gauge bucket.

And....I found half of what I need to shut all four doors, four new door striker plates....now to find 8 screws to fasten them to the B pillar.

[Sharps40]

Gauges are on the way.....

Decided to go with the chrome/stainless trim theme instead of the gold rims....so tan/beige face, stainless bezel in the Quad gauge instead of the 5 gauge cluster.

[Sharps40]

I found a 40s Philco UN6-450 radio in the attic....already gutted it!  (Nobody wanted it so......)

 

And, I'm thinking that something like this (Touchscreen DVD Player Receiver GPS Navigation, Bluetooth, Wireless Remote and Rear camera included) needs to go in the modified case and placed somewhere convenient under the dash......prolly a job for after the car gets down here and I can see what the visibility areas are for driver and passenger.

 

[Sharps40]

I recently found out that none of the door latch wedges remained on the B Pillars on the car or the spares up in Dads attic.  I couldn't get into the parts boxes at the shop since a lovely Ford hot rod was sitting under the shelf and couldn't be moved. 

 

So....I did locate replacement door wedges at a decent price....but I was still lacking the fine thread screws and cone washers that fastened them to the B Pillar. 

Nothing was turning up on the interweb and I didn't have a B Pillar handy here in NC to check thread pitch.....

 

The 37 Plymouth Sedan parts I purchased continues to be my gold mine.  Looking over the box of small items I received with everything else, I noted I had a full set of door dovetails....and 8 screws with 4 cone washers!

 

Happy joy, I am positive they are exactly the same length and pitch as the screws for the door wedges.  So.....next trip up, I'll take em along and double check, but for now, quite happy!

 

[Sharps40]

Gauges arrived.....tan and chrome and domed lenses.  Looks great.

 

 

One touch programmable electronic speedometer to work with standard ford or GM Pulse Generators.  And lots of extra features beyond just mileage, including an over speed alert.  Have to figger it out but in the bottom of the box....all the senders and wiring I'll need including a fuel tank sender that can be adjusted for depth of the tank.

 

 

Just checking some lay out possibilities.  Snug but enough room for the gauges, signal lights (perhaps put them in vertically since they have directional arrows) and the Floating Power moniker

 

.

 

But for now, time to break out the trusty range and explosive safety compasses and get to measuring and drawing some well placed circles on the pattern board.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Sharps40

[Sharps40]

Just playing with the rough in.  Might have to move the left gauge a touch more left but.......

 

 

 

The turn signals could mount horizontal with Floating Power up top or vertical with Floating Power at the bottom.  I'll play with it while I check to see if the local hardware store has a good hole cutter or fly cutter.

 

Edited June 9, 2016 by Sharps40