We're bringin' back the Flat Tops!

[grannyknot]

Did Vintage Dashes also do the glove box door?

[motorman7]

1 hour ago, grannyknot said:

Did Vintage Dashes also do the glove box door?

No, just the dash.  I will have to check to see if they do glove box doors.  That would be convenient.

[7tooZ]

No, just the dash.  I will have to check to see if they do glove box doors.  That would be convenient.

When I did my dash with LEDs the light rheostat did not allow dimming. If your bulbs are adjustable I would love to know where to find them. How ever mine are not so bright at night that I really need to adjust them.
Nice looking dash!

[dmorales-bello]

Great looking dash and instrumentation! Nice work.

[motorman7]

Now that I am back from ZCON (had a great time) , it's time to get started on the Blue car again.  I cleaned and painted the motor mounts (rubber is in great shape) and some of the brake parts.  I hit the brake parts and motor mount threads with some gloss clear so they stay that color.  Also got the left rear strut cleaned up and painted and,  attached a couple of the brackets.  Nice to get moving on this again.

I also dropped the bumpers off at the Chrome shop, Pacific Plating.  They assured me that they would be able to fix the rear bumper which was nice to hear.  Odd coincidence, they just relocated and are now just half a block from Miguel's paint shop.  That's convenient!

Here are a couple of pics of the cleaned up parts.

[motorman7]

Did some more pre-assembly work on the undercarriage parts.  Got the passenger side strut cleaned and painted last weekend along with the caps.  Put the springs in both the rear struts.  Also installed the motor mounts and did a little pre-assembly on the rear suspension parts.  Pics are below.

 

 

[Captain Obvious]

Looks great! There has been some multi-sided discussion in the past, but I would suggest removing the paint from the metal-to-metal clamped areas. Things like the axle flange faces. And make sure you don't have any paint where the spindle pin slides in.

So did you put in new wheel bearings? I don't remember seeing that go by.

[Captain Obvious]

And I keep meaning to tell you... It was great meeting you at Zcon my friend!

I really enjoyed our discussions and I hope we get another chance to get together in the future!

[motorman7]

41 minutes ago, Captain Obvious said:

Looks great! There has been some multi-sided discussion in the past, but I would suggest removing the paint from the metal-to-metal clamped areas. Things like the axle flange faces. And make sure you don't have any paint where the spindle pin slides in.

So did you put in new wheel bearings? I don't remember seeing that go by.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, will remove paint from the axle flange faces and spindle pin area.  I saw that conversation on the Duffy thread (I think).  I will however put a thin film of grease on the interface to help prevent rust on the mating surfaces.  Interesting note: I worked space programs for 15 years and we used to use non-conductive thermal lube when mounting our electronic packages.  It's sole purpose was to prevent corrosion set-up between the mating metal surfaces.  The bolt torque was enough squeeze out the non-conductive lube between the metal surfaces so that you would get a good electrical connection, and the lube prevented corrosion.  Go figure.

I did not put in new wheel bearings. There was no play in the assembly and everything looked to be in good shape so I left it as is.

And yes, it was great to meet and talk cars and flat tops in Atlanta!  Hopefully we have many more opportunities in the future.

[motorman7]

And, we have pics from the paint shop.

[wheee!]

Gaps look great, finish should be super smooth! Love the car porn! so jealous....

[motorman7]

Got the Steering Rack cleaned up, painted and lubed.  Attached it to the front support with the new Energy bushings.