Danny Boy is BAACK! w/ '55 Big Window

[Dan in Pasadena]

Finally, a decent non-cell phone picture of my new rear bumper and taillights plus the overall truck as she sits tonight. More work coming this weekend.




Oh and when he repaired the wiring I had him install trailer wiring for the future:


And a disconnect so I can remove my bed to work on the frame without cutting any new wiring. He also put all my wiring in loom (plastic, but what the heck!)

[Kabwe]

Dan,
Keep up the good job, it looks like you are having fun fixing this truck. Don't you sale this one.

[Daze57]

very nice work - keep it goin -lookin great !

[57 3100]

looking real good dan. its amazing he did all that wiring work for a few hundred dollars.
i love the wheels on your truck, and hope to one day get me a set. are yours american torque thrust D"s or torque thrust Originals ?

leonard

[ChuckDriver]

She looking good Dan!

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks everyone, I'm so pleased too and with the price, man how can you beat that?!

Leonard, There are no markings on my rims that I could find so I dont know what brand they are and I confess I don't kno just by looking. If anyone else has an opinion, please let me know, THe guy I nought them from put GIbbs oil on them to protect them from corrosion. He had them a long time. It protected them but kinda dulls them and I'd like to remove it, but nothing seems to work, I've tried mineral spirits, axetone and MEK.

She's a driver so she doesn't measure up to the stds you guys that are doing frame-offs have. MAn, I'd LOVE to have the time and space to do that but I'm happy with her so far.

[Dan in Pasadena]

PS, Why is the "edit" button not visible on my screen? Only the "Quote" button. I can't correct those mispellings without it; bugs me.

JEEEZ! I no sooner posted that and the Edit button shows...but ONLY on this #203 post, none of the others. Weird.

[Kim57]

Dan
I think the edit button is only available for a short time after your original post and then goes away.
Kim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Hmmm, you must be right cause I just got bac ktop my compueter and its gone again. I still think that's weird. I'll stick to working on old trucks.

[Dan in Pasadena]

I took off my headlight trim rings to polish them. The chrome is pecky but not where its too noticeable and for the time being, they'll be fine. One thing lead to another and I ended up sading and painting the passenger door and front fender. I was gonna pull the door panel to remove the door handle and mirror but you know what THAT woulda probably lead to! So, for now this will do:




Which got me wondering what the pecky side badges would look like if I took some 000 steel wool and paint to them. They didn't fit quite right so I took them off.


Just noodling around with colors. Chevy engine orange (cause I already had it). Looks ok on the bench but I think a little too "artsy-craftsy" to put on the truck. Opinions?

[57 3100]

sweet. looking good dan. i like that color of primer.... i think i would go with the black fender badge, but thats just me.

leonard

[Kim57]

I think it looks pretty good. I would put them on and see how they look on the truck.
Your final truck color may change my opinion though.
Kim

[Dan in Pasadena]

Originally Posted by Kim57

I think it looks pretty good. I would put them on and see how they look on the truck.
Your final truck color may change my opinion though.
Kim

Oh, I totally agree. All these colors are just for now. I just tried the orange because those are '56 (I think) badges. They're two piece to make essentially an identical badge as my '55 badges. Two sets of badges came withthe truck otherwise I wouldn't have them. The final truck may not even have badges at all!

[Daze57]

yo dan !

hey man! ''you don't need no stinking badges '' (lol)

[Dan in Pasadena]

Funny! Yeah, I like the badges for now while I'm just trying to make it a clean driver. I'm really uncertain ab out using them later, after final paint..... But that could be years.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Dan in Pasadena]

Been working on refurbing my instrument cluster. Some wins, some losses as you'll read:

Here's "Before":



Here's "In Process":
Everything blown apart


Bought new numbers. My old ones were faded and chipped. The current miles were so faded they were BARELY visible at all; 85559. Since it sat from '92 to '10 I'm wondering if that's total original miles? Guess I'll never know!


I bought all the goodies to update the Water Temp guage to an electric one. $58 only to find it doesn't bolt right in - as you can see. Made the mods but then it sits up too high by about 1/4" making it unusable-damn! Hopefully they'll take it back. Anyone have any experience with updating their '55 2nd series to an electric temp guage? What's the secret?


Found that Rustoleum satin apple green comes reasonably close (well, close enough for me!) to the original cluster interior color and mine was flaking off.
I tried to just clean the black background but a lot of it came off on the rag so I resprayed it with some no name cheapo flat black I had. Came out great I think:

My needles were totally faded so I sprayed them too. Masked the little guages with aluminum foil, but pulled the speedo needle to respray.


Stopped because the little green lenses for the signal indicators were so faded they were white. I'll buy replacements Tuesday and finish the refurb. I WAS'NT gonna buy a new chrome bezel yet, but I think I can't stand it and I'm gonna. Mine's a bit pitted and scratched...which was fine when it looked like azz, but not now.

[Daze57]

very nice job

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Kim.

Another "small potatoes" improvement but most of mine are.

I wonder if I should post a separate thread on something like this because if someone is later searching for "Instrument Cluster Restoration" or some such they'd never fin it in this thread. Whaddaya think?

[Kim57]

Your cluster is coming out real nice.
Kim

[Daze57]

naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa keep it as is just my humble opinion

[sgtusmc]

Hey Dan, here's the pic of the parking brake in my 88 donor truck. Looks like a simple bolt on set up. I'll mount it up as high as possible with just the pedal showing.

[Dan in Pasadena]

Thanks Sarge!
Interesting that it bolts to the kick/vent panel. I think Orrie's bolts to the firewall and the unseen bottom lip of the dash, but I could be wrong on that.

Is there some kind of reinforcement behind the sheet metal? I ask because I wonder if stepping on/releasing the mechanism over and over will fatigue and eventually tear the sheet metal? But if there's no reinforcement in the '88, there's no need in our trucks with the heavier gauge metal.
Posted via Mobile Device

[Dan in Pasadena]

Small update:


Here's my rebuilt instrument cluster. New chrome bezel and lense. New odometer numbers and signal lenses, repainted needles and interior. If you saw it earlier I since have done the background in Rustoleum Sage Green to sorta/kinda match my truck's temporary exterior. Temporary but probably for a couple years.

Here's the "Before" photo for comparison:


Board member TRi5Nerd aka Larry is SUCH a generous, nice guy (and a helluva builder too-you oughta see his '55, awesome!) that he offered me his old cluster to use the speedo/odometer as mine is frozen. Since I now had two backdrops, I decided to see how one would look in green. I'll likely return it to black later but for now I kinda like it. Opinions are welcome even if negative.

Here's the paint I used.

[Maximus]

Dash gauges look great! overall, the whole truck looks great! I have a soft spot for a '55 myself!

[Kim57]

Looks real nice Dan.
Kim