Technical Necessity really is the Mother of Invention

When I was building the '54 Ranch Wagon I needed to replace the brittle green mica that was part of the turn signals.



The solution came to me when I stopped for lunch and as I was making my sandwich I noticed the lid on the plastic Tupperware turkey container was a nice translucent green.



The finished product,works great and looks as good if not better than factory. HRP

 

good idea

 

Love that idea, have to redo the Hydramatic gate on the Olds column. Some decals and it's then done. They were OEM green and red I think

 

The high beam indicator was also in poor shape so another lid,this time from a peanut butter jar was used.

 

Didn't seem to me that the peanut butter lid had much light transmissivity.

Took a flashlight to the kitchen and was shocked to find out it does indeed.

Great tip (posted with a mouthful of peanut butter)

 

As often as not when you are in the building process things don't always go as planned.

My pal Dave had just finished covering the fold down back seat and as most of you know the seat folds to enlarge the cargo area..I dropped the back and the studs that hold the seat in place punched two holes in the new upholstery...needless to say the language was colorful.

I thought I was going to have to recover the seat but Dave came up with a solution before I could calm down.





What you see here are my friends are two Onida salad spoons and when the seat back drops now the pins are just guided into the holes. HRP

 

So THAT'S where all the Tupperware lids go! Darn, I thought they always ran off with my right sock.................. pretty crafty there, HRP!

 

Great thinking out of the box!


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

How do you know it's the right sock?

I'm sure some of you guys have used some odd things in building hot rods,lets hear about them. HRP

 

good job....and good tips there....

 

It's got to be the right one, he has a sock on his left one foot

 

That to me is what hot rodding is about. Not everything needs to come from a catalog.
My example is using the Home Security Magnets for my keyless entry. I carry a magnet on my key ring and touch the wired side of the security magnet to open the door .

 

We know nothing about that sock. I swear it!

 

What about some "kitchen" draw pulls for a custom grill?

 

That is very nice!

" The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen. -Soloman

 

Sure Dave,,you guys are notorious!

You guys use them and and abuse them,and then dump them like yesterdays fish wrappers. HRP

 

Now that's thinking outside the box. HRP

 

Thanks, hotrodprimer. I'll tuck that away in my memory to use when I need it.

" The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen. -Soloman

 

I've gone to trophy stores before to have instrument panel stuff engraved. They can do pretty much any design, including turn arrows, etc. Normally I have them use the clear plastic that has a black surface. Their engraving machined cut through the black layer, leaving a clear plastic word or image that light will shine through. If you want to do some custom panel stuff, you can backlight with different color LED's. OK, not traditional, and sounds street-rodderish, but LED's used as turn signal indicators, temp warning lights, high beam, etc are pretty damn easy to do and last a long time. I built a 40 Ford pickup way back in the early 90's, with a 2" by 2" box mounted above the rear view mirror that kept me apprised of 6 different conditions, and the current owner told me last summer that they are still working. ALT, OIL, FUEL, COLD, HOT, TRANS. Yes, COLD. 1964 Olds and some other GM cars of that era have a temp sending unit that has two connections, one that grounds until the engine is warmed up, and another that grounds when it is hot. TRANS was for transmission over temp.

Sample below.

 

That looks way better than the use of knobs we normally see used.

 

I had a similar idea-used a local "promotions" company (your name on a pencil,etc) to copy my designs. It worked great inset into a wooden dash (left plate) and on a drop down panel made form a fuel door (right photo). Total cost for both was about $20.

 

Back in the day, on 57 Chevies we used to use Bingo chips for the turn and hi-beam indicator lenses.

 

Is it "Tech Week"?

Many times I like the "simple" tech versus the massive tech posts and I like this thread already!

 

I like thinking outside the box.. Good job on the turn signal indicator...

 

Nice job HRP!
Yesterday I was trying to get the axles out of a 9" rearend. My skinny ass couldn't get them to budge with a slide hammer. After looking at the situation, I figured out how to use some bolts, nuts, and spacers to press between the housing flange and the back of the axle flange. Took a little while but out they came.

 

I know that this is not a "fix" type of inventive idea, but a guy on the AACA, Chrysler forum needed to know what model his car was. The trim was missing and the holes for the trim were filled and painted over. The guy had no idea if the trim was there originally, so I told him what I would try. I told him to pour some magnet dust over the area and see where the stuff sticks. He tried it and three filled holes showed up under the paint. He was then certain what trim level/model the car was. I thought it was a silly idea, but it actually worked and the guy was thrilled to find out what model the car was just by that made up trick. He told me I should patent the idea. This may explain things better....http://forums.aaca.org/f145/1955-windsor-deluxe-question-nassau-variant-375969.html

 

stainless mixing bowls have a billion purposes
aluminum or stainless camping cups make great velocity stacks
hinges from an old stove someone was throwing away... perfect glove box hinges
hell, bump stops cut from Vans skate shoes...

 

Wanted a oval speedometer for my car so I took the guts from a jeep speedometer and had a new faceplate engraved by a trophy shop. lighting comes from around the perimeter just like the jeep. Also had them do the center of the horn button.

 

Don't have any pics but fixed an old dashboard clock in a '49 Dodge Wayfarer once with the movement from an old kitchen plate clock.
Basically the same AA battery quartz movement is universally used in all new, cheap clocks.
Shortened the hands and second sweep(which can be left off if desired), painted them original colors, and used the stock faceplate.
Only way to tell the difference between it and the stock clock was the dead-nuts accuracy.

 

The indicator lights I used for one project had a short, cylindrical lens with a flat surface for the light to shine through. They worked great for the turn signals but I found the high beam was too bright to have glaring at me for long periods. I had an alphabet set of black stick on letters that also had punctuation marks so I put period on the top of the lens to dim it down. Just had a nice green glow around the lens then.

Blue