I really dig your Kaiser and if it were mine and I was doing a fade on it I would want it as subtle as possible...probably something in a lighter blue...can't wait to see what you and Gene come up with
I just pulled the trigger and called Gene. He's going to do a light blue with tons of pearl blending into a medium blue. I'm thinking it will turn out like the light blue Maybelline that I posted with the rockers the color of his Bonneville roadster.
CIRCUIT BREAKER UPDATE If your light switch does not have an inline fuse or a built in fuse, the circuit breaker is likely for your original lighting circuit. A wire from the Bat terminal on the voltage regulator went to the Amp Gauge. At the amp gauge two wires go out from the bat terminal. one feeds the ign switch, and one feeds the circuit breaker. The breaker then has two outs, one feeding the light switch,and one feeding the brake light switch. These circuits would have been powered all the time so the lights will work with the ign switch off. Kaiser being an upscale vehicle (they wanted to compete with Cadillac) may have had several of these breakers based on how many acc circuits there may have been. ( The wiring info comes from my 56 Studebaker Pickup wiring chart, but I am 99% sure it's siimlar to the Kaiser system) These would be auto reset breakers, so if they got hot, they would shut down and reset when cooled down. Proof of the pudding would be how close the breaker is to the headlamp switch. Might not bbe a bad idea to retain it even with new wiring.
Built a new steering wheel this weekend. I like the center bar of the 55 Kaiser steering wheel but the ring was 17" across and about 3/4" thick so it was like driving a schoolbus. I wanted something sportier so I went to a 15" diameter and 1" thickness. I also had to take the splined center part out of the Caprice wheel and turn it down on the lathe, then drill out the splines on the Kaiser wheel and TIG the new splines in so it would bolt up to the GM steering column. For the steering wheel ring I used 3/4" solid round bar and rolled it to the correct diameter. Then I heated up 3/4" PVC (.77" ID) under the heater on our vacuum-forming table until it was nice and flexible. I lubed the steel ring with WD-40 and it slipped right on and cooled into the new shape pretty quickly. I also need to fix some cracks in the original plastic so I beveled everything out and roughed it up with 36 grit and I'm gong to smooth it all out with kitty hair filler this week. The reason I went to all this trouble is that I plan to have the steering wheel painted to match the car, not leather wrapped. I was originally just going to use 1" steel tube for the ring, but in Arizona the car would not be drivable because I wouldn't be able to touch the steering wheel.
Just heard back from AutoMeter and they will be providing gauges for the car. I am going with the Ultra-Lite series gauges since they have a brushed aluminum face that very closely resembles the stock Kaiser gauges. I will be retrofitting the AutoMeter gauges into the stock cluster for a stock look but with reliable modern gauges that integrate with the car's 12 volt system. I'll post up the details to show how I wind up installing the gauges. Here are the gauges: http://www.autometer.com/cat_gaugelist.aspx?sid=11&opid=2&szid=2
The body work is mostly done on the steering wheel so here are some pics. I also rebuilt the horn mechanism and cut up and old mouse pad for the springy foam part that holds the contacts apart. One more coat of filler and some primer and I'll mount it back up until paint time.
Cool , thanks for the update ..... standout car and by the sounds of your plans will be a Legend custom ....
I love this thread!! Awesome work on the Kaiser, and the wheel is excellent and great craftsmanship!! Keep it up!! Ian
Looking really good. Take a look at Escort seats. I put those in my Buick. I was able to get the rear foam's from the dealer and they were very cheap... I bought two complete seats out of a junkyard for the front. They are nice and round and you need that to flow with the windshield. Most import seats are very square.
I'm curious about what you covered the wheel rim with. It looks like (what we call down here in Oz) PVC pipe, same stuff you might use for electrical conduit or reticulation etc. Is it similar to what the centre bar is made from? How does it go with paint adhesion etc?
Dude those look great. If my Mustang seats are too trashed when I disassemble them I might go this route. Did you just remove the headrest or are they cut down too? Thanks for sharing.
You're right, that is PVC. The center bar is Bakelite (I think). It's very brittle and turns to dust when you sand it rather than melting like newer plastic does. I'll let you know on the paint adhesion issue but my fingers are crossed. I am blocking the whole steering wheel (including PVC) to get the little ripples out so the whole thing will be cross hatched with 80 grit when I spray primer on it. Hopefully that will help with adhesion too.
Just removed them, would you believe the lines in the seat covers are the same design as the factory? Hamb member ""Stitchn" did the work. He is in glendale.
Amazing thread, and build. My grandfather had a Kaiser, and it sat at our farm for years, until my cousin came and got it, drug it home, and tried to work on it. Soon after that, the project was abondoned, and the car was sold or something. I do remember the car was Yellow and had black interioir, the seats looked like alligator hide.
dude that thing is sweet would love to see it railed down the road at about 55 showering everythiong behind it with sparks
Getting sponsorship packages feels like being a five year old on Christmas morning. Autometer came through with a full set of gauges plus lots of swag - stickers, banner, hat etc. Look for the install soon, it's gonna take some work to retro these into the stock gauge cluster.
You might need gauges with less needle movement to go behind your stock glass - 90 degrees or so stop-to-stop instead of the 270 degrees in those gauges.
Thanks for the heads up but I think these will work. I got 90 degree short sweeps for the small gauges and a 270 for the speedo and it looks like they will line up with the stock gauges. Good eye for catching that.
Wow, I just searched Kaiser to find my thread and it was on the second page. Are Kaisers becoming more popular or do I need to get to work? I have been really excited to mount this original Raydyot mirror a friend gave me and ditch the clamp-on peep mirrors. However, I'm not sure I like it. What does everyone think? I'm feeling like the shape is too much like a modern mirror even though I liked the streamlined shape of these. I never cared for the flat peep mirrors since they don't fir the flow of the car. Bear in mind that the Raydyot mirror looks crooked, but it is adjusted to where I would need it to drive.
The Jalopy Journal
