Hot Rods Bringing my 39 back to life

@lothiandon1940 They dry flat so you have to clear them to get the gloss. You can see the flat coming in as they set up

 

My very good friend Del is gonna get the column tube, drop, and garnish mouldings chromed for me from his guy in NC. So I'm going with a black dash that should really pop with the black banjo wheel! Dash is all ready for paint now

 

Beautiful, Jason. Everything.

 

Plowing forward with the progress!!! A huge thanks to @theHIGHLANDER for the info on painting the banjo wheel. It turned out great! Got the dash and all the small bits painted this evening as well as the banjo steering wheel, the hurst motor mount, and the headlight switch knob. Gonna have to redo the horn button it got fisheyes in it but I probably should have used the adhesion promoter on it as well. Looks pretty good for doing it on a table next to a 35 acre farm field!

 

Really happy with the banjo! I'll pull the masking tomorrow after it sets in the sun for a few hours.

 

Even had enough paint mixed up to squirt the old Hurst mount that I found hanging in the barn next door. This will be used soon for the 283 going in into the 39.

 

And of course the one required bug you get from and outside paint job....

 

Cool project. Always good when the parts get some paint, you know you are making real progress.

 

Don't get greedy with the sun on the wheel, and don't freak out if it gets a little "soft" at 1st. Should cure well after a cool down and you'll be all good. Soft core, fresh paint, shit moves around.

 

Banjo wheel looking real good! Gonna set it out in the sun for a few hours to help harden it up.

 

In that case it will stay in the shop. It wont go on the car for a few weeks so it should cure plenty by then don't want anything to mess it up. I dont want to strip this one to do it again.

 

Got the wheels cleared today, and they are looking good. They can sit and harden this week and I'll get the white walls mounted next weekend.

 

Dash is looking good as well. Got the chrome polished up for the inserts. And all mocked together gonna let it set for a few days and then start with assembly and the wiring.

Tonight is parts orginazation, and staging. Making sure I have and can find everything that I have bought for the car and that it is in the right spot when I need it.
Tomorrow morning I'm looking at getting the new fuel tank in as well as fuel pump mounted and fuel line run up to the fire wall to attach to the fuel block for the tri-power. And maybe get some sound deadening up on the firewall.

 

Got a few other things done but not as much as I had hoped too. I was able to get the dash assembled and ready to start wiring. Swapped out the original standard gauge to a real nice set of 39 deluxe gauges I scored a few years ago. Not a fan of the dodo brown standard gauges. And got all the trim panels and NOS knobs installed on in the dash. Just need to find a lighter socket for the last one. Gonna pick up a universal power port from the parts store and see if it will fit. I have a NOS 40 lighter element to use if I can get the knob off and swap the 39 knob on it. Once wired up, it's ready to install.

 

One thing that I liked about these deluxe gauges, was that they had a volt meter in the quad guage. I have not seen that many before, but I have this deluxe one and a standard gauge that has a volt meter instead of the regular Amp meter. How rare is this? What will it do on 12 volts? I like it but may swap it for an amp meter since I'll be running 12 volts and I have a nice old Stewart Warner voltmeter to run in the 3 guage pod on the bottom.

 

Tonight i Got the column drop off the tube and the drop disassembled for chrome. And a few more boxes of new parts organized and staged for assembly. Tomorrow will be be sound deadening on the firewall and gas tank installed. Maybe get the fuel pump mounted. Gotta plow forward while I can. OLd North State invitational and TROG will be here before you know it!

 

The dash looks great. I've always liked the design of the 38 dash. I can't wait to see how everything will look once all put together and in the car!

 

Went ahead and started mounting the tires up by hand so I dont have to worry about some nimrod scratching the paint up. The wheel color came out perfect exactly what I wanted against the white walls. Got 3 of the four done before I called it. Finish up the last one tomorrow.

 

Just about done sorting and staging parts for assembly. Going to my kids camp on Sat for family day, so trying to squeeze in everything I can after work. Trying to get everything in place so I can assemble the engine and wire the car back to back. Getting closer.

Shooting to get it started by mid August. So I can try and work out any bugs before Old North State and TROG.

 

Small progress every day will get this pig put together. Got the kill mat sound deadener put in on the firewall and the floor. Gotta order another carton to wrap up the edges of the floor and do the ceiling too. I dont want this to be a harmonics amplifier.

 

Found the Stewart Warners to put in the lower pod tonight too. The temp and volt meter were in the car when I got it, the oil pressure was in my guage stash. Kinda cool to use the old Stewart warners that have been in tha car for decades.

 

Those whitewalls look great.

 

No major progress this weekend. But I did manage to get everything staged so that I can wire the dash up tomorrow after work. Once wired i can install it and the fuse block. Drove up and saw my kids at camp this weekend Lots of old cars in the Pocanos. Wish I had got some pics of the cars. But I did get some pics of Tanner Falls.

 

Got some more progress in this ridiculous heat....
My good buddy Del from NC came up the other day and we got the rear hubs pulled and the bolt pattern changed back to 5 on 5 1/2. The hubs had been redrilled to chevy pattern by the guy I got the rear from. Got the fuse panel mounted on the firewall and all the dash wiring done. Now the dash just needs installed and wires connected to the fuse block and the end points. This wraps up all the wiring except for the lights of the factory light switch at the end of the steering box. Getting closer....

 

Also got the windshield regulator rebuilt. The aluminum gear was missing 3 teeth. Luckily I found a guy on EBay that had a new gear and scooped it up. Had to drill the rivets that the arms pivot on and redneck machine (file to size by hand on my couch) aluminum spacers and put it back together with button head allen bolts and nylocks. It appears to work so far.....

 

Also... if anyone has a need for a banjo with a 4.44 :1 rear gear let me know. I pulled the one that was in the car around to hook a buddy up with what I assumed was a 3:78 rear, but checking the numbers it looks like it's a 4.44 rear from a V8 60 car... too steep for me. But might work for a TROG racer or short track vintage race car.

 

Like! Everything you are doing,
Keep up the good work!

 

Nice work especially in this heat wave. Curious about the electric panel. Where did you source that from or did you build it yourself?

 

I made the electrics panel from some boat fuse blocks and terminal blocks I sourced on amazon, and mounted them all to a cutting board I bought from the dollar store. Since I am using the original head light switch and the column drop switch I couldn't see buying a harness for a couple hundred bucks just to cut it all up. So I made this one. Between all the wire I bought,the fuse panel, terminals and original switch parts I have less than 100 bucks in rewiring the whole car.