Projects Mild custom '51 Pontiac Chieftain

So far so quiet. Bit of heavy rain, light squalls and now sunshine and oppressive heat as the eye approaches.

Phil

 

Pulled the old 1980's speakers out.


Cut the shredded remains of the carpet out and pulled the cardboard that was under it out too.

Too hot to do much else, it got really humid in the garage and I was sweating into the seat. No hole in the back so rear speaker is being thought upon.

 

Spent this afternoon cleaning the garage. I found an old single-drawer filing cabinet and organized all of the receipts I had sitting on the side into it.
I cleaned up all the old wiring I had pulled from the car and generally cleaned up. Picture doesn't do it justice but it is a lot nicer in there now.

Earlier today I bought a length of 8ga wire to hook up the alternator- I had used 12ga because that's all I had at the time, but that is woefully inadequate for a 63A generator. It's under 5 feet from the alternator to the fusebox busbar so that will be good.
The only other thing I'm thinking about is the ammeter. It's calibrated in Charge/Discharge but full deflection appears to be about 40-45 Amps.
I'm thinking about putting a diode to shunt the charging current- discharge is about 35 amps total with everything on so that's fine.
That would take the gauge from reading 40-0-40 to 40-0-60+.
Thoughts?

Phil

 

I've only read the first page so far PhilA but you are giving me inspiration. I am headed down to the garage.

 

Didn't manage to do anything of my own today.
Wasn't all bad because my neighbor came find me while I was taking the motor for my drum fan apart.
He asked if I would mind taking a look at his '29 Model A, which wouldn't start.
Cleaned the distributor up, got everything all set correctly and it purrs like a kitten now. Apparently it's never run so well...



Was worth it, fun engineering to work on.

Phil

 

Spent an hour of my life that I'll never get back, laying upside down under the dash working out how I'm going to tidy this lot up.
Conclusion is I need to get the heater back in first, then run the new heavy gauge primaries for battery and alternator before looming it all up tidily.
I'll get there, but ugh. I hate working under the dash.

Phil

 

Heater valve arrived back. Real happy with that.

 

Found the screws, washers and nuts for the heater valve and re-attached it to the demister body.


The old gaskets were no more good so I cut some replacements from some foam sheet.

Dug up the demister to floor heater interconnect pipe and cleaned it up with a wire wheel.


Ran out of black paint so painted it the same color as the car. That'll work well enough.

Need to get some 5/8" heater hose to connect the pieces together and a length of solid pipe to join the return to the radiator.

Then, some air ducting pipe for the screen vents and it'll be set.

Phil

 

Located the fixings for the heater (including a couple of dowel pieces that were not fitted, loose under the carpet) and got it set in place tonight.


Repaired the temperature control rod and fitted it in place. After my flashlight fell over, rolled across the floorboard, out of the door and under the car for the third time I quit for the night because I was losing the will to live.

Tomorrow, air direction control lever. I need to get the air duct pipe (or something similar that'll work) for the screen defrost new because the old ones rusted away to nothing and fell apart.

Phil

 

What s complete pfaff. Control levers all hooked up now. Fan works. Temperature control should work once I get the plumbing complete.

Threw my flashlight across the garage in an unusual-for-me fit of rage because it's been three least reliable one I've owned. It broke. (Bell&Howell TacLight for those of you interested in what not to buy. They took a good name and tarred it with cheaply made crap, like Maytag has gone).
Edit note: I needed a flashlight, it was cheap. It lasted a year- I have done some research and I'm just gonna get myself another similar one.

Phil

 

Found the small sheet metal screws for the fresh air duct and water pipe bracket.
Fitted those in place, one fiddly job out of the way.

Lubricated up a couple of the hose clamps. I think I'll stop by the store tomorrow when it's open and get the pipe I need. I also need to go to the farm store and get some anti-freeze. Cheapest place to buy it in bulk!

Phil

 

Unraveled all the tape off the wiring along the engine. I'm going to put in the correct gauge wire to replace the hastily added stuff from before (just to get it working).

Phil

 

This is a little gem of a flashlight. Energizer sold where they sell small batteries takes 3 AAA. All metal sealed with O rings LED bulb and BRIGHT.

Bought one to check out and it works so good bought 4 for the glovebox and inside rooms in case power goes out.

Dropped a couple time from waist high onto concrete and still works. Great size for working under dash. Comes with a small strap but comes off easily.

DISCLAIMER: I have nothing to do with energizer just use their products.

(soup can for size comparison)

 

That is better.

Phil

 

With that, I'm now looking in various places for gauges because I think I want to ditch the ammeter and convert it to a volts meter instead; wouldn't be too hard, plus the gauge legend is "BATTERY", not ”AMPS".
I'm thinking to grab another ammeter (so the face and terminals fit the gauge bucket), redo the face, and get a temperature gauge to replace the ammeter movement.
Add a permanent magnet to the field coil side of the temp gauge and fit it behind the ammeter face. Re-wind the variable coil to pull the needle over as the voltage across it (and therefore current through) changes.

Or, shunt the ammeter so it doesn't carry so much current and can read "more", but that de-sensitizes it for small current discharge.

Opinions?


Phil

 

Sunshine had been beating up the seat material, so I wanted to get something basic to protect them from that.



Test fit in the front. That'll work. Got a second one for the back- going to go throw 'em into the washing machine now.

Phil

 

Wow, that will keep you awake Phil

 

Phil,

The original upholstery in my '51 Ford is in real good shape. I decided that I should get some covers for it for everyday use so I wouldn't ruin it. They are easily removable for shows, etc.

The only thing I could find are the same blue stripy ones you have. (I got mine from eBay.) A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.

 

What the word now? Pizazz?

Just keeping the "all blue" theme going.

The front seat is fading by the side windows, the top of the rear squab is real badly faded and starting to feel a little fragile. These pull off in a heartbeat, just regular 8x5 blankets.

Phil

 

Both washed and put in properly. That'll work.

 

A while back I had lost the keys to the trunk of this car. Thankfully the trunk was open so I removed the catch and just left it closed by gravity. I got the urge to remedy that today. Went look at lock sets, didn't like the price so decided to see if I could find a cheaper solution.


I removed the handle from the trunk lid. That's more than whoever repainted the car did... It's only 4 nuts that hold it in place!


With that removed, I pulled the lock out. I went do a little research on how it works. It's a "side bar", which is meant to be harder to pick- the sliders do not directly lock the barrel. They lock a sprung bar at 90 degrees to their travel. That way, you can't apply a torque to the barrel and "stroke" the sliders to feel where they click past the edge of the locking face. Apparently this design cannot be picked with conventional lock picks.


I picked it with an old feeler gauge and a paperclip.


I decoded the barrel by measuring the "unlocked" position with my vernier caliper. I went to the hardware store and bought a key blank. After a little calculation I marked the cut depth on the key.


Carefully filed it down to profile. Checked operation, lubricated it and reassembled the lot back on to the trunk. I now have a key that opens the trunk and glove box. I'll get a spare cut from it. Total outlay $2, a better price.

Next up will be pulling one of the door handles off and taking it to the store to find which blank it takes- it's not this one! I think perhaps the door buttons are newer. We'll see. This was an interesting thing to learn.

Phil

 

...it is this shape key. It fits if you put it in the correct way up.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you never cease to amaze me!! I take a lot of pride in doing things myself. It's the way i was raised i suppose, but i don't like things leaving my shop. Part of it is spending the money lol, and the other is that i enjoy doing my own work. But man you take it to a whole new level. You're a freaking genius Phil

 

My sentiments exactly. First, automatic transmission repair and now a locksmith? Plus a couple of other skills in between. Amazing.

 

Don't forget the damn radio! when my junk runs and i get a windshield in it, i consider it done lmao! Phil will have one sweet chief when he finally decides it's done. And it looks like everything will be functional.

 

And this folks is how you get everyone here interested in a'51 Pontiac 4 door.

Sent from my SM-T350 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

So does it unlock the door?

 

No.

The original ignition barrel was gone, as was the key for it. New, the car was supplied with two keys. One did the doors and ignition and the other the trunk and glovebox (so you could lock the glovebox and trunk with your stuff in, give only the door/ignition to the valet so all they could do was drive it and lock the doors).


When I got the car, it had some auto parts store ignition switch and the original trunk/glovebox key with it.
I had that set in my pocket with my regular keys, when I pulled my regular keys out in the grocery store parking lot I must've pulled the Pontiac keys with it and dumped them on the floor. Naturally nobody turned them in, they just took them.

So, I bought a replacement GM ignition barrel, the doors are coded to a key I don't have and I've now made the key that opens the trunk.

I've got two options right now, one is more viable than the other.
1: Pull the door lock, pick it, decode and create a key
2: Pull the door lock, pick it, pull apart and see if I have the correct tumblers to match the ignition key

Option 1 is the most likely, and that's if I can pick the door locks. They aren't easy. This was the first lock I've ever picked...

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Phil

 

I found that quite a lot of the dexterous skill needed for the gearbox was required today. So, by that logic, get your locksmith to rebuild your gearbox!