Thread: Time for a Re-fit

Originally Posted by Johnno1969

A bit of progress after a number of weeks with no chance to get anything done on the Landy:

In the last two weeks I decided that I really had to lose that white-faced temp gauge, so I bought another which matched the rest of the instruments. This afternoon I decided to fit it, as well as the Engine Watchdog.

I was going to fit the Watchdog up in a console at eye level (as it has a little less chance of getting wet there), but changed my mind today for several reasons:

• I was unsure if the light in its display would be annoying at eye level whilst night driving.
• The vehicle doesn't actually have a roof yet.

Reason number two was a real clincher.


Anyway, I forged ahead and, without going into the details of the annoying delay removing the 4WD selector rod temporarily (now, that would have been a little easier before I put the floor back in), by around teatime I had the whole instrument panel complete. Finally.


The Watchdog is a version with a sensor for both engine and transmission. When fitting it, I realised that there was nothing to discriminate the engine sensor and lead from those of the transmission. Identical.



As in all situations when thought is required, I made a pot of tea. It helped in more ways than one, as I rigged up some power to the Watchdog and then while the tea brewed I stuck one of the sensors underneath the teapot. That pretty quickly sorted out the which-was-which question. Note sensor under teapot in attached photo.


Back to work. I found what should be a good spot for the engine sensor at the front of the head (the mechanical gauge reads from the rear) and then opted to put the transmission sensor on one of the mounting studs for the overdrive (the overdrive always used to run extremely hot, and with its now vastly-increased oil capacity, it will be interesting to see the sort of temperature it generates).



It was a bit of a fiddle getting the final layout of wiring and capillary tubes (especially the excess stuff from the watchdog and the temp and oil pressure gauges) sorted behind the extra instrument panel, but it has all nestled in pretty well and is pretty tidy now. Sorry, no photo of that...


Anyway, here are a few photos of the day's work and the instrument panels. After running the vehicle for a while, it would seem that the Watchdog and the mechanical gauge give pretty close readings so far on the engine temperature.


Cheers,


John

That's an excellent tip Johnno. Thanks for that. I've relocated my teapot from the kitchen to my toolbox and I threw out my test light and my multimeter.

Attachment 72513

Good point, really. I am staring to wonder why I've bought so many tools. Next time I'm in the Town and Country supplies I'm going to see if they have any of those adaptor kits for replacing a dial gauge with an 1865 Wedgwood Blue Jasperware tea set.

Drizzly sort of day. Decided to clean up the wiper motors. One I have had in the car for decades, the other is one I found on a wreck in the local scrap metal yard a while back. The "new" one works too - which is a good start.

Anyway, out came the wire brushes and the motors tidied up pretty well. There was a lot of grime and gunge on both of them, particularly the "new" one. I had to solder one connection and that was pretty-much it. Good to go. The steel portions of the bodies have been given a coat of Penetrol to keep surface rust at bay and I will most likely leave them both with the finish visible in these photos (maybe a little more buffing first...).

Cheers,

John

Found something in the back of the fridge a few days ago.

"What the hell is that?" I thought. "Gravy?"

I looked a little closer.

Then I remembered.

The strip for the bonnet rest on the radiator panel arrived a while ago. Not canvas as expected. Nylon. Not a nice canvas-ey faun colour. White.

So I had a cup of tea and a think.

Then I put the strip into a mug and poured tea over it and left it in the fridge to mature.

Today I pulled it out, melted the block of ice which had formed around the strip and noted good progress on changing its colour.

I thought I'd dye it a little more, so bunged it in a pot on the stove with lots of tea leaves. Should come up alright....

Also making some progress on the bonnet.

Tidying up a bit of damage here and there.

Hey I wouldn't mind a quick straw poll on the best finish for old galv.

My plan has always been to get all the previous paint off the vehicle's cappings and windscreen frame; if any areas are damaged or have surface rust, the plan has been to dust them with a little hammer-finish, feathering the coverage into the undamaged and unpainted areas. I know that to just paint the lot with hammered finish gives a terrific look...but I don't want to find myself wishing "I wish I hadn't covered that with paint (again)" a few years down the track. Likewise, I don't want to end up with a finish which looks patchy and messy.

The attached photos are the windscreen frame. Most of it is bare galv, some areas have been hit with hammer finish.

I'd appreciate people's thoughts, as I am poised to put nice laminated glass into the windscreen frame and am pacing around thinking "To paint or not to paint...."

Thanks,

John

Hi Mate,

Personally - I would strip the old paint off and re-paint the entire lot. If the paint fades over time, then you will notice the differences in colour. And you will be forever thinking "I shoulda"..

But that's just my opinion!