Accessory instrument panel (fascia) completed!!

Since school is out, I went to my friend Daryl’s house. He is the Tech Ed teacher at the high school workshop that I visit. He has a sheer and breaker at home and let me use them to complete the metal work.

I could not wait to come home to clean them then primer and paint them. After drying, I applied the walnut grained contact paper as I did with the dashboard.

I tried to pick a nicely grained section.

Then the holes were cut out and the paper was trimmed.

And at last, the gauges were installed. It only took a month…but it is finally done!! During final installation, I will do the finish trimming to it. This is what I had in mind all along!

I am going to retrieve my lower dash crash pad in the next couple weeks (long story). Once it is installed, I can get over this dashboard hurdle and move along. Now onto pondering the exhaust system dilemma and ordering a carpet set.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Back on the car yet again!

I can finally settle down and spend some quality time with Old Biddy now that a couple of my big summer projects have been finished.

The 1967 Tee Nee trailer is all refurbished…

…and for sale.

My small stone wall is complete. No more hauling rocks in 90 degree heat!

And, if you can believe it, I actually got the holes drilled in the sheet metal for the four gauge instrument panel. I had to do a little filing to dress it up.

But, all the gauges fit nicely and looked good during mock up.

I hope to finish the panel by the end of this week and then figure out where I am going to get the exhaust pipes bent. I also need to find out where to get the two mufflers.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Summer projects

I must admit that during these past couple of weeks I have been sidetracked onto another project. But, it ties in with working on Old Biddy as I will try to illustrate and explain.

Here is my 1967 Model 700 Tee Nee trailer, or what is left of it. I have been wanting to restore it for the past three years. I finally started to work on sanding, priming and painting the frame…

…so I can put these parts back on it. I will have it completed within the next two weeks so I could sell it and get it out of my yard. That money will go towards my exhaust system and carpet set.

. As I was outside grinding on the frame to de-rust it, I unearthed my exhaust system.

I have been looking all over for it and gave up hope that I scrapped it a couple years ago.

It “ain’t pretty”, but it is good enough to be used as a template.

I did get a chance to go to the high school shop last week and cut a couple more pieces of sheet metal for the secondary instrument panel. I also bought a 3 7/8" hole saw to cut out the tachometer hole. I am hoping to finally have this completed by the end of next week.

I also found my scrap of carpet, a nice Tartan Red piece (that is shaped like Indiana), which I will use as an example for when I order the new set after I sell the trailer.

And my vacuum gauge finally arrived from England last week!

It will be a busy summer for sure!! Until then "Happy Trail(er)s"!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy

Finally back working on the car!!

Between a busy end of the school year and a quick weekend getaway, the car has taken a back seat on the priority list.

I needed to fabricate an instrument panel to accept the tachometer, oil pressure gauge, voltmeter, and vacuum gauge. A template was designed out of file stock. The smaller one is for an altimeter which will be installed in my 1976 MG Midget, "Joe".

The templates were brought to my friend’s high school workshop where I cut out the sheet metal…

…and then bent them. They came out nice If I do say so myself!

So I brought them up to John’s house where we could cut out the proper sized holes and fit the instruments in place.We set everything up and drilled away.

But it got ugly really quick. I did not take pictures of the ruined (and now scrap) panel. I can say it was a learning experience for both of us!!

So instead I decided to come home and install the fuel filler tube.

At least something was completed correctly this week!

This coming week I will have to go back to the high school workshop and make a couple more panels. The good thing is that I use metal from the scrap pile, so it is a type of recycling. School ends for me this week so I should be able to have much more progress and more frequent updates in a couple weeks.

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy