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jjbunn
Jedi Knight
Offline
"La Belge" had O/D ... and other Dash Discoveries
Today I have been finishing giving the hood a coat of paint, a job I started last weekend. The goal was to just cover the bare metal that the PO had left some years ago after rubbing it down in prep. for painting. I used primer and then searched for spray cans of a blue as close as I could find to what's already on the car, which is very dark. I found a touch-up paint called "Twilight Blue" that was almost exact, but no spray cans. So I went down to Sherwin Williams, and the lady there matched the touch-up paint pretty darn close ... I came away with a quart of oil-based external gloss for $14. Using a tip I picked up in another forum, I thinned this to milk consistency, and applied it with a roller (thinning it makes it much easier to apply without any streaks and blobs and I used this method with success on the MGB). It looks pretty good, at least from a few feet away, and will do nicely until I get the car professionally painted (much, much later). Of course, until I get the hood remounted on the car I wont be able to tell how good the colour match is, but I'm not too bothered. It certainly will look a ton better than how it did look!
I have been going through the wires behind the dash labeling them, and testing all the bulbs. I have some replacement Lionel 1449 train lamp bulbs ordered as spares. I'm also considering trying four of the LED-based compatible bulbs (they run for about $2.50 each on Ebay) for the Tach and Speedo - has anybody tried the LED bulbs, and found them appreciably brighter?
The turn signal switch is a replacement, and I removed it because I was puzzled why the wires from it were just dangling, and not fed through via the cable tray under the steering column.
When I removed the switch, I found five snipped wires hiding in the cowling:
1) three wires GR, LG/N and GW for a turn signal switch
2) two wires YG and B ... for an overdrive switch
I think the evidence is now very strong that the car once had overdrive. It explains the "Overdrive" badge on the rear, and the twin-hole escutcheon for the steering column.
I need to pull these wire out a little, so I can make new connections to the end of them. How does one free up the cable tray so that it is loose enough that I can pull the wires through a little?
Other wire puzzles:
a) Emerging behind the dash, from the steering column, a Purple/black wire that's just dangling.
b) Entering the heater, three wires GN, GY and White. The White wire is not connected, dangling free
c) Behind the glove box, a pair of wires Y and YP - perhaps related to the OverDrive?
Today I have been finishing giving the hood a coat of paint, a job I started last weekend. The goal was to just cover the bare metal that the PO had left some years ago after rubbing it down in prep. for painting. I used primer and then searched for spray cans of a blue as close as I could find to what's already on the car, which is very dark. I found a touch-up paint called "Twilight Blue" that was almost exact, but no spray cans. So I went down to Sherwin Williams, and the lady there matched the touch-up paint pretty darn close ... I came away with a quart of oil-based external gloss for $14. Using a tip I picked up in another forum, I thinned this to milk consistency, and applied it with a roller (thinning it makes it much easier to apply without any streaks and blobs and I used this method with success on the MGB). It looks pretty good, at least from a few feet away, and will do nicely until I get the car professionally painted (much, much later). Of course, until I get the hood remounted on the car I wont be able to tell how good the colour match is, but I'm not too bothered. It certainly will look a ton better than how it did look!
I have been going through the wires behind the dash labeling them, and testing all the bulbs. I have some replacement Lionel 1449 train lamp bulbs ordered as spares. I'm also considering trying four of the LED-based compatible bulbs (they run for about $2.50 each on Ebay) for the Tach and Speedo - has anybody tried the LED bulbs, and found them appreciably brighter?
The turn signal switch is a replacement, and I removed it because I was puzzled why the wires from it were just dangling, and not fed through via the cable tray under the steering column.
When I removed the switch, I found five snipped wires hiding in the cowling:
1) three wires GR, LG/N and GW for a turn signal switch
2) two wires YG and B ... for an overdrive switch
I think the evidence is now very strong that the car once had overdrive. It explains the "Overdrive" badge on the rear, and the twin-hole escutcheon for the steering column.
I need to pull these wire out a little, so I can make new connections to the end of them. How does one free up the cable tray so that it is loose enough that I can pull the wires through a little?
Other wire puzzles:
a) Emerging behind the dash, from the steering column, a Purple/black wire that's just dangling.
b) Entering the heater, three wires GN, GY and White. The White wire is not connected, dangling free
c) Behind the glove box, a pair of wires Y and YP - perhaps related to the OverDrive?
