A '54 named Busty

[Gregski]

guys I don't know about you, but I am terrible at doing something for the second time, like if I was to rebuild a cylinder head I would do a knock out job on the first one then put the second one off for six weeks

same goes with painting the driver side door, after I already painted the passenger one, ha ha

so here's what I did instead...

Update from the future: this product is cheap and broke upon first use (threads stripped on the arbor shaft and it was nearly impossible to remove the cutting wheel)!!! Horrible at cutting 16 gauge sheet metal

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by 8man

Nice paint work.

Thank's mate, though I did look like Soul Man afterwards, I was too lazy to find my body suit.

Originally Posted by 8man

Tell LE that he's right about the beard interfering with the mask seal.

will do can as soon as he's done sharpenin' his sling blade

[Gregski]

Ol' Milwaukee hole saw blade, Ol' Milwaukee arbor, Ol' Milwaukee corded drill, grandpa would be soooo proud

... and blue tape on the metal, all professional and such so as not to scratch it ups

Note: drilling on the edge like that sucked! Saw would catch and want to do stupid stuff!

[Gregski]

nice thing about this there design is that you can Clock It before you Tack It !!!

say what?

you can turn / spin the inserts to what ever position you want the gauges to be at

oh, why didn't you just say so

[Gregski]

with the big holes cut out it was time to cut the small ones

first of all let me just say that the Milwaukee hole saw cutting system appears solid on the surface but is a total piece of cheap junk, and no I am not blaming my tools poor craftsman style, it is like asking a carpenter to build you kitchen cabinets using a circular saw and tools to build a fence - did I mention the arbor broke after first use, that's right the threads got all mangled to where I could not unscrew the 3 1/4 saw off of it (it's a design flaw, you can either screw on the hole saw all the way tight and have the 2 reinforcement prongs not align with the holes, or screw it on loose so the two prongs snap in, I chose the second option)

second the Milwaukee hole saws are not precision tools, they did not have the 2 1/16s one so I bought the 2" one and check it out the gauges fit just fine, so there is a ton of discrepancy, I do not recommend these tools for cutting metal at all and I did not Gorilla these cuts and I even used WD-40 as lube while cutting

[Gregski]

things are beginning to take shape now

[Gregski]

alright let's keep going, I am still in shock that I am doing both sides at the same time, I usually put off doing the second of anything for days!!!

Note To Self: if there ever was a time for a drill press, this would have been it!

[Gregski]

so let's do this Optometrist style:

A. - ?





please forgive the slight crookedness in the moch up fotos - this is just to give you a conceptual idea, getting the panels to stay up there without falling out was a bear

[Gregski]

or...

B. - ?

[Gregski]

more gauge pics coming - this is just a place holder

[Gregski]

hey look who finally painted semi flat black the other door

VERDICT = Don't like em! I really can't do the murdered out all black interior bit, feels like I'm in a coffin...

[Gregski]

so trying out some lighter colors for the interior (dash, that rear window panel, etc. the floor and ceiling will still remain black):

Stone Gray Satin

um, hello, what a bad @ss name - done!

[Gregski]

now where were we, oh yeah, painting things semi flat black, the steeringnator was next

first we scuffatize it

[Gregski]

I've used this product to paint over chrome with good results

[Gregski]

primer time

hey look Greg [mongocanfly], using the PROFESSIONAL series, gotta be good (actually it sprays and covers ok, the primer from AutoZone ie same formula for twice the cost seems to cover better in my opinion - maybe it's just phsychological, I'm that guy who's identical TV is better cause I payed more for it, ha ha, you know who you is!)

[Gregski]

ok we get it, you're gonna paint it black next, save us from scrolling down

hey I just got done with three days of weldering holes in the firewall, I'll post as many steering wheel pics as I darn please, jk

Fun Fact: that little red square/rectangle on the tip of the nozzle - it rotates so you can have a horizontal or [ahem] not horizontal spray pattern, super useful on a ROUND steering wheel, whaaa haa ha

[notsolo]

You did really well cutting those out Greg, only other option is having someone else do it with expensive tools for cutting clean holes in metal ...Drop them off somewhere, wait 2 weeks and see if they lost them.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by notsolo

You did really well cutting those out Greg, only other option is having someone else do it with expensive tools for cutting clean holes in metal ...Drop them off somewhere, wait 2 weeks and see if they lost them.

thanks, a buddy of mine has a plasma cutter CNC machine table thingie but I haven't used it yet, if he ever lets me try it I may just get hooked, but in the meantime we gots to do what we gots to do during this Virus Season, plus I knew the bezels on the gauges would cover up the imperfections allowing me more room for error

[Gregski]

guys I know you won't believe me but after I came up with what I thought was my own gauge layout I finally wen't looking for ideas on the Google this morning, when I came across this 1963-1967 Corvette design, OMG I have never seen this before yet this is totally what I was going for, how do I go back in time to the 60s and tell them they stole my design? ha ha

actually makes you feel kinda good that your idea is something, my ex boss has a really keen eye for automotive design, and I am convinced Mazda and or Acura stole some of his graphics ideas, since he went to a Mazda reveal show once and two years later he showed me some pics of their factory prototype and OMG the decals were almost an exact copy, but hey what can you do

don't worry Mr. Foose, your job is safe ... [for now]!

[notsolo]

Your gonna need a bigger hole saw..they do look good....old style gauges look better in IMO.

[Gregski]

Originally Posted by notsolo

Your gonna need a bigger hole saw..they do look good....old style gauges look better in IMO.

Oh, I meant smaller gauges but in this layout, with the two smaller ones at an angle on each side like that

[Gregski]

got the aircraft style fuel capacitor installed today

[Gregski]

someday it will be mounted flush but not today - I got lucky and it spanned two boards for strengthtability

[Gregski]

I bought like three different angle hoses cause they measure them all reverse like, for example what I would call a 120° they call 60°, so I have no idea which one I ended up using, but these are specifically fuel hoses

[Gregski]

then it was back to the gauges - weldered them up using the Tejas two step method: well a little grind a little

this is after the first dance