'70 Sport Custom Rebuild- She's been adopted!

[sargentrs]

Ok, this is going to take awhile to write up so I'm going to start another thread in the Interior section, or should it be Electrical? Anyway, as a teaser, I'm going to rip into this sucker and see if I can rebuild it back to "like new". Wish me luck!
Edit: I started another thread http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=80023

[sargentrs]

Got my spacers for the E-brake pedal in. Picked up some stainless bolts, washers and lock nuts. Didn't weld them or anything so might be a little tedious to install but I can deal with it.

[sargentrs]

A/C unit is complete. http://www.fordification.com/forum/view ... =8&t=80023 Another piece to the puzzle is ready! Time to dig around in the pile 'o parts and find something else to work on through the winter.

[crazyhorse]

Mr Sargent, that looks good.

I need to start looking for AC for Ol' Red.

[sargentrs]

Thanks, crazyhorse!

[sargentrs]

After spending a quality 2 hours in the man cave cleaning up the mess from the AC rebuild, I pulled out my F600 gauge panel and brought it to the work bench to begin it's journey. The F600 instrument cluster was give from Wayne Ott (68 Ford Stepside) that he gave me before he passed (RIP Wayne!) We had been PMing occasionally and I mentioned I was going use an F600 panel. A week later, it showed up on my doorstep. That's the kind of guy Wayne was. I want to use it in my project to honor him. I doubt I'll be able to install gauges in it anytime soon, due to funding, but I want it prepped so when I do get them it's ready. My choice of gauges is the Autometer Sport Comp series. http://www.autometer.com/gauges/sport-comp.html I like the clean, uncluttered, old school basic look and the pricing is reasonable. I've researched for a very long time and these are the only affordable ones that have all the different gauges that I want in the same style, as well as the reputation, customer service and technical support I'll be needing. Here's my shopping list:

3-3/8" Speedo
3-3/8" Tach
3-3/8" Quad Gauge - oil, water, fuel and volts

2-1/16" - Fuel Pressure
2-1/16" - Vacuum Gauge
2-1/16" - Oil Temp
2-1/16" - Air/Fuel Ratio

Push button fog light switch
Push button hazard flasher switch

All will be black faces with white lettering. The goal being total on board engine diagnostics. Here's my panel after it's been stripped and blasted. I know a local powder coating company that has a beautiful chrome powder they use for one of their customers. I had originally intended to liquid paint it so I had Bondo'd some bleminshes. That'll be stripped out an I'll use LabMetal instead so it can be powder coated.

[sargentrs]

Here's the first hurdle. My panel originally came with the factory vacuum gauge in the large left hole and does not have the embossed ring around it. All 3 locations for the speedo, tach and quad gauge are different sizes and larger than the 3-3/8" gauges I intend to use. So that those 3 gauges will mount the same, I'll have to cut out the originally locations to eliminate the embossed ring like the left hand hole. To compensate, I'll have some circular rings cut on the laser at work that have the required 3-3/8" mounting hole for the gauges and an outside diameter to cover the largest hole and give all 3 gauges identical outside perimeters. I'll cut additional circles to fill in the gap, tack weld them to the rings, and keep the gauges centered in the openings. I'll have these chrome powder coated also. Secondly, someone had drilled a hole in the bottom right hand corner of the panel (not Wayne) so I'll have to find a purpose for that hole. Time for a trip to Home Depot for a new Dremel and some carbide bits to start cutting!

[sargentrs]

I've had a cheap HF electric tool for awhile now and the chuck stripped so it had a problem with the bits working their way out. So I caught a sale at Home Depot and bought a new Dremel 4000. Awesome tool! It came with a variety of bits and I also picked up a couple others that were suitable for metal cutting. Even with that it took me a solid hour to cut out one hole! I tried cut off wheels, cutting burrs, grinding burrs, etc. I finally used my aviation snips to nibble away the bulk of the metal and dressed it up with a grinding bit. There's gotta be a better way. Any recommendations?

[76_F350_CS]

I have been watching your progress wonderful work.

You could try an old boater trick to cut a hole bigger. Take a hole saw drill bit and make a plug the size of the hole you want to make bigger.

Then slide the plug onto the new hole size drill bit. The plug will center and lock the new size hole saw so it will not drift when drilling the new hole.

So as an example imagine the existing hole is two inches you need to find a saw that will give you a 2 inch plug maybe 2 1/8. Take the new 2 inch plug and slide it over the bit in the center of the whole saw you want the new hole to be. the plug needs to extend past the cutting teeth of the final size bit.

You would want to use the metal cutting bits and go real slow.

Mike
76 F350 Camper Special 390 FE 2wd

[sargentrs]

Thanks, 76_F350_CS! I couldn't find any metal cutting hole saws locally so I ordered a rotary file for my die grinder. Got a lot of hole cutting to do and they're not all the same size. Here's the goal. A little Photoshop work to give me a good idea what to do.

[76_F350_CS]

You are welcome.

That is going to look great. The autometer selection and quality is beyond question. You will be very happy with them.

[sargentrs]

Thanks again, 76_F350_CS!! Ok, I couldn't wait on a bit. Besides, family was getting on my nerves so I went down to the man cave. 30 little cut off wheels, 2 grinding bits and 3 sanding drums later, I got 'em cut out. Got it down to a system so it only took me about 20 minutes to cut one out. I left the center emboss in place because it's large enough for the speedo anyway. Thought it would look pretty cool with the speedo sticking out a bit further than the side gauges. I also wrote down the dimensions I'll need for the spacer/mounting rings. I'll get my rotary file tomorrow and work on the holes on the left for the Autoloc button switches. The bottom one was drilled off center so just reaming it out won't work.

[Godspeed128]

Pm sent

[sargentrs]

PM answered

[67mann]

randy....good to see your still pluggin away I think I'm finally ready to build my shop or can afford too