'Mighty Mouse' 320 Pickup Gets a New Motor & Upgrades

1962-1965 Datsun L320 and NL320 forums - The truck that started it all in the US. All 320-specific topics and discussion can be found here.
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AZhitman
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It just keeps getting better.

I missed it somewhere - which calipers are they?


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difrangia
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Using Mike Klotz's adapter kit the donor parts are mid-80's Nissan 2WD pickup parts. Here's a couple of links:

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/32052052162 ... e-kit.html

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/donor-vehic ... ation.html

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/truck-kit-install.html

Mike makes the kits for other early Datsun vehicles also.

http://www.bluehandsinc.com/

Good quality stuff.

Steve

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AZhitman
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Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
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Got it - I'm a big fan of anything Mike does. :)

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difrangia
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A new post on Ratsun over the past few days regarding the upper control arm urethane bushings that Mike is making. I just might be upgrading the UCA's on the 'Mouse'.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/66334 ... -mklotz70/

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difrangia
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Did a little more running this afternoon. I now have nearly four hours on the little beast. Have the several little leaks fixed and the carb re-jetted. I'll be juicing up the brakes on Mighty Mouse in the next week or so and be taking off some of the stuff on the motore and putting the E1 back in. Next post should have some photos.

Here's a fresh video of some run-time this afternoon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MEIf9E ... load_owner

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waynosworld
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It's so much fun/satisfying to run the engine on a stand, all the effort getting it set up to do exactly that is likely why.
It even gets to the point where you want to buy stuff for it and mount it so that you can test run the engine one more time. :facepalm:

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difrangia
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Right, Wayne. Gonna be kinda sad to start turning bolts & nuts counter-clockwise when it's time to disassemble the mess to put the engine back in the Mouse. I just know it's gonna require a little pain killer.

As in Irish, rye, & bourbon whiskey, dirty martinis, etc.

Hah !!!
Steve

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difrangia
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The weather was a constant deluge of rain and had live-in company for most of the holiday weekend, but still managed to get a little done. Replaced a brake line from the master cylinder to the rear of the cabin on the 64 VW Bug. Whew !! I'm gettin' too old for this stuff.

Sunday afternoon I felt the urge to inch forward a little progress on the Datsun project so I climbed in the left front floorboard of the Sport Truck and took some measurements and made up some cardboard patterns for a mount for the mechanical brake lite switch. If you refer to the earlier posts, you can see that I've updated to dual circuit system with discs in front. In doing so the plumbing was simplified immensely. The original pressure type brake lite switch is no more

It took a couple of stabs at the tab that I attached to the brake pedal arm but it came out quite acceptable. here's the parts:

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I built the same switch into this mod that is used on our 1978 'Lil Hustler'. I'm trying to update to as many parts from the late 70's Datsun pickup as I can so I can keep as many spares as possible that will service both trucks. Here's the parts installed on the pickup:

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I used the ohm meter to set the switch and she's ready to go. Planning on a LED third brake light on the little truk.

On to the next hill.

Steve

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waynosworld
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I guess this is the difference between doing a nice job and doing it the way I do it just to make it work. :tisk:
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difrangia
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Wayne, You're fix will work just as good and is easier to do. I held the switch in several positions including the one in your photos where it triggers directly on the brake pedal bar, both above and below the adjustable stop. That would be the simplest setup. Your photos must be a 520/521 as the steering column is between the pedals. At first I thought it might be the U320 but after a little study, I could see that it was LHD. On the 320, it looked to be too cramped directly above the stop and I was afraid that I'd be kicking the switch with it mounted below the stop, so I mounted it above and to the left of the stop. I'm pretty good at making-a-mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill.

Steve

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waynosworld
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If you look real close at the second photo, you can see a heater hose going thru the firewall, it is my RHD U320.
I never really noticed that the column went between the pedals before, my LHD NL320 isn't like that.
Your setup is nice, I just bent a piece of metal to fit what was there without drilling any new holes.
difrangia wrote:Wayne, You're fix will work just as good and is easier to do. I held the switch in several positions including the one in your photos where it triggers directly on the brake pedal bar, both above and below the adjustable stop. That would be the simplest setup. Your photos must be a 520/521 as the steering column is between the pedals. At first I thought it might be the U320 but after a little study, I could see that it was LHD. On the 320, it looked to be too cramped directly above the stop and I was afraid that I'd be kicking the switch with it mounted below the stop, so I mounted it above and to the left of the stop. I'm pretty good at making-a-mountain-out-of-a-mole-hill.

Steve
This is how they heated this truck in Australia, a custom setup without defrosters.
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I connected it up for now, but already have an original heater box assembly complete to the firewall for this truck.
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difrangia
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Strange heater core. Is that what the RHD trucks had or did someone graft something else in ??

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waynosworld
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difrangia wrote:Strange heater core. Is that what the RHD trucks had or did someone graft something else in ??
It was grafted in before it was imported from Australia, I do have a stock heater box assembly for it that I bought last year with the early diagonal inlet/outlet type heater core from a 62 that was parted out.
It also has the heater switch delete plug for the dash.
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I will likely never put the stock type heater box in it, but I will always keep it with the truck like all the other parts I have to put it back to stock in the future if that avenue is ever taken.
What I likely will do is make a part/housing that allows me to have defrosters the way it is now, it will likely be a rectangular box with a round outlet on each end for the defrosters.

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difrangia
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Been a long haitus since last post. I've been tied up with some violin/fiddle projects over the Christmas season. Had to do some preservation on a 100 year old violin for a customer & setup on a couple of student instruments and still have a few to go. Still yet, I've stole a bit of time to to pay attention to the Mouse. We've had familia in over the holiday and I've had to steal a minute or two here-&-there and came up with a clutch slave restrainer as shown here:

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Could be made from a scrap of angle iron but I could't find a piece that would suffice; so I took the long-way-home and snagged an aluminum block and knocked one out:

Boiled the clutch and brake master reserviors and installed them.

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Picked up a reverse purge hydraulic system (from ebay):

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Hooked her up to the clutch slave in the engineroom:

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And back-purged to the clutch master:

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So now; as this photo shows, I've got pedal with no engine, trany, or clutch installed:

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Brake system purging will be on the menu for tomorrow.

Steve

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difrangia
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Hallelujah !! The baby is born.

I've doubled down on the little Mighty Mouse project over the past four days. Got all the hydraulics juiced back up and started dis-assembling the peripherals from the static-run E1 on the stand. Ran it for a final ten minutes first. Jockeyed the transmission into place and loose hooked up the rear mounts and supported the case with a jack. The little E1 looks dinky now skinned back down to the basic motore.

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Easy-does-it; shoehorning the little thumper back where it needs to be.

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Finally; bolted back in. All mounts cinched down tight. Right Side:

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And Left side:

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Bout 1/2" clearance between air cleaner and front master reservoir:

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Here's the one that might need a little more attention. Only about 1/4" clearance between alternator and battery tray:

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I'll be checking this one out. Maybe a little shorter belt, or at worst, a little remodeling on the battery tray corner. I should add that those front motor mount brackets had to come off to allow the front of the engine to come down low enough to pilot onto the transmission input shaft. Had to set them on the frame brackets and let the motore with the rubber mounts on it down onto the brackets. The brackets hit the steering box and idler and wouldn't let the front of the motor low enough.

Now I'm gonna take a short break. I've got a three or four student violins to set up.

Steve

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Hey Steve,

Another option might be to change out your alternator adjusting arm and the thermostat housing. This should put the alternator up higher with the adjusting arm bolted to the thermostat housing verses the lower point on the front engine plate. This would pretty much be the same set up as the 520 with the J13.

Let me get you some pics tomorrow.

Andy

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and many more Datsuns from 48hp to over 500hp
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Steve,

Is the brake system SAE or Metric now that you have switched over to a dual reservoir? I might have missed this early.

Andy

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difrangia
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Master cylinders are late 620 pickup so are metric. Calipers are mid 80's pickup and are metric also. Back brakes are original SAE. I didn't put a proportioning valve in the conversion, but the line to the rear is still the original. If it turns out that I have to add the valve, I'll run a new line to rear with the valve somewhere in it.

The 620 brake master had two rectangular reservoirs like the on closest to the firewall. My calculations for aircleaner clearance when the engine was still on the cart told me that the rectangular reservoir would not clear the cleaner housing so I acquired the tall round one that is on it in the photos. I wanted to use the original air filter and it took a good amount of work to make it happen.

Steve

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Car: 3 x '65 PL 320
1 x '64 PL 320
1 x '63 PL 320
1 x '62 PL 320 - parts :(
1 x '60 PLG-222
and many more Datsuns from 48hp to over 500hp
Location: Leavenworth, KS

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Master cylinders are late 620 pickup so are metric. Calipers are mid 80's pickup and are metric also. Back brakes are original SAE. I didn't put a proportioning valve in the conversion, but the line to the rear is still the original. If it turns out that I have to add the valve, I'll run a new line to rear with the valve somewhere in it.
Thanks Steve, tracking the new metric brake components. With the rear brakes still being SAE, where did you make the cross over at? I would suspect at the 3-way joint/coupler located on the rear axle.

thanks
Andy

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difrangia
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Andy,
The line going to rear brakes is the original, or at least the one that was on before the disc upgrade. It was plenty long to clip the end off in the engine compartment and re-flare with a metric flare-nut added. Even long enough to make the loop that you can see in one of the photos before the engine was back in and hook into the front port of the double master cylinder. I gathered up a couple of coils of tubing and both metric and SAE fittings and some bending and flaring tools before I started into the task.

The clutch is also metric at the master and SAE at the slave hose connection at the bracket on right frame rail. It is a new line.

Steve

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Car: 3 x '65 PL 320
1 x '64 PL 320
1 x '63 PL 320
1 x '62 PL 320 - parts :(
1 x '60 PLG-222
and many more Datsuns from 48hp to over 500hp
Location: Leavenworth, KS

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re-flare with a metric flare-nut added
Sure, of course, I have the tool for this. Thanks for the follow up on this on.

Out working in the yard trimming tree limbs and thought of this for your alternator clearance issue. It's a thermostat housing from a MG with the built in smog pump bracket. Here is just a random find from eBay -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/MGB-MGB-GT-Orig ... a~&vxp=mtr

I looked at a few and they come in different house outlet/bracket configurations, but have not sized one up for fitment on an E.

And here is the pic from my very late '65 floor shift. After looking at this I do not know if this type of thermostat housing will raise your alternator up very much. But should work as this is the same set up as the J13 and it has an alternator.

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Note the belt is flat across the top as compared to the next photo where if present the belt would be angled upwards.

and a pic of my '63 that had an alternator. Notice how high the alternator sits as compared to the thermostat housing -
Image

and a not so good pic of the J13, that small hole on the housing is were the adjusting arm mounts to.
Image

hope this helps,
Andy

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difrangia
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The belt I had on was the used one that was on with the generator before ear-down which was still in pretty good condition and number on it was still readable (4L370 meaning automotive belt that is 1/2" wide X 37" outside circumference). The used belt actually measures 37" outside circumference.

I went to parts store and picked up a 36" an a 37" new 4L series belt. The 36" wouldn't even begin to go on and the 37" picked up at least another 1/4" clearance between alternator and battery tray. This was just from the difference in width due to the wear on the width of the used belt. I did a bit of study online and it looks like I may be able to go to an industrial belt of same width listing (1/2") and pick up another 1/4" or so in length over the automotive belt. Automotive belts that are 1/2" wide are designated 4L and industrial belts are A-series and the industrial belts are supposed to be about 1/64" wider than the automotive belts.

A little study on the internet showed that there was not a 36 1/2" circumference auto or industrial belt listed, but looks like there might be a 36 1/2" mower belt available for a TORO mower. In the next couple days I plan to visit Lowes, Attwoods, and Tractor Supply and see just what they might have in the mower department.

Love the internet. Biggest library in the world; right at your fingertips.

Steve

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difrangia
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Working on hooking up the little stuff and reworking the underhood wiring on the Mouse. I now have the starter with the integral solenoid but decided to keep the fender mounted solenoid for original appearance only. Took a 3"-4" piece of 3/8" copper gas supply tubing and flattened it in a vise and formed it to bridge between the two solenoid main terminals.

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A little length of heat shrink in the middle for no functional reason; it just looks right:

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So now the solenoid mounts in the original position and gives the appearance that it is operational as original but the positive line will cross the bridged solenoid and power the solenoid on the starter.

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The original power wire that triggers the solenoid from the ignition switch will be re-routed to the starter solenoid and a dummy wire will be taped into the loom to the energizing terminal on the original fender solenoid. Might seem like a lot of unnecessary effort, but it's what the mouse & I feel good with.

Steve

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difrangia
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Got a little stuff for an update. I've been tied up with setting up a few student violins since the first of the year and been sneakin a few hours for the Mouse here and there. Got a good run at the instrument cluster a week or so ago. The panel needed repaint as it didn't quite meet up to to our standards. Ran it through the blast cabinet:

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A coat of etching primer and paint I had mixed to match the nice column shift panel slid the gages back in and it came out like this:

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And back in place in the dash:

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Wanting a break from the interior, I drug out the horns and got them on the bench with a charged up battery. Wired em up and adjusted the tone and looked for the little oval brass tags to rivet back on. I looked for several hours and couldn't turn up the tags. I know they are in a small area of the shop but just can't put my hands on them. This is the only item that I've just absolutely not been able to turn up by going through a few boxes. If they don't turn up soon, I'll run a classified for some clunker horns for the tags. Anyway, here is how they came out:

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And here they are mounted; from the front:

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And from above:

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I got about half a dozen items from the engine room off to the the high-temp coating shop last week and should get them back in a week or so. Next up is getting the turn signal unit and the column bell below it cleaned up and painted and back on so the steering wheel back on. Not gonna tackle the wheel at this time. Gonna be a later project.

Steve

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difrangia
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Persistance pays off, sometimes. I went back through all the stuff stored on the end of the workbench today and still couldn't come up with the horn tags. Took everything out of the bed of the little pickup and started going through all the boxes in there again. Talkin about two hours minimum. Went through the very last baggie of bolts and springs for the hood latch system and low-&-behold. there were the tags. Cleaned em up and riveted to the covers. We're back in business.

Image

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AZhitman
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Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
Location: Surprise, Arizona
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<swoon>

Love this level of attention to detail. So admirable.

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difrangia
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Got the parts back from Jet-Hot. Knockout beauties, as usual.

Image

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difrangia
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This group of parts cost me $50. + $25 packing and shipping. Packed super well; each part individually bubble wrapped, the whole mess packed with more bubblewrap & sealed tight in the double thick box pictured. They could have dropped it out or an airliner into my yard and the parts would have been OK.

This stuff is engineered for exhaust systems and survives very well in my experience over the past twenty years. Their website shows two facilities, one in Oklahoma and one in North Carolina.

Image

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AZhitman
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Car: 58 L210, 63 Bluebird RHD, 64 NL320, 65 SPL310, 66 411 RHD, 67 WRL411, 68 510 SR20, 75 280Z RB25, 77 620 SR20, 79 B310, 90 S13, 92 SE-R, 92 Silvia Qs, 98 S14.
Location: Surprise, Arizona
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Out of pure curiosity, Dave - Why Jet-Hot?

I'm aware of how awesome it is for exhaust manifolds, turbo housings, downpipes, etc... but the parts you did could have been done in powdercoat (which is more durable and less expensive).

My buddy and I have been doing some at-home coating, and found a powder that turns out *almost* as reflective as chrome, once polished.

Again, just curious - certainly not doubting your process... I think we all know I'm a big fan of this project!

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difrangia
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Yeah, AZ, I probably could have saved a little $$ by going with powdercoat on the parts that are non-exhaust, but I'm familiar with this finish and have had zero issues with it for over 25 years. Just had a lot going with the 320 and all the other projects and didn't want to hunt out another service vendor. The air cooled FIAT two-banger stuff looks super after a couple of decades.

I did have the electrical box cover for the Messerschmitt powdercoated in matte black and it was super durable and awesome looking. Thanks for your input on this.

Steve


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