I finally had a couple of min to do an update. I wish I had the time to follow through on the Lab Metal, but I ran way short on time and did it very "down and dirty"...so to speak
I guess I'll redo them better if I ever restore this rig, but for now, I need it on the road for the Canby show.
I did put a small amount of Lab Metal(LM) on the refector assembly to replace some missing metal.
I taped some waxy cardboard over the hole to act as a backing to support the LM. It wasn't waxy enough, so I'll use aluminum foil or wax paper next time.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8274.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8275.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8277.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8288.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8289.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8290.jpg[/img]
I cleaned up the screws and nut plates a bit. A dip in acid would have been a bit more effective, but this was quick and simple. I've highlighted the "cup" on ratsun. Basically, it's a tupperware with screen clamped over the end. I can drop a bunch of nuts and bolts into it, put it in the blast cabinet and stick the gun tip into the small hole. I shake and shoot and after about 30sec-1min, the stuff is usually pretty clean.....and I haven't dropped any into the beads
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8291.jpg[/img]
These are the repops I got through Ken last year. They are super sweet, but one of mine was a bit "off"
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8294.jpg[/img]
You can see that the flange is extra thick. I'm guessing the male part of the mold wasn't pressed in quite hard enough. It was a bit wide to fit into the reflector plate, so I put it on the disc sander and shaved some off.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8300.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8301.jpg[/img]
With the width tweaked enough to fit, I found that the screws would not reach through. I did a little more tweaking with the dremel on the couple of them.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8302.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8303.jpg[/img]
I was trying to buff the surrounds up a bit with the bench grinder and let's just say I "oopsed!"
I nearly destroyed one of them. They got finished by hand. Luckily, I was able to tweak it back close enough that it's not noticeable unless you actually look for it. You can see a bend and tear at the lower left of the first pic and the second shows how it bent the whole thing out of whack.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8304.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8305.jpg[/img]
Since I needed a good ground to connect to the second wire, I tacked a non-insulated terminal to the new light socket and put some heat shrink on it. I got the larger sizes from Harbor Freight.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8306.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8307.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8308.jpg[/img]
aaahhhh.....that's so pretty.............in a lumberjack, manly sort of way!!
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8310.jpg[/img]
Lucky me!! You can hardly tell I nearly trashed this one!
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8311.jpg[/img]
Last, but not least, heres a quick pic of the brake light switch. I simply spliced some wire to the ends at the firewall mounted hydraulic switch(which is eliminated) and ran it to the brake pedal. It's taped into the wiring harness, so there's nothing to show of it now. This switch gives a much faster response time to brake application. It will turn the lights on even if you don't press hard enough to apply the brakes.
[img]http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k162/ ... P_8321.jpg[/img]
I think that's pretty much it for this thread. I'll try to get the update on the front buckets soon.