Floyd Brothers 70 Challenger

[mygasser]

if the tach touches the screen stick one of those self adhesive little black dense sponge circles onto either the screen or the tach at that point so it's 'tight' against it stopping any rattling/banging there. you can get them cheaply at craft shops or on evilbay, amazon etc.
neil.

[Stu]

Hopefully won’t need to, that would send my OCD side into overdrive.

[Stu]

Can quite happily bolt it to the inner speaker plate, which puts it in the perfect place, but that leaves me the complication of how to neatly plate round the bracket.

Will have a think on that while I sort the mini gauges.

Think a cup with a flat mount might be the answer now, as the back of the tach on that bracket looks a bit crap now I see it through the screen.

[Blue]

Chop the curved bit off the tach bracket and weld the bracket to the panel, sorted!

[Stu]

Reasonably happy with progress on the mini gauges! Lots of extra joints in my arms to be able to plumb them in, but think they’re going to be ok.

Bit of paint and plumbing and I reckon I might roll with that!

[Stu]

Chop the curved bit off the tach bracket and weld the bracket to the panel, sorted!

I’m only just getting the hang of soldering, not sure welding is likely just yet!

[Blue]

Cool, just need to prise the front off the gauges and paint the needles orange now!

[Stu]

Behave!

[Stu]

Think I’m going full circle on the speaker grille now, faffed around with the plate and realised I’m still going to mount it forward of that, so back to thinking I’m going to mount it straight on the dash. Been scouring eBay for an old style cup and mount, but not turning anything up yet. I’m thinking I can carefully drill the speaker grille surround to route the cable.

[Stu]

VHT Wrinkle paint arrived this morning, so scuffed up the gauge panel I made and set about giving it a blast. When I looked up details on the search function here, it bought up a lot of people asking about it and how it goes on and finishes, so I thought I’d share some pics and thoughts.

With all the fuss on forums in the states online, I was worried how this would turn out, so did the back first. Not sure why I was worried, it’s a piece of pee if you just do what it says.

Kept the paint indoors to get it room temperature for a couple of hours, sanded the plate, then made sure I shook the can for a solid minute as they say this is important. Laid down 1 coat in vertical strips, then stuck a timer on for 5 minutes and left it. They say to go thick, I just gave it a spray and it came out like that anyway. Pic 1!

Had a spare box to the side as everyone says you need to invert and clear the nozzle or this stuff won’t forgive and clogs, so I inverted and sprayed into the box after each coat until it sprayed clear gas as per a you tube vid I found.

5 minutes later, shook for another minute and gave it another coat, this time of horizontal stripes, cleared the nozzle, walked away. Looked too thick and gloopy, started to worry slightly… pic 2!

Another 5 minutes, another minute shaking, laid the last coat in diagonal strips. Cleared the nozzle and went back to work for 20 minutes. Pic 3!

At this point, I used some wire pegs through the holes to lift it onto a piece of wood to stop it sticking and so I could use a heat gun on it.

Few minutes of heat (approx 200*) from a bit of a distance and hey presto! Pic 4!

One thing I hadn’t thought through was that I was doing it in a dusty garage and the heat gun kicked up a bit of Bananarama! into the finish, but it’s the back so I’m not fussed.

Pic 5 is it out in the light, I’m really happy with the finish. Going to leave it for 24 hours and then do the front.

[MattH]

That looks really good.
So if all else fails read the instructions!

[Stu]

That looks really good.
So if all else fails read the instructions!

Pretty much, from what I can tell!

I might report differently when I do the other side tomorrow, maybe I got lucky, but I’m pleased with it. I do wonder if the continual advice to “go heavy” sees people lathering it on crazy thick, but it looked thick enough to me after a quick spray, so I just went with it.

[Blue]

Yes you have to follow the instructions exactly, heavy coats and don’t do it in the cold. Often it will take overnight to actually wrinkle and I normally allow a couple of days for it to harden off before messing with it too much. Looks like you’ve got it exactly right. I really like it as a finish on smaller items.

[Stu]

Yes, I’m really liking the finish. May redo my rocker covers and air filter cover with it over the winter.

[Stu]

Slightly unforeseen issue, pulled the old gauges forward to check the plumbing and realised none of the bulbs are in or wired, so I can’t just unplug and rewire the new ones the same, have to try and figure out what I’m doing now… never touched auto electrics in my life, other than the odd stereo swap in my yoof.

Literally just the temp gauge capillary and oil pressure hose attached and nowt else. I knew the voltmeter wasn’t plumbed, but never driving in the dark hadn’t really realised the others had no bulbs as daft as it sounds.

RE the oil and temp gauges, I’m guessing there’s no reason I can’t just unplug the existing capillary and hose and plug them into the new ones, as they are the same make?