VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 My 1951 Deluxe Sedan Restoration Journal...

I too would think that the underside of the sunvisor would look great the same color as the instrument panel.

But all instrument panels were gray.
When the first PK visors came out in 1946 they used the green and everyone followed. Those visors were fabric cover steel rods.

Yep, the 1951 Chevrolet instrument panel is a dark gray and I think that the same color would look cool on the underside of the sunvisor. However, the light or dark green looks great too.

Today I headed back to see Kerry. I had to pick up the vent tube which I left there, and I had to take the rims back for clear coating. I also dropped off the heater duct, core casing, and battery tray for painting. He's also going to paint the air cleaner. We're masking off the original Canadian decal that is on it. I'm going to see if I can get one re-popped later.

When I arrived home I got the fender skirts out and stapled on the new rubber. It went well, and they fit better than they ever did. They had the original rubber on them, but it had been painted over during the two previous re-paints. Fresh rubber sure looks better!

Stapled the rubber on? Wow, I ended up using gasket seal.

On your gas tank trim are the edges super sharp? I have an NOS and its thin and like a razor blade, so I took it off.

They were stapled on from the factory. Look at the lip around the top edge, and you should see small holes all of the way around. I had to drill them out a size up to get the new staples to fit.

I didn't find the trim to be sharp, but it does fit nice and flush.

Are you now using '49 to '50 skirts, since the EMS panel were being used on the 1/4 panels ?

Nope... Kerry rebuilt the lip. Only one side is EMS, the other side is the fender skin from the parts car. He was able to make a template off of that. The skirt fits perfectly!

I recall reading an EMS footnote, stating the use of the '49/
'50 skirts would be needed with EMS panel. Good that he was able to use his skills, to maintain '51 skirts.

Installed the accessory overflow tank today...

876 is coming fast ......

Get that bugger buttoned up, log in some miles for a "shake down cruise", fix the bugs that were found on the "shake down cruise".

Deadline : MARCH 15, 2016.

At the speed I'm going, Tahoe might be the shakedown cruise! The good thing about owning a trailer is that if it's not quite ready, at least I can get my "trailer queen" to the show field. The plan is to drive the wheels off of it again though!

OK, shake down in Tahoe.

We should bring extra tools and parts, but no follow "too close".

Yesterday I took a trip back to see Kerry. It was the first batch of things we forgot, or screwed up! First was the rims. I thought I would want them pinstriped before I put the clear coat on them, but my pin striper informed me that was wrong, based on the paint he uses. The clear would destroy his paint. Back they went to Kerry for clearing!

Secondly, Kerry forgot to take the heater ducting and battery tray off of the inner fender panel to switch to the new one. Five parts were sent back to be painted. He also made a new duct out of flat steel that goes beneath the battery tray.

Third, I decided to have him see what he could do about my air cleaner. It has a rare Canadian "Donaldson Air Cleaner" sticker on it... or what is left of one! You can't buy a reproduction one anywhere. I asked him to mask it off, so that if I'm unsuccessful in duplicating it, at least I'll have something. The part looks beautiful now, as he used a gloss paint. The sticker is the worst thing about it!

Here's the painted air cleaner and the heater box with "Oshawa Canada" metal tag...

After I left Kerry's place, I headed over to Paul Rozon's house. We decided Paul was going to see what he could do about the tag using his photoshop expertise. I didn't have my hopes up too high, as I figured it was a much bigger project than removing a couple hydro lines from a photo, or adding a Santa hat to the Director's head for the Christmas issue of the Region's "Clutch Chatter"!

Paul is all about doing a job right, and I could tell when I walked into his house to the mini photo studio in his front hall! We got the air cleaner set up with the proper lighting to remove all of the shadows, then tried out 4 different cameras to get the best picture. It was important to get the best pixel quality, and to use the tripod to eliminate any blurring.

Here's the pro at work...



This is what we had to work with...



We also have this partial sticker from an oil bath cleaner that shows the colours better, as well as the logo...



You can see why I didn't have my hopes up! Anyway, Paul showed me a couple stickers he did for his windshield washer bottle. They looked really good, so I went home with some optimism.

Late last night, this was in my email box...



I'm going to get a few of them printed, and try one out on a spare air cleaner I have here. If it works, I'll sand and paint over the old sticker, and print this one to go over the masked off area on the cleaner.

Looks great ! What will you use to adhere the new one to the cleaner ???

Dick

I've got some clear water slide decal paper that is used for model cars. I'm going to give that a shot first. I'll also prep the part with some decal set.

Bruce Ye have little faith. Young lad, when will ye learn?

Five rims came back from the pin striper today. Stripes in Crofton Ivory...

I also picked up a set of optional trim rings for $100CD on Kijiji ... That's $75 US today!!
Now I have to decide if I cover up the pin stripes, or put them on the convertible. Likely going to go on the '50 for now... at least until judging of the '51 is done.

If they are like mine (genuine original) they have the gripping fingers on the back which will scratch off the paint .

Shouldn't the stripe be Argent Silver, with Shadow Gray body color ?

I saw those rings on kijiji. I almost bought them. I'm glad you got them. The car is looking great.

Bob, Bob, Bob... Canadian Colours!!!

The grey is Aldershot Grey Metallic. The shade is about half way between the two USA greys...

There's no gripping fingers. They push over the hub cap clips and are held on by the hub cap.


Thanks Wayne... It was worth the trip to the seller's garage. He bought them years ago to go on his USA built '50 convertible, but it has 16 inch rims. His garage was worth the tour!