1951 Pontiac Chieftain

Well, so far this has been a moderately fun diversion in repair- I have the time so it's been cheaper than trying to buy a replacement pair of gauges, too.

Phil

Looks ace now.


Phil
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Fixed that for you !

A car that deserves the level of attention to detail you are putting into it, thanks for the updates.

James

That's better than the Oxford Street lights!

Love when old dials get some decent bulbs behind them, they looks so much better.

It's a lovely dash whatever the colour!

Those instruments would look very nice just illuminated on a shelf....

They will look much better in the car obviously !

Love your work mate

Wiper motor time!

First, the control needs to be removed from the top of the dash.



Then the linkages come off, held on by a spring clip, and the whole thing drops out after two bolts holding it in are removed. Seriously one of the easiest wiper mechanisms to remove. Stamped Trico.


Took the side panel off to reveal the mechanism that flip-flops the valve over to move the vacuum motor.


Oiled up the control cable and gearbox as it was a little stiff to operate and wouldn't spring back from the "washers" position. Left it dangling through a hole in the bench for gravity to work its magic.


Took the lid off. The grease inside had solidified and was no longer allowing the vacuum flap (ooh, matron) to slide smoothly. It also partially relies on the grease to seal.


Greased up the valves and put it all back together.


Got the Renault running and connected it up to the vacuum tee on the brake booster.

Runs nicely now, to and fro with a good amount of force. Even the self-park works! I'll have to wait and see how it works with the wipers connected. I think I'll need to grease the spindles too.

Phil

Thanks. It's surprising how many people have made complaint (not here, on other fora) that it's been "horribly modified" and they're mortified I am not considering undoing some of the things done to modify the car (lowered, 12V refit, interior, paint) yet that's probably the only reason this vehicle survived.
The modifications aren't new (well, the 12V "conversion" is probably the last ten years) but the lowering, paint, interior have all been done well and are now part of what the car is.
It's not anything like a Barris hot rod, it's a sympathetic custom. I'm just trying to redo it properly. It's also fun learning how it all works- tonight, for instance. I had no idea how the wiper motor worked. So I took it apart, cleaned and re-greased it. Thankfully it's in pretty good shape inside so has been returned to working condition with a couple of hours work.

As I have stated before- this car came from an era where it was financially feasible to actually strip down and repair component parts of the car. Granted, in-depth repair like I did in the gauges would likely see the gauge sent off to the manufacturer and they'd either rewind it replace the coils and reissue it as a repaired part. My point is very little of the component parts of the car are designed to go together just one time. The body itself is welded and doesn't qualify for that but overall the wear parts can be fixed.

I've seen immediate post-war vehicles from the UK also and while they do rival the technological advances the USA made during the war, the implementation of that technology was often left to the more expensive marques, often due to severe austerity. This is a well engineered car with good fit and finish. There's a lot of really neat touches gone into the design because of the competition the brands had here in the mid fifties.

Glad you've enjoyed reading though!

Phil