It was a struggle, but I finally have the scuttle in place, and while it needs a lot of work with file and filler, it’s looking OK. This entire car is going to be “OK”, I think, which is, er, OK.
One of the things I was concerned about was the steering column being centered in the opening in the dash, and lo and behold:
Of course, that’s only after some more creative work. If someone ever takes this car apart in the future they’ll be asking “did this guy ever drill a hole in the right place the first time?
I’m drilling the hole through the reinforcing block that carries the crossbar which supports the steering column. On the passenger side, the glovebox is in the way and I had to take the dash back out. I hate taking stuff out.
You’ll note the cracked original steering wheel is in the car…more on that below. The steering column is at least an inch further back than it was before, at what, from looking at photos, looks like a more appropriate place. Certainly makes it easier to use when you’re not constantly knocking against the dash.
This side, as usual, looks pretty good. I have the rubber blocks which guide the door in place, and they seem to work well, though the door latches are very stiff.
The problem side sees the door frame touching the scuttle. Hm. This side was all sorts of messed up and still is somewhat. I think I can lower the door the 1/16th of an inch needed to match the driver’s side. I have to re-solder the ends of the drip rail, I am not looking forward to that.
Meet my $17 motorcycle lights which will let me test the electrics and do some shakedown runs with the chassis. That’s a VW bug license plate holder.
Here are some temporary lights for the front. There’s another pair of the lights seen on the rear, but with amber lenses (though the car has separate lights for running and indicators up front, these dual-filament lamps will work just fine for my nefarious purposes). And there is also a set of free-standing headlights, $70 with bulbs included. For $70, they’re actually pretty impressive. I’ll fabricate some sort of bracket.
And there is the new steering wheel…which won’t work. The wires are too short for the Morgan hub, which, of course, I hadn’t noticed. Ah, well.
I should note the dash is in, but nothing is hooked up yet. Plumbing and cables will take an evening, and the actual wires will take another.