November 1 ...a little progress

I've been busy doing other things instead of working on the B400. I did get a little progress made this last week or so. While I was waiting on some clutch parts I decided to make the kick panels. They are made from ABS plastic panel. I kind of like that stuff. I needed to mount the voltmeter in the right kick panel because the extra gauge panel is full. I am running 2 water temp gauges so the 4 gauge panel under the dash is full. To make the voltmeter fit in the kick panel I had to make a little pod or a bulge in it. I have done this on two other deuces in the past. I had saved the wood buck from the last jobs. The heat gun works wonders to heat the plastic soft, then carefully force it over the buck and apply a little more heat. You can feel when it is soft enough. After it cools, a hole saw makes a nice round hole, then pop the gauge into it. I had my neighbor machine a bushing so that I could use a real bearing for the pilot shaft instead on the bronze bushing that comes with the set up. Next was to drill and tap a hole in the aluminum bellhousing to attach the throwout bearing to. I drilled a small hole at the end of the bolt to attach the spring to. Thanks to friend Darrick, i used his bellhousing as a pattern. His flattie is torn down at the moment, so me taking the bell for a day or so worked out. Yesterday I got the trans and engine bolted together and installed into the chassis. Sure looks good in there. The firewall went back on and the radiator too. Speedway order will bring me more radiator hoses and Gates power clamps to finish it up.