Fireside Valiant chat
This little wagon which I dubbed as "Princess Valiant" has seen better days and is in need of a ton of work which is why this is not a build thread ....yet. I have another project occupying the shop but I am starting to collect parts for princess valiant and it has been an adventure in just a matter of weeks.
one of the first road blocks I ran into that showed me just how unique early A's are, were actually the door locks.
In a failed attempt to use the car as a storage shed for the parts that will be used on it ......I found that the doors wouldn't lock. Easy, right....just get on fleabay and get some new locks. Oh wait, these are a unique type locks that are very hard to find. There is a set on buy it now on ebay but...oh noooo ....189. dollars!!!! what the heck, why are the locks so hard to find and so expensive??? I found they are 61- 65 ( I think) and they are very hard to re-key and work with as opposed to the later (66-8) style which is readily available on the market, and for cheap.
So the solution was to update the locks.
What an adventure, took awhile to study the situation and evaluate how this is going to play out. To my luck, I found the later locks use a bigger hole than the early ones. SO far that was a good thing because just like hair, you can cut metal off a lot easier than adding it.
So I drilled the lock hole out and then used a file to shape it. It is not complete because the upper ridge needs welding to make the opening narrower. I figure I am lazy now and I can do this when the car is on the shop docket and getting body work done. Until then, it is not a completed job but the newer style lock fits and functions.
This little wagon which I dubbed as "Princess Valiant" has seen better days and is in need of a ton of work which is why this is not a build thread ....yet. I have another project occupying the shop but I am starting to collect parts for princess valiant and it has been an adventure in just a matter of weeks.
one of the first road blocks I ran into that showed me just how unique early A's are, were actually the door locks.
In a failed attempt to use the car as a storage shed for the parts that will be used on it ......I found that the doors wouldn't lock. Easy, right....just get on fleabay and get some new locks. Oh wait, these are a unique type locks that are very hard to find. There is a set on buy it now on ebay but...oh noooo ....189. dollars!!!! what the heck, why are the locks so hard to find and so expensive??? I found they are 61- 65 ( I think) and they are very hard to re-key and work with as opposed to the later (66-8) style which is readily available on the market, and for cheap.
So the solution was to update the locks.
What an adventure, took awhile to study the situation and evaluate how this is going to play out. To my luck, I found the later locks use a bigger hole than the early ones. SO far that was a good thing because just like hair, you can cut metal off a lot easier than adding it.
So I drilled the lock hole out and then used a file to shape it. It is not complete because the upper ridge needs welding to make the opening narrower. I figure I am lazy now and I can do this when the car is on the shop docket and getting body work done. Until then, it is not a completed job but the newer style lock fits and functions.
