Corvair Lakewood 61 - NL

[TikiRalf]

Cleaned and rebuild the indicator switch and cable

Chokecable in place

All the wires, electic and other lines in the correct position (the ground wire is moving to another place, we needed it for the oil pressure gauge)

Next step Dash, tape the electic in the engine bay, clean and paint the support brackets for the steering colum

[TikiRalf]

We finaly finished the hot air grill. All dents are out and cleaned it and polish it till it looks like new. Happy with the result on that one. Soon it will be on the lakewood.

Finished the gauges. All cleaned, repaint, new and rebuild. Next time we try to fit it in the dashboard and wire everything.

Final result

[bbodie52]

Your "Clean-Up Effort" with components from your old Corvair would seem to redefine the meaning of "NEW OLD STOCK"!
It often looks better than new!!

[doug6423]

[TikiRalf]

Figuring out the spaghetti
Label everything for easy connection when the dash is going in

[TikiRalf]

Got all the wires and connectors in place and place the gauges and dash back together

Building up the front, at the moment I only have the drivers site blinker, what I do nothing else is working. I need to check where it goes wrong (maybe bad ground or something) Someone any idea ?

[terribleted]

For the blinker, first check that the parking lamp works. If it does the light unit is likely grounded ok. Next check the adjustment of the turn signal switch. The cable can be moved in the clamp at the switch to get is perfectly centered. If it is not centered one side or the other may not work. I see that the steering column and the switch do not appear to be installed. Are you say that when you move the turn signal switch all the way to the side that does not work it does not work? Might be a bad wiring connection or bulb contact in this case (assuming that the parking lamp works showing there is ground to the lamp assembly).

[flat6_musik]

Love all the attention to detail, especially that manual choke. :)

[TikiRalf]

We got it all working checked all the wires (made ground cable to check). We had 1 bad light bulb, one bad connector and a broken high beam foot knob. Easy fixes. Outside all lights are working now, turn signals, brakes.

We only need to check, I have no dashlights, and only the left blinker light on the dash, right is not working (outside it is working, on dash not working). Also the licence plate lights are not working eather and I need to install the back up light switch.

So we are almost there with the lights, hopefully we can figure the problems with the dash as easy as we did with the overall electric circuit.

Thank you for the post, how to check, if someone has a idea for why the dash lights are not working, please let me know, all the help is welcome to check and dubble check.

[bbodie52]

...We only need to check, I have no dashlights, and only the left blinker light on the dash, right is not working (outside it is working, on dash not working). Also the licence plate lights are not working either and I need to install the back up light switch.

So we are almost there with the lights, hopefully we can figure the problems with the dash as easy as we did with the overall electric circuit...

The common thread that would seem to be related in causing your instrument panel problems would seem to be a poor GROUND. These instrument panel items are dependent on a good panel ground to function properly...

• GEAR SELECTOR LAMP
• RIGHT TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR LAMP
• INSTRUMENT CLUSTER ILLUMINATION LAMP(S)
• CIGAR LIGHTER
• HIGH BEAM INDICATOR LAMP
• WINDSHIELD WIPER SWITCH
• LEFT TURN SIGNAL INDICATOR LAMP

These instrument panel items are mechanical or not dependent on an instrument panel ground...

• SPEEDOMETER
• FUEL LEVEL GAUGE
• POWERGLIDE SHIFT MECHANISM AND NEUTRAL SAFETY SWITCH
• IGNITION SWITCH
• ODOMETER
• PRESS/TEMP WARNING LIGHT
• GEN/FAN WARNING LIGHT
• LIGHT SWITCH

Somehow your left turn signal indicator lamp seems to be the exception, in that it is somehow finding a ground connection. Is the Cigar Lighter working? High Beam indicator Lamp? Windshield wiper switch? (The schematic diagram indicates that this switch needs to provide a ground to function properly).

When you reconditioned the instrument panel extensively, did you paint the rear housings in a way that the lamp sockets or the switch/device mounting point(s) that are not working might be isolated from being properly grounded? If your multimeter shows the presence of voltage going to each of the non-functioning lamps or devices, perhaps something is preventing the mount for each non-functioning device from being grounded through the instrument panel assembly.

Also the license plate lights are not working either

The license plate lamps appear to be powered from the same circuit that powers the tail lights/running lights. If your tail lights are working, and you have voltage in the harness that travels to the license plate mounting area, and if the bulbs are good, then the problem must be a faulty ground at the license plate housing mount.

LEFT-CLICK THE SCHEMATIC TO ENLARGE FOR BETTER VIEWING. CLICK A SECOND TIME FOR MAXIMUM ENLARGEMENT...

1962 Passenger Car Combined Schematic

[Wagon Master]

On my Lakewood, the license plate lights will not come on if the rear engine access door is not latched. That's how it gets its ground.

[TikiRalf]

Thank you for all the information. WE GOT WORKING LIGHT!

Dashlight is working, and all the other light (highbeam, indicator) are working correct. we checked everything step by step, in the end with was probably a bad fuse (half working fuse). We blew it, put a new one in and everything is working fine (and still working fine after several checks

The license plate lights was a bad ground.

Steering Column is in place. We can connect the last wires & Cables. The steering wheel is currently "at the body shop" to straight out the dents, cracks and make it ready for paint.

See you till the next update!

[bbodie52]

You continually seem to reach museum-quality restoration with this rare American-made Corvair station wagon, made even more impressive with your European location and with English not your primary language. Whatever the barrier, you seem to find the skills and patience to overcome it!

It will be a pleasure to see you achieve completion and "give birth" to this completed project after demonstrating such perseverance over many years!




Following more than ten years of perseverance and dedication, I wanted to take a look back. Perhaps your work can inspire many of us!

>> Wed May 25, 2011 6:08 am

Lets start by the begin,

I found the car in the netherlands where it was standing for to years and nobady took care of it. There for the car was in England for a couple of years and drove there about 600 miles. Original the car come from california so it had a bit of a journey to come to my workshop.

We (we is all my all my friends who helped) found it covered with snow outside.

The engine doesn't run so we came back a couple of weeks later when the snow was gone to check out the car and take it for a test run. test run was great execpt the brakes (there were no brakes !! )

viewtopic.php?f=52&t=2301

Perhaps some of these video close-ups of another 1961 Lakewood will be useful in your restoration project...

[TikiRalf]

Thank you BBody52

10+ years, and stil remember when I bought the Lakewood. The first drive. I had hair and was single, now a days I have a wife, kid and live in a house. I always work on my Lakewood in my free time. It is an important part of my life, but there are more important things, family, house and seeing the world (well the last one is not for the last 1,5 year). We mainly work 1 evening a week with my friend and another evening alone. Time goes fast! but it is getting closer to get finished. Always step by step and project for project to keep it going and keep a good overview look.

I hope it will be done next year! I try to work on that, but you never knows what is going to happen.

[Wagon Master]

That's how you eat (complete) an elephant (project). One bite at a time! Great work and a fine example to the rest of us.

[TikiRalf]

Thank you Wagon Master!

Here's one of the next little projects, we're still working on the steering wheel. Smooth everything out. filler - sanding, filler, sanding, primer, sanding more layers to go before final paint! I can say this steering wheel got a lot of edges, weird shapes!