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The Elephant In The Room: unloading the load from a B-body.

Just when we thought it was safe to safely put it all to bed. Not yet.
Some of those floor jacks can weigh a good amount so perhaps mounting them closer to the rearward trunk edge is best. In this case a lightweight aluminum one from a Porsche was used, but in actuality is just there for the looks. Yes, it can lift the car, but I have a trusty steel Military grade scissor jack as my main road dog.

037-1965-dodge-coronet.jpg
 
At the very tip of the Ice berg on the cars rear sits another surprisingly 2-1/4 Lbs that can be redistributed elsewhere. I guess the only place for it is further down by the trunk floor or rear bumper.
What is it? It's the rear deleted back up lights, an option to have 'em back in '65 and yet standard deletion on SS A-990 cars.
I couldn't believe that the light bulb sockets with wiring, bulbs, cast pot metal light buckets and the lens could add up to 2-1/4 lbs, but they did. The block-off plates, seen here, weighed ounces if not grams.
I almost forgot to mention that this back up light delete option is probably exclusive only to '65 Dodge's only. The Plymouths and other year Dodges have separate back up lights.

0-7.jpeg
 
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Whipped up a couple of window regulator caps on the lathe for the rear windows. Windows can stay up. Another .5 Lb gone. (8.8oz). Now I’m eyeing up the lower section of the horn ring. Will weigh it and go from there.
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Time to lose that cast center section of the dash an relocate the gauges.
Doug

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dvw said:
Time to lose that cast center section of the dash an relocate the gauges.
Doug

View attachment 1581578

View attachment 1581579
Click to expand...
DV. You beat me to it including the finish line. LOL. I was going to mention that the cast pot metal cluster housing for the factory gauges is heavy. I'm not too up on what those Plymouth versions look like, but something tells me that they are even heavier than the Dodges. I cut out sizable portions of it to the tune of a pound or so IIRC. It's on this thread somewhere like 20 pages back or so. LOL.
 
For the Belvedere in 65, Reverse lights were optional. They were vertical lights on each side of the rear license plate. If your car did not have reverse lights, there was basically nothing there except for the license plate.
P1010023.JPG
 
Badvert65 said:
For the Belvedere in 65, Reverse lights were optional. They were vertical lights on each side of the rear license plate. If your car did not have reverse lights, there was basically nothing there except for the license plate.View attachment 1581603
Click to expand...
Man... even better. A much more cleaner look.
It's crazy how these items/options of safety or convenience are standard today and you had to pay extra to have them put on back then. Nowadays they charge you to delete certain items. Disturbing the assembly line they say. LOL.
My door sideview mirror was an option as well, but being that the doors are aluminum, there were no mirrors on those doors at all.
 
malex said:
Something to think about along with the windows, and regulators. For now I’m still liking the factory cluster.
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I kept my factory gauges and cluster housing, but they're just gutted on the backside to have that untouched factory look.
 
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fullmetaljacket said:
Malex. Are those crank handle caps you spun at work aluminum or steel?
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Aluminum. They are an ounce each. They got a spin at the end with the drill. 2000 wet. Good to know on the dash cluster. It’s been fun finding and losing un-noticeable weight. Thanks for this great thread.
 
malex said:
Aluminum. They are an ounce each. They got a spin at the end with the drill. 2000 wet. Good to know on the dash cluster. It’s been fun finding and losing un-noticeable weight. Thanks for this great thread.
Click to expand...
Ahh, you're most welcome.
Excellent. Great work and a great idea for the pesky looking hole that is left in the panel after removing the crank.

Yeah, if you have nothing to do on a rainy day, somewhere on this thread is the massaging of the cluster since like you, I like the factory dash look.
Practices like this bring back the joy of Hot Rodding, even if it's only a few ounces worth.

When I get a chance, I'm going to post up several publications from my personal library on this subject. Over the years, there have only been a few good articles in magazines that are worth reading about deleting, but most are just repeating on what some have been depleting.
 
I thought about removing the lens retainers at each gauge and running one clear face over them all. But it was deemed to much work. It may be difficult to see but the bezel is restored back to stock. The main difference is the push button mounted on the right. The shifter mechanism wouldn't clear the roll cage down bar behind the dash. The 5th gauge on the left was an after thought. The stock shift delete plate was opened up (I know sacrilege) and the round portion of a spare bezel was cut out fitted to it. The toughest part was the shifter bezel itself. Originally a shifter bezel was cut down on the outside as far as possible. The the inside of a heater bezel was cut out to fit. Then glued together. I had a friend that worked in the plastics lab at Chrysler. He used that part and made a mold. Molded me a couple. He was also the one who made me carbon fiber bumper brackets.
Doug
 
dvw said:
I thought about removing the lens retainers at each gauge and running one clear face over them all. But it was deemed to much work. It may be difficult to see but the bezel is restored back to stock. The main difference is the push button mounted on the right. The shifter mechanism wouldn't clear the roll cage down bar behind the dash. The 5th gauge on the left was an after thought. The stock shift delete plate was opened up (I know sacrilege) and the round portion of a spare bezel was cut out fitted to it. The toughest part was the shifter bezel itself. Originally a shifter bezel was cut down on the outside as far as possible. The the inside of a heater bezel was cut out to fit. Then glued together. I had a friend that worked in the plastics lab at Chrysler. He used that part and made a mold. Molded me a couple. He was also the one who made me carbon fiber bumper brackets.
Doug
Click to expand...
Man. Talk about “I get by with a little help from my friends” A friend in the plastics lab?
Doug, that just means you’re a good person and spirit if people make special concessions to make things happen for you.
Me? I’m no good. I’ve had to con, don and pawn my first born just to get an answer from any engineer out here. LOL.
 
dvw said:
I thought about removing the lens retainers at each gauge and running one clear face over them all. But it was deemed to much work. It may be difficult to see but the bezel is restored back to stock. The main difference is the push button mounted on the right. The shifter mechanism wouldn't clear the roll cage down bar behind the dash. The 5th gauge on the left was an after thought. The stock shift delete plate was opened up (I know sacrilege) and the round portion of a spare bezel was cut out fitted to it. The toughest part was the shifter bezel itself. Originally a shifter bezel was cut down on the outside as far as possible. The the inside of a heater bezel was cut out to fit. Then glued together. I had a friend that worked in the plastics lab at Chrysler. He used that part and made a mold. Molded me a couple. He was also the one who made me carbon fiber bumper brackets.
Doug
Click to expand...
A huge amount of work went into that dash cluster. I’ve looked at it long and hard numerous times and envisioned all of what you’ve mentioned. The left side ring barely fits the plate but falls nicely into place. The entire car is built with that level of thought and workmanship.

Pounding the buttons with the right hand must’ve been different the first couple times.
 
My Savoy has no back-up lights, no washers and just single speed wipers. No radio or rear seat belts either.

rear savoy.jpg
 
did over the dash in my 63 sfgc , real gauges and ign switching , radio heater deleted as well . deleted the rear window lifts and changed out the door window lifts to some hotrod type electric lifts , saved lbs's

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