M5 Tilt nose update #6 the beginnings of color

It has been a long time to get here.

Have to break the cab up into manageable sections, ie make it into several shoots

The original color was a drab grey. The '50s ushered in an era of pastels so we decided to update the paint color. The M5 itself is so obviously an Art Deco design (having been on the drawing boards in 1940). Art Deco was quickly snuffed out by the war, but we wanted to do justice to its Art Deco soul. The palatial sphere of Art Deco was bright colors.

We use Baril, an industrial paint, which is a DTM (direct to metal) product. Specifically, Bariline Hybrid II DTM. It is hard to locate, but worth it. For example, using a DTM paint, we did not have to prime the bottom of the cab, I simply shot it with 2 coats of black Baril. There are always areas that need a good filler-primer, and the Baril goes right over that, too. If we have areas where we sanded thru the primer to bare metal, no worries, the Baril takes care of that problem, and we do not have to re-prime.  The exterior of the truck will get 3 coats of PPG 2021 clear over the Baril baby blue, and be buffed, but we are not doing that to the interior or the firewall. The Baril does not need to be cleared; it can be buffed out as any automotive paint. But for the exterior, we are looking for that extra gleam you get from a good quality clear.

M5 Tilt nose update #5 Cab rear CE patch panel, stud gun use, some plastic, and some primer

The pix are self explanatory. Miles has super metal skills. He went to the McPherson College (KS) Resto program and had some great teachers. They have summer classes for those interested

Fabbing bracket to hang Evaporator in the M5 cab

We are getting closer to shooting the cab, after some slow downs in the schedule.
Accordingly, we needed to finish any fabbing/welding that involved the cab, so it was time to buy the airbox and figure out how to support the weight. We searched high and low for pix/or info as to how others had done this but came up dry. So we engineered our own system. We needed to be careful to have adequate strength, especially since the sheet metal of the cab is so very thin, much of it being only 22 ga. We did not want the airbox bouncing around on a mount as we went down the road and crack out any of the tin of the cab. We fabbed a bracket that went from A pillar to A pillar, and made a separate center support by welding a 5/16" bolt to a 2"x2" pad and then plug welding that to the center of the firewall. The bracket is 1/8" x 1.5" flat stock.

Only a small portion of the evap will hang below the dash. The glove box space will be reduced but this is Texas, so A/C trumps glove box any day of the week. This is an evap with heat/defrost capability made by Old Air, Ft Worth, TX.

I have often wished there were some other M5 owners around here that I could compare notes with. Sometimes it seems that I am in the middle of a very large deserted field with no one within sight for miles and miles!