E27N ammeter and electrical questions.

[hemiorange]

My gauge was good but the face was sunburnt. I took it to a stationary shop and he made a decal that looks exactly like my original but all shiny and bright. He made two so if you need one pm me.

I found gloss black paint inside the dash box so I am assuming the outside was the same. What colour should the starter button and light switch be? The horn button is bakelite, what can I do to it to spruce it up a bit?

Did the original cloth covered wires come inside a cloth loom or were the wires loose and individual inside the conduit pipes?

[BarryM]

David,

You haven't told us which Box is on your tractor. Is it, the long rectangular one or the kidney dish type.

If it is the long rectangular box it was finished in black gloss, inside and out. Light switch is black. Starter switch is also black.

New horn buttons are still available on ebay.

Cloth covered wires were encased in a cloth loom.

[hemiorange]

I only found out today that there are two boxes. Mine is the rectangular one. Are the mounting clamps and bracket that hold the box to the steering column black also?
I was cleaning up the horn today which still has a lot of black on it but I found traces of blue. I am thinking it must have been black from the supplier and repainted blue with the rest of the tractor. All blue including the wrinkle finish centre disk?
I have the aluminum steering wheel, there is black paint on the underside of it. Would it have been gloss black as well? The oldest tractor I have (1141089) has a bakelite steering wheel, has that been changed or was it original?
Thanks for the help.
To go back to the dash box, I think the kidney shaped one is earlier? The few E27N's I have come across in western Canada seem to be in the 48-51 period and have the rectangular box. Most have lights and starter but few have the 3 point hitch.

[BarryM]

David,

1) The rectangular box arrived in February/March of 1949.

2) The entire Horn is blue, although they started off Black at the manufacturers. (Lucas or Clear Hooter).

3) The Triangular Bracket is Black.

4) Steering Wheel. There were at least 6 different types of wheel used on the E27N.

Three of them were of the aluminium type.
One type plain aluminium with the underside black.
Another had the centre and the 3 spokes black (wrinkle-back black).
Third type all black. Not ordinary paint as it used to peel off in strips

Another type used was a conventional truck type, which didn't last if the weather got to it.

Also, the Spark Plug wiring tube is black.

Have also sent you a PM.

[Aussie Frank]

Hi David,

I have also found horn switches from vintagecarparts.co.uk If you follow the link you will find the horn switches http://www.vintagecarparts.co.uk/en/lis ... dashboard/ They also have some other lighting and electrical parts that suit E27N Fordsons too. I found them very easy to deal with.

If you don't want to buy a new switch I would suggest a gloss black epoxy paint to finish the switch with as it will bind well with the bakelite and look very close to the original finish. There is a company selling epoxy paint under the brand name of Killrust over here. It can take days to harden to full strength but it will stick to your switch permanently and be stronger than the original surface. I would expect you should have something similar over your neck of the woods.

Regards, Frank.