Mopar.........LAMP shades?

-
67 Power Wagon

67 Power Wagon

Hemi Pawr or BUST!
Joined
Jan 13, 2014
Messages
2,298
Reaction score
68
Location
Hell, USA
Yep, you read that tittle right! I'm making lamp shades that are......well Mopar related, from VALVE COVERS........ What your about to see is merely one example!



As seen above, this picture shows the placememnt of the "Hemi" sticker, that I have to make a "plate" for it to stick to then clear coat it to seal it to the plate.
I'd LOVE to find an actual "Hemi" hood scoop emblem, but the cost of them is way more then I can afford, not to mention, I only need one, you know? They only sell them in sets of 2. Which I can understand!







As you see the whole "valve cover" is a Mock-Up part from P-Ayr. I found it at a yard sale, knew what it was and got it... for next to nothing! I just like the Hemi you know? BUT because I got it, then I thought, "Now how in the world, am I going to display this?" and thats when it hit me, a LAMP! A floor model, that has the long pole heavy base, to have this a top adorned the Hemi in my shop, or my living room, (I have some "beautyfying" yet to do as the Wife thinks its cool, but I want her to not get all "Ohh that looks like hell get it out of my living room" so to speak so....

BUT because I'm a Mopar fanatic, making these having A LOT of lamp parts (I repair them and collect "junk" that simply needs rewiring etc) and then to have light parts for something that goes bad so. I got a small supply of parts and thought, why not make some lamps of other Mopar motors valve covers. Granted in some cases, they're going to need work! I know and understand this but with my current health condition, all I got is time and it keeps me busy you know? Thing is, that P-Ayr Hemi valve cover, (Not sure if any of you are familiar with them or not) but do you think it came as-is, with the wrinkle finish on it? No, it didn't, remember that one is made of foam!!!! I had to come up with a way to make it have a wrinkle finish, AND be black all at the same time!

And needless to say, I have a liking for the number "426" as it was a famous engine size, not only by the Hemi version, BUT also the Wedge version!

Let me know what ya think!
 
That's neato. I wanna see the finished product.
 
Rob,
I'll be sure to post the finished product! See, I'm kind of "stuck" I have a bit of digging to do to find the rest of my lamp "posts" as this is one of those, that will be like a living room lamp that stands up between say a couch and a rocking chair.....At first, I was going to do a table light like for a desk, but with a "shade" that big, it overwhelms the whole area, pretty quick.....

The part that's got me right now, is the pole and how its going to be. I got the parts for a simple "pole" to hold it up, and all the needed parts to mount the shade. I just want to add a scale "motor" on an aluminum plate that the shade sort of, lights up......Does that make sense? (DO NOT ANSWER THAT as you normally would LOL)

BUT as you see this shade, I made all the parts to it, the 4 "plug wire seals/gromets", and the breather cap, is all plastic that I turned and painted.....The wires, are "orange" to show the Hemi Color as the emblem shows as well. I made the wire looms myself, and painted them, the end one that be nearest the distributor cap, is just there to hold the ends of the wires securely

I have to say, its been a fun project.......... just a bit bigger then I'm used too as far as "lamps" are concerned!

AND that valve cover, can be POLISHED! I used a coating that will take Armor All pretty good! LOL

Also its going to be either LED type lighting, OR Florescent...Due to the shade being made of Extruded Polystyrene....AKA Foam!
 
Abomber,
THANKS!

To those that are following, this isn't the only "valve cover" I plan to make into a lamp, of some sort....I actually want to see if I can get all sorts of other "Mopar" valve covers, to make into lamps, anything, from Slant 6's all the way to the HUGE 440....Granted, even "sets" of lamps too, for like "end tables" that way a left and a right is possible from the 273.....But that's me being a more simple kind of man, LOL

Not just to have these as my own mind you, the one I want, I'll have, the Hemi UNLESS I can get Hemi Valve Covers from the other smaller Hemi's...Those, something tells me they're going to be a bit more difficult to get! And to that, we'll see how it all goes! I was lucky just finding the 426 seen here! Never mind one from all the other engine sizes! It'll be easier to start from here trying to find 273 type valve covers too! AND to be able to make the lamps, depict the engine size the valve cover is from/to and to also represent.
 
A camshaft would make a good lamp post.
 
RustyRatRod said:
A camshaft would make a good lamp post.
Click to expand...

Rob,
Your right, BUT, that proposes an issue. I want ot keep the wires confined to inside of something and that isn't hollow! LOL

Sure I got a lathe, BUT its gonna take more then a "Jobber" length bit to center drill that! LOL

I don't disagree tho, it be awesome, if I could figure out how to drill down the center to allow a cord run through it....THEN I'd have to mount the bottom of it to a head for a "foot" Hmmmmm that's insane but its a good way to think.....
 
Use this.

[ame="http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milwaukee-48-13-7325-1-4-Bell-Hanger-Bit-with-24-Length-Metal-/291041832807?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c371ef67"]Milwaukee 48 13 7325 1 4" Bell Hanger Bit with 24" Length Metal | eBay[/ame]

And a cam gear for the base.
 
I've made a number of "automotive lamps", using car parts as lamp bodies, or shades, etc. Usually as gifts. The first one was a Dual point distributer form a 392 hemi as a lamp body.
Another was a florescent desk lamp, using a 318 rocker cover as a lamp shade for the florescent light.
There were many others, too. Haven't done one in about 10 years, though. Now that 'm retired, perhaps I'll get into it again.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Use this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Milwaukee-4...807?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c371ef67

And a cam gear for the base.
Click to expand...

Rod, you would be correct. Sadly, my Lathe (the biggest one that I have) has only a usable 30 inch bedway! I don't have a bed long enough to chuck that bit into the tail stock, and the distance for the cam to be spun by the headstock, and then to center drill it......

Sure would be NICE tho to do that! I don't disagree with that at all, polished cam shaft too would look even better!

BUT remember, this is gonna be a for a "floor model" lamp! in my living room to come up off the floor between my couch and recliner! SO, in order to make this, I'd have to center drill 3 cams to get the needed height! LOL

A bit more work then I'm looking to get into sadly, if I had a lathe big enough.....I would tho, justto have something like that!
 
Frankie said:
I've made a number of "automotive lamps", using car parts as lamp bodies, or shades, etc. Usually as gifts. The first one was a Dual point distributer form a 392 hemi as a lamp body.
Another was a florescent desk lamp, using a 318 rocker cover as a lamp shade for the florescent light.
There were many others, too. Haven't done one in about 10 years, though. Now that 'm retired, perhaps I'll get into it again.
Click to expand...

Any pictures of this? Some of that lamp body talk, got me thinking. sadly, THAT would make a good start for a lamp riser.....Finding a junk one might be the issue tho!
 
67 Power Wagon said:
Any pictures of this? Some of that lamp body talk, got me thinking. sadly, THAT would make a good start for a lamp riser.....Finding a junk one might be the issue tho!
Click to expand...
I don't have any pics, as I haven't built one recently. I'll see if I can get some pics from the people I gifted, though.

Lamp bodies: Like I said, a Distributor makes a great lamp body., So do carbs (Any type), cam shafts, Pistons and rods, a flywheel, a 2 slant or straight 6 crank shafts make a great floor lamp.

On the cam shaft and crank shaft lamps, I simply took them to a machine shop and had a 3/8" hole bored through them to fit the threaded lamp pipe. For the base on the floor lamp I used a steel flywheel. I welded three feet to the bottom side that allowed room for the wire and the nuts for the threaded pipe. The two cranks were bolted together.

Valve covers, air filter housings, even bell housings make good shades, A hollowed out automatic transmission makes a good base for a floor lamp (bell housing down), or a large table lamp.

There are a bunch of car parts that you can make lamps from. I've just mentioned a few that I've done using engine and trans parts. There's still and entire car left!

My future son-in-law made an outdoor charcoal grill from truck wheels.
 
You don't need an insane lathe bed length. What you want is to start it with a short bit, then get a through hole drive on the lathe and chuck for the cam, so the cam is chucked in to the drive and hangs out the other end.

You may have to do it in steps, but another thing to consider is that if you are just running insulated wires, you could drill just over half way through and flip the cam to do the rest. This would shorten the bit length by 1/2 and the working bed length of the lathe.

How big is the through hole on your lathe drive? Does it have a through hole?

Even if there is no through hole on your lathe, or if it's too small for the cam, going half way and flipping it might give you the ability to drill it with a tailstock chuck and spin the cam, with a support yoke/ bearing running on one of the cam journals, with one end chucked into the drive.
 
Looks great and I love the idea. My father and his best friend did several projects similar to this including lamps, clock, desk pen sets, and others. The response they got from it was always positive. They just never went any further with it.

Looks like a fun project, good luck with it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top