The running record of the restoration — what happened, what it taught us, and which guides it fed. Newest first.
Decided: keep the original harness. Every connector gets inspected, cleaned, mechanically polished, treated with DeoxIT, given a light coat of dielectric grease, and reassembled. On a 6-volt car the real enemy is voltage drop at corroded joints, so servicing the connections addresses the actual failure mode without discarding original material — and the harness itself hasn't failed. Cut and brittle sections get repaired individually rather than triggering wholesale replacement. This reverses the earlier lean toward a new 6-volt harness; that reasoning was sound, but with the instruments out and the dash open, servicing the original turned out to be the tractable path. Revisit if inspection finds brittle insulation over a meaningful length.
A week in vinegar, then rinse, dry, mineral spirits, and fogging oil. What came out was varnished gasoline residue and light surface oxidation — no scale, no flaking, no loose rust. The tank was never failing, it was just filthy. Left unsealed: bare steel preserved, no liner. That's the originality-first answer, and it comes with an obligation — fogging oil is a preservative with a shelf life, and modern ethanol fuel will start the clock again.
All three instruments are out and headed to Palo Alto Speedometer for concours restoration. Every wire was numbered with green tape and photographed before a single connector came loose — the one step that makes reassembly possible six months from now. The combination oil-temp/tank gauge fought hardest: the bracket released easily, but the front bezel had bonded to the dash through decades of compressed rubber and dirt. Rear case stampings — 6V, 27/19, inspector marks — photographed as originality evidence. Dial and silk screening are excellent and stay original; the glass is pitted through and the seal is hardened, so those get replaced.
Lifting the tank exposed localized corrosion in the compartment beneath it — several isolated perforations, solid steel all around them, no widespread softness. Classic trapped-moisture damage. The plan was strip, epoxy prime, seam seal, paint; that plan doesn't repair holes, so the method gets decided after stripping reveals the real extent. The more important question is why water sat there in the first place — fix the floor without fixing that and this comes back.
Cavity wax protecting the door seams is exactly right for longevity — and exactly wrong for paint adhesion. Current work: strip hardware, remove wax where paint must go, keep protection inside seams where it belongs.
What looked like a body-geometry problem turned out to be dirty, bound hardware. Disassemble, clean, reassemble loose, adjust, tighten progressively — the fit came back. A reusable rule for every panel on the car.
Removing the cabin tar boards revealed very little hidden rust — one area tied to a previous cut needs a patch. On a car this age, that's a gift. Floor pans replaced; front luggage compartment metal prepped for protective coating.
Build updates and one well-researched 356 topic every two weeks. No noise.