When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Well I did as much as my hands would allow which was not nearly as much as I would have liked but not bad, all things considered.
I stripped about 90% of the rear deck area. Razor blades got easier when I got some fresh ones and used a quality blade holder. It came off pretty easily there and it looks like my guess was correct. That thick red primer is confined to the rear area near the spoiler and tapered off about halfway.
I also managed to finish removing the steering column, a bunch of wiring and vacuum hoses from the engine bay, and I even got the #1 body mount bolts out.
Kind of a mish-mosh but I was just happy to be able to work outside and not freeze my *** off.
73 degrees here today and sadly my hands hurt too badly to do much of anything. I did have a bunch of errands to run and one of them took me to the machine shop to pick up my block. At least I can start building the engine now except that it is supposed to snow tomorrow so it will likely be too cold for me to work in the garage.
Ended up with a record high of 74 degrees on Wednesday which was 11 degrees higher than the previous record set back in the 1930s for this area. In typical New England style it was 30 degrees and SNOWING yesterday...
Hands and wrists are still really hurting so was very limited in what I could do. With the engine back from the machine shop sooner than expected I was a bit unprepared so I ordered up the few remaining components that I will need (bearings, oil pump, etc) and set about degreasing and prepping the tin.
This engine had some sort of leak in it at some point so the bottom end was covered in greasy gunk. I set up a large tote, filled it with simple green and hot water and spent a bit scrubbing everything off. It worked well, now I just need to figure out what I am going to do with 4 gallons of oil and grease saturated water.
Anyway, no pics of that since I was in long rubber gloves but I wanted to try out the new parts that I had purchased for my blasting cabinet so I dried off the oil pan and then gave it some time in the blaster and then phosphate coated it.
Not bad for a 46 year old piece of sheet metal that was under 1" of crud.
If my hands are up for it I will try to do the rest of the tin and brackets today and then get them prepped for powder coating.
The most effective method I used was soda blasting. I spent HOURS using the chemical stripping and heat and razor methods. The guy I hired had the whole car done, inside, outside and underside in about an hour. I did it with the body off the frame and on a cart. I strongly recommend you look into it.
The most effective method I used was soda blasting. I spent HOURS using the chemical stripping and heat and razor methods. The guy I hired had the whole car done, inside, outside and underside in about an hour. I did it with the body off the frame and on a cart. I strongly recommend you look into it.
Thanks Navy, I will definitely look into it. I am in a 'do it yourself' frame of mind but that may change with aching hands and lack of progress. We shall see. If you don't mind me asking, how much were you charged for it?
Anyway, I went out to the garage to finish some of the degreasing and think I found the reason(s) why there was oil all over the place.
The timing cover where the lip seal goes was pretty mangled. Clearly someone less than precise was in this engine at some point.
Sorry for the blurry picture but it is bent up pretty badly. Short of dropping it off a cliff I am at a loss as to how you bend up this piece like this.
Also there was a very deep groove worn into the harmonic dampener. Hard to believe that this happened in only 48k miles.
I am not messing around with trying to fix that timing cover so I ordered up an aluminum one which should handle the deflection from the cam thrust button better anyway. Likewise I am not going for originality so I am not going to bother to sleeve/repair the dampener and just ordered a replacement.
So now I am waiting on a bunch of stuff to move forward with the engine. I was going to do a little more blasting today but I think that I celebrated "National Margarita Day" a little too aggressively (it was yesterday) so I am going to take it easy today.
I did manage to get my workout in for my hands however.
It took me a little over 2 hours to cut and squeeze enough citrus to make two jars of my margarita mix but it was well worth it.
So, P.S. Do you soak your hands in it...............or your liver..........
or both? You're getting a lot done.....take your time.
Uhm, a little bit of both?
Anyway, got bored and hand pain be damned. I took a bunch of ibuprofen (really it was for my hands and not the margarita aftermath...really!) and got to it.
Blah, blah, oil pan and miscellaneous brackets done.
Blast, phosphate, powder.
Masking off the parts of the pan that I did not want powder on
Random engine brackets blasted and phosphate coated. The more I use this 'afterblast' product the more I really like it. Degreasing and rust prevention in one easy 'spray on, wipe off' step. The black spots are where it is dealing with surface rust.
Now that's pretty cool. The parts look great and it's always more fun working with clean stuff versus that grease and grime. What type of room were the parts in. A booth of some kind?
Now that's pretty cool. The parts look great and it's always more fun working with clean stuff versus that grease and grime. What type of room were the parts in. A booth of some kind?
RVZIO
That is a powder coating cabinet that I built just for that purpose. It is nothing more than a 3x3x6 cabinet with filters and a plenum in the back hooked up to an exhaust fan. It does a pretty good job pulling all the stray powder into the filters. I just take them out and clean them every once in a while.
Last edited by PainfullySlow; 02-23-2018 at 11:09 PM.
That is a powder coating cabinet that I built just for that purpose. It is nothing more than a 3x3x6 cabinet with filters and a plenum in the back hooked up to an exhaust fan. It does a pretty good job pulling all the stray powder into the filters. I just take them out and clean them every once in a while.
Oh okay, that looks like it comes in pretty handy for that purpose. I don't see any orange in there. Just kidding. Hope your hands are feeling good enough to continue the nice work you have been doing. Oh I bet the Margarita ingredients help!
Thanks Navy, I will definitely look into it. I am in a 'do it yourself' frame of mind but that may change with aching hands and lack of progress. We shall see. If you don't mind me asking, how much were you charged for it?
Around $600. Wasn't too bad. I tried with a cheap Harbor Freight Soda blaster, but either it - or my air compressor (I only have a 30 Gallon) wasn't up to the task. You might have better luck with whatever air system you have - seems like it works for your blasting and powder coating.
With the amount of frustrations I have had with the things I have outsources so far, I think I am more and more leaning that way my self.
Oh okay, that looks like it comes in pretty handy for that purpose. I don't see any orange in there. Just kidding. Hope your hands are feeling good enough to continue the nice work you have been doing. Oh I bet the Margarita ingredients help!
An occasional margarita can definitely help the hands =)
Oh, and the orange is in there but buried under lots of black. For reference, I have used about 2.5 lbs of black powder and about .25 lbs of orange powder on this project so far.
The orange color is supposed to be an accent color but trust me, it's in there =)
Originally Posted by NAVY08
Around $600. Wasn't too bad. I tried with a cheap Harbor Freight Soda blaster, but either it - or my air compressor (I only have a 30 Gallon) wasn't up to the task. You might have better luck with whatever air system you have - seems like it works for your blasting and powder coating.
With the amount of frustrations I have had with the things I have outsources so far, I think I am more and more leaning that way my self.
New parts look great!
That seems like a very reasonable price however I have the same fear that you expressed: outsourced things do not get done to my standards.
I have a 60 gal compressor (wish now that I went to 80) but it does quite well for blasting, even if the compressor does run a bit. Powder coating uses very little air and could be done with a much smaller unit. Probably even one of those small pancake compressors would work fine.
Anyway, for $600 I could buy a soda blaster and media and try it myself with change left over. Maybe I will try renting one for a day first to see how it comes out.
Last edited by PainfullySlow; 02-24-2018 at 08:12 AM.
That seems like a very reasonable price however I have the same fear that you expressed: outsourced things do not get done to my standards.
I have a 60 gal compressor (wish now that I went to 80) but it does quite well for blasting, even if the compressor does run a bit. Powder coating uses very little air and could be done with a much smaller unit. Probably even one of those small pancake compressors would work fine.
Anyway, for $600 I could buy a soda blaster and media and try it myself with change left over. Maybe I will try renting one for a day first to see how it comes out.
Navy, thanks for the heads up on the blaster. I was looking at the 40lb unit which is similar to that one. I can imagine that you were having issues with media distribution which I am going to guess is based off of your compressor. You really need DRY air to run soda and those smaller compressors are known to produce a lot of moisture as they are constantly cycling. Unless you were running some heavy duty air dryers I would bet that was your trouble.
Last edited by PainfullySlow; 02-25-2018 at 05:21 PM.
02-20-2018, 05:40 PM
I think your pictures tipped the scales for me. I'm definitely getting a powder coat setup.
