Rather than hijack the "body dolly" thread, I thought I'd post some pics of my project in a new thread.

I bought the car with the intentions of it being a "driver". I started doing some simple rust removal, and this is what happened next:




I pulled everything off the chassis in preparation of getting it back to new...here's the numbers-matching 350/350 and Muncie 4-speed:


Here's the body dolly I made. (NHVette has a much better, simpler version):


I had the frame soda blasted at Houston Metal Stripping for a pretty good price:


After some minor repairs to the frame, I painted it with 2 coats of Eastwood Extreme Chassis Black on the outside, and 1 coat of Eastwood Rust Encapsulator followed by 1 coat of Eastwood Anti-Rust on the inside:


Everything else was stripped either with a wirebrush or sandblaster, or electrolysis (very cool...worth looking into):


I powder coated everything that would fit into the oven:


Here's the rolling chassis, minus engine and trans. :


Time to work on the engine and transmission. My numbers-matching M-20 cleaned up nicely. Here it is after I rebuilt it:


Here's a shot of my block after getting it back from the machine shop. Ever see a rear-mounted 350 in a Honda Civic?


I'm about half-way done rebuilding the engine...I'm hoping to take it for a drive later this year (but, that's what I was saying about a year ago!)

 

Looks good!

I never powder coated before, but how do you do it and how much does the oven/materials cost?

How does that electroysis work? You try blasting or hand sanding anything to compare it with?

 

Nice Job

Very similiar to my 69 frame off process. It brings back some good memorys.

 

Thanks!

The oven was free. I found it on the local Craig'sList and picked it up before the garbage men did. You're not supposed to use an oven that you're going to use for food, and it can't be a gas oven because the fumes the process gives off are supposedly somewhat flammable and toxic (I think). I got the gun at Harbor Freight on sale for 70 bucks. The powder can be a bit pricey, but a little (supposedly) goes a longer way than paint. Eastwood has lots of color & texture options.

The electrolysis is great but takes overnight to finish. It doesn't really remove paint very well either, so I only used it on parts which were 100% surface rust (I wanted to do my frame that way, but I didn't have a spare swimming pool lying around). The great thing about it is it is non-destructive, unlike media blasting or others which actually remove material. The electrolysis process converts iron oxide (rust) to iron. I was pretty impressed. I was able to just rinse off the excess iron and go straight to paint/powder coat. I didn't even have to remove the caked on dirt. All you need is a battery charger, "donor" metal, washing soda, a plastic tub and water:

http://antique-engines.com/electrol.asp
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/andyspatch/rust.htm

I have a pressurized sandblaster and a wire cup brush on a 13 amp angle grinder for everything else. They all have their plusses and minuses. I think if it wasn't such a dirty, loud, sometimes frustrating process (I don't have a cabinet and my blaster is temperamental), I'd sandblast everything because it seems to remove everything very well and very quickly.

 

Looking good! I'm planning a similar task this summer.

 

must try electrolysis trick, must try electrolysis trick!

 

Awesome....i will be doing the same this summer...will be sliding a ls1 into mine!!!......................Can't wait!!!

 

awesome job man!

 

Nice work. You look like you are doing an A1 job on it too. Never heard of anyone doing the electrolysis at home. One of these days I would like to get me an oven and do some powder coating like you are doing. It seems like it would be a pretty fun process. Does it turn out like you would like it when it is done cooking?

 

Lookin' great!!

 

Thanks!

The powder coating usually turns out pretty good. There are three problems I occasionally run into which has me touching up the part with spray paint: 1.) oven temp gets too high, giving it a dull finish, 2.) Too much powder in the cup causes it to apply too thick in places, and 3.) I miss a spot or accidentally brush the powder off. The first problem is because my secondhand oven has a bad thermostat, the second may not be a problem with a better gun, and the third is because I was probably just too impatient. The last thing I did was my intake manifold: Eastwood's Chevy Orange, and it came out perfect. That made up for my fan, which will be getting a light coat of black paint. My wheels got some paint touch up too, but at least there's Rally Wheel Silver powder coat underneath. One thing that works in my favor is that it's pretty hard to get a run, and when you're from the "more is more" school of thought like me, that's a good thing.

 

Rick,

I have read-up on the electrolysis rust removal, but have not tried it yet.

Maybe you could give a little information from your experience. Of particular concern would be the solution preparation (actual mix ratio) and product you used to add to water solution. Also of interest would be the type of sacrificial metal used (ie: size, weight, etc??)

Did you experiment with the solution, the time frame, the sacrificial metal, the electrical source, etc...

A small overview of your experience would be extremely beneficial to myself and anyone else considering this procedure.

Thanks a bunch and keep up the great work!!

 

Looking good, hopefully I'll be where you are in month. Your body looks pretty good-do you have any plans for that?

 

Thanks...yours looks good. Did you paint or powder coat the frame? Are you restoring it to stock or have some mods in mind?

The body has a few small cracks in the usual places and needs to be painted pretty badly on the hood, roof, and rear deck (all the horizontal pieces that get the sun, I guess). I haven't decided if I'm going to strip it myself and how. The upper windshield frame is totally gone too, so I'll be welding in the replacement I got from ebay hopefully soon. I'll also clean up and paint the underside and engine bay, probably after I'm done with the engine.

 

Thanks! I honestly don't remember exact quantities and such with the electrolysis. I used Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda) and followed the directions on the web pages as for the water-to-soda ratio. The sacrificial metal I used were two pieces of sheet metal. Since I think the process is "line of sight" (if the rusty metal can't "see" the sacrificial metal, it won't work well), I bent the sheet metal around the inside of the garbage can to surround the piece. You also have to be careful not to touch the piece to the sacrificial metal, otherwise you'll get a short. I left the pieces in overnight, but you won't hurt anything if you leave it in there longer (you can't over do it). The polarity is critical...if you hook it up backwards, your part becomes the sacrificial metal! Heres a picture of the sacrificial metal afterwards:



Those were shiny pieces of sheetmetal just 24 hours prior! You can't see it, but the rust is caked on 1/4" thick in places (basically, rust is transferred from part to sacrificial metal).

 

Rick,
I'm still sort of at the start of a body-off on my car which seems to be quite similar to yours ('70 silver 350/350 with some rust on the window frame). You mentioned having the frame stripped by Houston Metal Stripping. I assume they're in Houston, Texas... What part? I'm in Houston too and would be interested some more info on them, etc. I really need to get things going again on my project 'cause its buring me up to have all this nice weather and my car spread all across my garage and part of the house.

 

I think this is it...I did that about 2 years ago and don't remember much except the name and renting a trailer to haul it there:

Houston Metal Stripping

If I remember right, he did the frame, diff crossmember, springs, and some other smaller parts for around $250...don't quote me on that though. He was the only one I could find in central Texas that had an acid vat. At the time, the heater in the vat was broken, so he would soda blast it first then dip it. All I know is that I got a very clean frame back!

Got any pics of your car? I'd like to see what mine used to look like, back when it was in one piece. I know exactly what you mean about the weather and having parts all over the house...

 

Sorry, I thought this all was pretty recent work.

I don't have many decent pictures here at the office, but its too late any way. My car looked like this until about six months ago...


Now, it looks like this...


Most of the good pictures of my car (before starting the resto) were on a camera that was stolen before X-mas last year. So, an important tip to everyone out there is to have all your pictures stored in a couple different places in case something happens to one of 'em.

 

Great progress, keep us updated

 

I wish I would have known about this process when I had my boat down out the harbor soaking in salt water (twin 350's). Not sure if any of my parts are crusty enough on this one to justify. Probably the next one.
I tried to powder coat in the oven 1 time but my wife caught me and beat me with my toasty parts.
Keep up the great work guys.....GP