Front End Clean Up, Part 2...

I was able to get the first coat of Rust Encapsulator on the underside of the wheelhouse yesterday. It was much cooler than the other day when I did the radiator support, but the dry time was still crazy fast. The net result is you really don't have much work time at all to smooth out your brush marks or should you get get any extra build up on a corner or a drip.

Work fast. Work neat. Accept that you will have some brush marks, or you can spray it. It is also available as an aerosol can, but it would be VERY expensive to cover large areas that way. I picked up a can to help get into areas that I might not otherwise reach with a brush.

Tonight I need to spend some time on fasteners. I have 5 groups soaking in my rust treatment solution and most of them should be ready to come out. I also hope to get the top side of the wheelhouse painted with Rust Encapsulator this afternoon. After that, it will be a coat of Eastwood's Extreme Chassis Black! Hope to never see rust again on this thing when it is done.

Front End Clean Up

Another busy week last week working on the front end of the car. I wire-wheeled the radiator support to get it cleaned up. There was quite a bit of surface rust, some of which I just couldn't get at. If this was going to be a show car I would have spent the $60-$70 to have it blasted clean or dipped, but it's a driver with a budget so that wasn't going to happen. After roughly 90 minutes or so with the angle grinder and then the drill with a smaller diameter wire wheel, I called it done.

Next step, a good washing which removed a ton of debris and dust. We once again had unseasonably warm weather, so the support dried thoroughly on driveway in very short order after which I applied a heavy coat of Rust Fix to the entire assembly. It was a bit of work to get in all of the seams and crevices, but I don't plan on doing this again.

The next day I foam brushed on a coat of Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. It was a bit tricky to work with because it dried so fast, but the final results look good. Next step will be a coat of Extreme Chassis Black.

I also fired up the sand blast cabinet and did the bellcrank assembly for the brakes and one of the hood hinge assemblies. When I get the pictures downloaded I will add some pictures, including one showing how to remove the spring from the hinge.

The last thing I got done was to wire-wheel the driver's side front wheel house. It was a bunch of work to get the surfaces stripped (nearly 3 hours) but I should have a really nice surface for coating. After stripping it down I gave it a good wash, let it dry and then applied a coat of Rust Fix to the complete underside, and the areas that had rust on the top side. Hopefully I can get a coat of Rust Encapsulator on in the next day or so, but tonight will be a listing night for eBay. I have a bunch of Fairlane/Torino/Cobra stuff to sell, so I probably won't get much else done for a couple of days.

Catching Things Up ...

Been pretty busy the last week. Had a birthday, went to Chicago to pick up some parts, wife was out of town a few days, and still managed to get some work done!

First thing I want to cover is the new tool for removing the bushings from the control arms. I got is this weekend and tried it out. According to the Amazon.com description, it is an “Alltrade 648604 Kit 25 Upper Control Arm Bushing Service Tool Set”, and it worked like magic on the upper control arm bushings. The lower control arm, on the other hand, ended up being bent in slightly. I still need to straighten it out.

I think that was probably my fault. Positioning the tool on the lower control arm was a bit awkward, and when I finally got everything seated squarely, there was some resistance as I tightened the clamp, but then it came free. Turns out the corner of the receiver wasn't supported as well as the rest of the contact points and the rest is history. I'll have to readjust when I do the other side.

In the meantime, did some sandblasting and refinished the original battery tray! Quite a bit of heavy rust, but it is all there. This will be a “pride” piece since I'm not building a show car, the pitted up, yet solid tray gets saved. =)

While I had the booth in operation I also blasted the metal sides mounts for the console, did the upper control arm and the pivot, and the rearward metal brace for the console (pop-rivets in place if memory serves me.)

I also have completed detailing the power steering box. It was filthy! Even after cleaning and degreasing while still on the car, there was stuff over 1/4" thick in places. I've also continued cleaning up the hardware for reinstallation, including the hardware for the pump, so it will be good to go once I have the front end detailed. Oh, and I cleaned up the power steering hoses and cooler, then repainted the cooler with gloss black lacquer paint. My understanding is you use "radiator" or lacquer paint when repainting a radiator as enamel will affect the ability of the radiator/cooler to transfer heat to the air efficiently.

That's about it for now. Time to get some stuff listed on eBay!

You Need a Tool for That!

Pulled the suspension off the driver's side of the car today. Both ball joints felt loose, and the upper was torn up. Fortunately I'd already purchased new.

I drilled out the rivets for the upper and removed it. That takes some time and effort, but not too awful a job. The pivot bushings, on the other hand, will need a special tool. So, a quick Google search led me to one off Amazon that will allow me to pull and install new bushings, all for about $120. I have the new bushings already. The ones in the car don't look bad, but I really don't intend to have the upper control arm off again ... ever ... so now is the time to replace all things rubber. I should be able to use this same tool for doing the lower control arm bushings which is good because those are looking a little worse for wear. And when I do the Cobra suspension, I will be able to put it to good use once again.

The strut rod bushings are completely toasted and falling apart, so it will be good to get those replaced.

I also found a spot on the frame that will need a small repair. The metal around one of the radiator-to-frame mount points is swollen and a spot a little larger than a silver dollar will need to be cut out and replaced. The first and only frame repair that I am anticipating.

The next few days will be more disassembly and clean up. Sunday, my friend Paul will be coming over so we can test fit the engine to the frame. With a little luck it won't require much fabrication. We are starting with a set of motor mounts from a '69 T-Bird that had a 429 in it. The mounts fit the frame well, and the lower two mounting holes are in the same location, so I may just get lucky and have things fall right into place.

I guess we'll know more after Sunday!

Console restored (with pictures!)...

As promised, here are some pictures of the console. It might not be award-winning for a show car, but for a driver I am very pleased with how it turned out. If you look back several posts, I have a few "before" pictures. I still have to finish the metal mounting plates and will get to those next time I'm doing so blasting.

The plastic parts of the console were painted using Krylon Fusion paint. The softer molded parts (like the front console door) were done with Dupli-Color Vinyl and Fabric paint. I have had better results using the Dupli-Color for the soft materials. There is the slightest difference in tone between the two blacks, but it is so slight that you will only be able to notice it if viewing it in very bright light and you are looking for it. I'm very particular about color, and I have no issue using the two different paints.

Last thing is I am very careful about painting the underside of the console as well. I mask off areas that shouldn't be painted, and get good coverage and finish so it looks like it came from the factory in black.

Enough talk, here are the photos!

A Little of This, a Little of That

We had some unseasonably warm weather the last few days, so I rolled the car out on the driveway and scrubbed and degreased the front end. It took care of the bulk of the mess that was there, but everything is wet, so I need to let it sit and dry out for a little bit.

While I had the down time I went ahead and dropped the trans and started cleaning it up. What a mess! The gunk is half an inch thick in places. That should make this a whole lot nicer to install than it was to remove.

I also did some work on cleaning up some of the fasteners. There's some surface rust on most of the stuff, but little to no pitting, so I have been chemically treating the rust to dissolve it, then hitting it with a coat of rust converter When the parts dry completely, they have a very nice black-oxide coating and are ready for installation.

The last ting I have been working on is the center console. At this point, the console is done except for the ashtray and the two metal supports that mount to the floor. When I finish the ashtray I will post some pictures of the big reveal. It looks great! I had some damage to repair which was completed, but I also had to do some work at the front glove box since it was hitting the front ashtray when you opened it. I had to elongate the holes in the hinge to reposition it roughly 1/8", but it was just enough.

Before I begin pulling the rest of the front end of the car, I checked the suspension and found at leas one ball joint is bad, so I ordered up a bunch of parts to rebuild the control arms. The arms themselves look good, so there shouldn't be any issues. Probably best to start out with all new and get it done now rather than have to come back in and do it later anyhow.

Pictures to come...

Tearing Down the Front End - Part 2

I finished disassembling the front end tonight, and finished dropping the trans. The trans is filthy and I decided to pull it to clean it up, and make room so I could detail up in the trans hump.

Here is a pic of the latest.

Sure is a lot easier to get at stuff now! After getting everything removed, I went ahead and removed the old frame mounts that were welded in place. They are in the wrong spot and really needed to be removed. To make matters worse, he cut a chunk out of the frame so the oil pan would fit. I'll have to trim some stack and weld it back in to give it a bit more strength.

Next step is to start detailing all of the parts that were removed. I've already started on the hardware and am having good results using a product called EvapoRust from O'Reillys (and I'm sure others). I wash the parts and drop them in the solution. Two days later I pull them out, wipe down with a sponge and rinse, then toss back in the solution again for 1-2 more days. Rinse clean, and then hit them with Rust Fix giving them a black oxide finish. They need to be treated after final rinse because the will flash rust as they dry.

Here is a picture of some parts prior to being treated with the Rust Fix. They were complete covered in surface rust with only minimal scale. To eliminate scale rust, you need to crape, blast, or otherwise mechanically treat the metal before if will come completely clean.

Lots of detail work to do, but before anything goes back together, I need to work out the positioning of the new motor mounts. They are from a '69 T-Bird with a 429 and should allow me to get the engine positioned in the vehicle properly. Might get a chance this weekend to fit them, but we will have to see.