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.