The theme of our latest foray into the workshop was bling bling, as we sought to make some noticeable headway in the absence of new tires. While the Cut-dawg continues to roll on may-pops, it is well on its way to getting its groove back if our Tuesday night thrash is any indication. In this installment, you will learn how americanrevolution gets the shine on like professional, as well as how to keep your cool when problems arise.
We shall cover the problems first. A great man (actually I think it was Joseph Stalin, who was not so great) once said that sometimes it is necessary to take one step back in order to take two steps forward. We prefer to take no steps back, but we find that the choice is rarely left to us when it comes to hot rodding. And so it was, as our work session began, that we determined it necessary to rectify the problem posed by insufficient lighting in one corner of the workshop. New lights were henceforth installed. And we were immediately unhappy. Lights have a way of exposing problems heretofore unnoticed, as in the case of the paint we sprayed under the hood “with so much abandon” as we discussed last time. We found that it actually did not look fine as a result of a bad case of fisheye that promulgated throughout the sprayed underhood areas. This is the result of poor surface preparation, which is a byproduct of being in a hurry. This in turn results in us having to do the job twice.
Enter sandpaper. Take note of how we attacked the radiator surround, inner fenderwell, and frame with 220 grit paper. Unless you seek a show-quality finish, no finer grit is necessary for things to look presentable. Once we complete the sanding, several light coats of Krylon semi-flat black will be applied instead of the reckless thick single coat approach americanrevolution foolishly utilized previously. And it will look good.
(more after the jump)
Note the polyethelene (plastic) inner fenderwells, another example of the goodies we inherited with the car. Remember, never paint polyethelene, because paint has approximately the same adherent qualities to this plastic as water does to oil.
So now that we are well on our way to solving that problem, we can talk about the next one we encountered–a big leak. We truly did not see this one coming. The general smell of lubricants and solvents is not uncommon in workshops, even clean ones like ours. But something was little overpowering at times, and at last we found out that the tranny is leaking. It must have been the puddle extending from underneath the car that finally garnered some attention. The unsettling thing is that americanrevolution performed a tranny fluid and filter change before the car came into the shop, and it has not been run since. We opted to react with the “that’s a problem for another day approach.”
The third problem is the fact that our tires are probably still growing on a rubber tree in South America. But you already knew that. So on to the fun stuff.
The fun part of a project is getting the parts ready for reassembly. Generally, some of these parts will be modified, revamped, or otherwise renewed before reinstallation. To bring back that shiny new look, a wire wheel/buffer was brought in courtesy of Big Block Ray to make the job easier. The first candidate was the nasty old alternator, a genuine Delco Remy OEM piece. The aluminum case showed the usual oxidation and grime-staining, which was no match for the mighty wheel of steel wire. See the before and after pictures, and notice how the after picture demonstrates that too much shiny equates to cheap, amateurish finish. It has since been bathed in a nice coat of our favorite Krylon semi-flat black in pursuit of a more understated look.
The wire wheel was exchanged then for the buffer, and the real fun ensued. Since the vast
majority of the parts we will be polishing are aluminum, we chose buffing compounds matched for softer metals. Ideally, a separate buffing wheel should be used for each compound, but we determined to get by without buying an extra $7 wheel. It worked beautifully on the aluminum parts, namely the carb-to-intake adapter. The perimeter was cleaned up with the thicker compound, then the fine compound brought up the sheen dramatically, making the polished aluminum look almost like chrome. To finalize the adapter, the mating surfaces were block-sanded to ensure a leak-free fit, and the inside surfaces were roughed up with a fairly coarse grade of sandpaper to disrupt airflow and thus facilitate better air-fuel atomization. The theory sounds good at least, and americanrevolution insists that this little trick will be worth at least a hundredth in the quarter!
Because the buffing session went so swimmingly with the aluminum parts, we determined that it had to work just as well with the few chrome components. So out they came, and americanrevolution got busy. Unfortunately, our decision to not purchase an extra buffing pad turned out to be crucial mistake, as the coarser compound left over from earlier left some indelible scratches in the chrome. The final product turned out nice nonetheless, and when you see the final product you probably will notice these scratches only because we pointed them out here.
Summarily, in one night we made considerable progress in spite of some mild setbacks. We are certainly on the cusp of more breakthroughs in the renovation process, though the holidays doubtless will break up the momentum a bit. You will know all the latest as it happens, and first and foremost when the tires arrive with much pomp and ceremony.
Filed under: 455, americanrevolution, car, Cut-dawg, Cutlass, drag car, Hot Rod, Olds, Oldsmobile, project | 2 Comments »