Glad to see you saved another Kaiser. It sure seems they died off in great proportion than a lot of other makes. (And they made -- what? -- over half a million in all?) The style of the second series, IMO, sure beats Darrin's first design ('47-'50).
Yes I'm going to leave the vents even though they don't really do anything. I guess they will keep the trunk from getting too hot right? I just like the look of them.
Just about finished the back seats and package tray this weekend. Added some structure for the arm rest to bolt to. Also started looking at the modifications I will have to make to the seat backs to fill in the gap by the package tray. I'm going to pull the upholstery off and extend the seat frame to fill in that area, then when I stitch new covers I'll just make them longer to fill that in. I got some extra help too. Funny how they just run out in the garage and jump right into the car.
Biggest rear window defroster EVAR! Hey, I've got an extra set of the ends of the package tray that attach to the T-Bird quarter if that would help you fill in the corner.
I finally got a few pieces done for this car. Our air compressor is giving problem after problem, so getting things blasted is way behind schedule. Fortunatly, there are some aluminum pieces I could run that don't need any blasting. These are the exterior rearview mirrors, IIRC. They were relatively easy to plate as they were essentially brand new anodized aluminum pieces to start with. Above is right after getting the anodize stripped off in a hot bath. This is after the first sanding of the raw aluminum. It is always amazing how even new parts have pitting and scratches somehow. They are at a 600grit finish and ready for first round of plating. This is right after pulling them out of the acid copper bath. Actually, for prepping aluminum for plating it is quite a long process. Not even mentioning the acids, cleaners, and rinses for everything, they get electroless zincated, cyanide copper striked, a short bright nickel plate, cyanide copper striked again, then into the acid copper for the high build. This method has taken any worries I used to have about getting plating to adhere correctly to an aluminum base metal, whether cast, stamped, billet whatever. This is after polishing any remaining imperfections out in the copper and buffing it to a semi-bright finish. And after a 30-45 minute nickel plating and 2 minute chrome plating; the money shot. My poor attempt at a closeup. That is only a small sampling of what I plan on putting on here. Next up will be the pieces that make up the trunk handle assembly. Rotten diecast, whoohoo! I figure since we are sponsoring the ride I might as well plug in our contact information: Custom Metal Finishing Indiana 9705 State Road 38 Hagerstown, IN 47346 Our website: www.ChromePlatingIN.com toll free# 866-489-4089 Hours: M-F 8-5:30
Josh the mirrors look amazing! Can't wait to see what you can do for the old rotten parts I sent you. I just set a date to take the car to Winfield's too. We will be doing body work the end of November, then I'll head out there a couple of weeks later to watch Gene apply the paint. He said it's going to take 2 full days in the booth!
Full steam ahead, tearing the car down for paint. Front end is off, driveshaft and trans are pulled. Motor is ready to be plucked, then I will weld up the bottom of the firewall and POR15 the underside of the floor. The new Maxjax lift made everything a lot quicker. I could have lifted it higher but my buddy was working below while I worked on the top.
Stellar work. I love the attention to detail. But seriously.....I can't wait to see it in in paint. It's gonna rule!!! Do you have a deadline? Say around late January of the GNRS?
Glad to see some progress, this is an update I always look forward to. That T-Bird interior is the cat's ass...
The car is rad!!The other thing that caught my eye is the lift!Where can i get one?Im goin searchin now!How well does it work?PM ME if you dont mind.
More chrome... The before shot. after electrostripping for the pot metal after a stay in Muriatic acid for the steel parts Ground and sanded, ready for copper The key cover is brass, and has been buffed, ready for nickel/chrome. (it would be pointless to copper plate that part.) Other than the key hole cover, all parts were started with 60 grit to remove pitting and old plating, then progressively brought to a fine enough finish for copper plating. The ash tray door is sanded (400 grit IIRC,) ready for copper. Fresh out of the acid copper. After a copper strike, a deep gouge in the steel grill end is filled with solder ...and sanded flat, ready for a restrike of copper, and then a heavy helping of acid copper. Copper buffed, even though it doesn't look very bright in the pics. Copper buffed. The main piece with KAISER script took two heaping helpings of acid copper to get really nice. Pretty typical with detailed pot metal castings so full of pitting. The results speak for themselves... More coming later... -Josh
Wow those look great! It's such a trip to see someone else post pictures of parts I worked on. Thanks for doing such a great job on these Josh. The chrome is going to show really well on the car and take it to another level.
very impressive pot metal work....I only have one shop I trust with pot metal and they take forever.....
What does something like this cost, and how does one aquire this or where? Live on the East coast so I rarely see an old car junk yard. Thanks
I found Eddie on the HAMB, do a search for his user name "Eddie". When I talked to him he had other interiors and cars for sale and he gave me a fair price. Sorry I won't post what I paid here because I don't want to hold him to a price. Also he is in Georgia, so he's closer to you than me. I had the whole pallet shipped on Old Dominion LTL for under $100.
My father in law came over and busted his ass with me tonight. We got the motor pulled then proceeded to eat 58 years worth of grease and dust. The floor is 90% stripped now in preparation for POR15 this weekend.
Thanks for the info, I understand you not listing price. I will try to contact him. I have a 67 impala with split back bench and would like buckets. I'll see what he can do.
I love the car, actually loved the car from the moment I saw it in Hot Rod. You do beautiful work and I wish I had a little bit of the talent you have, keep up the awesome work. I can't wait to see the bodywork progress, Winfield is a God of mud & pearl!!!!!
Sorry, missed a couple of posts on the last page. I am shooting to have the car at the Goodguys season opener in Scottsdale in March.
The Jalopy Journal
