DOUBLE DOWN ON THE EYE PROTECTION!!!! Since the little wires are curly, they will bounce when they hit things, even off of your body. I originally wore safety glasses that wrapped around the side, small gaps at the top and bottom. Almost got hit in the eye with a wire because it *still* slipped through. I only use tactical impact resistant/shatter resistant goggles now! Recently I came inside after a day of stripping paint, I noticed that my jeans caught on something as I was changing clothes. I looked down right below my knee and I see this really THICK hair that was all red around it. I went to go touch it and it hurt like hell! It was only about 1/4 of an inch long, but when I went to go pull it out, another 1/2" came out with it. It was one of those wire bristles!!!!! Only time that has happened....but let it be a warning for the parts of your body that count!!! BTW, You CAN get the brass wire wheels in different grades, but only fine and coarse. The fine grade will really put a polish on your steel, and neither will eat away metal any more than what you're already doing...which is microscopic anyway. For $5-$6 each, you can't beat it.
Thanks bonez, Yes ive learnt my lesson from not wearing eye protection while using some wire wheels under my mates 67 land rover haha, never again is all i can say. No problem, the ute is whats sitting next to my chevy in the photo, it is a holden HX ute with a HQ GTS front, GTS Interior and a small block 350. Hes a pretty busy man but all thats needed for it now are some dropped spindles, bushes and seals and she can be put back together. I think Ill be dividing my time between the both of them in the coming months as Id really love to see it back on the road and scaring some rice burners. And thanks poboyross ill be looking into getting the coarse and fine wire wheels when i have my next day off. The drill wheels are expensive but for the amount of rust they remove i cant fault them for quality. Back at work again unfortunately but ill be starting university soon so working a little less and ill probably have a bit more of the days free so i hopefully will be able to boost progress along a bit
Good news, Ive got saturday off work and i think the weather (touch wood) should hold off. Pay also went in so i can stock up on sand paper, stripper wheels and wire wheels Also got my hands on a holden 253 v8 with an auto box, but i dont reaalllly want to put it in as Im only 19 and still on "P" plates so cant legally drive it. Not that I'm scared of getting caught i just cant be bothered with the hassle Id have, especially in getting it initially registered. Anyway, Updates soon!
Are the discs you are using called a 3M stripper disc? They will work well on painted areas without removing much metal. I have previously heard that you dont put any type of alloy into a molasses bath. Maybe do a bit more research on the subject before you run the risk of damaging more parts. Michael
Hi Michael, yep they are i found part of the package last night haha. Ive also been using them to remove the really pitted rusted areas, like you and others have said they work really well at not removing much metal so it is slow going but it also means i can remove the minimum amount of metal required. It ALSO means i have to take my time and not just hold it in one spot 'cos itll heat up too much and warp the panel. Thanks for the info on the molasses, i did read up quite a bit on it but obviously not well enough. Live and learn i suppose. I wont be putting in any more alloy parts Thanks fred, Maybe the Australian ones were a bit different to the U.S ones? youve made me second guess myself now haha, Ill upload the Id tags in my next update, maybe somebody could help me with decyphering them, im sure there will be a post on here somewhere about it regardless. im pretty sure its a '52 though.
Just a quick update: I did have saturday off and got a little work done, i stripped the rear passenger door of rust and a SH*TLOAD of bog. Luckily under the bog were just some ugly dints, no holes. i did find some pinholes in another spot low down on the door unfortunately but it's all part of it. I'll make up a piece to replace it with when the time comes. I have tomorrow off so a bigger update tomorrow night!
Gahh. work is draining my life! havent had a day off yet. Saturday morning I'll be sinking a couple of hours into her before i go to the drags. I also bought a holden 202 engine with a 3 on the tree manual today (for $150! bargain!) and am picking that up sunday. Still looking for a holden or similar 5-speed manual. stay tuned..
Hey guys, sorry it's been so long between updates. Ive been so busy with work, then when i get a day off it rains, blah blah. Got a fair bit done today and Tuesday though and i do have some progress photos ok well i have one progress photo, my phone died so i could take any more today haha. But as you can see ive got both guards off and the front, I also took those dangerous looking bumper arms off after the photo was taken as well. I'm very very pleased with how the guards look, only the drivers side one has a small amount of rust down in a little crevice but itll be easily repaired. I cant explain how lucky i am that this has been so well sheltered all of these years, the sheer amount of dirt that came out of the guards and that is sitting in and around chassis rails, swing arms etc. is unbelieveable. If any of it had gotten wet and was allowed to sit i recon itd rust in about a week haha. I also pulled out the headlining and removed the door handle and window glass/mechanism from the front drivers door. A major exercise in itself i can tell you. and i removed the front windscreen and rear windscreen. Still yet to find some serious rust spots, but the further i get into it the more i realise what a massive task it is. So ive decided that rather than continue stripping the body with the 3m stripper wheels im going to get the whole thing sandblasted and be done with it. Then i can be sure the rust is gone, and itll free up a lot of time to actually make some forward progress. I think thats the best way to go, anyone have an opinion on this? I think i mentioned previously i got my Holden 202 engine with a 3 on the tree gearbox, ill probably sell that as ive managed to get my hands on a holden 5 speed (floor shift). Apart from this there isnt much else to report, ive just been saving my money and working heaps. im starting university soon which will mean ill be working less and i should have more half-days to work on the car, rather than leaving home when its dark and getting home when its dark every day haha. Yeah so im pleased with the progress and ill be getting some quotes this week on the sand blasting, open to other suggestions/ideas/comments.
i sandblasted my pitted 52 made life a whole lot easier , took 5 hours in total, not cheap about$1500 but find someone who won't ripple your sheet metal!!!!!!
yeah thats what i was thinking. better of biting the bullet, saving my money and getting it done right. Ill get some quotes this week, $1,500 does make me cringe though haha.
Got any parts or stuff you wanna sell or barter????$1500 or so is a whole lot cheaper than sending it to get repaired ,bying a new project or givin up, at least you know what your starting with, not someone elses mess!!! Mine had been blasted before i bought it then left in the wheather for 2 yrs or so & about the same time for me to get it blasted again , didn't turn out as bad as i thought...swiss cheese i was thinkin!!!! But not so!!!these things have amazingly thick metal!!!!!!have been on the go for 4 years and have found out a whole lot of stuff about things, when i bought it i had no idea where the hell i was goin to get any parts in oz at all!!!it only had 3 doors, 3 and ahalf years later i found a mint 3rd door!!!!got ant questions at all 0402 759 979 anthony,...qld
I have a 52 chevy 4 door. Anyone no how i could tell the difference between a styleline and a delux? Or are they the same?
At the moment i dont have anything that i want to sell, I'll let you know and post it on here if i do. I'll confess I'm a bit of a horder, I'm always like "ohh i may need/want that one day..." haha. Do you have anything that youre interested in selling? Anything off these era chevies really. I noticed I havent put up a photo of where the floor is rusted through a bit, Ill upload that in my next post, but the more i think about it the more i agree - sandblasting is the way to go. Im looking into a few places today for quotes. Interesting. The way they are welded in there sure makes it a pain in the arse to get anything done behind there, specially as I'm still learning and trying to figure out what goes where/does what haha. Id be keen to know this also, Im sure there'll be a post somewhere here one the hamb on how to decifer the codes on the ID tags, Ive gotta look into this soon too.
Got a quote on sandblasting off a friend of a friend yesterday. Long story short, $2,000 for the whole car inside out, top to bottom. I think ill just have to save my pennies and get it done. Plenty of work to do in the mean time however, unfortunately today being my only day off for a while its pouring down with rain. God i hate having a small garage.
Hey guys, I'm not dead, just working flat out and whever i get a day off it rains. But I'm saving my pennies hopefully some progress soooooooon.
Update time! Scored a day off yesterday and it was probably the nicest winter day I've ever seen, not a cloud in the sky, fresh, sunny. Perfect for working outside I'll upload some photos a bit later tonigh when i get home from work and I'm at my computer. So yesterday I pulled the glass/handle/mechanism/everything out and off of the rear passenger drivers door. I also pulled out the rear widow trim and chrome strip. So now basically the whole drivers side of the car is done and bare, next step is to take the rear bumper/lights etc out. I'll then be ready to push her all the way out and turn her round to work on the other side of the car. Before I do though im going to pull the engine out in preparation for the 202. I also attempted to clean the front a bit more with the high pressure hose but to no avail, its basically concrete on the chassis haha so once i get the engine out ill be able to give her a better clean. Gonna get my tax done on monday night so depending on how much i get back i could possibly be putting her in for a sandblast sooner than expected... fingers crossed haha. I also took some bits out of the molasses i had set up and all i can say is "wow" I'll try and trawl through my photos and see if i took any "before" pictures because they were probably the rustiest things i had off the car and theyre now like new metal. Also got a day off tomorrow so dependant on weather there could be some more updates tomorrow night. Stay tuned!
haha thanks gsport. Ok i had a rather big night last night so i didnt get to my computer. BUUUUT i got a chance to get a bit more done today as it was another awesome day, after i finished piss-farting around with my un-hamb-friendly commodore. first off, pictures: Today i pulled the rear bumper off as you can see, and also the metal plate inbetween the body and bumper. A couple of the bolts were rusted on there pretty good... Also here is a photo of those parts that came out of the molasses, until i find the "before" photo just imagine the most rust covered part youve ever seen haha: Time was cut short with some other things i had to do but it's all progress. I picked up a couple of jack stands today and once i get a new jack ill be able to attack the front end a bit better. I'll be able to get things done like re-co the drums and get some parts powdercoated at work, etc. etc. Its my birthday on the 19th so who knows maybe someone will love me enough to get me a jack haha. I can't think of anything else to add right now but updates should be a bit more consistant as i get a bit more time off work.
Tax is done and $1,700 shall be heading my way! With that and the money ive been saving i should really be able to kick things into gear. I'm going to go and checkout the guys workshop where i got the quote for sand/media blasting and ive heard pretty good things so shouldnt be too long before i get it done! Then I'll really be able to start heading forward. Ill have to look into buying some primer etc. and teeing up some time in the paint shop. Also after having more than a passing convo with the boss about it i should be able to not only get my stuff powder coated for next to nix i should be able to have a bash at it myself. I'm excited!
Hey, just wanted to chime in and say 'keep it up and good luck!'. I stumbled across your thread over the weekend and just caught up last night. As someone who would like to tackle my 1st restoration at somepoint it's great to see how others do it! So, from what I've read, I'm assuming that if you had it to do over again you probably would have skipped all of the paint/rust removal and just sent the ol'girl straight in for sandblasting (money not withstanding of course)?
Hi Metal Ghost, Thanks for the encouragement! Yeah for sure if i started again i would just have sent her straight in for the sandblasting, realistically its the best way to go. Although they say that you learn the most from your mistakes, not your successess. My goal at the start of this was to try and do as much as possible myself, although its annoying to have to concede to get someone else to sandblast it i know the end result will be of a much better quality. I just hope i get a car back and not a colinder! haha.
Hi, yeah Ghost there has been some slowwww progress. Unfortunately due to weather/work/money/university commitmets i havent had much time for anything else... So i finished pulling off the bumper hangers off the back of the car and decided to wheel her out and turn her around, a process which took some time... So I pushed her over a bit so i could get access to the rear passenger wheel, which in above photos you can see has only one wheel stud. Upon jacking it up and removing the wheel/hub 4 wheel studs fell out of the drum. For reasons i am yet to fathom someone decided to hammer them into the drum. Regardless i put the only 2 decent ones back into the hub and put the wheel back on and wheeled her out into the street/turned her around and nosed her in. (this took somewhat more time than it did for me to write) I then started to remove the glass/door trims from the passenger side of the car. Unfortunately no photos as yet but if its sunny on saturday ill be putting a full day into her as itll be my first day off in about a month. Next on the agenda is to fully remove the rest of the glass/trim and dash cluster etc. Then fuel tank and most likely engine (once i borrow the hoist off a mate). All in preparation to get her sandblasted, as soon as i get the money together... Thats all the progress for the moment, but we are coming into Spring and sunnier days are ahead!
Hey, but that sounds like progress, which is all-the-more impressive when thinking about all the other stuff going on in life!! Yea, I've (slowly) started to learn that everything takes 1 to 4 times longer than I expect it too. But as long as I don't let that frustrate me, the process and results are always fun. Can't wait to see pics once you get some more!
The Jalopy Journal
