If you've ever worked on fibergl***, you may well have had this problem; when you prime or paint the piece, the material you are spraying looks like it's got sand in it. It's just rough as hell looking. The reason for this is static electricity. Sanding, wet sanding, even tack cloth use can cause it. I built a body from 'gl*** for a trike I built, and kept having this problem when trying to prime it. It was driving me bug****! I finally found a guy that restores 'Vettes, and he told me what the problem was, and how to cure it. Wrap a fabric softener sheet up in your tack cloth, wipe the piece down well, and....Voila!... no more rough paint or primer due to static electricity. It also works on plastics, or anything that might take a static charge from rubbing on it.
This is a simple, but very important bit of information. I use this method to clean out my flathead blocks internally, but I'm sure it would work on any block. What I do is chuck up an E-Brake cable in an electric drill and run it through every water p***age opening in the block. The end will form a brush and clean everything up well. After that I take a speedo cable which is about a quarter of the size of the E-brake cable and run it through the small water p***ages around the valve area. I also blow compressed air through all the same holes to get all the debris out. I am not a big fan of using chemicals to clean blocks.
when you have a rounded off bolt head that is being a ***** weld a nut over top of the bolt head. weld the center of the nut shut, i use the biggest nut that still can be welded on with out messing with any thing. the combo of the heat from welding and the new nut with a good tool for leverage works all most every time. but maybe we all ready knew that huh?
=V8= Newer gauges (that look stock) for 40 ford clusters =V8= I was working on a 40 and stumbled on to this. I found that the gauges from a 60? To 78 F600 & 700 (cab overs also) and early econoline vans are a direct bolt in. The oil- temp-fuel gauges bolt in the 40 cluster with no modification and except the stock 40-gauge face standard or deluxe. These big trucks are easy to find (truck wreckers) U-hall used them for years. While youre at it check out the steering column in the big trucks. Its got a nice thin mast (like early ford) with a turn switch that you can still get new from ford. Gauges may still be available also. If you have ever tryed to find temp senders for a 40 that work, you know why I did the swap.
some of you might know these already but what the hell when you need to bend tubing without access to a tubing bender cut a radius out of wood and screw it down to a table or other flat surface. pack the piece of tubing with sand and then clamp it to the wood jig. light up the torch and start to bend. the sand should help prevent the wall of the tubing from collapsing. also an old way of hardening steel is heat up the steel till red hot and then dunk it into a bucket of oil.
heres 3 easy ones, that are probably already used. 1) when mixing bondo, paint, fibergl***, etc. buy a cheap box of disposable rubber gloves, so you don't have to use up your thinner cleaning your hands. 2) use old plastic ****er containers to mix up your fibergl*** resin, paint, bondo, so when the excess hardens, the plastic is so smooth the product wont stick to the container and you can just "pop" it out 3) last if you want a bigger pallet for your bondo, craft stores have poster board "tablets" (about 25 or 30 sheets of heavy weight paper glued together on one end) i put those in a clipboard and when i am done i tear off that sheet and have a fresh one under it.
Calibrating speedometers. I rebuild 59/60 Chevolet speedometers once in a while. These things have a spring in them that you can adjust to calibrate the speed of the needle as opposed to the speed of the car itself. It's a pain in the *** to stick it in your car, find out you're going 60mph in a 50mph zone and your speedo says 40mph and you try explaining this to a local law enforcement officer. Then you have to take it out, take it apart, hopefully adjust it correctly and then do it all over again. What I did was I took a speedometer that I KNOW is good, and I hooked it up to my drill (plug in type... the cordless ones can vary) with a shortened speedo cable (I just cut it off 12 inches from the end that goes into the speedo head) and turned it on full (in my case I had to use reverse). That puppy clocked out at 40mph exactly. So now I always use this same drill to test new speedometers I have out together and if it says 40mph, I know I'm good to go and it can be installed without having to take it out again. And for you guys who have 59/60 Chevrolets (and maybe this can be applied to other years) when you are detailing your speedometer needle and other gauge needles (fuel/temp), "Dayglo Orange" is the color to use that matches the factory paint on these needles. It makes a world of a difference over those old gauges that have faded to white over the last 45 years. Travis
Hey Dumb*** Travis, is my '58 adjustable as well? It's in the car, so I don't want to pull it out if I can't fix it like you just described.
I'm going to make one good front '47 Oldsmobile bumper outta 2 ****ty Chevy ones this weekend. I'll post a tech on it on Sunday nite......... if it turns out
Yes, that's how you HARDEN steel, but you also just made it very brittle (like a file). Now you need to TEMPER it, by heating it to straw/yellow (not red or not even quite orange) and quench it again. This will bring down the hardness (not much) but will reduce the brittleness (is that a word?) quite a bit. Now you have a tool. Water cools metal fastest and will make it harder and more brittle... then oil... then air. Use mineral oil, too. It's not as toxic or flamable. ...and use enough quenchant (water, oil... etc.) to cool the piece before becoming hot itself. It must completely chill the piece. JOE
Glad you cleared that up. I had been thinking about it ever since it was posted. I would add while it is true that water quenches fastest, it also boils at a lower temp than oil and the air bubbles cause the hardening process to be uneven.
Here are some pictures of my friend Dans homemade body rotissarie made out of 2 engine stands. Hope the pictures will explain everything.
That sure seems functional. I don't mean to be critical.. twice in the came thread...but, pic 2 caught my eye, though. There are 4 usable bolt holes in the gray rotating plate. Why not use 'em, by making plates with four holes and welding them to the square tube. At least, given the length of the two, use Grade-8 bolts. And the adjustable collars (the larger square tube with what looks like a set screw that bolts to the body)... If those are only set screws, and are just bound into the square tube cross piece, that's a recipe for disaster. When that cross piece is turned vertical, that thing's gonna fall, and there'll be two deep scratches in the tube and a car on the floor. Unless I don't see them, suggest to your friend that he might want to drill holes for those bolts to seat into... or drill a couple of holes for a safety bolt or hitch pin on the outside of each... just in case. The welds look nice, too. JOE
This has just been posted on the UK NSRA site by our very own Mart. I can't understand why he hasn't shared this gem with you guys, I guess he must just be a little shy. "Wanted to put the 58 f100 in the rear part of the garage today. Trouble is, there aint much headroom in the transition between the front part and rear part. I found the problem when I wiped a flourescent fitting off the ceiling! Dropped the pressure in the tyres and backed in no problem. Blew them back up once inside, didn't want it to sit on the (almost) flats. useful trick, bear it in mind, you might need it one day. When you do, think of me. Mart."
sooooooo, ryan, who won? what was their post (or where at in this post)? what user ***le did you give him/her?
BTW,I never recieved my timing tag.A couple of months a go was tech week that had four "winners" and I was one of them.
Wasn't it MP33 for his full tech post...? http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=557789#post557789 I seem to recall the thread was posted shortly after Ryan offered an award for the Best Tech post...!
Ahh .. to bad I missed the contest. BUT, here's one I just used today. Need to tap threads in thin wall tube and your having trouble keeping the tap square to the surface? Take a block of wood (aluminum is better if your going to do a bunch of holes) and drill a hole (do this on the drill press so the hole is square to the block surface) the same size as the bolt(s) your tapping the holes for. Sliding the tap through the hole in the block and sticking the nose of the tap into the hole your tapping, holding the block on the surface will guide the tap until it's started. This works for square or rectangular tube. If you need to tap round tube, drill a round hole in a block with the guide hole comming out the side. (you can split the block in halves and use screws/bolts to hold the two halves together. BTW - If your going to drill and tap holes in large pieces (like a frame that you can't get in the drill press) the same trick of creating a guide block for drilling the tap size hole works too. I had to drill and tap some holes for brake and fuel line clamps. Using the guide block trick makes sure the tap hole will be at right angles to the surface. I drill a small pilot hole first (1/8th inch) and then position the guide block over the hole and clamp it in place. Drill the tap size hole, then using the the trick above, position the tap.
The Jalopy Journal
