Dang dude!!!!!!! This is one of my favorite builds! I can't wait to see it finished. Keep up the good work.
Just an opinion, no hurt feelings please... But looking at the sporty interior, and the look and lines on the car, I think this car would look better with a dark luxurious paint job. The one you are choosing doesn't seem to fit the car. But having the oportunity to have it painted by the one and only, priceless. either way its your car and its only my opinion. Can't wait to see it painted.
God I love this thread, it is so great to have it come up again. The chrome work stuff is really super cool, I didn't realize how much prep goes into restoration of this pot metal stuff. And to see the guys working with my ultimate builder hero, Gene Winfield at his "real" shop. I was able to shake Gene's hardworking hand at a KKOA event and had goose bumps!! What a true icon of our sport. Thanx for sharing this neat-o stuff with the rest of us!! ~Sololobo~
Better late than never, here is some more chromework. We have gotten very busy lately and I am running around like crazy, so I haven't gotten pics of all the steps on this batch of stuff. /\ I forgot to get pics of before they were stripped and blasted, but here they are. /\ Closeup of the trunk hinges. These things are almost always rotten, so I wasn't too surprised to see this after stripping and blasting. /\ True-blue rot-thru /\ Everything other than the hinges polished up alright except one door handle, but no closeup pics of that. The hood ornament base had a break in it shown in this pic. /\ The aftermath. I sanded them down as much as possible. Most of the pitting came out, but there was substantial edge rot and rot-thru that had to be ground out and drilled out in preparation for filling. /\ The hinges and hood ornament have been sanded and gouged and drilled into submission. Now they have been copper striked; a thin 2 minute-or-so plating which is a cyanide based solution ideal as a base plate for zinc die-cast. I will solder to the copper now, not the base metal itself. /\ The hinges have been soldered, then the solder sanded down. They will get copper striked again, then acid coppered, which is the high build stuff measured in hours instead of minutes. I lost count of how many hours of acid copper these hinges ended up needing to get right (in multple 2 hour-ish sessions); I'd rather not think about it, lol. /\ Copper buffed and ready for the final nickel/chrome. The hard work is done. /\ The hinges fresh out of the chrome tank. /\ All cleaned up and ready to go. /\ Some of the other parts. Obviously I missed some photos (especially the repair of the broken ornament base,) but you get the idea by now. I just noticed the finished pic of the ornament looks like there is a line where the break was; it's an optical illuision, really. There will be more...
Man this is a great thread. Thank you so much for taking the time to share all of the effort you have put into this car.
So Gene is gooing to paint the Kaiser! That's cool, can't wait to see it return from the paint booth!
Ian, the guys at the shop told me a HAMBer stopped by that knew the car. Sorry we missed you by just a few days. My buddy Zach and I just spent a long weekend back at Gene's working on the car. Here's the update. Gene's guys are doing all the filler work on the doors, rear quarters and rear deck now. We spent Friday stripping the rust off of the front fenders and hood with 36 grit disks. You can see how much rust was on the fenders in some of the earlier pics in this thread. We also did some hammer and dolly work to remove all of the dings and dents, and welded the trim holes solid and metal finished them. Zach worked on the recessed licence plate on the trunk. He had to go back and weld all the pinholes then metal finish the area to prep it for filler and primer. We also finished welding the pinholes and metal finishing the roof area, including the molded drip rails, A, B and C pillars and the welded areas of the chop. It's all ready for filler at this point. Not too many people have gotten to use this dolly. That's all for now, we'll be back to the shop in January.
Gotta say, this is one of the threads I most look forward to seeing updates on. Not very many folks get to say the Winfield shot there car. Bet you never thought that junk Kaiser you started out with would be getting this much love, eh? Very cool...keep the updates coming!
Man I LOVE getting chrome back from the platers its right up there with rolling a car out of the booth to the sunshine for the first time or hearing your new engine fire! I have to say those trunk hinges are THE BUISNESS! Man all the chrome looks so good! You are gonna have one amazing ride I cant wait to see this thing in person! I would say your a lucky bastard but man you have sure worked for it and I bet you have single handedly made Kaisers cool! I always kinda liked em for being odd ball but now I kinda want one!
I too just finished reading the entire thread. Your car is amazing an your work is top notch! I love how you wasted no time and dove head first into it! It's awesome that Gene is painting your car. You're a lucky bastard. I'll have to admit that I'm a little inspired. I have been building minitrucks for the last few years and have been wanting to build an old rod forever. I just sold my last mini project so now it's time. Anyways. Hell of a project man. I can't wait to see Gene's magic!
just finished reading the whole thread words fail me at this time,the only one is just fantastic work dude my hats off to you man
Cannot get jaw up from the floor. Can I borrow your MaxJax. Awesome talents, dedication, innovation, etc...., the list goes on, but mostly inspirational. Regards, Rhys.
Thanks for all the compliments guys! SamAndrew, go build yourself an old car. It's the same as a mini, only you get more respect and the car is actually worth something when you're done. Sorry guys no updates as of now because the car is at Gene's and I'm only going out there once a month. I do need to clean up and paint the motor and transmission and start on the interior though. I'm hoping to get those done while the car is gone so I can assemble everything when its back. That is going to be an amazing day when I get to actually reassemble this stuff for the last time.
They are formed sheetmetal. The gouge that Josh soldered there is from the sheetmetal edge of the center grille bar rubbing on the ends.
A lot of guys seem to be wanted this thing finished to enjoy it. While I agree, it will be spectacular, I for one am enjoying the journey, not just waiting for the destination. Keep up the good work.
The Jalopy Journal
