Di you find the Zodiac rings? Im not 100% on this but i remember a friend of mine told me hes got a few Zodiac/Zephyr parts last year. I'll pm him now.
I've got more chrome pics coming. The rear bumper wasn't good enough so I had to do it a 3rd time. Good thing too, as it looks much better now, although you couldn't tell in pics anyways. It's good to have the bumpers done; they, by far, have been the most work of all the parts. Hopefully tonight I can get the newer pics up...
Bumper pics! These are what the bumpers looked like when thye arrived. If you look closely, you can see they needed quite a bit of straightening. One thing about rusty and dull old chrome is it hides imperfections really well. Anything I miss in the polishing step will be a glaring disgrace on the final piece. If you want to do a modified/smoothie bumper like this, make sure all straightening is taken care of before doing any welding; it will make it easier to straighten, especially if there are brackets welded onto the backside like these have. The brackets want to hold the bumper where it is, prohibiting straightening. These particular bumpers had the typical dings, mostly along the leading edge, sunken bolt holes, a bit of overall distortion on the front, and some wrinkling around where the guards were mounted. They also had some distortion from the welding. The sunken bolt holes were welded in their sunken position, and the welds had a little cracking take place when I pounded them back to where they were supposed to be. Not a huge deal, but still worth noting for anyone wanting to prepare filled bumpers for their plater. Notice he left the welds high; I recommend this to prevent an unexperienced hand from overgrinding and creating a low spot. No skim coat of filler is available to fix that. Every single weld had some gas pitting for me to braze, and it is VERY rare that they don't, no matter who does them; although some are much better than others. Been having CPU issues, so keeping it to a few pics at a time...
More bumper pics! That's me makin' sparks. IIRC, this was the rear bumper. The peeling nickel is proof that this bumper had been replated at some point in the past. I sharpied all the places it needed brazing
Buffed to a semi-bright finish and ready for final plating. Beautiful. At least after three tries on this one, which is the rear. We normally do not copper plate full-length bumpers, because they usually do not need it. With these, they needed it (because of weld pitting,) and it made them take a lot more work than your average bumper. There is easily $2,500 worth of work in these bumpers to get them this nice. They could have been a little less nice for a lot less money if that makes any sense. The trick is getting modified old bumpers to look like they were never beat up 60 years and then welded up. Obviously I didn't get all the pics I should have, especially all the soldering that occured in the copper plating stage to get out all those little pesky pits in the welds that the brass didn't get. This car is going to be sweet.
Josh I am SO glad you are doing my chrome, I can't thank you enough! I wouldn't trust anyone else to do such nice work. Guys its worth pointing out that Josh is only 25, imagine the skill as he continues to hone his craft.
25??? wish i had that kinda drive when i was 25! Did you find the extra headlight ring? I asked my friend, he said he saved the rear to made a couch and took some other bits but he aint sure what he has. Lemme know.
No I haven't found the headlight ring yet. Let me know if you can find one, it would be much appreciated!
Some interior pieces. All are pot metal except for the thin steel strips with screw holes in them. The pieces above have been sanded/polished and are ready for copper plating. The piece above is one of two mouldings from the T-bird center console. You can see them on the console in the pics that showed off all the T-bird interior stuff. It has been sanded, then copper striked to allow for soldering. The repair on this one was due to a rare occurance. It wasn't rotten or too deeply pitted, but had some sort of imperfection in the metal itself. It's something I usually find in cast aluminum and sometimes steel, but rarely pot metal. It filled up nicely and since it didn't make me cut through the part, the repair is completely undetectable now. I missed a lot of photos of that batch of parts, but they are done now. Next up is the larger grill section...
That is some nice chroming work. Interested in knowing if the welds on the bumper were done before the chrome plating was stripped off and if it was how would we prepare a bumper so we can weld it.any tricks?
fitzee, I used 7" sanding discs in 50 grit to remove ALL the old plating on all show surfaces. As seen in the pic of em working on the bumper. Keith did the initial welding and used some type of aggresive method to remove the plating in only the areas that needed welding. If you want to weld on your plated bumper, the trick is to not grind into the steel; but making sure the plating is removed in the areas to be welded. Bumpers normally have nickel as their substantial plating layer. Sometimes they have copper too, but it is soft and sands off relativley easy comared to the nickel. The actual chromium layer sands off really easy as it is extremely thin. Another note: I did all straightening before sanding. But if you are going to weld on you bumper, please straighten it or get someone to straighten it before doing so.
I used a flap wheel on a 4" grinder to strip the chrome where I welded, probably 36 grit, but its not nearly as harsh as a 36 grit sanding disc because flap wheels wear down quickly. This is the first bumper I've filled, I will definitely send it to Josh to be straightened before welding next time. Live and learn.
man this project is SICK!!!! I didnt think that much of it in the first page or two but as i read on this bitch is BAD mad props
This car is totally amazing I love the led sled look. I cant wait to see it all done let me know when the car is home I would like to stop by and check it out. Thanks Frenchy
Frenchy if you come over I'm putting you to work. My car could use some of your perfection for the final assembly.
It will be home in the next couple of weeks. Working out the details on a trailer and truck to pull it now.
dude, i love it, who woulda thought a kaiser could be so asome! keep up the good work.cant wait to see it painted!
Very nice. Truly unique. A vision different from the norm takes a talented eye. The execution to achieve also requires talent and support. This car looks like the package deal. -Hats off to ya; keep those pics coming!
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