Projects A 40 Ford Sedan Deluxe Build

drake or dennis carpenter sell a body bolt kit with new pads, I used it on mine

 

I would rather sandpaper a fat lady’s ass in a phone booth than lay on my back and clean rust and degree off the bottom of a car. I would build=d a rotisserie and really look into dustless blasting. Remember once you have it clean you will have lay on your back and paint it. JMHO

 

Now you tell me .....

 

I was even lazier, had mine dipped at American Metal Cleaning.

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I had the "redi strip" guy in Allentown PA do the pickup bed and fenders on my 1941 ford pickup, however I believe the process & the EPA's guide lines do not mix, there are a lot fewer of these guys around anymore.

 

Last weekend I added a water trap to the compressor. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to make a lot of difference as I still had water seeping out of the hose where it attaches to my angle die grinder. I have a disposable water filter on it, but can't tell if the water is seeping out upstream or downstream.


This is now my weapon of choice - an angle grinder with the scotch-brite type attachment. This does a much better job than the wire brush attachments.

So, yesterday I finished going over the area that I could get to with the angle grinder and then went to my die grinder with the 2 inch attachment. It's called a "conditioning disc", still it's similar to the scotch brite stuff (I also got the last three that the auto paint store had. Surprised they don't stock more.)


After going through 4 of those pads I was pretty much done and moved on to the next step. I used a scrub pad to wash the bottom down with degreaser, trying not to take an acetone shower. and then wipe off with one of my wife's good wash-cloths ...


Now I gotta do it one more time and then After Blast and then paint. (But I still need to go back and clean under the support stands.)

 

Here's a question for you guys: I tried to use some degreaser/cleaner to clean the insides of my trunk and the stuff sort of melted the tar/undercoat that Ford sprayed on the inner walls as a sound deadner. Is there something else to use as a cleaner that won't melt the tar but is not water-based so it doesn't cause rust?

 

Floors looking great, a lot of dirty hard work there. I had the same problem with all my front qrtr cage nuts, so bought some to replace them. The ones I could get to I removed and plug welded in new, the ones I couldn’t, I cut out and made a nee panel with the cage nut attached. I also tig’d the cages together before installing to make sure the nut couldn’t break loose in the cage.
On the factory tar, I found it scrapes of pretty easy leaving very little, which can then be cleaned off with panel wipe/thinners. Oh, and if you go por15, I’m pretty sure it needs rust to bond to, so probably no good for your clean floors

 

Nice looking cage nuts. I wonder if they are available over here?

 

The water filter won't work that close to the compressor, the air is still to hot to condense. I made up a PVC pipe cooling system that works good. Look them up on Youtube.

 

You need about 12 feet of metal pipe between the compressor and your water separator in order to condense the moisture and the separator to work. TP tools had a nice diagram showing the proper way. It makes a huge difference. No PVC pipe, this has been discussed in numerous other threads don’t want to disrail this one.

 

You can get the cage nuts from Bob Drake.
https://www.bobdrake.com/cagenuts

 

Okay. Thanks! I'm using a portable 20 gallon ancient of days Sears so I'll have to figure it out. What I need is a permanent installation of an 80 gallon, but that is in the future.

 

Thanks! I'll look up that diagram.

 

Okay, thanks for the information!

 

The recommended length to dryer is 40 feet and put a drip leg in it. When I did mine I used Copper and a lot of elbows I made it in 5 ft wide and it works great you can Google on how to build one

 

Man my old Sears 20 gallon worked for years and even after the fire for a year or two later......

 

Okay, found the diagram at TP Tools & Equipment. Thanks!

 

Long day today. The front of the 40 body is sitting on 2 jack stands, so no problem, winch it up a bit and move stands back a little followed by the usual grinding and cleaning. I also tried out a small wire brush in my good drill and it allowed me to get into a bunch of places the angle grinder and the die grinder wouldn't. Of course that resulted in going over the whole underside where I couldn't get clean before. I also used a couple of small by-hand wire brushes and worked the perimeter areas that I couldn't quite reach before. Tired arms!

The back was a little trickier but worked out well. I just winched it up and moved the steel sawhorse sideways in the rear-end tunnel. Like deeese:


I figured that at least if something let go, it would topple over instead of pancaking down.

See? All nice and clean. Now I just winch it up, slide the sawhorse over to this side and clean the other side (by the way, the rear is to the left and the front to the right. I'm not quite sure what that half-moon shaped dimple is from but there is another on the other side but not in symmetry) :


Looking pretty squeaky clean, heh?

I have just a little area left that are the two rear sheet metal corners which are proving very difficult to get into. But I have high hopes for my drill with the little wire brush.

 

Man, that is hard work. And gravity is unkind.

 

I hope you are wearing personal protection gear, Face masks gloves etc. that’s why rotaries were invented.

 

I hope you have that car tied to the ceiling along with the sawhorses. Today I put mine up on sawhorses to paint the areas I couldn't get to with it on the rotisserie and it is a bit scary under there. I will bolt it down to the body cart before I do any more work under there. Just thinking about the stuff landing in your face and eyes - yuck. Stay safe.

 

Happily, I have a box of M-95 masks to wear since I have been going through them. This is really filthy work. It's a transference process; the car gets clean while I get filthy! Face mask, and eye and ear protection. My old grey sweatshirt is now too dirty to even put in the wash!

And yes, the cables will stay on the cabin, even though it's on the jack-stands and sawhorse until I put the chassis back under it. Belt and suspenders, you know.

Any speculation on what caused those half-moon dimples on the underside?

 

I can't see this half moon thing you are asking about. You aren't asking about the spare tire depression in the floor are you?

 

Sorry, it is only sorta a half-moon shape:

 

Only thing that comes to mind is a dent from a tube shock.

 

Worked some more on the 40. I used 2 different wire wheels on my electric drill to get into a couple of areas that still needed attention and then I blew everything off with compressed air and wiped everything down with degreaser again.


Lighting wasn't always the best, but I hate using my trouble-light since I always seem to manage to break the light bulb in it.


I have to place the pan of degreaser strategically if I don't want to drip that stuff all over me. Actually, this is good training for the After-Blast which is acidic.


Bottom of my car is officially "clean enough to eat off of". Of course, if you tried that the food would fall on your face...

 

I use a LED light they are pretty rugged they have cord and cordless one’s not very expensive

 

Special laws of gravity operate under cars. It doesn't matter how you position yourself when you are working over head, stuff will fall in your face - even if it has to fall at a 45 degree angle to do it!

 

Go man go......but always be sure to take a break every now and then ! Great work !