Project COBRA’33, will sport a Candy finish, to be more precise, it will have a Multi-Layered, Multi-Colored, Multi-Type Paint Job. Lets look more detailed at each type.

Multi-Layered - We will be using a combination of Candies and Pearlescent Paints, these particular types of Paints are very low Solids paints, and require many layers to achieve the depth and richness you desire. Other paints, or High Solids paints, may only require one or two coats for full coverage and depth, but Candies and Peals require many coats, as many as 8-10 layers to achieve the desired look and coverage. It’s that wonderful richness and depth that makes Candies and Pearl Paints so exciting. On a properly applied Candy Paint Job, it looks like you are looking into calm water, with water so clear you can see the bottom sand. Candies are the same, you look into them and it has that depth and richness about them.

Multi-Colored - The main color for Project COBRA’33 will be Candy Cobalt Blue. This color will cover the bottom 2/3's of the car and all the fenders. The extreme top will be a Candy Orion Silver and the middle or the car, on the belt line will be a Marbleized finish of Black and Silver. And the very small area that surrounds the car, with a slight body line will be Magenta Candy. I know it is hard to visualize, but I think it will work out excellent, with just enough contrast to compliment the other colors.

Multi-Colored - The main color for Project COBRA’33 will be Candy Cobalt Blue. This color will cover the bottom 2/3's of the car and all the fenders. The extreme top will be a Candy Orion Silver and the middle or the car, on the belt line will be a Marbleized finish of Black and Silver. And the very small area that surrounds the car, with a slight body line will be Magenta Candy. I know it is hard to visualize, but I think it will work out excellent, with just enough contrast to compliment the other colors.

The main color for Project COBRA’33 will be Candy Cobalt Blue. This color will cover the bottom 2/3's of the car and all the fenders. The extreme top will be a Candy Orion Silver and the middle or the car, on the belt line will be a Marbleized finish of Black and Silver. And the very small area that surrounds the car, with a slight body line will be Magenta Candy, and Tangerine Candy. I know it is hard to visualize, but I think it will work out excellent, with just enough contrast to compliment the other colors.

Multi-Type - Our Body will require many, many coats of paint. The very first coat to go on will be the Primer/Surface’r. This will be sprayed several times and will not only protect the base metal, but will also seal the body work and allow us to build-up the paint to fill-in any small imperfections in the body work. Once this paint has been final sanded, the next layer will be a Sealer. We will use a Sealer to fully seal the body work and primed surfaces, this assures us that nothing will bleed through and react with the top coats. Our Sealer will have a Silver Metallic Finish to it, as this will help us achieve the final look we desire. Up next would be the Base Coat, and for most of the car, that would be the Orion Silver Metallic Color. This is also a Candy and will require 3-4 coats to achieve the look we need. The small area were the Malbilizer goes, will have a Black Base Coat. After the Base Coat is applied and dried, the majority of the car will be painted in Cobalt Blue Candy Paint. This Candy will require roughly 5-7 coats to achieve the depth and richness I want. The section with the Magenta and Tangerine, will require about the same coats, and the Top that is Orion Silver is finished at this stage. Once the Candy is applied we will come in with some Clear and apply another 4-5 coats. This has to go very quickly with all the Candy Colors, you have to let the one coat flash, then apply the next coat. So it takes a good day to do each section of the paint work. Because of this, we will paint the body first, but only in the Cobalt Blue and Clear, and get that piece finished. Next we will paint the Fenders, both Front and Rear ones, along with the Radiator Support, Inner Fender Supports, and anything else that is to match the Cobalt Blue Color. When that is finished, we will paint the Magenta Stripe and Clear that, then we will turn our attention to the Marbleized Section, and finish that. There is much work to do in painting this body, and because of the Multi-Layer, Multi-Color, Multi-Process, we will be busy a full week doing final paint.

Multi-Type - Our Body will require many, many coats of paint. The very first coat to go on will be the Primer/Surface’r. This will be sprayed several times and will not only protect the base metal, but will also seal the body work and allow us to build-up the paint to fill-in any small imperfections in the body work. Once this paint has been final sanded, the next layer will be a Sealer. We will use a Sealer to fully seal the body work and primed surfaces, this assures us that nothing will bleed through and react with the top coats. Our Sealer will have a Silver Metallic Finish to it, as this will help us achieve the final look we desire. Up next would be the Base Coat, and for most of the car, that would be the Orion Silver Metallic Color. This is also a Candy and will require 3-4 coats to achieve the look we need. The small area were the Malbilizer goes, will have a Black Base Coat. After the Base Coat is applied and dried, the majority of the car will be painted in Cobalt Blue Candy Paint. This Candy will require roughly 5-7 coats to achieve the depth and richness I want. The section with the Magenta and Tangerine, will require about the same coats, and the Top that is Orion Silver is finished at this stage. Once the Candy is applied we will come in with some Clear and apply another 4-5 coats. This has to go very quickly with all the Candy Colors, you have to let the one coat flash, then apply the next coat. So it takes a good day to do each section of the paint work. Because of this, we will paint the body first, but only in the Cobalt Blue and Clear, and get that piece finished. Next we will paint the Fenders, both Front and Rear ones, along with the Radiator Support, Inner Fender Supports, and anything else that is to match the Cobalt Blue Color. When that is finished, we will paint the Magenta Stripe and Clear that, then we will turn our attention to the Marbleized Section, and finish that. There is much work to do in painting this body, and because of the Multi-Layer, Multi-Color, Multi-Process, we will be busy a full week doing final paint.

I’m not to sure if I wrote this so most would understand, but I sure hope so. I suspect that if your not into painting, you won’t fully understand the process or the method, it’s hard to imagine if your only exposed to the rattle can end of things. On the other hand, I think anyone that has read on the subject or maybe even tried there hand at paint, will understand the time, work and effort needed for such an endeavor. If you don’t get it now, that’s Ok, we will cover if in much more detail late on as the process un-folds.

I wanted to do a small section on Materials for a job like this. I think it’s fair to say, most would assume the Materials would cost much less then they really do. I will break-down the Materials I am purchasing from TPC Global. I just read in one of the monthly Hot Rod Magazines about Paint Jobs and what they cost. They said the Average Paint Job on a Hot Rod was $5,00-15,000.00. And for a Top Notch Paint Job, you would expect to spend $30,000 to 45,000.00, not including the Materials !!! So, did you have the right amount in your head?? Or was you completely out of the park with your estimate?? Remember that was Without the Materials, which you will see can add another $5,000-10,000.00 to the total price. Yes...I know. When looking over the below list of materials, please remember we have already spent more then this amount on the basics, Spray guns, Air Supply, DA Sanders, Sanding Supplies and everything else it took to safely paint the Frame. If your going to do this, that is paint your own car or other45,000.00, not including the Materials !!! So, did you have the right amount in your head?? Or was you completely out of the park with your estimate?? Remember that was Without the Materials, which you will see can add another $5,000-10,000.00 to the total price. Yes...I know. When looking over the below list of materials, please remember we have already spent more then this amount on the basics, Spray guns, Air Supply, DA Sanders, Sanding Supplies and everything else it took to safely paint the Frame. If your going to do this, that is paint your own car or other project like we are, then you will also need these items.

As I mentioned, we will be purchasing all our materials from TPC Global. Why ? ? Well because they are the cheapest place to buy House of Kolor Products, and really the cheapest place to buy all the painting products we need. Yes, there might be a few items I can get elsewhere for a slightly better deal, but I like TPC Global, and in the long run, I save money going with them. Besides, they have the most product selection I have ever seen. So what is it we need for our painting project??? I’ll list everything we are purchasing from TPC Global..

Paint

DIRECT TO METAL PRIMER (KD2000 & KDA2000) This is a 2-part Epoxy Primer/Surfacer Price Includes the KDA2000 Activator Required

As I mentioned, we will be purchasing all our materials from TPC Global. Why ? ? Well because they are the cheapest place to buy House of Kolor Products, and really the cheapest place to buy all the painting products we need. Yes, there might be a few items I can get elsewhere for a slightly better deal, but I like TPC Global, and in the long run, I save money going with them. Besides, they have the most product selection I have ever seen. So what is it we need for our painting project??? I’ll list everything we are purchasing from TPC Global..

Paint

DIRECT TO METAL PRIMER (KD2000 & KDA2000) This is a 2-part Epoxy Primer/Surfacer Price Includes the KDA2000 Activator Required

Paint

DIRECT TO METAL PRIMER (KD2000 & KDA2000) This is a 2-part Epoxy Primer/Surfacer Price Includes the KDA2000 Activator Required

2Gal Kit $136.95 273.90

Sealer

KU-150

MIX RATIO 2:1 - 2 PARTS COLOR/ 1 PART RU REDUCER.

HOK FBC0232

4 Quarts $39.71 158.84

RU-312

MIX RATIO 2:1 - 2 PART COLOR/ 1 PART RU REDUCER

HOK PBC4232

1 Quart $65.01 65.01

1 Quart $ 20.03 20.03

5 Quarts $20.03 $100.15

MARBLIZER ARTISTIC BASE COAT (MB Series)

4 Quart $28.91 $115.64

ADHERETO™ (AP01 and AP02) Adhesion Promoters

Flakes may be used over any of our Shimrin® Universal Base-coats, Kandies, Klears or custom bases. Built from ultra-thin polyester, our flakes are the lightest and easiest to use. The mini and ultra-mini flakes have the brilliance of much larger flake, combining the ultimate in a flake appearance and ease of use.
HOK UMF02-3Z

This product is a 3.5 VOC, National Rule and SCAQMD Rule 1151 compliant product. It may be used to topcoat any of our urethane or polyurethane enamels, or any of our SHIMRIN® Base Coats color. UFC-35 gives an ultrahigh gloss finish with good abrasion resistance, is very flexible and polishes and buffs easily. NOTE: REQUIRES KU-150 HARDENER AND KOSMIC REDUCER.

MIX RATIO 2:1:1 - 2 PARTS CLEAR/ 1 PART KU-150 HARDENER/ 1 PART RU REDUCER

KANDY KONCENTRATES (KK Series)BENEFITS:
* Get you through the tough stuff fast, saving time and material.
* Great for touch ups.
* Tint Kandies & Shimrin® Bases for additional colors.
* Strengthen Kandys for faster coverage on frames, doorjambs, under trunk and hood areas, etc.
* May be added to SG100 Inter-coat Clear for multicolored Kandy tape outs with minimal build.

Cobalt Blue

HOK KK005

HOK KK016

KC-10 WAX & GREASE REMOVER
1 Gallon $31.04 $31.04

KC-20 POST SANDING CLEANER
1 Gallon $33.27 $33.27

KC-20 POST SANDING CLEANER
1 Gallon $33.27 $33.27

WipeAll Pop Up Box

Basecoat / Clear-coat Tack Cloths
12 Box $9.99 $29.97

Basecoat / Clear-coat Tack Cloths
12 Box $9.99 $29.97

40WipeBox

$10.99 $32.97

$10.99 $32.97

DeVilbiss DAGR Airbrush with Airbrush-Depot Model TC-20T

DeVilbiss DAGR Airbrush with Airbrush-Depot Model TC-20T

DeVilbiss DAGR Airbrush with Airbrush-Depot Model TC-20T

Table Top 4-Brush Holder
ABD HD-130

1 Each $19.98 $19.98

1 Each $19.98 $19.98

10 Pack $19.95 $19.95

DEKUPS SHOP KIT (ALL SIZES) DEVILBISS DeKUPSDEV
DPC-SHOP

PACK OF 12 2.5 QT MIX CUPS
KUS 980-12

12 Kit $14.95 $14.95

12 Kit $14.95 $14.95

GEN-NEX COVERALL XX-LG
SAS 6855

GEN-NEX COVERALL XXX-LGSAS 6856

SHOE COVER (1 PAIR) LARGE
SAS 6809

1 Pair $ 4.36 $34.88

1 Pair $ 4.36 $34.88

PAINTER'S GOGGLES
SAS 5110

1 Pair $10.51 $42.04

1 Pair $10.51 $42.04

PEEL OFF COVER (5110)
SAS 5111

10 each $ 6.39 $ 6.39

10 each $ 6.39 $ 6.39

ADAPTER FLG2 & FLG3 802202 DEVILBISS DeKUPS
DEV DPC-31

ADAPTER DEV, BNKS, SHARPE 802200 DEVILBISS DeKUPS
DEV DPC-43

1 Each $ 5.99 $5.99

1 Each $ 5.99 $5.99

40 Box $ 14.83 $29.66

CT PLUS 5 STAGE FILTER SYSTEM DEVILBISS
DEV 130522

80089 AIR ADJ. VALVE & GAUGE (PLUS & GTI) DEVILBISS
DEV HAV-511

1 Gauge $ 24.99 $24.99

180006 AIR ADJUSTING VALVE & GAUGE DEV HAV-501

1 Gauge $ 24.99 $24.99

180006 AIR ADJUSTING VALVE & GAUGE DEV HAV-501

190831 DESICCANT REFILL DEVILBISS
DEV DAD-1

MMM 6819 $ 5.06 $25.30

1" WIDE-MASK TAPE
Item Number:

MMM 6818 $ 3.81 $19.05

3/4" WIDE-MASK TAPE
Item Number:

MMM 6817 $ 2.85 $14.25

3m Fine Line Tape Set1/8",1/4",1/2"
$19.95 $19.95

3"GREEN ROLOC DISC 50 GRADE BOX 0F 25 DISCS
MMM 1406 $31.52 $31.52
MEDIUM SPONGE PADS
Item Number:

MMM 2606 $41.95 $41.95

SUPERFINE SPONGE PADS

Item Number:

$29.95 $119.80

QUANTUM PUTTY/HOT CATALYST 1 HIGH TEMP CATALYST
FIB KIT-460/458

$41.95 $83.90
HIGH TEMP CATALYST 80 F AND ABOVE
Item Number:

$41.95 $83.90
HIGH TEMP CATALYST 80 F AND ABOVE
Item Number:

FIB 458 $ 4.73 $47.30

$19.98 $19.98
DUR LB-120

50 Box
DUR LB-120 100 Box

$31.98 $ 31.98

$31.98 $ 31.98

6" 80-GRIT GOLD PSA DISC ROLL ROLL OF 100 PREMIUM DISCSDUR DA-80 100 Roll DUR DA-80 100 Roll

PA 220-GRIT 2-3/4"x40 YD PSA

Roll $24.98 $24.98

ROLLDURA-GOLD PREM GOLD PSA PER
320-GRIT 2-3/4"x40 YD PSA ROLL1 Roll $24.98 $24.98

Total $219.52

Grand Total = $5,861.00

Roll $24.98 $24.98

ROLLDURA-GOLD PREM GOLD PSA PER
320-GRIT 2-3/4"x40 YD PSA ROLL1 Roll $24.98 $24.98

Total $219.52

Grand Total = $5,861.00

ROLLDURA-GOLD PREM GOLD PSA PER
320-GRIT 2-3/4"x40 YD PSA ROLL1 Roll $24.98 $24.98

Total $219.52

Grand Total = $5,861.00

Grand Total = $5,861.00

Special Coatings

08-22-08

We are FINALLY THEIR ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! Yes, I know it’s been a long journey, but YES we are finally their, and the body is ready for it’s first coat, the Primer Coat. Today, dad and I sanded again on the body all day long. I finally tackled the trim removal above the doors on the jam, they have about 20 short braids holding them in place, and serve to keep the upper door weather striping in place. They came off fairly easy, just I had to take my time and remove the rubber weather striping, or at least what was left of it. It was frozen in place, from aging and came off with light pressure. I cleaned the area up, and then cleaned the pieces I removed. There was a small tapered piece of wood behind each piece, and I saved them and the pieces for latter re-installation. I also applied more filler to the cowl area, in the front. I actually had to apply it three times, to build the area up. I power sanded the door sides and cowl, and hand sanded many of the small areas like the cowl vent area, and firewall ridges. These, smaller areas take the time, you can not get a regular sanding tool into the small crevices, so hand sanding is the ticket. After working this area, I turned to the die grinder with scotch pad disc and went over all the body line grooves and anything else that needed to be cleaned up. I have to say, this is the one tool I would have to recommend to any and everyone the gets into body work, or even metal work in general. You can do so much with this tool and the various disc that go with it, that it soon becomes your best friend. Dad concentrated on the passenger side today, he was block sanding all the areas, and getting things in order over there, while I was free to roam over the complete body. Once I thought the body was in condition, I broke the DA Sander back out, and slapped on several 80 Grit disc, and went over everything I could fine that looked to shiny. The scotch pads do a great job of getting in there and getting the dirt, rust, scale, and junk off the body, but they also have a habit of leaving the areas very smooth, with a uniform surface. This is good 99% of the time, but we are about to paint, and our Primer coat needs something to bite into, so I used the DA Sander to roughen up the body parts, so the paint could bite into it. The 80-Grit sanding disc, coupled with the smooth action of a Da Sander, makes a great surface conditioner. After all that fun, I ended the day by sitting and hand sanding the Cowl Vent. We are using the original Cowl vent of Project COBRA’33. This Vent is over 70 years old, and has it’s share of surface rust. I got the out side face and edges in good condition on the belt sander, early on in the process, but the under side and back side of the vent was much more difficult. I figured, the vent must have held moisture, and that was why the underside was in worse condition then the side exposed to the eliminates, but no matter what caused the problems it was time to fit them so we could paint. I sanded the area as best I could, but there was so much rust, it left a very pitted surface, so I used the body filler to fill in those pits, and re-surface the vent. Even thought I took my time and was careful, there was still much to sand off, and the only way to get to it, was by hand. The good news is the filler helped, bu t the bad news is I still haven’t finished the hand sanding on the vent. It’s close, but I expect another hour or two to finish. I also have the dash and consol. to prep for paint. The dash has been worked on, but not since I welded on the new section we installed to make it wider, there I’ll have to re-apply the filler and sand it down. On the consul, it really just needs sanding to the metal, then a thin cover coat to fill in where some of the spot welds might have shrunk and made a slight depression. In all, I have 1-2 hours work tops to get both pieces ready for spray.

While the Body is finally ready for it’s first coat of Primer, the spray booth is certainly not. While I have installed the series of cables that will support the curtain walls, and I also have installed the many support cables that will hold the various pieces to be painted, I have not yet started on the garage, and it’s cleaning it needs. Sunday, the 24^th of August, is tomorrow, and if all turns out well, I’ll have my wife and son to help me clean the shop. There is really a lot to do, and I’m sure it will take an entire days to clean it to the condition it needs to be in to paint. The first thing we will have to do is empty it out. That means everything that is on wheels, or light enough to carry, will be taken out side. Of-coarse our frame is up on the 4-post lift, so I will leave it there, just elevated to keep safe. Once we have everything out side that can go out there, I’m going to start with blowing out the shop with compressed air and by using the leaf blower. This should get most of the grime that collects on and around the floor clean. Then I can come in with the power washer and clean off the tops of the rafters. I noticed just how dirty they were when I was installing the curtain wall hardware. I clean this because we need to do everything we can to keep the painting area free of dust and dirt. There would be a good chance that as we are painting, some of this dirt might become dislodged and fall down upon our project. Now is the time, and pro-active is always better then re-active. So we’ll start from the top and work our way down. Once I get to the floor area, I can give that a quick power wash, then we will completely mop the shop, and follow that up with a power rise, then squeegee the area dry. While that dries, we can go out side and clean all the stuff we removed from the shop, that way when we push it all back in, it will also be clean. After the shop is clean and now dry, we can install the curtain walls, heat lamps, extension cords, and floor protection. If all works out, I can even go ahead and hang the roll bars so they are ready to paint?? But I’ll be happy with just getting the shop clean.

Clean, Clean, Clean.......What a day, my wife, son and I went down to the shop today to clean it up before we begin the painting. To tell the truth, the shop was a mess. It’s almost impossible to keep a shop with open areas, clean while building anything. Especially items that are made of steel, you have to weld, grind, sand, drill, cut and many other normal processes that make a mess. The grinding and sanding are the worst, they throw the ,metal and abrasive all over the shop including up in the rafters. The judicious use of welding screens help, but they make a mess no matter how hard you try to keep the area clean. And I’m a clean nut, I like to clean-up often, and always before we leave that night. It’s like working in a steel foundry, there is no way to keep it clean. I like to also port and polish cylinder heads, but try as you might, this is another very dirty job. Latter, I intend to construct a small room, especially for porting, in an attempt to try and contain the mess. I would like to do the same for the welding, but it wouldn’t be practical, you have to many large and odd shaped pieces to try and build a room around it. So the real logical choice would be to build our self a real paint booth. These is something I would like to do, a real paint booth with down draft fans and maybe even a heater. I have been looking into the cost, and maybe, just maybe I will be able to swing one latter on. If so, it would certainly eliminate the need to complete empty the shop before each and every paint job. I would add on to the end of our building, and make the paint booth it’s own area, with a paint mixing area and some room for post paint finish work. That’s a maybe and down the road, what I have to deal with today is the fact that the shop is dirty and I have to get it clean. So, hear we go......First things first, get everything that is on wheels out of the shop. That means the tool boxes, all 6 of them, the over head lift, the transmission jack, engine lift, welders, carts, stools, jacks, presses, body carts, and stands. And then get everything in the floor space out....parts washer, ladders, anything under the benches, and anything you can pick-up and carry, which is a lot of stuff. Now that we have most things out of the shop, it’s time to sweep-up and clean everything you can see. We start with dusting off the walls, any studs or shelves, all equipment left in side, and anything attached to the walls or ground. The ideal is to start with the high stuff and dust it all off, then concentrate on the floor area. We move everything out side or up on a bench, so the floor is pretty much empty, now the first area we really work on is the messiest, the wood area. I like to start hear becuse the wood dust is so light, and if not contained, it will blow all over the shop. We clean off all the saws, tables and supports, then the floor. Hear we can use the large dust collector to pick-up all the dust. Once this area is considered clean, we move across the shop and start under the 4-post lift. This isn’t a dirty area, but we clean it like it is, and work from the far wall back over to the wood area. Now basically half the shop is swept. Next we go to the tire racks and work our way over to the welding area. Of-coarse the welding area is the dirtiest, hear we have to put the benches forward, along with the oven, and drawer units. That grinding dust gets everywhere, so everything has to be cleaned, under the air compressor, behind the benches, under the welding table, which is the most clean area over here and under where the welders and fans sat. It takes about 1-1/2 hours to sweep the shop out good, like this. Now it’s time to bust out the pressure washer, first I like to spray the entire floor area with detergent and a light spray. While that is working on the stains, I get out the large 12 foot step ladder and change out the pressure washer tip, to a fines more powerful one, then up the ladder and wash down the rafters. I basically concentrate on the area we will spray in, but open it up about twice the distance. I get rafters, lights, fans, electrical piping, air lines, and anything else up there that has dirt on it. Now that I have the area above clean, I start with the walls, and go around the shop cleaning. I spay as high as I can, and work my way down the wall, cleaning it as I go. There is a bunch of dirt hanging on the walls, it covers everything from the wall itself, to the electrical piping, to air lines. We have some new kind of insulation in the shop, it is very thin but works well and is more plastic in make up, so water doesn’t hurt it, it simply runs down the side of it, and then drys out. I go all the way around the shop, and get every wall and under every bench. The sill plates, are really dirty, and hold not only grime, but bugs and cog webs. The power washer gets it all, so by the time I have finished the walls are white again and the floors are clean. Speaking of which, Now is the time I really concentrate on the floors. I get under and behind the compressor, behind the steel rack and under every bench. I like to work from one point out to the main door, so I start in the far corner by the 4-post lift and work over to the office door. The de-greaser has softened many stains, and the floor gets very clean, we have 2 drains that I wash over to, but to get the floors to drain right, I have to have someone squeegee the floor. This is the time I get all the big stuff, and take my time to blast off stubborn stains. To do the walls and floor take another 2 hours work. The shop really gets humid after I blast the rafters, and it becomes no fun. Once the power washing is over, we break out the mops and some really sudsy water. This really gets the floor clean, the power washer is good, but the mops are what makes it clean. Again we work from the far back to the front, and you have to not only mop the floor, but pick up all the remaining water. This process takes another 2 hours, and by now you are tired. We place fans in finished areas to speed dry the floors, because the floors have to be dry before we can move all the pieces back inside. While we wait for the floor to dry, we start cleaning all the stuff we took outside, everything has to be wiped off, cleaned and ready to roll back in when the time comes. Rolling it all back in goes fast, I suppose because now we can see the end coming. The last items inside are the body and assorted pieces, but before they come in, I have to put up the curtain wall. This isn’t bad, we have already got the major part up, the supports. I just position the canvases and hang them with "S" hooks. Finally we are done, some 7-1/2 hours latter, and everyone tired and ready for home.

08-27-08

     OK, I was wrong....we weren’t finished, sorry. I finally got time to revisit the shop today, and as I already mentioned, I was wrong, and we have more work to do. First off, the moisture on the shop caused some minor surface rust, which I had to deal with, and there was several spots on the body were I could see every time someone touched it, it was rusty also. Not a big problem, but if you have enough little problems, they begin to add up. First, on the agenda this mourning was to start out slowly, and show Dad what all we did. Then we installed the pain shaker on the bench, and cleaned that area back up. The paint shaker seams to work fine, I installed a gallon can or primer, and allowed it to shake for a few minuets. The shaker says to not mix more then 4 minuets, so I’ll oblige.

Right away, we got bessy sanding the body back down, I went over the body with the DA Sander and found a few spots I would like to work a little longer on. I also had to clean the area behind the door trim we removed last time, and work on some more seams. I mixed some filler and applied it to the cowl area, there was a small imperfection, and then to the lower body edge. Wow, there is a huge difference between the time it take this stuff to set at 90+̊ and the 70̊ temps we have today. Dad worked on getting the lower edges ready and I went over the doors, looking for anything that needed tending to. Once they looked good to me, we removed them and installed them on the rack we made. This neat thing is going to work real well, the doors really look good on it, and it’s about the right height to paint with. One thing I have to do tomorrow, is weld a ½" nut to each side so I can clock the doors at any position I need while painting. I just have to drill 2-1/2" holes and weld the nuts in place, then install the ½" bolt in each side and I’m done. Not a big deal, really.

     Like I mentioned earlier, I completely went over the body with the DA Sander, just to make sure the surface was still ready. I was going to try the seam sealer I purchased, to see if it would fill the roof trim area, but I forgot to stop by Smyth this mourning to get the applicator gun. I’ll get it tomorrow. Removing the doors was easy, like I said the door pins were already loosened, so I just used the puller to push them 3/4 of the way out, then grabbed them with pliers, and knocked them out with a hammer. They were well worn, with light grooves, even though the car hadn’t been used all that much. I did find the new door pins I new I had, they were just behind some other body parts and hidden from view. I checked and yes I did buy 6 of them, they are very nice looking stainless steel units. I also checked the door hinge screws, I only purchased 12 of them, which makes me 6 short, so I’ll order those latter, after I’m certain I don’t need any other small items as well. I have to check the door bumpers also, I saw a few while looking for the door pins, but it didn’t look like it was enough, I’ll check on those as well. With the doors removed I was able to get the rest of the door frame and also the hinges themselves. This didn’t take that long to sand, but I guess it was at least an hour. I removed the actual door hinges as well, and they came off very nicely, I would like to chrome these, but think I’ll try grinding them super smooth, and then clear coating them. This would give me the chrome look, but not the chrome cost. I’ll buff them out, and then I’ll be able to see if it will work or not. Once they were off, I could get to the complete door frame, and it came out very nicely, it’s amazing how easy it is to work once the parts are out of the way.

Dad and I also got to the dash, consol. and front plate. The dash took three coats of filler to get the duct opening flat, but other then that it went very straight forward. The consol. only needed the spot welds filled in, and the face plate was nothing. All these "Little" area’s took all day, I worked until 7:00PM that night. Tomorrow, I have the door rack to fix and we still have to sand the front and rear fenders, and do the seam sealer thing to the top. Once that is done, I should be to the point of blowing out the car and paint booth area, wiping down the sheet metal with KC-10 grease and oil remover and then going over the metal several times with a clean towel, and finally a TAC cloth. Yes, this is only the Primer coat, but to me it’s all painting, and anytime I paint, I like to be as prepared as possible. I’ll do everything for the Primer coat that I would do for the final finish or even the Clear coat. It’s all about developing a rythem or system, and sticking to it. I’ll even paint the body as if it were a base coat finish, that means 50% overlaps and moving my gun down 3" every crossing. I’m going to look at the body before I begin, and imagine a series of lines running across the surface, with a even spacing of 3". And once I get this image, I’m going to try and remember it, and then use that even 3" spacing to paint the body with. I’ll keep my paint gun level and 90̊ to the work surface, and start from the upper left side and spray across from left to right. Once I get to the far right side, I’ll move my paint gun down 3" and spray from right to left, keeping the gun level and 90̊ to the work surface. I’ll keep continuing with this pattern, all the way down that side and then repeat it on the other three sides, painting them the same way. The only time you very from this is when you hit a body line, or curve. Then you simply follow that curve and then return to the pattern. I’ll start each side up at the roof opening, and paint the roof as well as the side at the same time. This sounds like a paint in the butt, but when you paint with Pearls and Candies, you have to follow these patterns, or you will get dark and light spots, the key is to keep it consistent and follow the pattern. By painting the Primer coat in the same method as the Base coat, I get to practice my method, and test run the body before I do it for real. This way I’ll get in the groove, and also find out any areas where there may be problems. Last on the list was the cowl vent area and actual vent. Dad worked on the vent area, and I got the vent. I could only get to the areas by hand, so it took me a good hour to get it sanded down smooth. Maybe that is why so many fill the vent in, and forget about it???

08-28-08

    Well we finally got to spray some paint !! Dad and I started early this mourning thinking we might get everything Primered, and we did OK, but not great. First we wiped all the pieces down, and then went over everything looking for any last minuet detail to take care of. I blew our the roof trim area, and applied the SEM seam sealer. I used two tubes and almost got finished, but was ever so close, short. I’ll get more latter, I suppose. This stuff sets up very quickly, much faster then the 30 minuets they give you on the instructions. I think it will work, but I need to trim some off later.

Once we got ready to paint, Dad and I wiped the pieces off with KC-10, wax and grease remover, then wiped over the parts till they were dry. I started with the front and rear fenders and doors. I applied about 4 good coats on everything and they turned out OK. The only trouble was with the spray gun itself, I kept having to stop every other re-fill and clean the gun tip. The primer likes to build-up on the tip area and air horns, which makes spraying a chore. I finally gave in and just removed everything and cleaned it between coats. I would like to thin the Primer down some on the next session, but the instruction only say you can reduce the mixture by up to 10 %. The problem is they don’t tell you what you can use to reduce it with. I have 3 different reducers, and I need to know which one works with the KDA2000. I suppose I’ll call House Of Kolor tomorrow, that is if they are open, and see what they recommend. I think reduced, the Primer would go on much better. Specking of which, I have to get more Part b tomorrow as well. I thought I had plenty, but really only had about 3 pints.

     The Body went Ok, but I found about a dozen spots we will have to attend to. Most are just small little areas, that can be easily filled, but one is in the door, where we replaced the lower section. This one will require a little more energy, but we’ll get it. I didn’t apply but maybe 3 full coats to the body. I stopped because we will have to Primer it again, and that was where my pre-mix also ran out. Still to do, is the consol., dash, consol face plate and roll bars. I’ll probably do all those parts together, the only large pieces are the Main Hoops of the roll bars, and I’ll hang those guy’s up with the cables.

On a good note, the paint shaker was great, I used it to shake up the primary paint then I used it to shake the mixture up. I had no separation problems, which is great being I usually have to stir the paint before fill-ups. Today was very hot and humid, the water separator worked great, and It is suppose to stay hot, so the reducer I purchased will work just fine. I tried to emulate, the way I’ll paint when the colors are added. I’m glade I did, because I found some problems that I can address now, and hopefully work on the next several times I paint. Most problems deal with physical movements or positions, while painting. The fenders require a lot of down on your knees painting to get under there. They are also tight in areas to cover the complete edges. On the body, I really didn’t have any issues, it seems to be pretty nice to paint. Everything is up high and I can paint all but the very top from the ground. The body is also easy because it is basically a box, where the fenders have long flowing curves and tricky beaded edges. It’s really a very good ideal to shoot all the paint on a project, you get to know your subject by the time the color portion starts to fly. I also find out with the fenders and doors, that I have to be very careful with my hose and body as I move around the booth trying to get to all angles. Of-coarse, you always have to watch those two items, but I found myself, several times, saying better watch that when it’s color time. Maybe I’ll come up with a little more room between the two racks, that would help a lot right there. The fenders have so much out of position painting, that I’ll have to really pay attention when painting. It’s much easier to paint out of position when you have a full gun, the paint doesn’t run out like it does when less then full. I practiced my movements and tried to pay attention to the over-lapping and gun position at all times. I found out the gun can wear you out !! I have problems with my hands and wrist anyway, but painting really does take it’s toll. To combat this problem, I worked on passing the gun from hand to hand, while still spaying a good line. It take some practice, which I got today. You have to stay smooth when painting, which means keeping your line tight, and the rate steady. I’ll get better, with every outing, but right now my hands are sore, and so are the shoulders. This is Labor Day weekend coming up, and I know I’m not going to the shop tomorrow. I’ll let the paint set, and work on getting all the painting supplies I will need to continue in stead. The weather outlook is hot dry weather next week, so I can afford to kick back a little and go slow.

08-30-08

     Wow is it HOT!!! I suppose it’s better then being too cold, at least for painting that is, but this simply wears you when all you do is sand all day long. That’s what today was all about, sanding. I let the body set for a day to dry throughly, according to the directions, I only needed 14 hours, but hey it needed the break and so did I.

     First things first....I needed to clean by Primer gun. I left it in the pot, so it would be easy to clean. I simply broke out the brushes, and disassembled the gun and cleaned it out. I miss placed my gun lube the other day, but found it this morning, and I used it on the reassembly. The paint pot was much worse, the paint had built up in the threads, making the pot hard to get on and off. The only way to cure this problem, was to bring out the drill and wire wheel. I was able to get down into the pot and clean it out as well, the wire brush attachment works great, I took the cap over to the beach grinder for those threads. Aluminum on aluminum is always a hard time, so I always apply some gun lube to the threads, and the Cap spins on and off with ease. With the gun now clean and ready for it’s next use, I turned my attention to the roof top. I used two tubes of SEM seam sealer, to fill the gap in the tack rail on the roof. Un-fortunately I ran out of sealer just shy of completely filling the strip. I also allowed the stuff to get a little to hard to smooth out on one portion, and this is the area I had to address. I took a new scotch disc and sanded down that problem and a few other areas where it was to thick. I’m preparing the area for the next tube of seal sealer, which will completely fill the area and smooth out the under lying sealer. This was a fairly easy job, it took one disc and about thirty minuets.

    Now we turn out attention to the body......While I was spraying the Primer, I noticed a few spots that needed attention, so with this in mind, I applied some SEM Glide coat and broke out the medium length sanding board. For sand paper I used a new roll of 120 Grit PSA paper, and went searching for bad spots. I simply sanded the body area in many different directions, using the sanding board . I constantly changed direction so any bad high or low area would reveal itself. The back half of the body was great, I sanded on a small area at a time, but the complete roof and rear section showed no bad areas. What was bad, was the doors, a few places over the rear windows, one small spot on the passenger side rocker panel, and a few spots on the cowl and door jam. Not bad....Really it wasn’t. Consider all the areas we cut out rust spots and replaced panels, this list of problem areas is not that bad. By far the worst of these spots were the door, in particular, the lower half, where the new panel was installed. The few real low spots, or dings I missed on the door frame, over the rear windows, was a simple filler fix, and no problem. The cowl, rocker panel and door jam also easy to fix. They were all basically fixes that needed an additional amount of work, again no problem and very easy to fix. The Doors, that was a different story. We had them close, but the area’s were large and not just a small spot. I had to sand the doors down, find the limits of the repairs, and then fill the spot and re-sand. I did this three times, and I think I’m pretty close, the use of the Glide Coat really helps bring the repair out. I was exhausted, and left when I thought the doors were close. They may be not as close as I think, simply because I was so tired, but I’ll see next time I get to go down to the shop. Sanding is very hard work, and I did it all manually, no air tools today. You have to use (or at least I have to use) the sanding board to properly see the spot and what it needs. By hand sanding the areas, I get a good picture of what the body has, what it needs and how to fix it. You have to go slow, because you are looking for the time when it just blends with the rest of the surrounding body work. Any more and you went to far, not long enough and your not there. I do find it interesting, It’s a great felling when your sanding and you see it coming in. Like I stated, I left before the doors were completed, which will be the first thing I tackle when I get there. The plan is to finish the doors, go over the body once more and make sure it looks right, then re-primer the body and doors. I think there might be a need too re-primer twice, but won’t really know till I get it sprayed and sanded back down. I’m planing on two more, so no problem there, just a lot of sanding. I haven’t sanded on the fenders yet, they will need it, but I don’t anticipate them needing to be re-primered. They were all new sheet metal, and they looked nice and flat. Once the body is in the same shape, I’ll concentrate on sanding the roll bars down and getting them primered, then painted and cleared. They will be my first group of parts to paint, I’ll paint them and the small piece that fits over the windshield at the same time, and basically use them as practice before I paint on the body. After that I don’t have a plan, I’ll just wait till I get to that spot and then see how it goes.

     For some reason, all this final paint stuff has me thinking of additional stuff, stuff that would not normally come till the very last of the project. Things like the display for the car. Now days, any legitimate show car has to have not only a very nice car, but an equally nice display. I was thinking about it the other night, of coarse while I was suppose to be sleeping, and I think I’ll finish up Project FLATHEAD and use it as a part of the display. I think it will go great, the original engine from the car, and what it might have looked like if we would have decided to use it in Project COBRA’33. I kind of have a neat ideal for the display, the actual part that supports the engine, which will make it stand out. I know I need an unusual stand for the front end, one that will allow me to remove a wheel, to reveal the underside, yet support t the cars weight. I do not have the money or room to build a rotating type display. I suppose I could make one very compact, but I don’t see it in my future. It wouldn’t be that hard I guess, just a gear box and motor. But I would have to be able to design something totally different from anything I have ever seen to make me do one. I don’t want to build one that just looks like the others, that isn’t doing us any good. The car sits so low that it is very hard for viewers to see the under side, and there the rotisserie would help. I did once consider building a turn-table for the car, I was thinking about one that allowed easy assembly and installation. My turn-table was square tubing that allowed it to fold up and slide inside itself for easy travel and set-up. I was thinking about using air cylinders to lift the turn-table once under the car, which would be both interesting and semi technical as well. Something like 4-small air cylinders at the pick-up points where the lift would engage the frame, and then one large air cylinder that would lift the car and turn-table as one item, so it could spin. I’ll draw something up latter, but really might have to wait till later to get the floor to lift point distance?? While I still have a long way to go till this project is finished, It’s a lot of fun to get those creative juices flowing again.

09-01-08

     Happy Labor Day !! I went down to the shop for another sanding session. I managed to get the doors, both of them in good shape, and worked on the body. I think I mixed the filler three or four times, but all in small batches. The body was mostly small little items, but in the area of the lower B Post, I applied a thin wide layer of filler to both sides and sanded 85% of it back off. I just needed a little bit over a wide area to raise the foundation a touch. Not much, but enough to feel the difference with my fingers. After I sanded the area, it felt very smooth. In the cowl area, I had two or three low spots per side, again nothing big, just a slight depression that I could see with glide coat. Once again I filled the area and sanded it smooth, which took care of my low spots and finished the cowl. Again above the rear window frame, I had one low spot on each side in the very same area. I have filled this spot at least three times per side, but they keep showing up. So, I filled it again, and sanded the area, which now feels great, I’ll have to see if it works now after I Primer the body again latter. The roof was great, and I only had two high spots, right in the very area where we had the rust problem. I took a very small hammer and tapped them down, figuring it is better to have a low spot and fill it then having a high spot and fill/feather all around it. Of-coarse sitting here, I just remembered that I forgot to fill it when I was down there. Oh well, I’ll get it latter. The rest of the car is none, and I’m ready for the next Primer session.

09-06-08

     I quickly fixed a small spot I forgot to fill on the roof, and then went ahead and completely filled the roof edge with the third tube of SEM seam sealer. These were the only real problems that kept me from re-applying the primer coat to the rest of the body. I say it took me a good hour to do the above, then we turned our attentions to any other last minuet details, and broke out the paint gun once more. This time I used some RU reducer with the primer and it worked much better. I had no trouble with build-up at the gun nozzle or needle problems like we did the last time I did the same thing. For some reason this went on much easier and the finish was almost shiny in nature, not the suede looking normal primer look.

     The body really looked great, there is a point you have to work past to get to this stage. The body has to be flat, and that means all surfaces are equal, the same height. Once you get there, you can easily see the difference between a half hearted effort and a whole hearted one. The body looked so nice, it swells you up on the inside, so that you feel great, and all those hours of work were worth it. Dad and I both new, we had turned a corner in the build. Along with the body, we also sprayed the doors , dash, consol and rear tank cover. I can see that the tank cover needs some more work, we’ll tackle that latter.

     So while we sat around waiting for the body to dry, and enjoying the moment, we went through the events to come. While I had been going with the ideal of painting the body now and dealing with any problems latter, mainly from the steering system, I came to the conclusion that the right way to proceed is to be more conservative and mount the body, get everything right, then bust it apart and paint it latter. Yes, I know it’s a 180̊ turn around, but I feel it’s the right way to go. It also take a lot of self pressure off me, we have no time frame to keep, other then I want to compete for the Ridder Award, on our first outing with the completed car. Now, what was that about NO Pressure?? I know I have very big dreams, but that's what dreams a for. Who dreams of small things anyway?? My dad is never suprised by anything I do, I think he has gotten use to my ways, and un-usually large expectations. I told him about my plans for Project Flathead, and how I wanted to make it part of the exhibit, and how I wanted to build a turn table lift, to showcase the car. We discussed a few points, and then got back to business. With the body now primered and protected, all I had to do was clean up the gun and head home for the night.

09-07-08

     This was a special day, the body was done, for now, and we were about to spray the roll bars. Once all the stuff was moved out of the shop entrance, we started sanding on the roll bars. This new primer was much more smooth then the last time I sprayed it. It only took about 30 minuets and two sanding sponges (extra fine) to get them ready. We washed everything down with HOK KC-20 post sanding wash, and got to business. First up was the metallic sealer, KO-II sealer. Wow, I was expecting this stuff to be more transparent, but instead it went on more like a silver metallic base coat. The good paint gun feels so much better then my Primer gun, it’s scarey. I had the thing adjusted for the other gun, and that was way to much air and fluid, so a quick adjustment brought things down to a manageable spot. The sealer is very thin, and easy to run, so be careful. The best thing to do is to apply a very light base coat, then when it has almost set-up (flashed), come in with your normal more heavy coats and paint the thing out. I gave all pieces a good solid two full ,overlapping ,50%, coats. The instruction tell you to wait at least an hour, I did but they were dry after 30 minuets. With the sealer on, now was the time for the Orion Silver base coat. I’m not to sure about this color, I was better with it before I sprayed it. I don’t know if this is the right color for the roof of our car or not, but regardless of that, it is the color for the roll bars. This color went on very nicely, and had no issues with runs. The color was so close to the sealers color, that it was very hard to tell what was painted and what wasn’t. I didn’t expect this, I was thinking the silver would be a little more silver/grey metallic, and not so aluminum looking. I applied a good three coats and then went to the UFC-35 clear. No surprises here, this was as clear and I thought it would be, just kidding. It did go on easy and again had no signs that it was easy to run. I applied another 2-3 good coats and called it a day. I was ready after all this stuff really stinks. I haven’t been back to see the finished product, but I think it will do fine for the roll bar. The clear seemed to have plenty of gloss in it. When we do go back down, I’m going to wrap the roll bars in foam tape and then cover that with plastic wrap. The ideal is to keep them protected till the project is finished, which might be a while. We also discussed the possibility of going ahead and installing the bars in the body, so we have the correct dimensions to work off of. This may or may not happen, I suspect we will install them, or at least one of them and then remove when finished in the area. I could tell my Dad was happy that we decided to postpone the painting of the body till we had all the issues worked out, and yes it does make sense to me also. I think I could still do what I had originally intended to do, but it would be rolling the dice a little.

I have been working on the engine cart design, and trying to come up with a workable turntable design. The problem with the turntable, is the car itself. It sets so low, that just getting the car on the thing is the biggest detail to work out. No matter what I do, unless it evolves a ramp type turntable, requires us to jack the car up, then slide the table underneath and load the thing. This type car isn’t that easy to jack up, the frame rails are low and occupied, and it has to be done without hurting the car, or taking all day. I have several designs in mind for the table, it’s just figuring out how to make it all work. Think of all the different aspects. First the table has to be stable enough to hold the car and spin without incident. Next we have to be able to break the table down and move it in and out of shows with relative ease. This means I have to design into the table, a way to stabilize the load, get be able to easily take it apart and move it in and out of the trailer. You probably have figured this thing will be very heavy, most likely well over 400-500 pounds. No one wants a monster, so it has to work well, and move easy. I’m assuming there will be electric available at most shows?????????? Space is also a major design criteria. We only have so much room in any trailer, the door with is roughly 97", so it has to fit inside. Loading the car, I don’t want a ramp table. I want to lift the car from underneath, this way the lift is more hidden, and the car takes center stage. To do this, we have to lift both ends up enough to clear the table, then slide it under the car and load it accordingly. I would like to grab the rear axle on both side of the differential, and up front somewhere shy of the front suspension.

09-10-08

    Dad had the body already sanded down by the time I managed to get back down to the shop, SURPRISE..... It looks really good, an flat, just what we wanted. He also had all the small pieces sanded, in fact he sanded everything but the doors. The fuel tank cover needs some very minor work on the areas where we filled the mounting holes, and the dash has one small area by the vent where it needs some work, but really that was it. Not bad at all for only the second Primer coat. Of-coarse we’ll go over the body in much deep depth just prior to the extension of more body work, later on when the date to paint gets closer, but for now I very satisfied. And I can’t stop being impressed at how the body looks so nice, every time I look at it. The body lines are so crisp and the body so flat, it jumps out at you. Sort of like looking at a body first with out your glasses then with them on, you can’t help but notice all the crystal clear details.

      While down there, yesterday I went ahead and removed all the curtain walls. They go up and remove very easily, the worst part of the deal is lugging around that huge 12 foot ladder. I got them folded up and stored away for the next painting session. I also took some time and cleaned all the air tools, lubbed them and put the new sanding pad on the power sander.

We had a small but very messy leak in one of the hydraulic cylinder fittings on the 4-post lift, so I bought some oil dry and cleaned that up. Then took the fittings apart and cleaned out the treads and applied some thread sealant, and re-installed everything. Hopefully that fixes that leak...??? So far so good.... While I was under the 4-poster, I got to thinking about the turn table lift I wanted to build, and got to taking some measurements, and looking around. First observation, our frame isn’t that low, or at least not as low as I was thinking it was. Out back, there is three adjustable settings for the rear ride height. I currently have it set in the lowest position, changing it to the highest position would result in a approximently 4" gain. While this does nothing for road clearance, it does help with looks and tire selection. The chassis has great road clearance, I measured roughly 9" from the road surface to the bottom of the differential center section, and 5-1/2 - 6" from the lowest point up front, not that bad. What was bad is the fact that the rear end isn’t as easy to use for a lift point as I thought it would be, the exhaust is blocking a good size piece of it, leaving only the extreme ends open for a mounting point. I was also trying to figure out how to modify the frame to allow it to be lifted by the 2-post lift. One of the bad things about 4-bar and other trick rear suspensions is that on the older frames, they have no lift point. There is no way to get to the frame or really any solid point, to lift the car for service. Up front there are two good places to lift from, but out back, nothing. I spent a good hour going over all the possibilities, and the more I looked the worse it got. On a 2-post lift, you have to maintain balance, and without modification the only spots to lift the car with all four arms are only about 2-3 feet apart. Obviously this wouldn’t work very well. The frame on our ‘33 is up tight to the body, while say on a truck the frame has body mount that support the body and allow the frame to be positioned further away from the bodies underside, which makes lifting them much easier. With the frame so close to the body on our ‘33, the many items that are attached or supported by the frame are in many instances, hanging down from the frame. And that means you can not use those sections to lift the car by.

In a nut shell, this is the problems. Starting from the very rear and going forward on the frame. From the rear bumper forward to the rear axle there isn’t any place to even consider using as a lift point. The frame kicks up at the axle and the fuel tank takes up all the rearward area. The axle uses a 4-link suspension system, and the lower link bars block all access to the frame, they run from the axle tube forward about 30". The running boards while not a lift point, have to be taken into account. The lift arms have to be able to pass under them without bending them up once the strain of the car is on them. I have the same problem with a Truck that has running board or nerf bars on the 2-post lift. You have to take that into account, and if you never used a lift, most wouldn’t understand the problems. Yes, the lift arms have adjustable pads, and even truck adapters to allow the arms clearance for such items as the running boards and nurf bars. But the problem on a car frame like that of Project COBRA’33, is that one you have to have the room to allow the pads in, and two you have to have the room to allow them to spin up and into place. I have neither. You also have to figure in the physical limits of the lift and it’s arms. The pick-up points have to be with in reach and at an angle that allows access. A lift point that is say blocked by the rear tire does me no good, same for the front.

    I looked at all the possibilities. It was pretty obvious that we would need a special lift point fabricated to allow access. It was also very clear that this was more of a problem then just making a quick and simple extension. My first thoughts were on the frame, and thinking about a piece that would attach to the frame, and hang down just far enough to allow the lift arms a spot to lift by. While this wasn’t bad, it sure wasn’t great. The only way to make such a piece, would be to take a small section of heavy angle iron and weld a short, 5-8" section of tubing to it and they mount the piece to the frame, by bolting it in place. I could say mount a circular piece of plate on the bottom of our frame extension, so it filled the lift pad and call it a day. The bad part is this lift extension would have to be below the 4-link bars, and that put it very close to the road, a little to close for comfort. The second and really the major complaint, was the ascetics, the extension would certainly get it’s share of comments, and look odd to say the least. I couldn’t just make an extension for the lift arms, because there was no way to work it in the small space we have to work with, so I had to think of something else. The ideal I finally came up with was simple and won’t be seen from the outside. It evolves no frame mounts, which means no welding or drilling on my nice finished frame, and best of all, I can blend it in and make it look like we thought about this problem from the start, and not like we forgot about this small problem and then made a quick too little too late fix. How would I lift the rear section of the car..?? Easy, I’ll use the lower 4-bar mount, the one that is located under the center of the rear axle, and make a small lifting pad that will simply bolt on at the 4-bar mount and in the rear at the shock mount. It’s almost too perfect....The location is great, right under the rear axle, which is where the weight is. The mount wouldn't stick down nearly as far as it would further forward under the 4-bar link, and I can make it look like it was completely factored in to the original build, and not the "Oh my...we have a problem" that it is. I plan to make an oval out of 0.250" plate. The plan is to make it look much like an expanded brake pedal pad. I’ll get some thick rubber and line the bottom of it, so I can lift the car without scratching anything, and that will also add to the brake pedal pad look. On the other side, I’ll make a double shear mount that will simply aline with the bottom 4-link mount, I only have to get a longer bolt, one for each side. Then to stabilize the back, I’ll make sure there is another tab that alines with the three adjusting holes for the coil over shock. I’ll have two bolts holding it in place, one will be the actual coil over mounting bolt and the other an addition bolt I’ll add to one of the empty holes. This will give plenty of stability and I can keep the mount up high and simple in nature, plus it will look great, like we thought about it from the very beginning. This will certainly take care of the rear lift point problem, if things work out, I’ll make two more similar mounts and bolt them to the front section of the frame. This will allow lifting the car with out worrying about the frame paint all the time. I also suspect that these new lift points will become the lift points for the turntable lift we need to build. I love it when one fix does double duty.

After my intense lift problem, I settled down to a more light hearted task.....cleaning up the inside window trim. These are the metal pieces that go inside the body and in the window openings, to trim out the opening. I couldn’t tell, but Dad said they originally probably had a wood grain look to them. They were rather rusty now, but on the back, inside you can tell they were a wood like color. There are 5 trim pieces in all, the front two doors, the rear two side windows and the rear window. All were in pretty good condition, but the front two were the worse of the bunch, they had a little more surface rust on them, but nothing we can’t fix. I spent a good two hours on these pieces, and they are now ready for filler. I also cleaned up the trim piece that goes above the front windshield, it hides the wiper motor, and mounts the sun visors. I was a little shocked to find this piece has some bad rust holes. It looked very clean from the start, and still had silver paint on it. I suppose the roof head liner sagged down and laid on this piece, trapping moisture.?? Anyhow, I got it cleaned up and ready for some filler as well. I think I’ll fill these pieces next time I get down there, and then start on the lift pads. That way dad will have something to work on and I’ll get the lift pads going. Sense I will be making these pads with the turntable in the back of my mind, I can also incorporate a easy locking device into the design of the pads, just something so you know the car won’t go flying off the turntable when it’s spinning round and round.

Other news....I purchased a very nice new aluminum Ford Flathead radiator off E-Bay, so it should be here in the next few days. I originally was just going to use a new aluminum radiator I picked up very reasonable for a Honda. It would work, but I would have had to combine the two water outlets into one, and combine the two lower water inlets as well. Plus the radiator wasn’t nearly the right size. Now we not only have the right size, width and shape, but it also has the double outlets so we can plumb the thing like a real Flathead would be. I always did like the looks of the two chrome water pipes angling down to the heads, it just makes it a Flathead for me. I also checked and I have plenty of both round and square tubing to construct the cart out of. I am leaning toward the square tubing for the cart, there will be so much round tubing for the turbo system that I think the cart would be lost if I made it out of round tubing as well. I have been doing a lot of drawing on my CAD program and have some early renderings to show, I’ll get those on here asap.