Topics

I'll be leaving Friday 3:30 AM from SW Michigan driving to Cheyenne, WY on I-80 then a little south into Colorado.  I'm picking up my ebay 31 Chevy cab that tomslik was nice enough to pick up and hold for me.  I'm driving a full sized van and pulling a 6 X 12 utility trailer.  If anyone wants anything shuttled in either direction I'm going out empty and I'll have some extra room on the way home.  You gotta meet me at an exit ramp tho cuz I don't want to take extra time running around.  I thought I'd offer...you never know.

[Here's what it USED to look like]

Here's some pics from a tractor pull in Bay City, MI over the weekend.   This tractor is from Indiana and runs in the 8000lbs Diesel Super Stock class, it had a 504ci inline 6 IH engine with 4 turbo chargers.  Intake manifold pressure from the turbos run from 200-250 psi, this helps a tractor that originally made around 120hp, make somewhere around 2100-2400hp!!  

A friend at work took the pictures.

Here's what it USED to look like


BOOM


The remains...


This pic is from the internet

I've been playing with the idea of adding a low buck roadster of some sort to my list of future projects...maybe a pickup made out of the many extra '31 Chevy parts I've got .  Something other than a V8 sounds good too.  A guy at work has a '76 Aspen with a 225 slant 6, 2bbl, and a 904 transmission that runs good.  It was his grandmother's and it only has around 60,000 miles on it.  He's talking about selling it for around $500 and it got me thinking about using the engine and tranny.  If I did get it, I wouldn't want to do much performance stuff to it...basically just clean it up, maybe rebuild it, and run it.  I don't know much about them but I hear they're pretty dependable and I like the idea of having something different.  It looks like parts are still available for the engine anyway.  

Anybody have any opinions or comments.....good or bad?

Has anybody had any experience with Zero Rust?  A guy gave me two quarts of it that are about 4 years old but never been opened.  

I checked their website and it looks like it's just a high pigment sealer type paint that you put over well prepped surfaces.  I'm not sure where you would use it or what kind of finish it is.  Anyone ever use it?

I've painted my car trailer with Rust Bullet to seal it and want to topcoat it with something cheap and durable.  I know cheap and durable don't necessarily go together. :?   While I'm on the subject of "cheap and durable", I want to say how easy Rust Bullet is to use and when it's cured, it's hard as a rock.  Considering the money I saved by not needing sand blasting, it's dirt-cheap too.  I'm impressed.

I think a matte black finish would work for me and thought I might try some John Deere Blitz Black.  I like the way it looks and might paint a car with it someday so this could be a good time to get familiar with it.  I think it's about $23/gal and they sell a hardener for it but the guy at the John Deere dealer said that hardened paint chips bigger than non hardened when it chips.  This trailer will see lots of chains and abuse so maybe just non-hardened, easy to touch up paint might be better.  Opinions?  

I've been following this 10 page thread on Hotrodders bulletin board: http://www.hotrodders.com/t31993.html and kind of sorted thru the opinions but there are a couple of things I'm not real clear on and wondered if anyone here has had experience.   Some people say it dries almost too fast and it's easy to get "striping" (dry spots).   Is it acrylic enamel?  Can I use any brand acrylic enamel reducer and if so, would a slower reducer help?  I know it's made by Valspar who also makes BPS paints for Tractor Supply.  I wonder how good the BPS Truck and Trailer paint is and whether or not a hardener can be used with that.  It seems like enjenjo mentioned something about that a while back.

This trailer will be setting outside for the rest of it's life and I don't want to have to mess with it for another 30 years except for touch ups.  Does anybody have any suggestions or comments?

Maybe I should be looking at a 2-part epoxy industrial paint.  I can do that for around $100.

[Fender before]

Well we had another good Build day. KustomLincolnLady and her better half Rob, and HRPP came over today. George and Rob made a good start on the fenders, they are going to look good. Rob and I have the grille parts formed and welded together. Debb and Frank finished the insulation and installed all of the liner we had, we need a little more to finish. They also installed the inserts that hold the top to the sides when open so it doesn't fall like a house of cards. Frank and I installed the fire extinquisher close at hand in case of a fire.

Yeah, what he said.





Fender before


Fender matches the tire a little better


Fender being glassed

I hit a leaf spring laying in the road last summer and it broke the fiberglass front splash apron on my truck.  It's the third time it had been whacked and it's lost a lot of it's original shape after being pieced back together so many times.  

I figured I'd get a new one and opted for a cheap one.  I got one from Rod 'n Race. WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!!  It looks like their molds are both chipped (there's chunks of glas where there shouldn't be any) and have been poorly patched (there's lots of areas on the part just plain missing).  I've had to add as much as 1/2" of glass to make one side match the other and some of the detail lines are well defined on the left side and don't even exist on the right side.  I'm adding material and whittling with die grinders and dremels to create the areas that are missing.  While I was grinding on it I found big voids under the gelcoat.   I understand you have to tweak glass parts to make them fit.... but totally rebuilding the part??? I don't think so...!

I should have spent the extra money for one from Superior Glass.   I've got one of those fitted for my sedan and it was near perfect.

I don't know if this kind of quality is typical of Ron n Race's parts.  I'm just telling my experience.  I didn't contact them ...I just didn't want to go thru the hassle plus I've done a lot of grinding on it.  It took 4 phone calls just order the part.  I kept getting their phone mail and I like to talk to a real person.  

Another lesson learned.

I know it's a little late for a Memorial Day post but I live two miles from the National Cemetery in Fort Custer where my dad, uncle and 3 really close friends are buried.  It's a very peaceful place where the plots are just whittled out of the woods.  

A friend of the family works there and when dad died he picked a spot at the foot of a shade tree.  Yesterday all the graves had flags on them and it was really something to see.  It brought a lump to my throat and I was very proud of my friends and family that are there.    I'm not exactly looking forward to my turn to go there but it's comforting to know that it's such a peaceful place where veterans are treated with respect and honor.

I went back out tonight to take a couple of pictures with the flags but they had already taken them away.  Being the picture taker that I am, here's some that I took anyway.

I painted and cured my flowmasters today to see how the oven I made worked.  It was easy to set up and seemed to work real good.  Nothing caught fire, there wasn't any moisture and it pegged the temp gauge that only goes to 400 degrees.  The temp was real easy to adjust.  I baked them for 1/2 hr at 250 then 1/2 hr at 400 and 1/2hr at max.   The VHT paint on them seems cured real good.  I wiped some lacquer thinner on one and it didn't affect the paint at all.  I'm going to look at a small powder coating outfit now.



Painted before curing



Temp gauge


Done

I don't know how many people are able to watch this.....or care to.  It's a really long .wmv video of a German motorcycle stunt rider named Christian Pfeiffer.  This dude is REAL comfortable on his Ducati.  http://eris.gnarf.org/~sege/christianpfeiffer-bechyne2003-short.wmv

There's some still pictures of some of his stunts on his website here.

[Here's a pic of the louvers that Charlie Chops punched to vent the propane compartment. Wait, there's something wrong with this picture.......well I'll be darned.....I actually got a picture of Fat Cat working.]

It was a good day and we got the trailer so that it opens and closes up.  We even ate on it for the first time.

Here's a pic of the louvers that Charlie Chops punched to vent the propane compartment.  Wait, there's something wrong with this picture.......well I'll be darned.....I actually got a picture of Fat Cat working.


Here's the first supper.  The Franks are deep in thought....


Fat Cat is pulling it out of the shop


Another shot of it outdoors

This isn't much of a topic for a post but things are a little slow so I thought I'd post a couple of pics of my current project.  I can't keep my car trailer under a roof so after about 10 or so years in the weather the wooden deck started to grow fungus.  I ripped it all off last night and will be replacing it with treated 2 x 10's.  The boards I took off weren't treated and they were a lot more rotten than I thought.  The wiring really sucked too.  All the connections were just loosly twisted with some cheap hardened electrical tape on them.  No wonder the lights and the electric brakes only worked whenever they felt like it.

Now if it would just quit raining for a few days I could get the frame blasted and spray a couple coats of Rust Bullet on it.  

The fungus


Bustin' up the wood


Ready to blast

While I was up north mushrooming yesterday I ran across a '34 Chevy 3 window abandoned in the woods with no rust or bullet holes.  It looked like it had been streetrodded back in the '60s.  It had cadillac tail lights molded into the trunk, a 283 with the valve covers off, stock parallel spring frontend, motorcycle fenders bolted to the front backing plates, small flat sheetmetal rear fenders,and a 57 chevy rearend.  Three of the tires still had air in them.  There was some rotted plastic sheeting thrown partly over the engine. It was parked out in the middle of nowhere along with a '68 442, a big van type truck full of car parts, some bath tubs, woodstoves, and other junk.  Everything looked like it had been there for at least 4 or 5 years. I thought I was on state land but I must have wandered onto someone's back 40. There wasn't a house in sight.  Next trip up I'm going to see if I can find out who owns it.  

I came home because the mushrooms weren't out and there were real hard thunderstorms all night and day.  I figured I would save a vacation day for something better and come home early.....and I didn't really want to miss episode 2 of the trailer build.    

It was nice sitting on the front porch at night in the rocking chair, drinking beer, and watching the thunder storms tho.   Here's a picture I took inside the cabin at about 2am after I got buzzed up.  I was sitting on the woodstove.

Well, I've been dumpster diving on Ebay again.  This time it's a '31 Chevy truck cab '31 Chevy truck cab in Deckers, Colorado, a little south of Denver.  It was a "buy it now" for $400 and my mouse went out of control and just clicked on it.   I don't know much about it and the pictures don't really show much.  So far the guy hasn't contacted me so I don't know how quick he wants me to pick it up.  It would be nice if he'd hold it til August and I could get it on the way to Bonneville.  That would mean I'd have to take my van and a trailer to the salt instead of the purplepickup.  If he wants it out of there, I'll have to do a long weekend roadtrip soon.  I like doing that anyway.  I'm going up to the cabin in a couple of hours so I guess I'll know Monday. :?

I'm going to redo my truck in a couple of years and I sure could use an extra cab for parts since mine wasn't in the best shape when I did it the first time.  This one looks better than mine was but who knows.  If it's ragged I can lop off the top and make a roadster pickup.  I've definitely got enough extra parts.

The oven to cure the high temp paint on my flowmasters is coming along.  I'm just using some stuff that was laying around and was in the way.

This is an old cabinet that I grabbed out of the trash at work about 20 years ago.


I cut some holes in the bottom and in the shelf.  The grates were out of the trash too.


I put the grates in the shelf and the bottom.


The shelf comes out and I'm going to put some hooks in the top to to hang parts so I can do a lot of different sized stuff.   This whole thing is supposed to set on my gas grill.  I haven't gotten that far with the testing yet so I don't know how it will work but I've got some metal sawhorses that it can set it on too if I need to.


I know this is a little fancy for an oven just to cure the paint on some mufflers but I've been thinking about getting a cheap powdercoat outfit and I can use it to bake the powdercoated parts too.   In the tourist season I can use it to smoke hams and bacon

[good]

What is a good high temp paint that I can repaint my Flowmasters and tailpipes with?  

I have my exhaust off and am cleaning & resizing the connections and switching to band clamps.  I'm also welding the tailpipe to muffler connection.  The mufflers have really taken a beating over the years and the aluminumizing has worn thru in a lot of places.  The Bonneville salt has also taken it's toll.  I'm going to sand blast the surface rust off and want to put some really good hi-temp paint on them that protects against rust for a few years.  Problem is that most hi-temp paints that I've seen require curing at 300 -500 degrees for a while right after painting.  I can't do that since I'm also working on other parts of the truck and won't have it running for a month or more.  

I'm getting ready to button this up and wondered if anyone has any experience with exhaust paint that actually works the way it's supposed to and doesn't need to be heat cured right away.

[is]

I posted this on the "BBQ build day" post earlier but moved it to here because it screwed up all
the other posts....something about the picture size that I need to figure out.

What a great day!  The weather was the best day we've had so far this spring, the people were
the best and we busted our butts.....and some of Frank's tools.  It don't get much better than that.  
I'm usually sneaking pictures all the time but I got so involved with what was going on that
I only took a few.  

We do need to get together on another day...or two to continue the build and I'm looking forward
to being there.  
There were a lot of ideas tossed around.  I think the finished trailer is really going to
be something.  Stay tuned for part II

Here's a sampling of pictures.



Seems a little strange to start out with a picture titled "Taking a break" but this is the RRT.  
We really did do a lot of work....honest.  
The trailer is upside down and KustomLincolnLady's husband Rob was finishing up on the rear
roll pan.


Denise welding


Checking her welds


Jim (SKR8PN)  and Joe (GPster) opening the keg.  I'll have to remember this method next time
the tapper at a party takes a dump.


The trailer with half the top setting on it.  The two halves of the top are hinged on the edge and
will flop out to make tables on each side of the trailer.


This shows the roll pan Debb's husband, Rob made.


The corn boiler/turkey cooker/hotrod stewpot/hot tub.  A really cool hubcap would make a nice lid.  
Opps....I'm letting little design secrets out...


Rudy (roadstar) drove his '40 (VooDoo Child).....a truly beautiful car!




And last but not least....Shelby (Hotrodgirl) was riding this really cool bike around all day and I
didn't think to take a picture until late last night.  Fat Cat made it for her 10th birthday last month.  
She's really proud of it. This picture doesn't really do it justice

I've had Flowmasters on my truck for about 65,000 miles since I built it and one of the baffles came loose inside one of them and rattled pretty bad.  I was going to just replace the one but they discontinued mine when they came out with the Delta Flow series so I figured since I've got to buy two matching mufflers I'd try something different.  I saw the Flowtech Afterburners in Jegs at a reasonable price.   They're welded and I read a couple of comparisons where they actually produced more hp and about the same torque as Flowmasters and the decibels at idle and cruising were the close but WOT was louder....and for me that's a good thing.  

Anyway I was wondering if anyone has any opinions.  I've always used Flowmasters and they have that distinct sound but I thought I'd go for a little different sound this time.  Hopefully it's a good sound that will thrill the neighbors.

[real careful]

I'm writing this as much for a reminder to myself as for you guys.  I've mentioned in the past that I've had some bad  problems after being exposed to Isocyanates in catalyzed urethane paint a couple years ago and now I'm sensitive to even short exposures.  For me, the reactions are nausea, asthma-like coughing & wheezing, chest tightness, fever, bad headache, fatigue, and muscle ache.

Well, yesterday I did some painting and was around some pretty heavy paint fumes at our get-together where we did some thrashing on Denise's car.  I wore a respirator most of the time when I was spraying the small pieces and somebody else sprayed the car but there were still plenty of fumes around in the shop most of the day.   And last night Jim C, Denise and I put the car back together in the paint booth where there were still plenty of fumes.  By the time I left I knew I'd have troubles and sure enough I did.  I had a real bad headache on my drive home and puked my guts out about every hour all night long.  I was reminded what dry heaves feels like. Today I'm wheezing and real short of breath.

I'm not whining or looking for sympathy.  I did what I did and that's that.  I know I have a problem and I was a little reckless.  

I just thought that I'd post something to remind others to be real careful around activated paint fumes.  What I went thru last night and today is something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

A friend just painted a Harley with the original color.  The dealer gave him acrylic lacquer paint which Harley still stocks.  He wonders if he can use two part urethane clearcoat over it.  I told him that he could but then I thought I'd ask here just in case there are some situations when they aren't compatable.  I'd hate to have him come over with a wrinkled fender and wrap it around my head.

[knew]

I made a new post the other day at work and didn't see it right away but I was on my way home so I figured it would be here when I got home.  45 minutes later it still hadn't shown up.  I knew I made the post right so I clicked on my profile and clicked the thing that says "Find all posts by purplepickup" and sure enough, it showed up there.  It still wasn't on the board but I clicked on the edit button then without making any changes I clicked "Submit" and it showed on the board.

I don't know why some posts take a long time to show but if it happens to you, check your posts in your profile to see if it's there before you re-post it.

If you do make a double post, you can go into one of them and delete it too by clicking on the X next to the edit button if no one has replied to it.

When I get up at 5:30AM I check the RRT to see what's developed overnight and almost every day at some point between 5:30 and 6 the computer stalls and I get an error message that I can't connect.  Sometimes it will connect later but it's off and on.  I can go anywhere else and the pages load fast.  It's just RRT.   I'm just wondering if it's on my end or others are getting the same thing.

A couple months ago I picked up a new (to me) 2001 Ford full sized van.  I'm an ex hippie that still likes vans      It's in my shop right now for preventative maintenance and getting personalized.....you know.......shag carpet, crushed velvet bed, disco lights, mirrors on the ceiling.....the works     (just kidding).  

I was going to wax it yesterday but the wax wasn't going on or coming off real well. The paint looks like new but it's a little rough when you run your hand across it so I clayed the hood to see if it would help.  It made all the difference in the world, it really smoothed the finish.  Then I looked at all that sheet metal and that little gob of clay in my hand and started in.  The people that sell the clay sell you the spray bottle of stuff you're supposed to use to lube the clay.  Well, after doing a quarter of the roof I could see that the juice was going to run out long before I got the van done and I didn't feel like running to the store to get more.  I did a quick internet search and found a detailing site that said to mix a couple tablespoons of car wash soap in a squirt bottle full of distilled water instead of buying the expensive stuff.   I tried it and it actually works better than the detailing spray (clay doesn't stick so much)....plus it's almost free so you can use a lot of it.  

I just thought that if anyone is using detail clay, I'd pass it on that you don't have to use the expensive spray.  

You guys with primer just forget you read this

A friend at work asked if I could help him and I can't so I'm asking you guys.  

His teenage son has a '68 El Camino with a 307/Powerglide and he just changed carbs from a quadrajet to a 600 Holley.   My friend is in a wheel chair and was watching/helping his son make the switch.  He noticed there wasn't any TV linkage hooked up to the carb.  There is linkage up from the tranny but it ends at a piece with a hole in it up by the firewall.  The linkage from there to the carb is missing.  I think he can make a rod but I don't know how the linkage operates on a Powerglide.  On a TH350 I adjust the TV cable by setting it where WOT and fully extended cable are the same.  Is that the same on a Powerglide?  Also, on a TH cable end there is a slot that allows the throttle to move some before pulling the cable.  Does the Powerglide rod have the same free movement?  Another thing to consider is where to locate the hole in the throttle bracket on the side of the carb......or does somebody sell one for a Holley/Powerglide combo?

[one]

The auction is to raise money to help support the expenses for RRT.  It is for one McMaster Carr catalog, #106.  I have two catalogs so the two highest bids, even if they are the same, will each get one.   The winners will send the money they bid to Fat Cat for site support and I'll pay all the shipping charges in the lower 48 United States.  Since shipping the 8 pound catalog overseas is around $40, I'll split that cost with the winner if they are from outside the US.  I'm not sure what the shipping costs are to Canada, but if they're reasonable, I'll cover that.   If not, I'll split it.

Before the crash, the auction was supposed to run for one more day but I'm going to run it until 10PM Saturday night to give it another chance.    There were 4 bids as of the morning of the crash.   Unkl Ian opened the bidding with $20, Land Yacht bid $25, akaplan bid $40, and Phat Rat bid $45.  
So, if anyone was thinking of sending Fat Cat a donation, this is a good way to do it and get a "gift" to boot.    



If you're not familiar with McMaster Carr, they're a large industrial supply company. The catalog has 3528 pages of all sorts of neat stuff and they're pretty hard to get.  I get one catalog per year thru work and that's it.  They have a  website but the catalog is real handy if you don't know for sure what you're looking for and want to get ideas. Descriptions and technical info is awesome. It's the most used catalog I've got.  They're a year old but they don't change that much every year so they still stock everything that's in it. McMaster Carr is the best run company, bar none, that I've ever seen. They treat you right and ship the same day you order.  

Once you have their catalog, you'll never be without one. For reference, here's one that was on ebay recently.

I'm going to re-list my auction for board support since the old board crashed before the auction finished, and I'll leave everything as it was.  I think that's only fair.  I've copied and saved all of it except for the last two posts (one by me and a bid by Phat Rat).  

When the dust settles here I'll put it back up here for a few days.

Frank I want to thank you for taking the time and effort to keep us all connected.  Without you, bud, we'd just all be lost souls in a cold cruel world.  You da man that keeps us all warm and fuzzy.  Thanks!!

And thanks to enjenjo too.  I know he's behind the scenes helping to keep the RRT successful.

We don't have a cheers thingie but here's a toast to you guys anyway.