Finish Up The Rear

Worked on The Fresh Prince some this afternoon.  Finished powder coating a brake backing plate and rear panhard bar.

Once they cooled off, I had to put all the brake components on the plate.  Put the axles through the plates and tapped into rear end.  Then I installed both brake assemblies and hubs along with the emergency brake cables/brackets.

Rear end is done except for the wheels.....so I decided to polish on one of them a little too:

Before:

After:

What's Next:  Finish polishing rear wheels and install.  Then start on getting drive shaft ready for installation.

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Spring Compression (In The Fall)

I am not a big fan of using spring compressors to install/remove springs:

I fear the contraption may fail and I might end up looking like this guy.....

Nevertheless, I am going to break down today and borrow a kit from AutoZone.  Driveshaft and I were having a difficult time last night trying to get the rear springs in without a compressor.  We need more pressure to push down on the frame so that we can get the trailing arms up to the correct mounting bracket holes.  With the body off the frame and the shocks already installed we can't apply enough downward force to compress the springs.

Rear lower control arm after spring removed.

Cuz showed up tonight to check out our progress.  We ended up putting him to work helping get the bolts in the front of the trailing arms.  The spring compressors did make the job a lot easier.  I don't think we could have done it without the extra set of hands either.  I told him that he may have earned himself a short ride once the car is done!

Before:

After:

What's Next:  hope to get the brakes and axles installed on the rear.
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Rear Springs

Today I began installing my rear springs.

Driveshaft was around to lend me some assistance, but we still weren't able to get the lower trailing arms pushed up to their correct mounting holes.  Looks like I may have to look into a spring compressor to take a little pressure off the arms.

What's Next:  Finish up installing the rear end suspension.
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Road Clearing, Hunting, and Trailing Arms

First job today was to plant hunting plots for the upcoming deer season on November 19th.   We are expecting some rain towards the end of the week, so I decided to get the seed in the ground before then.

I had to limb up some trees along my hunting road so that I could get the truck to the fields with the seed and fertilizer.  Driveshaft plowed up the fields and "cut in" the seed once I put it out with the spreader.

Once I got through with that I moved on to the shop.  Got the shocks, upper trailing arm, and rear of lower trailing arms installed.

Driveshaft was kind enough to polish up the hardware that I needed before I got home which saved me a lot of hassle.  The "first shift" came through for me today!!

What's Next:  finish up trailing arm/spring install.
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Change of Pace

Worked on Red a little for Shea Butta.  Cleaned out the fuel filter and removed the old heat choke lever.  It is running pretty good, but probably needs to fave some fresh gas put in it.  Transmission needed two quarts so it might have a leak somewhere.  It was overheating a little after a few minutes.  Radiator needed some water and antifreeze.  Brakes are working so far after a new master cylinder.

Red

What's Next:  back to The Fresh Prince.

Rebirth of "Red"

Shea Butta has been wanting me to get Driveshaft's old truck "Red" going so she will have something to drive to school when she turns 16.  I got a wild hair and decided to work on it a little today.  Didn't have a lot of time between football games (Roll Tide!) and cutting the grass at Driveshaft and MawMaw's church though.  Cleaned out the cab (Driveshaft had left it in a mess) and put a battery in it.  Replaced the old leaking brake master cylinder and fired her up.  She didn't run very well and we couldn't keep her idling.  Football was calling, so we will work on her a little more next week maybe.

A-Arm Bushings

I stopped by Autozone today and rented a control arm bushing remover through their loaner tool program.  I had never used one before, but they are worth the money.  Plus I can take the tool back to AZ for a full refund when I am finished.

Driveshaft and I had been mulling over how we were going to get the bushings out the last few days.  The problem is they are pressed in you have to be careful not to bend the flanges on the arm when you remove them.  The bushing remover made it a breeze.  I think I had them all out in about 15 minutes once I got the tool set up.

I am going to hold on to the remover until I get the lower arm bushings removed and press all the new bushings back in.

What's next:  Try to get some of these parts back on The Prince.

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Cooking Up Some Goodies!

Now that the frame and rear end have been painted I decided today would be a good time to try out some powdercoating.  I already had a few of the rear suspension and brake parts blasted and ready for the oven.

I knocked the flash rust off with a wire wheel before powdercoating.

I got my gun and powder at Harbor Freight since I had read some good reviews on them.  It didn't take long and I was putting out some pretty decent pieces:

Before I new it I had done all the pieces I had prepped. Later when Driveshaft commented on how much I had done in such a short time, I told him I was on a roll and was going to powder coat anything that didn't walk away!!  I told Jimmy that she might even be next!?!?!

Powdercoating didn't make too much of a mess.  I really like it because once I get a part coated it is ready to put back on the car in about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  I intend to powder coat everything that I can fit in the oven.

What's next:  finish powdercoating all of the rear end suspension/brake parts.
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Paint....finally!!

Finally got the frame and rear end painted today.  I took off work so I could have a full day to get the paint done.  Had to do a little more cleaning first thing, but I had the first couple of coats (Zero Rust - Red Oxide) on by lunch.  The Zero Rust goes on great.  One of the mixes was a little too thin and I got a run or two.  The rest of the painting was a breeze with my $12 Harbor Freight spray gun.

Driveshaft fed me a burger and then I got about 3 more coats (Zero Rust - Black) on this afternoon.

 

Now I will just let it sit outside for about a week to cure in the sun.

Getting Ready to Paint

I have a lot of parts ready to go back on the frame, but it was not ready for them.  For this reason, I decided to take off Friday and paint, so I have been working like a mad man this week to get prepared.

I think if I do this again I will blast the frame myself or send it off to get blasted.  I used a wire wheel and it took a LONG time.  There are also places on the frame that would have been a lot easier to get to with a blaster.  Plus the blaster would just make it look a lot better.  You live and you learn I guess.

What's next:  paint tomorrow!
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Another Brilliant Idea

I finally figured out why my media blasting was creating so much dust inside the cabinet all of a sudden.  Through the repeated clean-outs of the cabinet, I was also recycling all of the dust created from the cleaning process.  I decided to filter my blast media to remove the dust.  It worked splendidly.

Here is the solution:
I poured the media from a height of about 6 feet into a plastic tote on the floor.  As I slowly poured I had an oscillating fan blowing on the stream of media.  This caused all of the lighter dusty material to be blown away as the heavier blasting media fell into the box.  The trick is to not pour your recycled material too fast.  I also ran the media through this process about three times.  It came out looking like I had just bought it.

Who Knew?!?!?

I also replaced the window in my cabinet and taped clear plastic onto the inside of the fresh plexiglass.  This prevents the media from contacting the surface of the glass itself.  When the clear plastic becomes hard to look through, I just replace it.  I am using clear 8 X 11 sheet dividers for this instead of purchasing expensive blast cabinet laminate sheets.  I made another improvement to the box by sawing a dado into my glass mounts.  This allows me to slide in and out replacement glass very quickly.

What's Next:  More blasting.
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More Mods

I have been blasting a few more parts the last couple of days and have run into a problem.  My new media blaster is creating so much dust in the cabinet I can't see what I am doing!  Today I stopped by Lowe's and picked up a cheap bathroom exhaust fan to replace my current cabinet fan.  I am hoping the additional air movement will keep the air in the box a little cleaner.

Tried it for a few minutes and have the same problem.
Driveshaft recommended I cut some holes in the other end of the cabinet to allow the exhaust fan to create a draft through the unit.  This still did not clear the air enough, though it did help a little.

What's Next:  fix the media blasting issue!!
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Blasting Improvements

I decided to break down today and purchase a pressurized media blaster.  Harbor Freight had it on sale this month and with an additional 20% coupon I payed around 70 dollars for a 40 gallon unit.  Took me about 30 minutes to get it together and hooked up.  It did take a few tries to get adjusted correctly, but it made a huge difference!  I told Driveshaft that it cut the blasting time of a coil spring from about 20 minutes down to 5.  I am very pleased with it.

What's Next:  more blasting.

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Mediablasting

Today I started blasting away on some of the parts laying around.  Currently I have a syphon feed blaster attached to the bottom of my homemade blasting cabinet.  It works pretty good, but loses suction every so often.  May look into getting a pressurized blaster later.

These are the first few parts that I did.  I sprayed some Zero Rust Prep Step on the parts once they were clean.  The Prep Step is supposed to prevent flash rust for up to 30 days.  I don't believe it worked very well....the flash rust in the pictures happened by the next day.  I will have to just blast or wire wheel the parts again before powdercoating I guess.

Link to Zero Rust Prep Step:  http://www.zerorustusa.com/prepstep.html

What's Next:  More blasting.

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More Disassembly

The last couple of days I have removed the transmission mount,

motor mounts,

and the rest of the emergency brake assembly:

What's Next:  Start cleaning some parts.
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