FE 1957 - Breton Blue/Teal Blue - 327, T700, modified chassis - original body

[fe350chev]

Got all my paperwork sent from the motor rego people and have all the specifications they want for the build, so it's been approved as a goer for the 327 conversion and now nothing can reverse the process that has started, I have an engineer lined up and just a phone call away from my chassis rigidity and snap test  . All the stars are aligning nicely.  The inspector came out from council and approved the pour for the shed, but the rain has put a stop to everything so hoping for pouring on Tuesday if trenches not too full.

[Old_Mt_Isa_Boy]

Nice one Deano. Good that you have some confidence on what you must do for the build. Gotta love that shed.

Regards

Wayne b

[Gordon]

Hi Deano are those rare spares floor pans you used and if so how was the fit ?
Thank Gordon

[pedro]

Floor pans look good Deano, 18.3 x 7.7 not big enough  , that's a dream shed to the rest of us
  Pedro

[fe350chev]

Yeah tis wayne, Pedro, I am told I have a big ass, so plenty of swing out room. The pans were quite good with the fit Gordon, but the sills need tweaking and if your modifying your gearbox crossmember, the replacements are not long enough, so now I will probably use them on the taxi.

I have two of everything but many parts on this build are not going back in so I get the keep the best stuff for my taxi build    It also gets a bit confusing making sure i upload the right pics to which thread. I only have a small brain 

Today I ended up sorting out some parts which weren't much chop to see what they were really like. I also started to resto the Gemini brake booster and other things. The brake booster is a goodie, if I dip it, I won't need to take it apart I will just seal the bits that I don't want chrome or gold in 

Just to give you an idea of how well the potatoes work, I half dipped the old exhaust which had 2mm of crud and rust and gave it a quick rub with scourer and it gleamed pretty well, other parts I pulled out are there too, then I just put it on the plants after and they love it.

[customFC]

I have shed envy. 
Regards
Alex

[fe350chev]

Up at 5 this morning and into it, not quite as early as Pete but I have no baby excuses......got past that stage years ago 

[FCRB26]

I slept in going fishing with the daughter bugger work.

[fe350chev]

Thats good Pete, they will be telling you where to go before u know it (well boys will lol) so enjoy while they are still cute 

[fe350chev]

This FE must have had a very bad windscreen leak cos the dash and panels are rusted and pitted to the hilt! So I started prepping this instrument panel as per my other build thread. I am not sure how good I can get it for plating so I may use the taxi one which is much better. The carppiest one will be painted cos its much easier. I have done the first stage of a 3 step process, once the pits are all out that I can sand or buff out, I will shape the pits a bit and flash plate it, then rub it all with some finer paper and either bronze the pits with the tig or solder them, then it should get easier from there.

[fe350chev]

Here is my gear lever selector shroud that I have been restoring tonight. I will either chrome plate it or gold plate it depending on how it looks against the colour selection. If I don't like that I may even fake anodize it. This is the next step in the 3 step process of chroming etc for a show car finish.  This part looked real bad but came up good. If I had OCD I would get rid of the casting burrs on the inside, but lucky I don't, contrary to popular belief 






Trying to get this reasonable as it may be my first piece once I set up my baths.

[fcwrangler]

Thats some good stuff you have going there Deano, the parts have cleaned up real well (I'll send some parts down), must be a load off to have the slab done, bet you can't wait for the shed.
Regards Jim

[fe350chev]

Too right mate  Hey, I did some experimenting to satisfy my own curiosity. I hear people talk about acid bathing bodies and bits. So I decided to do a fairly controlled experiment. See the two manifolds below, I used the same method of cleaning with both of them (hot tank setup using mild sodium hydroxide) but before rust converting them I washed them down thoroughly about 3 times with boiling water and scrubbed with detergent. Then I used straight vinegar on one (soaked initially overnight in quarter strength and water and I added some shower power lemon acid), then I scrubbed it down tonight with the straight vinegar then washed it thoroughly with a brush at least 3 times. Straight away I doused it with crc and rubbed the crc in well with my hands and then dried it.

I did the same process with the other one except for the rust conversion stage, which I used a solution that was neutral PH 8-9 which is neutral to alkaline and using electrolysis for a day at 6 volts and 3 amps current and a de-oxygenated solution in the water, as soon as it was done I washed it in the other sink 3 times with the same strength soap and water and again soaked in crc bla bla bla. Both done a few m9inutes apart.

I was actually quite surprised myself with one aspect of this considering I had crc'd both directly after washing and drying them. The pics were taken about 15 minutes afterwards.




The one with the orange on it I nicknamed 'old vinegar tits", she came out beautiful but there was a lot of smell with the vinegar in the laundry where I soaked it, plus who wants acid anywhere, and I had to wear gloves while scrubbing. It required a fair bit of scrubbing to get the smaller bits of rust off. But see the other one, cleaning is always a bitch with these cos the metal seems to sweat and soak up oil and old fuel in rinse processes. Anyway, I definitely know which one I would prefer and it confirms to me why I would never use acid dipping. It's obvious that I could have not sprayed the electrolysis one (the one that looks less brown) but just rinsed it down and wiped it dry and it still would not have developed flash type rust. But vinegar tits, despite being dried and doused with CRC continues to brown up as I write. Also, when electrolysis is used its just like washing mud off (easy and no gloves). So I know which methods I would prefer.

[fe350chev]

If anyone wants me to replicate this on 2 mild steel pieces I can, but it would be cool just to rinse them both in bicarb once and then try them and see what happens to the metal in 3 hours to replicate the time it would take a shop to hit with paint using both methods.

[FCRB26]

Im too lazy to make the mix up. Bead blaster is fast but very harsh I can think of a lot of things this would work on especially copper bus bars in our switchboards at work.

Deano the chemist next thing you will be looking for a pill press

[fe350chev]

Funny how these tossers in Melbourne are happy to pop pills with drain cleaner and sulfuric acids at a club then they spend all week being self obsessed at yoga, gyms and having herbal teas through the week. Just sayin'

[FCRB26]

Theres a market mashed potato acid mix in a pill.

[fe350chev]

Bloody good idea, I could sell my secret recipe to KFC! Royalties could pay for the build so I can watch some other b#$@%$d do it. Your a genius! 

[fe350chev]

This arvy I started making my bush electrolysis unit down in the paddock near the chook shed. I always knew that running ethernet and power etc down the back paddock off the chook shed would come in handy for such improvisations. Here I have it ready for solution tomoz and fitted to the bumpers with brackets still on. Its easier just to do the lot in one hit with bracket on then the nuts spin off easy. I decided because of how badly rusted these are that I would do one side at a time, any old chrome or paint on the back will come off with the rust, then I will take brackets off and do the chromed side with a different mix. Ill use a submersible to suck the solution out later, but I have other items like my incinerator and other long items to do in here also and Ill whack the 2 engine blocks in there too.

Got a bit of mesh so the cat doesnt go ass up in the mix (thats what the tyres are for) and have power source inside the tyre for insulation and raised and covered from any rain. Jumper leads are good to use cos they are insulated and can separate brackets from the copper tube so it doesn't short, but doesnt matter if anything catches fire cos its down in the paddock  , I insulated other bits with hose reels (a great shape to separate items from cathodes and anodes and a plastic bag  .

This cos me about $4 using what I had.

[fink]

Plastic bag, jumper leads and a cat,all you need now is a battery !