Mattml430

Posting this for Ron. It’s an article about a Senior in Port Augusta

I was sharpening the razor blade this morning while looking at it. It’s definitely not one that excites me. They are built so light in comparison to the dodge.

We are having a working Bee on that very soon. I need to catch up on some spoke wheels and a few other little jobs. Then I’m onto the 27 chev truck.

No I didn’t do any of the driving.

Haha I picked up the cars this morning Doug and Ben said it was just perfect they had a great day. Everyone was wrapped with the cars. 👍😂

The dodge made it out to the wedding venue today and Ben and his family were there to get it. They were so happy to see the car fully restored and were so appreciative of the job that was done. I dropped it off about 6 hours ago and there is every chance Ben is probably still driving it around the venue. He was loving it. 😂It was really a great day.We have lent them our victory six sedan for the bridesmaids.

Haha all good to go and getting loaded on the trailer in the morning.

Washed and ready to go. Took it for a couple of drives this morning and everything seemed really good.

Yeah that’s about right Doug. If you send it to them 90% prepared it is about $1200 here. It doesn’t look to bad but it hasn’t had a copper coat so it would eventually rust quicker than normal. What I will probably do is use one of my spare surrounds and fix it up. Get it plated professionally and then swap it over. That way the car will have no down time while it’s getting plated.

The new tank set up and heater has definitely been a lot better. I’ve got a good coat of nickel on the radiator surround but we will need to send it off to be done properly at some stage. Ben’s daughter is getting married in it on Thursday so it will be ok for that. It’s definitely been challenging and I could probably persist with it but it needs to be a better job than I can do. Got all the indicators and horn hooked up today and fitted the new battery into it. I’ll fit the radiator surround in the morning and take it for a good drive to make sure everything is spot on. Then she’ll be getting a good detail and ready for Thursday.

I run a bit of masking tape across the water line and into the solution. It helps feather the nickel Coat out so far the new set up it working better. new heater. That’s about as hot as it will get over a few hours.

Yes but you guys still drive on the wrong side of the road and call a bonnet a hood and a hood a top. 😂

Probably not humidity so much but temperature does. I picked up a heater yesterday that will get the solution temperature to 65 degrees C. The heaters I have now only get to 32C so hopefully this will help with the new tank set up. I’m getting stuck into it this morning so I’ll keep you posted. 🤞🏻

I’ve cleaned them in acid.

Some great reading there thanks Nat. I haven’t come across those websites.

Well not all the copper stuck properly so I took it all back to steel and started again. The nickel stuck really well. I have re arranged the tank again to try something a little different. I have removed all the stainless steel out of the tank and put it on the outside of the tank to attach the anodes. I have also reduced the amount of anodes in the tank just to see what happens. Plating is a real science I have not yet completely understood. One day you can put stuff in the tank and it comes out perfectly and then the next day it all turns to shit on you. I’ll give this one last try and then if it doesn’t work I’ll have say I’m a bit defeated with it. Or until I come up with another idea. 💡 see how it goes on Monday.

Thanks Bob appreciate your help along the way and doing a great job of the radiator. Now I just have to make your job shine with a nice surround. The interior looks fantastic Doug. The kiddy pool would work perfectly but the only problem is the chemicals are about $300 per 20litres so the cost blows out. My tanks hold 40 litres each so to submerge the whole surround you’d probably need 120 litres in each tank. If I thought I was going to do lots of big stuff I’d probably invest in it but it’s a very time consuming job. Very rewarding though.

Making good progress with the plating but I don’t want to jinks myself and have it stuff up. The copper coat is going on well so far. I will try and get it all the way around tonight. I have found that in this set up with the anodes so close to the work lowering the voltage and extending the time in the tank is working well. Normally I run it at around 3volts and it’s in the tank for 45 minutes. I’ve dropped the voltage to 2v and time to 90minutes. 🤞🏻 Picked up the Dodge today from Grant white upholstery and he’s done an amazing job of it all. Looks and smells amazing in there with all that leather. I’ll let the pictures tell the story.

Getting there with the radiator surround. I’ll be the first to admit it is a bit of a struggle with what I’ve got. But it’s almost got the first coat of nickel on it. radiator before plating finished with scotch brite. plating it in nickel I can only do a side at a time. The lines polish out ok were it joins. I have found lowering the voltage to 2.0v has helped getting a more even finish. I will be picking the dodge up tomorrow so will have some pics of it almost finished.

Congratulations on becoming a grandfather for the first time. The car is looking just amazing. That was a nice fix on the radiator.

Started getting the tanks ready today for plating the radiator surround. I’ve put another row of anodes into the bottom of the tanks to try and get some better coverage on the surface facing downward in the tank. Hopefully this works out ok. We will know tomorrow as we have a 36 degree day here so a good day for plating in the heat. Nickle anodes in the tank. Copper anode tank. I originally made these tanks for my roadster bumper bars. washing and acid tanks.

Thanks Nat I appreciate your comments. Ben and his family absolutely love this old car it’s been part of their family for 100years which in itself is pretty amazing. They are all looking forward to seeing it finished and have all been following the whole thing closely so their appreciation is 100% felt in every way. When you think about growing up and getting old having an old car in the background through 4 generations it would just be so much part of your family. It’s crazy how attached you can become to a car. Being able to do this restoration for Ben’s family has been pretty amazing, giving them back the car as good as new to go through another few generations is quite a privilege.

Thanks Doug, I’ll be giving it a few runs to make sure everything is working and running well. Ben’s family has quite a few plans for her straight away, It’s his daughter’s wedding at the end of this month. After the Wedding he’s taking it down to his mums place and the whole family is going to have a photo done with the car. He said the car is the talk of the family so it will be well cared for and used for sure.

I heard from the upholsterer today and he should have it all done by next Wednesday or Thursday. He’s finished the interior and seats and is doing the hood / Top now. Can’t wait to see it done.

The upholster sent the vinyl back because of that and got some that looks almost identical in colour and sheen. I will take some pictures of the tanks with the new anode set up once I have them done for you.