Mattml430

Not sure why Bill put it like that when he fitted it after building the engine. I’ll get on to it. 😉👍

90% of the painting is finished so now the fun part of months of work putting it all back together. From here on it’s a great part of a restoration seeing it all come together. The body is loosely bolted on so I can get the side skirts on after I fit the kick plates. Everything has been pre fitted so it should all go back together nicely I hope. Guards and running boards will start going on tomorrow.

Almost have all the painting finished. Got lots of small pieces painted today

Almost have all the painting finished. Got lots of small pieces painted today

It’s definitely appreciated 😂😂

Thanks Tony I’ll have a look. Cheers

If nothing has been changed you might need to put it out in the sun for a few hours and then attach it. Will it not attach before the top is fully closed up sounds like it has shrunk a little.

I thought about that but what about the T section that holds it in. You’ve done well to chinks me Nat😂🤣. I did a test piece the same size/shape of the radiator and it nickel plated ok but I had a lot of grief with the copper coat. It kept on falling off. Bit confused with it all but I shut it all down and walked away from it all. I try again on Monday. This was my little test piece. It actually Nickel plated that nice it looked finished but would not last without the protection of the copper coat. I won’t let it bet me.

Have you got his contact details Tony. Thanks.

They shouldn’t take you long to reproduce Doug. What else would you be wanting to do. 😂

Thanks Tony. These are slightly different ones they are the full length of the rest.

If the windshield was in better condition I probably would have. The top saddles were originally nickel. Do you know where I can get the rubber for them Doug. It’s like a T section rubber

You might be just in time Nat I’m about to try and Nickle plate this radiator surround. It’s taken a few hours to get all the pitting out, so I hope I don’t stuff it up. 🤞🏻 Those little suckers seem to be so deep into the steel but they are probably only a few thou deep. Sanded down to 500g. Don’t worry Nat everyone is good at something there’s plenty of things I’m useless at. The girls could throw a ball further than me at school and I spent more time on the reserves bench than I ever did playing any sport. I’ve been very lucky to have some good teachers. Stay posted because there could be some disasters plating the radiator. 😂🤣This is how much sandpaper gets used to get it like that. start with 80 on a soft 6” sanding pad on a sander polisher. Then with 120 180 320 500 1000 foam backed to finish. With an orbital sander.

No it’s going to be black. I sand blasted it this morning and it has a few holes in it so it would be almost impossible to Nickle it. the top half is good but the bottom it where the trouble is. It was originally black on this car anyway.

Bottom of the radiator is replaced and now just working on getting the rest of it looking nice and smooth. new piece I made on the bead roller. Had to run it through a few different rollers to get that sharp little return on the inside edge. welded in. cleaned up , and now get the rest like that.

Yes Doug I just made sure that they were separated as much as I could.

The hood rests are all done. Something old looks new again. Taking apart the rear window today getting it ready for plating I found a lot of the screws were snapping of in the thread. So a quick trip down to screw Heaven in the gator I found some nice little brass dome nuts and short counter sunk screws . I flattened of a bit of the dome and soldered them into the frame to replace the old threads.I then rounded the screw heads off and plated them also the fit just perfectly into the frame so, really happy with the fix for this Started sanding the radiator surround getting it ready for plating. These are quite challenging with my plating set up but can be done. There’s a lot of prep work to do on this before plating, it’s quite pitted. So the more of that i can sand up first the better it will come out. The side aprons just need a quick clean up and I’ll get some undercoat onto them and get them painted.

Ben sent me pictures of the Jack last night Doug. This is it here. looks like Walker manufacturing on the side.

With the hot weather I took the opportunity to do some Nickle plating. Works better when the baths are warmer. Still have a few pieces to do but almost have it all done. almost all done These are the rug rack brackets and I think the arm section are solid nickle. This was just before plating. I have been preparing these hood rests. They are the originals that Ben found in the shed. We also have the original rear window frame and tools. Made a start on repairing the side aprons. Cut one side out and then used it as a template for the other and cut it out with the plasma cutter. I clamped the new piece to the top of the apron and used it as a straight edge to cut a dead straight line with a 1mm blade. This one is tacked into place ready for welding up. I cut just inside the top roll I’ll make some cardboard template’s of these and use them to plasma cut out new pieces.

Guards are all painted up and front apron. The gloss really shows up the shape of the guards. I think they will only need a light wet rub. I have a bit of work to do on the side aprons before painting them. They are badly rusted along the top edge. This will be tomorrow’s job to get done so I can get them painted and the body back on.

Absolutely always willing to see what’s new and learn a few tips and tricks . I had no idea that they did an 8000 now . 👍

It would be definitely designed around polishing 2pak polyurethane paint but I see no reason why it couldn’t be used on acrylic based paints.

The trizact discs. 1000 is foam backed 1500 has no foam so it tends to knock of the high spots better to flatten the paint surface. 3000 is foam backed also. I also use an intermediate foam pad between the paper and sanding disc for really curved surfaces. You can get 5000 but never been there but might one day just to see if it works better The 3 step polish’s I generally give the paint 2 hits with the number 1 first to get rid of any scratches. the 3 pads. Colour coded to the polish so you can’t mix them up. Number 1 should be white. I use the small 6” waffle pads not the 8” because I find them better to use and don’t make your polisher work as hard. They also get into tight spot better quick release fitting for the polisher so you can almost change the pad while the machine is slowing down. a close up of the surface of the trizact pads.

I’ll take a pic of all the part numbers so if anyone is interested in using the polishing system they can chase it up.

Spent some time wet rubbing all the body, doors and bonnet. It’s all coming up nicely, With wet rubbing I use some especially made discs for the orbital sander. They are 3m trizac disc, about $10 each here in Oz. Depending on the paint finish I use 1000,1500. & 3000 On this job I have only started with 1500 and finished with 3000. Some before and after pics of the bonnet. This pic is before wet rubbing and polishing Most people would be quite happy with this finish but I like to get it as good as I can The same bonnet after polishing. Shows a bit more clarity in the reflection. Front door after polishing. I use a small garden sprayer to apply a bit of water with detergent in it. Helps keep the discs clean and give good lubrication to the surface for sanding. This pic shows 1500 on the left and 3000 on the right. This shows the pattern and overlap I us when wet rubbing. I normally go both directions with about half overlap. polished on the left and 3000 finish on the right. Rear tub finish polished with 3m perfect it polishing system. It’s a 3 step system. Number 1 with a white foam waffle pad is a cutting compound. Number 2 is a finer polish with a finer black foam waffle pad. Number 3 is a super fine polish/swirl remover with a super fine blue foam waffle pad. I’ve been using 3m perfect-it for about 20 years and have found nothing that works better. They have improved it in that time to I must say. I have tried a few but nothing seems to work as well as the perfect-it system. It works really well on the black and clear coats also. I know some will say the cars were never painted that well originally but in my opinion it just highlights the beautiful shapes and curves they put into these old cars. A good gloss level on the panels just makes them shine.