Benny's EK wagon

[Smooth customs]

[Smooth customs]

Cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning, and polishing!
And a bit more painting and plating

[Smooth customs]

[Blacky]

Love your work Paul, reminds me of doing my ute, all the hours spent cleaning and painting the little bits and pieces take more than the big bits !

I took 3 feed buckets of bolts , clips ,screws etc to a mine I was working on once and spent the best part of 2 weeks either beadblasting or wire wheeling those suckers before dropping them off to be zinc plated - so I have enough for the next one or 2 cars

[Smooth customs]

Love your work Paul, reminds me of doing my ute, all the hours spent cleaning and painting the little bits and pieces take more than the big bits !

I took 3 feed buckets of bolts , clips ,screws etc to a mine I was working on once and spent the best part of 2 weeks either beadblasting or wire wheeling those suckers before dropping them off to be zinc plated - so I have enough for the next one or 2 cars

LOL!
Its way easier now, well sort of than when I was an apprentice. Back then you has an old galvinised tin bucket with costic chips and hot water!! to start the cleaning process. And a hand held wire brush.
Today after a lifetime of doing all the dirty work that most people never see or understand, it is a little easier but still a dirty shit of a job.
I do plating in batches, sort out the priorities for the build. Put them in the parts washer to soak for however long they need, then to the wire buff and lastly the blasting cabnet. Some need to be wire buffed again depending on the end surface finish. And lastly wiring everything for the platers. Days and days of work, and sometimes longer.
Going home covered in all sorts of crap after standing infront of the wire buff for hours.
But it is still a great feeling cutting all the wires and sorting the shinny bits into all the lots required.
Unfortunatly its extremly hard to explain to some customers how long this part of the job takes.

[parisian62]

Great stuff. Lots of good info there in the pics Paul. Keep em coming.

Stewart

[STANLEY]

Have you tried wet blasting the stuff after degreasing/washing.
It gives a real nice finish that can be plated onto nicely, it doesnt cost a heap either.

I have done a heap of bright zinc stuff like this for bike resto's & it saves a ton of time.

[Smooth customs]

Have wet blasted parts previously
but another piece of equitment that can not be used all the time, and a dry braster is more universal

[vmx-mxr]

Have wet blasted parts previously
but another piece of equipment that can not be used all the time, and a dry blaster is more universal

Stanley's right - the wet finish produces a very consistent gently blasted finish which is not harsh as most dry blasted finishes can be.

You are also correct in saying the dry blaster in the workshop is more universal - that is why I have both the wet (vapour, hydra, hydro or whatever we like to call them) blaster and a large dry blaster which you can't beat for paint prep, rust removal or really deep alloy corrosion.

With all the zinc you are doing have you thought of getting a decent kit (Caswell, Jane or whatever) and doing it yourself? Lately I have been doing a lot of vapour blasting for a guy who professionally restoring an E49 Charger and he swears by the one he uses. If you are doing the wiring up and all the prep you may as well pocket the money for the final step as well.

I've really enjoyed watching the progress of this rebuild - how many dollars are you talking to do a job such as this one? The end result sure looks like a new car!

Dave Mac

[STANLEY]

I just bought a large Jane kit with all the cleaning solutions etc. & enough chemicals for 20L drums to plate in, cost about $450.00 all up.

[Smooth customs]

There is nothing better than having all the trick tools and gadgets to do things with.
But justifying the cost of purchase against the real need and use based on if it can be a charged out on the job.
I have a local platers I have used for almost 17 years and get great turnaround.
More chemicals in the shop! that may only be used once in a blue moon, again not a vital piece unless it is used more than a couple of times a year

[Smooth customs]

I am using what was originally a family based buisness that was bought out a few years ago by a major fabrication company to do their plating work exclusivly.
Luckily a hand full of us are still allowed to use the facility because of our long customer base, and our smaller jobs do not impact on their production work

[Smooth customs]

Body mouldings!
Am not going to make this to long as it could, would be a couple of pages long
On these cars the amount of brightwork is a project in its self
Once dismantled decades of dirt rust and many unknown elements need to be removed from the inside of the body mouldings along with the remains of the original trim clips, if they still exist.
Then its time to repair and repolish evey last one of them.
Clips and retainers are a real pain as trying to located new or usable replacements can be a major effort, and in some cases new one need to be made.
Some that are available look to be just like the originals but are not and need modifying as well
I used spring loaded nut retained clips for 90% of the lower side mouldings, and cleaned and repainted originals where needed
Any holes in body panels where threaded clips go through should have paint applied where holes may need to be opened up, this reduces the chance of rust forming on the open metal and later running out from behind the moulding.

[Smooth customs]

Rust proofing!!!!
As an apprentice It was my job or punishment to do this job. And in those days there was no deoderised Fish Oil.
So many people and shops will not do this to a repaird rebuilt or restored car because, It smells, it drips out of everywhere for ages and leaves a mess on panels and the garage floor, and its just to much work to keep cleaning it up.
But it is a protection on the work done, and should always be done.
Before I start I go around and tape up all the drain holes in the doors and other panels.
And then start spraying large amounts in everywhere I can. I leave it sitting for a couple of days and then remove the tape and drain what will run out into tins. This can take a couple more days.
After this its time to park the car out in the sun and see how much more comes out. When you can see it in the folds of the door skins and other panels you know it is getting into everywhere it should.
Then its more assembly and a regular wiping down of the places it is still seeping out of.
Rust proofing of this type should be done every couple of years.

[parisian62]

On the painted surfaces do you use anything in particular to clean it up Paul?

Stewart