Sunday, January 06, 2008

Been a while but I think we're over the hump. Well maybe not "the" hump but certainly "a" hump. Frame and related parts are sandblasted and painted, now comes final assembly of the chassis. Hill Top Sandblasting 479 Hetzels Church Rd, Pine Grove, PA. 17963 (570)- 345- 6695 did the blasting and paint work. Super nice guys, a dying breed of sorts. These brothers have a mobile blaster that they use to contract out really big jobs, but will do smaller stuff at their shop. They also do glass etching and decorative stenciling on rocks with whatever you want etched on. These guys take pride in what they do along with very reasonable prices. Give them a call first so they can tie "the dog" otherwise it WILL jump up on the side of your vehicle. Ask for Ed and tell him the guy with the "67olds" license plate sent ya. Turns out he has a 455 big block olds engine in his 19 foot boat. (really hauls ass) The paint I got for them to use was Limco brand acrylic oem black quick mix "LMPQ900LY" with "LMSLR12GL" Limco 1-2-3-4 reducer and "KCPWL8" wet look hardener. This was sprayed on top of SEM green self etching primer. This stuff really dried hard after a week. Can't even pick at it with your fingernail. All these supplies were gotten from Klines Auto Inc 648 Mauch Chunk St Pottsville, PA 17901 (570) 622-4010 (570) 628-2943 and ran me a total of $113.06. Assembly will commence as soon as we clean all the grit from the rears and set up the ring and pinions which I'll be doing a piece on next time. We plan on going with red calipers and brackets just to stay with the perfomance image in which you'll be able to see a hint of them thru the factory chrome rims. If you look over the photos you can see how we molded in the front shackle reversal hangers. I didn't like how the 2 bolt heads stuck out the side of the frame so I cut some 5/8" round stock and slid them thru the hangers and frame keeping them just under flush with the frame and button welded them and all around the perimeter of the mounts, then ground everything smooth. Gives it a more molded in look, again not really noticeable to the casual eye but there, never the less and without sacrificing any strength. Stay tuned, it's starting to look like something now.