Mid Year Check-in

Dateline - 07/06/2015 - It's been a long time since I last checked in.  Car is still in paint!  I've been sandblasting and painting every weekend.  That's something I have a hard time doing for more the three or four hours.  It gets old having your hands stuck in the stand blasting cabinet!  But I am making a big dent in the pieces.  I was just amazed at just how many parts there are when I start pulling out the milk crates and boxes.  It's really cool though that I'm building up a room full of cleaned and painted parts.  It will make assembly all that much easier.

I just ordered a zinc/tin electro plating system from Eastwood (http://www.eastwood.com/eastwood-s-tin-zinc-electroplating-system.html).  I've got several parts that really need to be plated instead of painted, so I'm going to give this a try and see how well it works.  Something I haven't done before!

I also found that if you soak parts in undiluted Simple-Green, you can take the zinc plating off of parts that had been plated!  Go figure!

I've also been working on the wood dash.  I shellaced it and when I went to fill in the wood grain, I realized I had not sanded the surface well enough.  Had lots of grooves left over from the flat bed sanding that was originally done to rough out panels.  I hand sanded it and thought I was done, but nope!  So I took out the power hand sander and went at it again.  The nice thing was that the shellac showed all the low spots so I was able to sand it really smooth.  I shellaced it again and started putting coats of lacquer on.  I'm up to 15 coats, but it has been so hot here, even the the mornings, that the lacquer thinner is evaporating too quickly.  I have to wait until it gets a little cooler before I put any more coats on.  Let me tell you, it looks fantastic!

On a whole different subject.  I went to the Northwest Historics vintage races (http://northwesthistorics.com/theguild/upcoming-events/) this weekend with some friends from work and friends of friends and got a chance to do three laps of the Pacific Raceways in the passenger seat of one of the driving instructors for the BMW/Porsche club.  Although we were not "at speed" it was still thrilling to get a chance to go around the track and Doug tried hard to find opportunities to build up a little speed and Gs!  It makes me want to get into "Track Day" events.  Ouch!  This can get expensive quick.  How many hobbies can I afford?  I guess I'll be working until I'm 105!  here are some pictures:

More Sandblasting

Dateline - 03/15/2015 - Did some more sandblasting this weekend.  I'm finding that I can do a 6" x 6" square of metal before the compressor kicks in.  I stop to let the compressor catch up otherwise it just continues to run and I don't want to burn up the compressor or motor.  So, while the compressor runs, I disassemble and prep parts for cleaning.  So, I have now cleaned:

- Radiator cross member
- Coolant header (adapter that goes into the top hose of the radiator to add water and has overflow)
- Boot lid hing springs
- Both interior cooling fan housings
- One interior headlight bucket
- One interior headlight bulb holder ring
- Vacuum reservoir
- Vacuum reservoir bracket

It's a bit slow going, but boy do the parts look nice and will be great when painted!  Much better then sanding by hand, let me tell you!

Dash Work and Sandblasting

Dateline - 03/07/2014 - This weekend I worked on the wood dash with by buddy Matt.  There was one last bit of Maple on the center gauge cluster that needed to be sanded down and finished.  Matt has great wood working tools and with the help of his belt, rotary and drum sanders, as well as his band saw, we were able to whip it into shape.  Now it finish time!

I spend part of Sunday the finishing touches to the air compressor by drilling holes in my garage floor and mounting the compressor so that it doesn't walk around.  After getting it set up, I put sand into my blaster cabinet, hooked up the air and started sandblasting.  My first piece was the cross member that holds the radiator in the car. This barely fit in the cabinet, but it was a good piece to practice on and after about 45 minutes I got it pretty well cleaned up (see pictures).  

Cross member with just a little sandblasting

Cross member completely sandblasted

I also cleaned up the radiator filler which took less then 10 minutes (no pictures).  Now I have an idea on how long it will take to do some of the parts and need to start digging around in my boxes for things clean up.  I'm pretty exited. 

Air Compressor Installed - Mostly

Dateline - 02/21/2015 - Saturday was devoted to getting my new air compressor installed.  The compressor is big item requiring a lot of room and 220 volts to run.  So I had to find a good spot in the garage that wasn't in the way.  The only place I had was the corner by the garage door.  This area had been used to store things like fishing rods, shovels, a pole saw, pond net, and a bunch of miscellaneous items like base boards, pieces of conduit, etc.  Basically anything with a handle I can could stand in the corner.  Well, out it all came and the new compressor went in.

Now I have to say, I envy the guy who can just throw something in  and be done with it.  That's not me!  I have to do it to the best of my ability so that everything is neat and tidy.  So first I had to run 220 volts out of the main service.  I really don't like working in the main service, but I had a new one installed a few years back so there was plenty of room and a master kill switch, so it was good as long as I stayed away from the live side of the bus bars!  The wire run easy since the service is on the same wall as as the compressor. It was a simple matter of running Romax out of the service, down the wall and across using external boxes and solid PVC conduit.  I got the compressor with a good length of flexible conduit and I was able to use that to connect the compressor to the box on the wall.  I did have to call my Brother-in-law for some wiring advice, but his extensive experience helped me out immensely and he had me on the correct path in about five minutes.

The next challenge was how to run the air.  As you can see from the pictures, the area is a bit tight and the air outlet of the tank sticks out a bit.  I bought a nice regulator/filter to go on the tank , but it would stick out too far and be a hazard.  The regulator had a mounting bracket that came with it, so I was able to use that to mount the regulator on the wall.  I had to buy a length of hose to connect the tank to the regulator, but that was easy to find at Home Depot.

Once I got everything hooked up, I put oil in the compressor (it was drained so that we could move it on its side), turned on the circuit breaker and fired it up.  Sure enough, it ran fine and filled the tank up beautifully.  I tested all my connections for leaks and found none which surprised me!  I hooked it up to my air nozzle and it worked fine.  I did not try the sandblaster, but that's coming next.

The only thing I have left to do is bolt the tank to the floor.  I was wondering if I could get away with not doing so, but when the pump is running, there is enough vibration to cause the tank to "wonder" around.  So I need to get a concrete bit and drill some holes and fasten it down.  That's next week's project.

So, It two runs to Home Depot and about $100 worth of parts, but I now have a big beautiful air supply!  Now I got to get busy sand blasting!

Here are pictures:

Air compressor left, regulator in middle and service on right

Regulator mounted on wall, orange hose in input, yellow is output.

It’s Gone To Paint!

Dateline – 02/14/2015 - Mark your calendars everyone!  The Jaguar has gone to the paint shop!  The tow truck arrived at 8:30 am on Saturday and we had it loaded and ready to go by 9:10.   I had all the fenders, doors, etc. in the van and we both headed over to Chowcase Auto Rebuild where Ricky my paint guy was ready for it.  We pushed it into the shop, I brought in all the part getting ready to paint. 

Last time in the garage without paint

Loading on the tow

Driving away...

...going...

...going...

...Gone!

At the paint shop

Ricky said that he have the body for about two months.  He will paint the body first then I can pick it up and start installing other things while he works on the doors, lids, hinges, etc.  This way I can get the car together and not have to worry about damaging all the other parts!  Pretty cool!

Also, I picked up an air compressor from the guy I bought the sandblaster from.  60 gallon, 10 cfm @ 90 psi.  He used it to run the sandblaster and had no problems.  Now I just need to get a 220 volt 15 amp breaker put and wired so that I can plug it in!

New compressor

Gotta New Tool

Dateline - 01/10/2015 - I have a new tool in my garage, a nice used blasting cabinet!  A co-worker had one that he has been using on his MGB restoration.  He no longer needs it, so we swapped a fishing rod/reel for it! It took me about three hours to clear out a space for it.  I needed to spend the time on this because I had a lot that I needed to get cleaned up and condensed.  Now I have even more room then I did before!

New Blasting Cabinet.  Note the "Jaguar Parking Only" sign!

Now I need to find an air compressor!  Takes a big one because the cabinet needs 10 cfs @ 90 psi!  Looking at a 60 Gallon standing, oil bath, 220 volt/15 amp machine.  I'm going to need to wire in a new 220 volt service unless I put it in my living room where my cloths dryer is!  Probably not the right place for it. :)

I've worked on this car for five years without an air compressor and now I'm going to finally get one, at the very end of the build!  Oh well, I can use it for other things too.  And I guess I can sell it when I'm done, like I was planning to do with my MIG welder and industrial sewing machine!

I did do a little car work this weekend by doing more sanding and fitting on the carbon fiber center console.  It's actually getting close to being ready for final finish.  That sure has been a long haul!  If I'd know it would take so much work to build that thing, I think I would have come up with a different solution.  The thing is that NOW I know how much work it is!  But that's usually the case anyway. You find out after you get the work done!

New Art Website

Dateline - 01/02/2015 - Happy New Year everyone!  I'm really looking forward to 2015.  It's going to be a busy and eventful year.  To start it off right, I have created a new domain and website that highlights my art projects.  It is http://www.edcicka.com.  If you get a chance, take a look.  I'd love any feedback.

Work has slowed on the car this month.  However, I'm working on procuring a sand blasting cabinet that will help immensely in cleaning all those parts that I need to get done before I put the car back together.  Still expecting the car to go into paint at the end of the month, so I'm pretty excited about that.  It will be nice to get this car running again!  Spring 2015 is the goal.  Let's see if I can make it!