Good day by lukester - March 28th 2024 12:26 pm
| Crazy mods by MufflerMan Mike - March 28th 2024 9:38 am
| | Lew Greger by MufflerMan Mike - March 27th 2024 5:15 pm
| | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 12,107 Likes: 37 Maniac | Maniac Joined: Aug 2001 Posts: 12,107 Likes: 37 | Um, you know that is going to get dirty, right?
Windows- they're what make a van worth owning! | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 pooh-bah | pooh-bah Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 | That is an interesting color... I like it. The portion visible through the rims made me think of plain un-dyed anodized aluminum with it's lemon yellow tint, but the inner fins are just simply pretty unique! I hope the color remains stable for you over time.
You say you haven't done the other side yet? It's good you recall so much of your prep work and process, I'd think you stand a pretty good chance of getting it to match if you watch it closely enough. In case it may have been related to the parts cleaner solution, do you still have the same batch?
I bet that clear will have a pretty good grip with all the sandblasting and the fin's surface area. Does clear have a pretty good temperature tolerance?
Those drums really fill up the rims don't they. They look like they belong on a van!
Clear skies!
-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts... Are you living to work, or working to live? Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,170 old hand | old hand Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,170 | Yeah it's sort of weird looking, but I like weird (the reason the car will be Verdoro green). The good thing is I can reblast and clean the part to get it close to the first. If that color had come out after the clear went on it would be a crapshoot. I bought the van to haul big parts for that car, but I fell in love with it and it's been getting all of my attention. Otherwise, I would have done the other side a while ago. The drums are just covers that hide Brembo disc brakes, They are styled to look like Buick aluminum drums and when you have tiny fronts they do have a bit of a funky look sticking out like that. As a general rule, I have been blasting all parts with aluminum oxide before coating to give it some bite. All of the parts on that car have not seen and heat or road duty, but all of the little stuff on the van seems to holding up well. Here are the valve covers that I did with same satin powder... The main deviation for these was no blasting. Instead, I hit them with a green Scotch bright to get rid of the polished look (I want very little chrome on car, because I would rather drive than clean). So my guess would be the blasting media remaining in the aluminum even after the cleaning.
Last edited by M_S; July 11th 2010 9:40 pm.
| | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 pooh-bah | pooh-bah Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 4,463 Likes: 12 | ...because I would rather drive than clean. Amen to that!! Those satin covers look wonderful! I've been bouncing around the idea of some cast Mopar Performance valve covers for my 318, with some colored paint between the ribs on top, and I like the look of yours well enough to now try satin if I take the plunge! What sort of air pressure are you running your sand blaster at? That might have a very large bearing on what material becomes embedded in the surface, and if it develops a surface texture which might lead to diffraction effects. I've mostly been using Garnet, so I don't have a track record with Aluminum Oxide to speculate on whether it could be the source of the coloration by itself, but seeing how well it works is sure a sweet card to have up your sleeve! Clear skies!
-It's been such a LONG TIME... BlueShift>> 1981 Dodge Ram B250 Custom Sportsman Maxi Van It's what you learn after you know it all, that counts... Are you living to work, or working to live? Learning from my own mistakes is good, learning from yours would be much better! | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,170 old hand | old hand Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 1,170 | I have a piss poor hand me down compressor that is on it's last legs, so I run the blaster w/o a regulator. The pressure hits about 80-90 until I hit the trigger and then drops slowly. I do alot of standing in front of the cabinet and waiting for it to catch up.
If you look closely at the covers, you will see some 'bumps' at the base of the first rib. I used the wet sponge paint brush technique to remove the powder from the polished edge of the rib (didn't want satin on the polished ribs) and it clumped up down there. Just another of those lessons learned in the process. I thought it would flow out better but, oh well. I have heard that you can sand and buff powder but have not tried it yet. I may use those as a test set and do the next set in full satin, then sand the ribs and polish them after. I used that wet sponge on the ribs of the drums first and it turned out perfectly because the excess powder just fell on the floor instead of the part.
Other than that, the satin powder flowed out really well on the drums and the covers. The other gloss colors have an orange peel texture to them. This includes gloss clear that I have put over the two stage chrome powder. A caveat about the chrome, there is a UV element in the clear that really cuts the reflectivity of the chrome powder. It looks great before clear and dull/crappy after. The clear is needed for that UV protection as the chrome powder by itself will dull over time. Th only other powder I have used is called blasted aluminum and it does not have any of the orange peel. It does have a rough blasted look to it though.
So, if you are doing satin you should be fine.
p.s. If the mods or powers that be want to move this portion of the thread to a new topic I am all for it. It's good for others to know how easy powder coating is and with old ovens on Craigslist not too expensive to start up.
Sorry for the hijack. | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 28,125 Madman! | Madman! Joined: Oct 2001 Posts: 28,125 | Back on topic, I used a P-S-T kit on Lions Den and it was nice and well priced. As I recall it only came with 2 tie rod ends tho and required 4.
The pre 78 ball joints are pressed in also and the 78 and up are threaded in and require a special socket. We also needed a flame wrench when doing LD to heat them to get the old ball joints out. | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,211 Likes: 25 Supreme Master | Supreme Master Joined: Aug 2005 Posts: 21,211 Likes: 25 | While you have everything apart, why not just remove the control arms and have new bushings pressed in? Then give them a paint job.
Nate Breece | | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 3,124 pooh-bah | pooh-bah Joined: Nov 2003 Posts: 3,124 | You can press those bushings in yourself, using the same ball joint press. It works great, and doesn't require you to create some funky jig like you'd need with a shop press to keep from warping the control arms. I had a set of control arms ruined by a shop that tried pressing those out.
| | | Re: 1978 front end rebuild | Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 39 newbie | OP newbie Joined: Jun 2010 Posts: 39 | Do any of you know if on the 78 are the upper and lower control arms threaded or press in ball joints? | | |
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