How do you make it rain in California?... buy a speedster.

DANG! That look pretty cool! Looking forward to hanging out with my knucklehead SOC friends in SLO, my brutha! 

It's been a while since I posted an update.

I have been too busy driving! Since the SLO meet I've had nothing but smiles. I will say this, we had an odd moment with the tow bar on our trip home, but I'll save that story for another time.

 

I wanted to share my latest update!

 

My Black lady, the Shwarz Frauline, spent from 1996 until 2014 in Seal Beach, CA.  That's like... two blocks from the ocean. As such, she spent some time breathing in the salt air. Her bright work may not have fared so well. Lots of corrosion. Last weekend I decided I was tired of looking at the sad state of her aluminum bits and went to work with some Neverdul, 400&600 grit wet dry, and some mothers.  DO NOT TRY THIS WITH CHROME. This process worked ONLY on the aluminum bits. The chrome posts were pretty far gone. They will need to be replaced. As such, I cleaned them a bit with steel wool. They bounced back, but you can still tell that they are roached.

 

Basic steps are:

1) Tape off what you don't want to sand

2) Check that you really taped it well

3) By hand (no need for power tools here) Sand with 400 ( I hit the immediate area with a swipe of a wad of "Never dull") This lubricates the area. You could use water if you don't mind the mess. Using Never dull or some other product means you will use more sandpaper in the process.

4) After the 400, hit everything again with Never dull and 600. Sand with the grain. If you can't find the grain, sand the 'long direction' of the frame.

5) DO NOT get all crazy cranking on the windshield frame. Use only about as much pressure as if you were waxing the car by hand. Just sand the aluminum like you were sanding some soft pine. Nice and easy with the grain. Lots of lubrication.

6) Make sure your paper isn't all clogged up. After a little bit, you will no longer feel the roughness of the corrosion. Once you have a nice smooth and uniform surface, switch to the mothers.

7) Using mothers or another aluminum polish - polish the surface until it shines. the rag will quickly turn black. Keep using a clean part of the cloth. In no time you will  have a black rag and a shiny chrome like surface!

8) Sit back and enjoy your refurbished apart~ 

Below are the before, during and after shots. This took me about an hour and a half from start to finish.

 

 

 

 

oh... no bucks showed up this time.  So here is a photo of our cat, Mia. She's part Siamese. My Daughter said "We should call her Mia, because that is part Sia"mia"ease too..."

 

Hey... she's only 8. give her a break!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good, Ted!

Even in the dry climate where I live, I have to pull out the Simichrome at least once a year and polish the windshield frame, along with all the other aluminum bits.

Looks fantastic Ted!

Ted.

Are you sure you really needed to use the sand paper?  I have never seen a case where Simichrome or Mothers and elbow grease or a buffing wheel didn't bring back a mirror like shine.

I would highly recommend that you stop using steel wool and go to bronze wool. There is a 100% chance that you will leave tiny bits of that steel wool in nooks and crannies. IT WILL RUST!! Bronze wool will not. It is available at marine stores i.e West Marine get fine grade.

Good idea on the bronze wool but I have done exactly this same treatment on my VS with sensational results.  Where it really made a hugedifference was on the bumber gards which were a mess and the only popolish that ever had a chance to shine them up was Rusty's secret polish he sends me from time to time.  Both my windshielsdframe and bumper guards look like new with a shine almost as bright as chrome plating.  

 

It was scary to apply the sandpaper to the windshield frame but I had used this process before on my airplane's aluminum nose cone with great results.  

 

Ted said to sit back and enjoy the refurbished parts and that's exactly right because it truly is completelt refurbished.  

The pitting was quite severe. The car spent 10 years two blocks from the coast sittin in an uncovered car port. The trim looked like the surface of the moon. I used to have a vintage travel trailer and the sandpaper treatment never failed me when I polished that sucker.  I've never actually seen Simichrome. Is it more abrasive than mothers?  I will say that now that I've knocked down the rough surface of the initial oxidation I'm sure I won't have to go that route again.

 

Good idea on the bronze wool. The bumpers / chrome seem to really come alive with once you cut the surface crud.

 

Ted

Speaking of oxidized parts!  I just received a large box from Sierra Madre!!

 

New fender mirror

New horn grills

New horn grill gaskets

New ignition switch (with the proper bezel and two keys)

4 new moon hubcaps

 

Back ordered:

4 drum skins.

 

I can't wait to get everything installed. All of the parts, with the patina intact, will be for sale - cheap!

Ted

Worked on the speedster today. Swapped out the horn grills and the mirrors.

Oh.. I also tried my hand at color sanding out some of the orange peel...

Beautiful, Ted!

Ted, it looks like you learned quickly on the color sanding topic. Nice job!

 

Hey guys!

 

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it. I only did the one side and boy what a difference. Looking at it again, it could still use more sanding in some areas. I was just telling Carl that it was a multi step process that took a good part of the morning.  I can't wait to do the hood and the rest of the car.

 

Highlight of the day yesterday was when a bunch of Harley riders pulled up next to me and said "That Black paint looks great. What do you use to get rid of the swirl marks!?..."    Their bikes looks fantastic too!

 

I used a Cyclo Polisher and some Chemical guys Black wax as the final step. I don't know if it's better than any other wax, but it looks deep.

 

I highly recommend anyone to check out autogeek.net and watch a couple of videos. I learned a ton just from watching them.

 

I'm about to crawl under the car to change the gear oil and install new boots.

 

Wish me luck! Need to keep one eye on the car and the looking out for that damn raccoon / German Shepard from SLO.

 

He's still out there...

Ted

Wow, Ted! Great job.

What a great job on that color sanding, Ted! A world of difference. You are a MACHINE!

 

BTW - That raccoon and his buddies are getting some serious mileage outta that hotel parking lot story!! 

Those raccoons have noting on me. I'll go to my grave telling the lore of the slo warecoon.

So, I finally made it around to swapping out the axel boots and the gear oil, sort of.  I started by draining the gear oil. Once the oil had been drained I was just about to remove the boots when Alexis came out and said the dishwasher wouldn't start.  I said I would look at it, in a bit.  She ( she who shall be obeyed ) came back and asked if she should just was 'everything' by hand?

This made a cold shiver go down my spine... I realized I had better go at least look at it.  An hour later I had it completely apart and was removing a piece of bone or rock out of the internal garbage disposal / chopper assembly. Naturally the hard material deformed a blade and the chopper screen.  Out to the garage to sharpen and straighten the assembly.  While in there, I figured I had better de-scale and clean all the crud. All on all, I had it back together and running in a couple of hours. But the speedster is still apart.

She who shall be obeyed... Always wins.

The upside is that the dishwasher looks and runs like a top!  Funny side note is that my brother in law came over. He saw what I was up to and said when their dishwasher died, it took two weeks for somebody to come look at it.  Alexis said... "Two weeks?...". All I was thinking was "you hired someone to come look at it?!"

I'm so glad I'm handy...

Ted

My hat's off to you, Ted. I work on commercial refrigeration equipment for a living. I HATE appliances.