Carson's C-121

There was a little rust edge on the dash panel where the switches and screws were.  The Evapo-Rust I use said it was safe for plastics so I tried it out.  It didn't take it all off but it did get rid of most of the edge.  

I blasted some of the hood today and like I expected it's full of rust pits.  The sides were also ground with something pretty aggressive.  It's hard to see in the pics but the grooves are deep enough that they will show when painted so the hood is a no go, especially when it is open and you can see the under side...  

 

Started getting everything ready to close up a motor so it can be put in the blaster.  Blasting a bare block when doing an engine rebuild is one thing but this is a little more complicated.  Carson's will be the first and hopefully done the beginning of next week.  The biggest thing was making a steel plate with a rubber reusable gasket to close up the intake.  I made a 1/4" thick plate, punched some holes in it then elongated them in the mill for small block inconsistencies.  The rest of it was just using vinyl covers and putting bolts in through holes and aluminum pieces so the aluminum shot doesn't try to reprofile the threads.  The flywheel bolt holes also go through and the stator is right behind them.

I think I have most of it done and everything used will go in a container that will become something used for jobs like this.  I'll get Kevin to check this out tomorrow to see if I missed or could improve anything.  A second pair of eyes never hurts.  

 

Gonna give this motor blasting a shot tomorrow.  

The engine in the blaster thing worked out really good.  It took almost an hour but if it was hung on a spinner and I didn't have to constantly move it little by little I think it could have been done in half the time.  It sure looks good and I don't have wire shards in me and little bleeding spots...  

I'll get pics of it up tomorrow on the bench and all uncovered.  I thought it would turn out good but it turned out perfect, even underneath parts still on the motor.  I am Mr Happy and Carson will be too.  

 

Everything came out the best.  All those little places that you can't get to are blasted up clean as new like under the starter, around every nut + bolt, the engine cooling fins, head, etc.  There's no other way to make things this good without putting something in the blaster.  It's one of the better ideas I've had and really saved a lot of time.  It's also the progression of always trying to do a better job around here and make the end result even better.  

Everything was capped up and plugged today to get ready for paint.  The front of the rearend and rear of the frame was painted with rust preventative paint.  It's not painted from the factory because it's already assembled.  It catches a lot of debris in there so the rust preventer will help a lot.  It's not the right color red but it gets painted over again so it doesn't matter.  

 

I've been getting better and better about taking time to make things that make things go quicker and easier while doing a better job.  Yesterday was making pipes to cover the front 3/4" rods that hold the pedals.  I had some 3/4" ID thin walled pipe in the metal rack from who knows where, dad prob brought it up here a long time ago so I used it.  No more taping them up or cleaning them up later.  Just slide them on and put a 3/4 vinyl cap on to keep them on till the painting is done.  

Most of the past 2 days has been getting everything ready and prepped for final paint including the motor blasting.  The rebuilt steering support had to be closed up good because it was machined and there's no room for any paint in there at all with the new bushings.  All of the black parts for the chassis were painted yesterday except the motor.  The bottom of the motor was done because I planned on painting it on the turn table but that ended up changing as you will see on Monday.  The original dash panel was also dyed and came out good.  There's a little smooth smiley face looking area near the bottom under the ignition switch hole.  It was prob from an extra key or key chain rubbing it for years.    

Monday's post will be something to see.  It was 75 and sunny with 37% humidity and a light breeze, perfect painting weather for painting outside.  A lot of painting was done but it's already late and time to go.  Will get those pics on the computer and post them on Monday.   

 

Time flies when you're having fun.  I gets so late so fast...  

I figured if I put some longer bolts in the transmission holder I could paint the whole thing outside without missing any spots.  Another cool thing I can use it for.  All of the black and red parts for the chassis were painted on Sat.    

Including the motor...   

I love painting outside.  I get to enjoy the nice weather and there's no mess to clean up in the shop.  

The previous 2 posts were from last Sat. 

All the time is in figuring out what can or can't be saved, getting parts ready, blasting, assembling + test fitting, disassembling, and final prepping.  Painting is the quick and easy part.  There are 37 pics from the unwrapping and assy today I have to go through and it's after 7pm once again so that will be tomorrow...  

 

Some of the pics from yesterday.  Motor, transmission, and everything else turned out really nice.   

Everything was unwrapped yesterday and started checking things, sealing up some things on the motor, and the new seals are in the transmission.  The 5th pic shows one of the new Wheel Horse clamps holding up the engine plug.  It's the same as what Kohler used that was on there so that was nice even though it's hard to see.