Bingster

I bought one of those Speed Blaster sandblasting guns awhile back and it works great! Have been blasting the interior window garnish trim and all that rust comes off like a charm to reveal new metal like it was at the factory. Also great for bolts and washers, etc. The only down side to the Blaster is the small hopper that has to be filled when empty. It may be overkill, but I came up with the contraption in the attached photos. Works like a charm! Takes about two seconds to refill the hopper and you're blasting again. The problem, as I saw it, was to elevate the five gallon pail high enough to fill the Blaster hopper easily. But that pail gets heavy with media in it, so there had to be a way to fill the pail at ground level and then raise it for use while blasting. I think it is self-explanatory how it works.

Anybody do business with Custom Auto Glass? I'm looking for a source of good glass that fits. Thanks.

I removed the rear fender bolts and washers off my '47 Desoto. They were rusty as expected. I sandblasted them. I can get them plated for about $2.oo apiece. Or I could just prime and paint them. Or I could get new bolts but I cannot get the unique cupped washers that also serve as a lock washer. I could cut the old bolts from the washers and just use the washers with new bolts. Any ideas? And, if I plate, cadmium?

I understand your grief. Yeah, it can be very deep. My brother just lost his life long high school pal to cancer. He was about 65 or so. I'm 57 and nobody tells you when you're younger what it's going to be like when you reach your fifties. Life takes on new perspectives. Your kids go off to school. Friends pass on. I've been feeling it a lot of late. On the bright side, life is full of beautiful things and people, such as Wes. We are all headed for that great garage in the sky and I do believe that you will see Wes again some day. I'm in the process of altering my perspective on life to focus on the good things. People whom I loved died when I was younger, too, so age is relative. But anyway, there are those folks who are afraid to get close to people for fear of this kind of eventual loss. Like Greenbomb said, cherish your time with him and do mourn him. That is important. But you'll never forget him. Words seem so inadequate at these times!

Done!

In another potsing I explained the problems with getting a new windshield installed on my family car. I want to change insurance companies from State Farm to . . . ??? Any ideas on do's and don'ts?

Okay, here's the deal now. I called my insurance company (State Farm) and they said that they stand behind repairs made by "an approved shop." They said the shop I chose to do the work was not an approved shop, but that they allow customers to do work where they want. Therefore, the ins. company will not stand behind the windshield. (or sit behind it!) The ins. guy called my shop and they said they'd install another glass but odds are that it would also be defective. What's this?? I dumping both my insurance company and the shop. Any ideas for new insurance? The shop owner knows darn well that a perfect windshield is available. He should have told me beforehand the options. But the insurance company will not spring for a more expensive windshield. Why have the shop put in a new windshield of the same manufacture?

That was America at its industrial best. Cars made to last. Pride in workmanship. The only regrettable aspect of those photos is that they seem to have the black workers in the paint booth with what looks to be improvised respirators. Now, an America that could design and build these cars knew all about health hazards and respirators. They could have issued them. Why not? And why the black guys in there in what amounts to a gas chamber. Those fumes were incredibly toxic and strong. And you can see on his nose the accumilated paint spray on the cloth. But that was also America at that time. We did the same thing on the passenger trains. Black help was imported from Texas and other states to work in the hot, non-air conditioned dining car kitchens. A railroad chef that I interviewed for a book said that the black help did the jobs that the white workers didn't want to do. Hence, the paint spray booth workers.

This is off topic but I bet somebody out there knows the answer. I just had the windshield replaced on my 2006 Chrysler 300. The new windshield distorts down along where that black band with the dot pattern runs across the width of the glass. In the passenger seat or from the rear seat, if you look through that lower portion of the glass, the highway divider lines curve inward and the passing scenery also distorts. Should this be? The auto body guy said that he could put a new one in but there's no gaurantee the next one won't do the same thing. He said they're just making cheaper glass these days. Are there varying qualities of glass for these windshields? Don't they have to meet standards? I cannot recall if my original windshield did this. Does yours?

My prayers will go out for both of those intentions. Yeah, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to these things but we are told that there is. I'm assuming it will be all perfectly clear once we cross over.

How much do you want for the Desotos?

I'm not doing a lot right now. I bought a Speed Blaster which has received great reviews but is not a heavy duty unit. I may jump up to a bigger one later. Yeah, the humidity is killer here now. Wal Mart was having great trouble with their checkout stations because the electronics was affected.

Thanks very much. I think you're describing a cabinet. I'm just looking for the hood to protect my face and head.

I'm looking for an inexpensive yet effective sandblasting hood. What are you guys using?

Are these the mounts that go between the body and the frame? Is there a way to replace them without taking the body off the frame?

What would really be neat is a listing of the old special tools and their modern counterparts to get the job done. I've been looking through my '47 Desoto shop manual and there's a tool for everything, including clothespins, which I can do! For example, the rear hub pullers I've seen guys talk about on here. And gear pullers for this and that. There has to be modern equivilents unless the old tools are useless for anything but the old cars. Maybe so. Maybe there's no need for a rear hub puller now. That probably sounds stupid but I couldn't tell you offhand how to get a wheel hub off my Chrsyler 300. It would also seem like there is a market for a tool company to make the special tools for these old cars. They don't seem that difficult to manufacture, but maybe the volume isn't there.

Beautiful, beautiful work! Hope mine turns out as well.

That SW paint sounds interesting. I always like a two part paint because they obviously provide a harder coating than regular. I think I will replace all my screws, bolts, etc. with new. Cheaper and less work. I'll save the old ones for any future buyer.

Thanks for the input. I'll have to change my proceedure.

I have my '47 Desoto stored in a large metal building that gets very humid inside here in Iowa. I had stripped and used Eastwood's Rust Converter primer on a number of sheet metal parts on and off the car. The parts that were topcoated with their Chassis Black paint seems okay. But on some of the parts that I didn't topcoat, the rust has come through the primer. Other places the rust has bubbled but not come through the paint yet. I thought their rust converter was suppossed to seal the rust. Well, I guess it needs the topcoat to really do the job, although I think I might see some rust on places that were topcoated as well. Is there a better paint for the chassis parts? Now, is it better to use new screws and bolts rather than sandblast old ones where the rust can come back? This is a driver, so it will be subjected to humidity and the elements. I'll baby it as much as I can but this is Iowa. Any thoughts?

Yes, I'd like one for my '47 Desoto as well.

I've got a compressor with a 26 gal. tank that does 10.5 cfm @ 90 psi. I want to add a Sears 30 gallon tank to the set-up to give it extra air time. Can anybody tell me the proper method of connection? I assume I could pipe from the lower drain hole of the 26 gallon unit and connect that with the 30 gallon tank. (top or bottom of tank?) I'm also assuming this would give me more time for using a small sandblaster to keep the motor from running continuously.

I've been doing some research and it seems like a small hand held gravity feed unit called the Speedblaster is really catching on. They say it works great for smaller stuff and even wheels. There is also a feature called the Hot Spot which apparently can clean a tiny spot and not get a grain of sand anywhere. This unit re-captures its sand. Napa also sells a similar unit that can also siphon sand from a bucket or bag. Any experiences out there? It was cars guys who have been using these units.

I'm looking to get a sandblaster but can't afford the big units. Plus, my compressor couldn't keep up with them. I am looking at those smaller units for a couple hundred bucks. I don't need to strip an entire car, just smaller parts. I'd appreciate your experiences with various units. Thanks.

You mean the days of the simple valve job are past?