Blasting, Blasting, Blasting

Started blasting the frame. Set up a plastic tent with a plastic pipe frame. Put a couple of pieces of panel board down for the floor and to make it easier to collect the blown sand. Works pretty well. Found out I can buy blasting sand at Huffmans Farm and Home for $5.50 a bag. That is much better than the dollar a pound stuff at other places. Works good for the frame. I think it will be too course for the cab and fenders. Will have to see about soda blasting those. Anyway, it is tedious, dirty and sand goes everywhere. I bundled up with my welding jacket and filter mask, then the hood. The plastic lens in the hood doesn't last too long with all the sand bouncing off it. I cut 4 more spares out of some left over stuff I had in the shop. The blasting will take a few days to finish and our yearly motorcycle ride will be upon us starting this Saturday. Rubber Toes and Two Gallon will ride up here to Wever fron Topeka on friday and we leave for a 10 state ride through the Smokies this year. Heading to the "Tail of the Dragon" in Deals Gap, North Carolina. This means no work on the F1 for about 2 weeks.
Oh well, it's not like it's a race. Who has more fun than me?

The Frame is Empty

Today I finished removing all the parts from the frame that will be coming off. I started by grinding off the heads of the rivets holding the rear spring pearches, and driving them out with a punch. Moved up to the transmission crossover mount and did the same thing, Had to do some tricky grinding on the rivets holding the front end and motor mounts. Got them all punched out and dropped out the front end. Those boys at the Ford Company back in 48 sure new how to put in a tight rivet.
This all brought me back to the Hillyard Diesel Shop, when I was a Sheetmetal Worker/Pipefitter, and knocked rivets off the panels on old Great Northern F units. Guess what, I'm still working on a F unit. Also remembered that even though I wear leather gloves to hold the punch, It seems like evey fifth strike with the hammer gets my left index finger top knuckle. The left hand is now slightly larger than the right one. This all goes away with a few beers.
Sandblasting the frame comes next and I still haven't quite got that figured out. I need to get the frame outside I think to keep the mess down in the garage. Still thinking about a portable floor for the blasting booth (maybe a piece of linoleum). Should start on that next week. When the frame is clean, I will start putting the new suspension on. It will be nice to work on clean stuff.
I wonder how many beers before this swelling goes down?

Portable Blasting Booth

As you can see by the pictures, I set up a very primitive Blasting booth. Although it does work, I figured out a smaller one will fulfill most of my needs. I cut the plastic pipe in half to 5 feet long and this will give me a 5 foot by 5 foot square 7 feet high. This should capture the media in a smaller area. I now need to come up with a better floor. I will do some research at Menards and Lowe's.
I did a small welding job on a hitch for a friend today and then sandblasted it and painted it. All those skills worked, but need enhancement. I hope Bob's trailer doesn't leave his hitch somewhere along the highway.

The hunt for knowledge is exciting and learning what you don't know is, well, what can I say. Should have done this 40 years ago.

Sandblasting is a blast

Well, time to try out the sandblasting. I first hooked up the little cheap hand hopper I got from Harbor Freight and it worked, but not very well. I then hooked up the roll around siphon rig my son-in-law John loaned me. I had renewed the siphon hose, as it was deteriorated, with a new longer one and things didn't work at all. Found out if I shortened the hose and lowered the pressure it worked pretty well. With all the research I did on blasting, they are right. This is a messy job. You also need serious protective gear. It also goes through blasting media like Montazuma's revenge. Sooo, need to find a place to buy media cheaper and build a portable enclosure to blast in and be able to reclaim the media. I'm not detoured by this as I learned some patience while woodworking. It is kinda neat to watch all the rust and paint desolve right before your eyes. As you can see, I am easily entertained.

Compressor air piping in

Went to town today for the pipe and fittings to finish up the lines from the air compressor. Got it all piped and except for cleaning up my mess and putting a few more clamps on, I think it's finished. Doing a leak down test as we speak. Looks good so far. Didn't even fall off a ladder today. That's a plus in itself.
Should be able to try some sandblasting soon.
That old front suspension is staring at me and wondering when it will get it's freedom.

Inside work

It was raining again all day today, so thought I would tackle removing the rearend. This one didn't come out easy. Had to use a cheater bar on a breaker bar to get the nuts to break loose. After a bunch of penetrating oil was poured on and a lot of grunting, they popped loose. Anyway, got the rearend out and only smashed one thumb. I think It's all comin back to me now.
Next I think I will pull the rear springs and spring purches. They are riveted on the frame, so will grind off the heads and punch or drill out the rivets. I have to be careful with this part as the new rear suspension will use these same holes.
Anybody reading this stuff???

Engine and tranny are out

Finished wiring the Big Ass compressor this morning and cranked it up. Sounds great and pumped up to 175 pounds. This baby ought to blow the drawers of anything. Now I have to pipe it and install an in line dryer to take the moisture out of the air. This is a USA made compressor and it sure shows.
Next I pulled the driveline out of the F1 and got all the rest of the motor and transmission bolts out and unhooked the clutch linkage. Hooked the web straps around them both and rolled the gantry crane over and hooked up the chain hoist. Nancy came out and helped me work it up out of the frame. Tried to set it down on the cart I had made for it and had to pull it back up and do some modifications to the cart. My jigsaw fixed that and then set it back in place on the stand. I'll roll it over in the corner some where out of the way till I figure out what to do with it.
The rear end will be the next thing to come out and then the rear suspension which is all rivited in. A lot of grinding and drilling to do there.
The frame is sure starting to look bare.

Christmas in April

Has been a good day today. Picked up Dave Aldershof this morning and headed to West Branch Iowa to get the new suspension kit. I posted a couple of pictures of Dave and his 39 Chevy and 32 Roadster for you to admire.
On arrival at Chassis Engineering we were greated by Jim, The owner who takes the money, and Denny and George who helped me with ordering parts. They had everything boxed and ready to go. Very nice people to deal with.
Before loading up. we went Through the shop to the back building where Roy Lewis, the retired original owner, was working on his 32 foot long duel diesel engine land speed record vehicle. Roy holds the single diesel engine LSR at Bonneville at a hair over 306 MPH. He is the driver of the car and is slightly older than I am. He is in the process of adding a second engine and will try to break the duel engine record this year set by Andy Greene at 317 MPH. Greene has gone 350 in his car but not a record attempt.
The picture of the 1916 Harley is Roy's round tuit job. He give's me insperation.
Brought all the parts home and unloaded them in the Garage and went to get Nancy to show her the Mothers Day present I got for her.
Going to pull the engine and Transmission next.

Big Blue is here

Big blue (the compressor) got delivered today. Now I have to set it in place and wire it. Should be ready to do some sandblasting soon. Got to get the engine and transmission out next. My new front and rear suspension kit is ready up in West Branch and Dave Aldershof will go up with me Monday to haul it all home. It will set for a while til I get all the old front and rear suspension off. Then I will sandblast the frame. Then the long process of putting things back together begins. I've been told, that's the hard part.