Modified Murray- Stripping and Steering

Alright... it's been awhile. Things have been busy outside hot rod building land, so I've just been doing what I can when I can. Sorry it's been awhile. As requested, here's some progress...

It's a dirty job... stripping that is. But I guess someone has to do it. Ready for a change of view? I was!!

First thing was first. I had been talking with Creepy Jack about some stuff called "the Must for Rust" and another awesome product called Gibbs (I'm sure you've heard of it). I thought I would try them out on my top cowl panel as well as the trusty old JASCO super evil paint stripper! Love that stuff!!



Add JASCO



Let sit.... scrape!



MMMM.... lookin' better already! Few applications, some scratchin' and scrapin and this is what the basic panel looked like:



There was some bare spots that rusted...



This was my chance to try out the Must for Rust, some scrubbing with Scotch Brite pads (maroon colored) and a little bit of wire brushing.



SEXY! Let's do the rest of the panel!





Looks new!! Except for the bottom!



I'll explain how I'm going to handle that in a moment.



Spray down with Gibbs protectant and see how it looks! Makes things look better already!!

Maybe I should do the whole body.... HMMMM.... hold tight. Maybe I DID!??

 

Looks great man, very slick.

 

I really need to get a life.... this stripping thing is a lot of work! I'm not even getting any tips for my stripping!!

Rolled the car outside and got to work with the JASCO, the Must For Rust, the Gibbs and the trusty wire brush wheel and Scotch Brite pads.



I see raw metal!!



No more "To Do" list on the door.... oh well! I'll just have REMEMBER what I need to do!







I uncovered some cancer spots under the cowl band. I'll have to make up some patches for those.



Speeking of patch panels.... these came a few weeks ago from A-Fordable Parts.



They look like great quality panels. The "rear door" panels will be the start of the panels that will be made to fill in the wheel wells and rear lower corners. Another HAMBer graciously offered to help me roll those out. Almost ready for those! I will make some forms first so we have a guide to work off of.

Still one problem to deal with before I can go any further with the subfloor (which needs to be done before I can weld in the wheel well panels).... there's this little thing called RUST!



I started soaking and scrubbing with the Must For Rust, but it was just too much and the nooks and crannies were too hard to get in. Monday a guy is going to come over and give me an estimate to get the rest media blasted. Sounds like it will be relatively inexpensive from this point, so it will be worth it to just have it done and move on. This will help a ton!

Next.... steering stuff and the master cylinders showed up!

More in a minute...

 

Some new parts came in... picked up a Lime Works steering wheel from another HAMBer, quick release hub to mount it, steering shaft, a Wilwood clutch master cylinder, and a 67-70 Mustang brake master cylinder. Now I could really start thinking about how in the hell I'm going to control this thing.

I'll be using a Mopar steering box for the cowl steering and the pedals will be set up reversed swing style (masters pointing back towards the driver). So I did a little mock up on the floor just to do some thinking.





Now mocked up in the car.



Not much room for the fingers! I think I can make some adjustments to work that out.



Here's the quick release. I won't need to remove the steering wheel to get in and out, but it will help getting to things inside the car when needed, for adjustments or whatever. (the ugly red anodize will be stripped off. Summit said it was black... obviously it's NOT!)



OH yeah! I made a burly header panel out of 1x3. It REALLY stiffened things up quite a bit! I still need to adjust the fit a bit and add rivnuts for the windshield, but other than that, It's pretty much good to go.



For the heck of it I mocked up the 6 Holleys all together so I could remind myself I have a Hemi to think about very soon!

 

So what's next??? (wish I still had the to do list! HAHA)

- finish welds on the chop
- get the inside media blasted sometime in the next couple weeks
- finish the sub floor
- fab floor panels
- patch panels
- start work on the wheel well panels
- finalize the pedal layout and design the working mechanisms
- build cowl structure to support the steering, brakes and electrical panel
- pull body and start finish up the fab work and welds on the frame

Okay... that's all I've got for now.

Thanks for reading!

 

Looks great! Where did you get the quick-release for the steering?

 

Damn I love your updates.

question - are you going to leave the cowl top removable so that you can fill the brake and clutch reservoirs?

 

I got the quick release from Summit racing. $49-ish?? I think it's a Rebco. SUPER easy to use. I figured once it's refinished in black it will be semi unoffensive looking. The less obvious it is the better! Blending it with the column I'm going to make is going to be a little tricky though. I'll figure something out.

Thanks man!

Are these posts just long and boring?? Just curious if I talk too much...

 

There's a patina freak thats really, really pissed at you now. Ha ha. Looking good.

 

Are these posts just long and boring?? Just curious if I talk too much... [/quote]


Not at all. Always look forward to seeing what you are up to and always find the posts very informative. Great pictures and text make it a must follow thread for me.

 

looks good scooter !! i think you need to leave that sweet red on the quick release !!!!! and it looks to me like you have plenty of room for your fingers in there ! its your feet im worried about!!

 

BWAHAHA!!! BUMMER!! Can't please EVERYONE now can we? No plans for rust on this car. In fact, I think this is the color I'm leaning towards

 

That's what I'm worried about too!!! I spent about an hour sitting in it today with wheel in hand trying to figure out seating position. Came to some conclusions....

1) clutch and brake will be tight but managable if I have the throttle (probably spoon size) close to the trans tunnel. I'm going to have a "rub plate" for my foot to comfortably slide on to operate the pedal.

2) I'm going to round off the top of the Z behind the seat and gusset the bottom and maybe fish plate it. This should allow me to actually move the seat back an inch if I choose. I'm going to use some very low profile adjusters so the seat stays nice and low on the floor.

Here's the top corners I'm talking about (old picture)

 

Scoot.... you just screwed yourself out of a Full feature in Ol' Skool Rodz when you eliminated the rust.... dang it just think about it... a full spread!!! I might have to leave the rust on my coupe and take your feature! hahahaha

Very nice job, I had the same thought about the header on my coupe, I wanted to put in a 1 x 2 rect tubing in there.

I enjoy watching your updates!! keep em going it helps give me some inspiration.

 

Yes! The Must For Rust is used with the Scotch Brite pads. I sprayed it on and let it sit for a little bit. Then I sprayed it on again and started scrubbing. Every now and then I would spray again to keep it wet and wash away the scrubbed off rust. You can actually see it dissappear before your eyes! Pure voodoo man!!! After a bit of scrubbing I wiped it off and hit it with a wire wheel on an angle grinder (dedicated a crappy HF grinder just for these type of tasks). One more quick spray and scrub for good measure and it was gone.



Here's the stripper I use. It's basically an off the shelf aircraft type stripper. It is NASTY stuff! The slightest bit of this stuff will burn the hell out of your skin!! Works good though!



I will DEFINITELY cover ALL details of the wheels wells being fabbed and filled! That will be the one thing that will complete the overall look and bring everything together. There will be some lower rear panels fabricated with louvers as well so air can escape from under the rear kick up area. They will be removable for battery access.

 

You are not kidding about Jasco products being nasty.. I used their tar remover to get the mastic off of the floors in the kitchen so that I could put tile down.. high as a kite and it burned when it hit my skin.

lost a few brain cells that day!

- Joe

 

How are you going to access the masters?

- Joe

 

The best part is when you go to take your gloves off to scratch or something and you accidently get a little in the cuff. Then you put them back on and... AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! HAA! Good times!

 

careful when you pee.

 

YES!!!!!!! HAHAH!!!

The cowl top panel will be removable.

 

Scooter..........asum !! i cant wait to see it at the breakfast!! glad the steering wheel worked out for you. that car is killer !!

 

Look at you, making all kinds of progress! That cowl panel looks beautiful!! I bet you have some time in that. I think that you will be thrilled once you get the inside blasted, there are so many nooks & crannies that it would be about impossible to get it all, short of spending 2 months hanging upside down inside the car If you did that all by hand, you'd be thinking it was a bargain at $1000 to have the inside blasted!!

I'm happy for you man, keep up the great progress. Now I gotta go work on the rpu so I can keep up with your flurry of activity

Dan

 

Actually.... that cowl panel surprising took just under two hours. Messy business though!!!

Thanks for the kind words guys!! Everytime I'm done working, put away the tools, sweep up the mess, I'm right back to being ready to work! I've decided that at this point, I need to do whatever it takes to get this done. I never dreamed what it would take to take on a project like this. Takes more mental power than I ever imagined! Not to mention the general life dedication. Not much time for anything else except work to pay for parts and the rest of the time spent building or planning. I think I have as much time staring, sketching and planning as I do actual physical labor/construction. Not to mention the amount of time hangin' around this place trying to learn stuff!!

Thanks for your support guys! I've learned a lot from all of you!

 

Does that Jasco work on old bondo and fiberglassed over metal ?

 

It works on powdercoats and epoxys, so it should work on bondo too. Not sure on fiberglass, but I'm sure it would have a reaction.

 

Sounds like I need to give it a try unless somebody has a suggestion other than dipping or blasting.

 

FWIW, my '31 had a lot of rotten fiberglass on it, and aircraft stripper took it off with a little more effort than it takes off filler and paint. Better than trying to crack it all off, at any rate. HTH.

 

Was this a fordor? I am doing the same thing with a Murray forder. I was going to make an extended cab pickup. Or was this a tudor?

 

Were can you find that "The Must for Rust" stuff?

 

Yes! Was a 31 slant window, deluxe town sedan. Here's the earlier threads...
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/search.php?searchid=3362069

Homeless Depot, Lowes, etc. About $7 a bottle. You can find it in larger quantities for less money.