35-36 Ford rear wishbones...strengthened, drilled and polished!

God your sick, but in a good way!

 

The tube is done and back in the HAMBers hands, ready to go under a cool traditional hot rod.

 

Superior work again! Very impressive. Wondered if you could share your source for all your finishing supplies. Not many vendors around these parts that have reasonable prices and a decent array of products. Usually have to mail order and then often surprised by the poor quality of the pieces.

 

These were sent from another member for some clean up. After blasting the scars from use are clearly evident. There is a large dent close to one end, and some rub marks, can't find a single tube to replace it, as all my cores are complete and don't want to part them out. Will see what happens when I try and repair it, it still may need replacing. They also have some gouges from years of floor jacks as well as almost worn through shackle mounts, but they will be removed. More in a few days.

^^^ vtwhead I get my abrasives from my local welding supply and a local tool supply.

 

After closer examination, I noticed that one of the flanges was bent and getting it straight so it would seal again was an exercise in futility. I checked some local resources for bells but all I could find were late ones, so I pulled an early A rear from my private stash that I was saving...oh well, they're going to a good home.

Typical crusty vintage car parts, old grease and spiders, bells came off with no problems. I took them to a local machine shop with a wash cabinet, a half hour and they were nice and clean. While there I measured the bearing area, one measurement vertical as the bearing rides and one from the side, both bells were in good shape.

Pics next post.

 

I recently went to my own local welding supply and bought a bunch of those small diameter flap wheels and other abrasives.
I was amazed at how expensive the really good quality ones are. They last longer than some of the really cheap Chinese or Taiwanese stuff, but wow, it's easy to walk out a couple hundred dollars lighter.

 

Well done keep the updates coming

 

Look for , Standard Abrasives Inc has been around since the 50s . Now part of 3M, they sell kits for different applications, which work out a lot cheaper than going to a tool supply and buying one at a time. I used to be able to buy direct but something has changed there. Summit sells their porting kit for under 90 bucks, it's over 110 on Amazon and way more from the tool guys that I tried.
There is also Superior Abrasives and Performance abrasives kits at Summit for under $40.00 which seem to have good reviews.

 

Great work

 

Here they are, freshly blasted, you can see all the nicks and gouges along the tube and on the bell from rocks thrown up by the front tires over the years, both look about the same. The spring perches were cut off long ago, I would have removed them if they hadn't as the tubes will have 35-36 bone mounts welded on. I told the blaster not to blast the inner flange/bearing area, I didn't want the mating surface compromised.

 

amazing stuff ..... very inspiring!

 

I got most of the gouges sanded out, there may be a few spots that will need filling after the next grit. I will be leaving the welds, I don't want to try and remove them as the tube would warp from welding. I will clean them up and knock the rough points down, then let the polishing compound do the rest. The area around the bolt holes that were machined will be left, some are mostly gone and what will remain will be covered by washers.

It's hard to photograph, but where the tube meets the bell it is wavy and not a perfectly smooth transition, I only mention this as it will be apparent after they are chromed.

Pics next

 

Some more progress shots, the ends will take some time, lots of low areas, some filling maybe?. The square area where the spring perch was will be smoothed and rounded, no reason to remove it. Again, after doing so much polishing I can tell when a low spot or imperfection just won't sand out, some very small imperfections/scars will need filling.

 

The compound curve of the bell is very hard to sand, no matter what tools or abrasives I used, it left an uneven surface. I did what I could and then went up to a local friends well equipped shop to use his lathe. It looks like it's really spinning but was just doing 70 RPM. Started with 50 grit and then finished up with 180 emery cloth. Took awhile get the surface where I wanted it, note raw finger tips, but coming along nicely...

Pics next

 

I used graduating grits of sand paper and wet sanded all until my fingers were raw. I then went over them with a DA sander and 400 grit. The shot of them together is before polishing, and one shot polishing. Final pics in a day or so.

 

You are a Mad man .In a Good way.

 

Beautiful work Harv!!!

 

O.C.D. ?
great work...

 

Cool.
Al.

 

I did some polishing for a local plater when 16. He agreed to chrome all the parts for my '32 if I polished them (his place, my time, I paid for abrasives)
I must have been more ambitious, (plus my parts were from local sources, Santa Clara valley; read: Little rust! Much still had original Ford black paint on it in 1955!)

Watching your meticulous grinding, shaping, polishing is now...exhausting!
The addition of the strap to get the peak had me going, I wondered why the extra thickness on the upper side!
Then we found out...

 

Wow!