Vapour blasting is a process that is suitable for Aluminum, Bronze, Magnesium, Elektron, Titanium, Brass, Copper etc. It will gently clean the surface without damage to gasket faces etc, produces a satin finish which will handle without picking up finger marks and gently peens the surface which reduces porosity in castings. Vapour Blasting utilises water and a fine blast media in suspension, delivered by a special pump and accelerated by compressed air to the process nozzle. The non-aggressive metal surface finishing action of the aqueous-based media creates a thoroughly clean and lightly abraded result, without impinging on the metal surface. If required, the cleaning media can include a mild detergent to remove grease or oil. The ratio between the water pressure and air pressure in the process nozzle is variable and controllable, allowing an effective “water buffer” to be maintained between the abrasive media and the surface being processed. This creates a lubricating action and washes the surface continuously during processing. The process is less aggressive than dry blast cleaning and no dust is produced with this metal surface finishing.
That sucks, especially on a round car. Hopefully the body is close enough to work in high fill primer.
Your right mate, block sanding is my least favourite part of any build At the moment i'm just keying up the gelcoat with 120 grit, then i will get 3 coats of epoxy primer on it and see how it looks then correct any bits and then some hi build on it, to be honest so far the panels have come out pretty well.
Best thing I ever did was spend $70 each for 100 count boxes of 320 and 800 grit D.A. hook & loop film paper. My finger tips, hands, forearms, shoulders, and back thanked me.
WOW..she's really coming to life.I'm still blown away by your craftsmanship and building this baby out of your garage when most of the stuff you did, huge shops do and charge a crapload too.
To be honest i kinda wanted to build this mostly like they would of done in the old days, Working outside is a bit of a challenge but i've quite enjoyed the challenge so far. I'm always busy in my shop with customers cars and i do have a space for one of my own projects which is my 26T but this one wasn't planned at all until the UK Gasser Circus started and i thought "yup i fancy a go at that"
Not much progress recently unless you class block sanding GRP Had a break from it last 2 nights and decided to sort out the blower hole in the hood, most people seem to just form a lip around the hole and leave it at that but i wanted something a little different I decided to make a stainless finisher that would also add some rigidity to the hood, first job was to decide on a design and make a template in 1/4" plywood. Next the template was cut into sections as i was using 1/4" stainless offcuts from the scrap bin. The shapes were cut out of the stainless with a thin cutting wheel in an angle grinder and smoothed to shape with a flap disc in the angle grinder, then the 4 pieces were tacked together for a trial fit. Once i was happy with the fit it was finished welded and radius's were sanded into the outer and inner edges and everything sanded smooth. Next 5/16" holes were marked and drilled at 1" spacings to give some asthetics, and another trial fit The backside was drilled and tapped for 5mm grub screws and holes drilled in the hood, Last job was to give it a quick polish and it was job done .
A simple hole in the hood just wouldn't do, eh? Wow, you just took an overlooked detail and took it over the top. Nice work! Oh, the rest of the car is bitchin' too!
Glad to hear it mate, I was enjoying our early spring but it seems to have stalled, only 8 degrees here today, last week it was 26 !!!
liking the hood finisher Steve,little bit of "steampunk" influence going on, hows the motor coming along?
Motor in the car at the moment is an original 1970 500, these are the most powerful they built and not easy to find these days so don't want to break it up so i'm using another block & crank i have, got most of the parts to start the motor build, just waiting for the custom ground hydraulic roller cam and a few other bits to arrive, then i can make a start.
The Jalopy Journal
