Hot Rods The Belly Button Bucket Build Thread

Before and after. Got one frame rail done. I spent more time blocking the frame rails - the gussets in the kicking is where I started and didn't take those down really far. So far I'm happy with the effort.




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Great work!

 

The fabrication and detail in this thread is astounding.

 

Top and insides done from firewall forward- I only wet sanded the top.






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Nice!

 

Thanks guys. I've pretty much been in uncharted territory since day one.


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Tim, I hope you don't mind a little thread derail.
So here's a question for the PC experts, well two actually.
In the paint world there are four distinct black offerings:
Gloss, semi gloss, flat and semi flat plus other variables such as satin.
I'm guessing the PC offerings would be the same but at what point are these variables established, at the manufacturer or at the hands of the powder coater?
The other question is regarding the "orange peel" as Tim experienced (common I hear).
My deuce chassis will be either semi gloss or semi flat black and truthfully I don't know the difference, definitely not straight flat.
So my second question is if their is significant "orange peel" will the finish end up shinier than expected if a cut and buff effort is required as Tim has done on his gloss finish.

 

Excellent question!


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Great attention to detail!

 

No expert, but found this
http://www.paintinfo.com/mpi/approved/sheen.shtml

and for more
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paint_sheen
https://www.sherwin-williams.com/ar.../inspiration/stir/sw-art-stir-gloss-and-sheen
http://www.doxuchem.com/article/doc/view/43.html

and of course, the basics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powder_coating

 

I did some reading on the links above, and if I understand the generic wiki link correctly, my frame powder was either thinner or cured colder than what Russel does, which caused the orange peel. There are many other variables involved, but maybe a request could be made to have your frame (Doug) coated thick, with max curing temp/time? That should eliminate orange peel if I understand it correctly.

The weather was wayyyyyy too nice to spend the remainder of the weekend wet sanding and buffing parts, so I'll get the rest of the frame done in a few days once my weekend starts!

 

Thanks Tim
Yes, the weather was breathtaking here today too.

 

Doug, when I get parts coated black, I have them done 60 percent gloss. BTW my work is done out in Yamhill, great work at a fair price. Tim, your going to have to hustle to make the Portland Transmission Show. Your project is coming along nicely.

 

May 12th !?! I will give it a go, but I'm not so sure haha. Definitely sans paint, probably no interior lol. BTW, Marty, I'm in need of your services if you're up for it... I'll PM you the details in the next few days. I want to make sure I have usable parts before I drag them over!

 

Thanks Marty
I looked them up, not much on the internet about them, I'm interested in following up on this with you.

 

Well, I have successfully made a giant mess, but I also got the last part of the frame wet sanded, cut and buffed. It came out really good. Gonna take the rest of the night off, and I will start cleaning and assembly tomorrow morning.

I'm missing the 3rd member to assemble the rear suspension, and I'm sure several nuts and bolts I will want to change out, but it feels pretty nice to make progress like this!






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This is taking longer than I thought LOL. But the results are beyond what I thought I could achieve.


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Looking forward to this part

 

Wow Tim, that's looking great.
My internet died Monday (still dead) so haven't been able to view, I'm using a friends pc.
That was refreshing to see some progress.
Keep after it.

 

Well, I unfortunately didn't get much more done other than hanging a couple small brackets - I came to the conclusion that to proceed further, a garage cleaning was in order to gain more room.... which of course spiraled out of control. It was desperately needed, though. Ever since I moved in, I have been shoving boxes from one side of the garage to the other, with empty shelves and storage totes to boot.... Clearly I have some serious issues. Luckily for me (and extremely unluckily for them), one of the local Sears is going out of business, so I snagged up as much storage related items as I could for a pretty decent deal. I had to buy the missing pieces at several other local Sears stores at full price, so it sort of equaled out for them haha.

I also went round and round with how to dress my fuel and brake lines (think I got that figured out), and I have been looking at fastener options (still scheming on those). About 1/3 to 1/2 of my chassis nuts/bolts are casstle nuts and cotter pins, and the rest are Nylocs. I think I want to use castle nuts and cotter pins wherever possible (mainly to keep continuity), but I'm not looking forward to drilling stainless bolts for cotter pins..... Which brings up a question..... When did Nyloc nuts come into the picture? I think I'm gonna have to use them for some parts, and I'm ok with that, but it got me wondering when they came on the scene...

Anyway, my brother told me he was gonna come help this coming weekend, so fingers crossed for pictures of a rolling chassis! Additionally, fingers crossed I get things cleaned up so this can happen!

 

I feel you on the cleaning and storage. I hit a point, suddenly, one day where I could not get anything done on my car because I had made such a mess of my shop. I've been chipping away at my reorg for most of the winter now.

One thing I did for my power-tools is grab some of these heavy plastic bins at the hardware store and screw them to a HF dolly. This slides right under my bench and I can see what's where at a glance. I'm digging it over shelves and drawers.



Nyloc appears to have a British patent date in 1982:

http://www.boltscience.com/pages/glossary.htm

https://data.epo.org/publication-se.../19820310/patents/EP0047061NWA1/document.html

 

Stover Nuts/aka distorted thread nuts are a good alternative to Nyloks

 

The distorted nuts work good on exhaust systems where heat will melt the nylon in Nylocs.
FYI, some of the locknuts that have the slits on one end are known to pull/destroy threads.

 

I was going to suggest the all metal lock nuts as well.

 

I have a couple of those bins I put under some shelving to use as scrap metal/scrap wood bins. I might have to pick up a couple more!

Thanks Gents. I'll give those a look as well. I guess I hadn't thought of those.

 

I grabbed 4 of them, grossly overestimating the size of my tool collection, so that was my plan for the other 2. My current scrap bin got to be an unusable obstacle quickly. Previously I had a mid sized Rubermaid bin on a small furnitre dolly, but the small pieces disappeared to the bottom, the mid size pieces locked in place, the long pieces became hazards, and it didn't get wheeled around because I started putting drops around it instead of in it (so I could find them). I'm looking at those inexpensive lumber racks on Amazon to hang some of my long stock up. That or just some bike/utility hooks.

 

Tim, I'd suggest putting a layer of cardboard under the moving blankets. Added padding for your body!

I assume you already have the standard 5 gallon bucket or milk crate to sit on.

I haven't seen the tape to protect stuff in your pics. It really makes some assembly a lot less inTIMidating.

 

I've found that using fan-fold insulation made for use under vinyl siding works best, it gives quite good cushioning plus the insulation is nice when laying on cold or hot concrete!

 

Those are a great deal! If I hadn't already bought stuff to do that exact thing, I would have gone that route! Assuming I get my cleaning and organizing under control this weekend, I'll take some pictures of what I came up with. I feel like a couple ideas I came up with are pretty cool.

You guys are trying to spoil me with these great ideas! This is the first major assembly project I've done where I'm somewhat concerned with scratching things....... I just make sure I'm in the right mood and fully alert when I go out there LOL. I also have to constantly remind myself that I plan to drive this thing into the ground, so a scratch here or there isn't going to end my existence. Depending on my timeline, I'd like to do ONE indoor show where I care about what it looks like; after that, it's time to live the definition of hot rodding haha. I literally get giddy thinking about it. Driving it (albeit unfinished) is close enough for me to see on the horizon, so I'm pretty motivated. I also have another project waiting in the queue, so I'm excited for that, too.

This brings up a good question for the experienced builders/hobbyists...... One of the most time consuming processes of a build is gathering parts, right? How many projects ahead of your current project do you collect parts and trinkets for? I keep trying to limit myself to ONE in the queue, but as I'm cleaning and organizing, I'm thinking to myself......... I easily have enough stuff for TWO upcoming projects here, not just ONE. I'm having the "shoud I keep" or "should I sell" debate a lot lately. I definitely don't want to end up buried in parts with nothing finished, but I also don't want to spend a year looking for stuff with nothing to build. Hoarding is a fine art, requiring highly refined skills and foresight, it turns out......

 

For me, I regret the stuff I've gotten rid of way more than anything I've kept. We moved about 6 years ago, and I unloaded a BUNCH of stuff beforehand. As far as the on deck stuff, the Pontiac in my avatar is more or less finished, I have my Dart in the garage for a "quick" bodywork/paint/fix some various little shit job. Then hoping to get to the A rpu project I've been parts gathering for 7 odd years for in the fall. On top of those, there's probably the flickering beginning of another project slowly accumulating, that could be God knows how long before it gets started.