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69 SC Journey |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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I promised finished photos of the steering column coupler on the last progress post.
Progress left off with the freshly tin- zinc plated coupler. The part was then masked off: and then lightly primed and finish coated with a cast grey topcoat. After unmasking, the goal of realism of the finished detail finally comes through: It is almost impossible to exactly replicate the factory fresh cast part surfaces. And once they start to rust, you really can't get back 100%. But, the bigger goal in restoration is to fool the eye with a sense of true realism. If you've ever looked at a part refinished and your mind said, "that looks refinished" then it is probably the lack of fine detail or realism that is causing that. Contrast of differing surfaces must be detected in order to believe it is original. In the part above, the manufacturing process was multi-stepped. Detailing must honor that. The part would have been cast and its as cast finish would have been on 100% of the surfaces at first, but then the metal was cut in post machining operations - this would have exposed the internal metal structure with a lighter / shinier look. You can't just spray the whole part with the same color and make it believable. That is what I worked to achieve above. The plating step provided the opportunity to protect the surface from the dreaded rust, and also the realism of the multi-step manufacturing process. It is important to do this across the board on everything so that realism becomes the perceived view point of the observer. Exactness to 100% original as cast will become less necessary and the mind will begin to believe that you are looking at a brand new part just finished in the machine shop 50 years ago. So, yes, when you see the car the first time - I am trying to fake you out. My job is to make you believe it! Edited by kcsamc - Dec/19/2017 at 11:04pm |
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billd
Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: Jun/27/2007 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 30894 |
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Greatness takes time, right? One issue with parts such as the steering part you just showed, among many others, is that the finish of the surface is forever changed by rust - period. You can remove rust, but rust is iron oxide and unless you can reverse the rust, "un-rust" it and put the iron molecules back where they were while removing the oxygen - well, it's changed. I have several suspension and steering parts - some were protected by grease and oil, others by paint, and some had just a minor coating of rust/iron oxide. What a difference..... you go from smooth to not as perfectly smooth to just plain pitted. Stamped parts should always be smooth save where the material was stretched or wrinkled or the stamping/pressing process changed it. There shouldn't be orange peel to it. Some cast surfaces should be relatively smooth - depending on the material and the processes used. Green sand obviously leaves a slightly rough surface to steel parts. Other parts, like certain cast aluminum parts I have, are quite smooth, almost as nice as machined - except that the machining leaves a shine to the surface while it would normally be a bit more gray. Plated parts are often cleaned too perfectly - too much time spent getting them perfectly smooth, slick and shiny - they weren't always that way originally and that's why some parts that are RE-plated have too much shine compared to stamped or pressed steel stock that it simply cleaned, pickled and plated. If you introduce MECHANICAL cleaning - you change the surface. It's tricky to clean parts to refinish them and not change the surface features. Your efforts on that steering part are pretty darned good - few go to that extent. You are either a perfectionist, or crazy, or bored with too much time on your hands........ I suspect it's the former, hope it's not either of the latter choices. ;-) I know of few others who go to such extremes - but in my opinion, it's not really an extreme, it's the search for better than good. Keep up the great work............. Can you tell the NOS part or parts from the re-plated part or parts or which are new and which are simply restored originals? I hope not - and that's why we spend sometimes an hour, or two, or more, on a single small part.... a whole assembly may take days. (and you can't get a plater to duplicate some of these finishes) |
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Bill, my family woukd unanimously say I am a crazy perfectionist with too little time.... My wife just shakes her head and walks away...
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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The weather is cold, very cold, but the shop is heating up and work is really starting to happen now. As we exited the Christmas holiday, the hours are getting laid down just about every night on something, even if it is just researching and sourcing items with others. As we slingshot out of the holiday season I am hoping to get a lot of component and subassembly work completed and really start to make some good progress on the car.
I am starting to realize the need to have projects in all stages of completion now, even thought the logistics are harder. I can't really wait any longer to find out I have a component issue or other that is going to hold me up, so I am getting one item tore down and started and then getting another ready to go and batch up some processes like priming / painting / plating and solving issues along the way. So what you will start to see in future postings is a lot of things in different stages, not as linear as before. Through the Christmas holiday Eric and I got the rear leaf springs bolted in and then the rear dropped in on the springs and tied together. The goal this coming week is to get the rear of the car off the rotisserie and sitting properly on its rear so final door alignment tweaks can be done and rear panel touchup where the rotisserie was bolted up. Pictures below of the springs and rear bolting on: I don't know why some pictures flip sideways at random on here when loading... Progress has continued with the steering column rebuild. Lower bearing and adapter have been sourced and mounted on the steering shaft and small parts just below the bearing have been detailed: The steering shaft has had its final detailing and I loose fitted the completed coupling/bolt to see how it looked: Above you can see the slight finish differences from the shaft diameter to the "machined" spline area. The middle column tube is now restored and painted with stainless steel paint: The engine bay side column - firewall steering column bracket / clamp finish was replicated in semi-gloss black powder coat: The steering box was torn down this week and prepared for re-bearing and sealing while redetailing. The box casting is completely stripped and hope to get it gray phosphated in the next week or so. While cleaning off the thick layers of grease, I was careful to make sure any ID dabs of paint / stampings were documented. The only thing found was a wet dab of yellow that ran down around a little on the main shaft. I have two SC/R steering boxes and both are the same (see below photos of each), so it is safe to say this mark should be on all SC/Rs as an assembly line ID: For those wondering - you can get a bearing / seal rebuild kit off of ebay. It is the kit for Saginaw Type 525, Part # RK550 - about $46 with shipping. Upon tear down, I found that the top bushing in the aluminum cap has some wear I don't like in it, where bronze has been pushed up from the wiping action. This didn't come in the kit, and it looks like it originally only came as part of the aluminum cap assembly. I am looking for an NOS of these, if anyone happens to have one (Gr. 10.300-1, PN 4486134) I learned the pitman arm shaft exposed end was copper plated by Saginaw. I did a preliminary cleaning with brake cleaner and then an overnight dip in Ketchup to get it this good. I would like to get it even a little cleaner before final assembly - this should pop nice at assembly! To finish off the update, I started to tear down the sway bar assembly to begin redetailing. Looked pretty crusty before dis-assembly! By the end of the day today, I had the brackets that were originally black, all cleaned, blasted and powder coated semi-gloss black in the shop. Because they were so coated with factory undercoating, they didn't rust over the years and were so much easier than other parts so far to make look really nice and factory. Happy with the way these turned out and without too many hours of effort: This past week I sourced the last of all my rubber and seals from Peter Stathes - one of our long time vendors. I recommend him for all of you looking to get 60s years rubbers and seals for your Americans: www.amcrambler.com I will be trying to pick up a lot of speed with hours spent per week on the car now. Hopefully you will see that in the posts from here on out! Edited by kcsamc - Jan/06/2018 at 10:55pm |
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Group19Guy
AMC Fan Joined: Jan/07/2018 Location: Mukilteo Status: Offline Points: 26 |
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Very Nice Work! But I was wonder about the fender splash shields. You show only one of the four that my car has. Did you make all four or just the one? If so I would like to buy a set for the driver side. Can't wait for your continuing posts! Cheers, Mike
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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Mike - I only reproduced the splash shield panel seal, the other seals that staple directly to the body I did not do.
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kcsamc
AMC Addicted Joined: Sep/03/2011 Location: Denver, PA Status: Offline Points: 1974 |
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As the critical final phase of assembly approaches I thought I would post some of the pieces I would really like to get yet for the car. Most pieces needed in NOS, but the fan blade and horns could be good originals:
If you happen to have any of these items, I would love to hear from you. Thanks, Kevin Edited by kcsamc - Jan/07/2018 at 10:28pm |
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Steve_P
AMC Addicted Charter Member Joined: Jun/28/2007 Status: Offline Points: 3760 |
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Very nice work, some comments:
On the copper plating, I bought a small kit from Caswell and it works great. I've used it on the end of the steering shaft and the steering coupler bolt and several other items. On the manual steering box, some, or all, have a letter ID inked on them- I assume for the ratio. I've seen this on several boxes. The yellow mark on the input shaft was also on the box used on the AMXs- maybe the same box, dunno. On the clamp for the steering column, the clamp portion is bare metal and has a darkened look from the heat treating or forming. The bolt is black phosphate and the nut is natural. On the rear axle assy, the ends of the tubes are darkened to ~black from the forming process. Probably the last 3". Wheel studs are black phosphate. Large castle nut for the hubs are natural. There are several paint inspection marks on the yoke where the driveshaft mates. I've said this a lot, but I really like what used to be called Metal Ready by POR15- not sure what they call it now. This works great for cast parts, much better than the cast look paints and will give a gray to black finish depending on immersion time and alloy. Edited by Steve_P - Jan/08/2018 at 5:05pm |
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billd
Moderator Group Forum Administrator Joined: Jun/27/2007 Location: Iowa Status: Offline Points: 30894 |
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ketchup because of the acid in the tomatoes?
I asked because a few years ago my wife made lasagna and covered it with foil and froze it - a few weeks later I went down to the freezer to bring up one of the lasagnas to heat up for supper and when I pulled the foil off it was full of holes..... ;-) Vinegar works but is more acidic- I've used it for zinc plating and copper plating baths in the past. I may still have some of my copper plating stuff - been working mostly with nickel and zinc and tin/zinc lately. (I buy chemicals in bulk direct from the outfit that actually made the Caswell chemicals - not sure if they are still the supplier for Caswell or not but they were for years. They do still supply the acid salts for pickle)
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