A New Year for the Galaxie

Well as you will see I haven't blogged for the longest time. It's not because nothing has happened but mainly because all the work that I have done since the engine came out has been exceedingly tedious and hardly worth writing about. Still, lest you think that I have spent the last 4 weeks toasting my butt, here is the latest report.

All of the front chassis and underbody has now been sandblasted, primed and painted in rust inhibiting black. The front suspension and wheel arches are also done. As you can see sandblasting is hugely effective as well as being hugely messy.

I can tell you people from painful experience that you have to wear that orange face mask. It's not just to protect your eyes but when the grit hits the metal it bounces back at about 100 mph and damn does that stuff sting when you sandblast your face. Even with the mask you still end up looking like this. (click on the picture to enlarge).
When you are done with all of this it is best to accept that you will never be clean again. The best protocol I have is to be hosed down with the air line and then take 4 showers. Even after all of that, I still end up scratching grit out of my head all the next day. It is like the worst case of black dandruff ever.

Following more good advice for the boys, I took the exhaust manifolds to a machine shop and had them planed flat (apparently they have a tendency to warp). Because I secretly love sandblasting, I cleaned them up and sprayed them in high temp silver (photo to follow). The end result impressed the boys and a few asked where I got the paint. Whilst all the equipment was out I sandblaster the jack and sprayed all the parts black. I have to say that I made it look like new. The engine bay is now newly sprayed in black and looks real sharp. With all the chrome and silver on the engine one of the boys suggested that I should spray the engine a contrasting color. Now as you know I didn't want it anything other than black, to show the world it was a 390, the boys suggested that it was going to look sharp enough to leave the hood up at cruise ins. Ever the show off, that tipped the balance and we are back to blue.

I have also decided not to replace the generator with an alternator (well for the moment). I realized that as this car will only be used on high days and holidays and never at night I probably do not need the extra power that the alternator offers. Instead with the generator sprayed black and the brackets in chrome I think I can make this work. Having said that I still will (against advice) replace the front brakes with discs so the car will not be quite stock.

What else? Well much more block sanding. The good news is that we are nearing the end and finally the car is looking better when I finished than when I started. I should be ready to put the base coat of primer on in a few weeks. Now this will depend on the weather as I will need a day in the mid 50's. Still if it is too cold I always have work on the engine to do.

Onwards and upwards