Bare Naked Steel

SAND!! EVERYWHERE! Friday night I picked up a new play toy, just in time for the weekend to start. sandblaster! what an awesome tool. and messy as hell! luckily, I had the forethought to get a full suit to wear, along with other "safety" gear. trust me, if air can get there, so can sand.

I'm glad I set aside the entire weekend, because it took all of it. cutting through 40 yrs of road grime, oil, grease, and who knows what else is a slow going task, even with a sandblaster. the frame rails are in great shape, however, as I noticed once i got down to bare steel. blasting the frame, and suspension components has really brought everything back to its original condition, and it is all now ready for primer. I think I am going to go with POR-15 for all of the blasted parts, it is a great product for engine compartments, and chassis parts, and does a great job of encapsulating any rust, and stopping the cancer from getting any worse, and its great durability is a plus, given its gloss finish.

once I get primer on the chassis parts, I think I am going to focus more on the firewall. the weather is quickly getting colder, and wetter here, and I need to paint the firewall the final red color that the truck will be. OH! OH! I have chosen the paint color! PPG 4230 Torch Red. it is the red GM has used on the Corvette for a long time. I saw it on a '72 Corvette sitting at a Dairy Queen, recently, and I stopped and walked in and said really loud, "who drives the corvette?!" everyone stared very awkwardly, and all I could do was laugh. finally an older guy fessed up, and we had a great conversation. he too, had painted it himself, and he gave me some tips and the low down on where to get paint and supplies locally. Glad I stopped! meanwhile, back at the ranch... I need to clean up the firewall, get to masking, and paint the first part of the truck to be Torch Red.

I am really happy with the blasting overall. after following some tips on the online reviews of the sandblaster I bought, and setting up my compressor to handle the equipment, everything worked like a charm. slow going, but progress was definitely made this weekend. and I got to wear a cool suit... :)

side note: I bought a shop heater this weekend, so maybe I can get to sprucing up the looks of the engine in the garage, and not be so tied down to only working on the weekends, during daylight hours... we'll see how that goes this week.

pictures!