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New Project

J

jmthehermit

Donation Time
It's been a long time coming, but I'm actually going to start work on my own project. Years of collecting extra spares, completing other friends cars (for free no less), and 38 years of ownership has led to this ............

http://rides.webshots.com/album/558175363RYUDjl
also listed under my Tiger 382000521

So I mount the partially sandblasted chassis to my home made rotisserie on Wednesday night. The bottom is covered with a layer of thick undercoating.
So I got to thinking, thick undercoating to remove, heat should loosen the undercoating, I have a rotisserie --- how much charcoal am I gonna need to heat the bottom?? --- OMG--- so thats why they warn you to wear a quality respirator when you spray paint!!!!!

cheers, Jeff
 
M

mikephillips

Donation Time
What I've done in the past is used a propane torch and a putty knife. Heat a section about a foot square at a time and scrape. It'll come off easily as long as it's hot but once it cools down you'll need to reheat. Then once completed I wirewheel the area for a final cleaning. Takes time and the bits of underseal you'll get on you will be a bit warm but if you're not going to dip the body it works just fine.
 
J

jmthehermit

Donation Time
Hi Mike, that last part was meant as joke but thanks for the advice, it's always welcome. Back in the day (early 70's) when I first started doing body work and custom painting the only thing used as a respirator was cheap beer. The guys in our small and loosely based car club think I'm a little off bubble for that fact alone but they don't complain because of all the free work they get.
I planned to use a torch set up with a plumbers tip to heat and scrape the undercoating off. Then some mig welding to augment what the factory did OR didn't do, more HP coming!!! Sand blast the metal clean and prep the whole bottom for a POR-15 coating. Since I equipped my rotisserie with wheels it's not a problem to move it in and out of the garage.
As you can see the chassis is solid, less than 44k miles, and cleans up nice after a light sand blast. Some of the guys commented that it's half done already and an easy job because it actually has 4 fenders a solid floor in it. One of the guys cars was a '55 Belair that needed a new frame and 9 pieces of sheet metal just to made up the floor so I could have a stable platform to do the rest of work.
I'll be taking lots of photos for documentation for appraisal and DMV and will post them as progress continues. Hopefully someone can benefit from them when deciding to take on a project like this themselves.
cheers, Jeff
 
alpine_64

alpine_64

Donation Time
Jeff,

Congratulations, thats a really nice sheel you are starting with, which will save you much time and money. Also its nice to work on a tiger, as at the end of it.. it will hold its value well. Look forward to fututre upadates.
 
J

jmthehermit

Donation Time
Hi Mike, the value of the car means nothing to me as I would NEVER sell it. I sold a 63 Cadillac convertable a few years back that I had owned since 1967.
I had purchased it while still in high school with money gotten from the grand parents estate. I drove it for 20 years and filled it with memories. It went into storage for another 20 years after the purchase of a new 87 Ranger pick up with the intent to restore it. Long story short, marriage, my own home, son equals no time. I lost storage with the sale of the parents house, and it being too long to fit in my garage plus the cost of rechroming alone and the rest of the work prompted the sale. It is now living in Sweden and is being restored with all the parts I had collected for its restoration and I will always miss it!! I bought the Tiger in 1969 after graduation and it was the first car I bought that I had earned every cent!! Too many memories to let go again. It seems way back then I had classy rides and too much fun. So I might not have any class anymore as a grey haired old man but when the car is finished I'll still have my classy looking high school car.
cheers, Jeff
 
6

66Tiger

Donation Time
Jeff,
Nice looking project car.

Couldn't help but notice the Arctic White paint code, just wondered what color you were going with? (I have an Arctic White Tiger under restoration also)

Good luck, and I look forward to seeing more pictures!

Paul
 
J

jmthehermit

Donation Time
Hi Paul, thanks for the compliment. The car will stay Arctic White and keep that innocent sleeper look. The only exterior change might be grafting two
'58 Ford hood scoops onto another hood. For power, a 1964 289 five bolt with stroker kit and an upgraded spare tiger rear with posi, better gears and disc brakes. The original drive train will go into storage.
How is your car coming along, what plans do you have for it? cheers Jeff
 
6

66Tiger

Donation Time
Jeff,
I am not sure what 1958 Ford hood scoops look like, but it's cool to be different. The previous owner of my car had the body shop make up a custom scoop to his liking, so it's unique (and fortunately kind of subtle).

My plans right are just to try and get back on the road...progress is slow (I am slow) and painful (spending money on my car to my wife is painful). Only thing bolted on the car is the rear suspension.

Plans include Dale A's Midget steering rack conversion and his vented front brake kit, aluminum radiator, Tim Ronak's front air dam and his leather seat covers. The 289 that was in the car only had 7000 miles on the rebuild, and ran real strong so I am sticking with it. I would have liked to add aluminum heads to it but the budget won't allow them at this time, since I have collect up (bought) all the other parts mentioned.

Under the hood I plan on hiding the wiring as much as possible and eliminating the brake booster to clean up the engine compartment...like a hot rod. The interior will have a Motolita steering wheel, aluminum dash board, hurst shifter with the rest of the interior being stock.

One other thing of note, I plan on recessing the rear license plate and adding a 3rd brake light license plate frame. I have an extra hood and deck lid both are stock and I plan on keeping them in case the next owner of my car doesn't appreciate the changes.

I bought the Arctic and Polar white paint chips from jumpinjan but plan on sticking with the car's current color. I had a paint place match the color and they said it's a match to a 69 Chrysler white mix. It has a slight warm (cream?) feel to it and I know what it looks like on the car so there would no surprises.

I like modifed cars where the modifications are subtle, where the casual observer will think...wow this is a nice car, maybe be even think it's stock...not a tacky looking beast.

I took this picture this morning...look carefully under the bird bath and leaf blower...behind the patio furniture...this is my garage security system.

Paul
resto15.jpg
 
J

jmthehermit

Donation Time
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