Q. Do you plan to do another project car for AR?
A. I've considered it, but right now I'm jus too busy in the shop. If I do another project it will have to be a GM convertible since I"ve done a Ford and a Mopar.
Q. I have silicone based brake fluid in my car. I want to remove it go back to DOT 3. How do I flush the system?
A. Drain the system, remove the calipers and or rear brake cylinders and disassemble these components and clean them. The use naptha to flush out the master cylinder and the brake lines. That should do it.
Q.I liked the article you did on disc brake conversions. Can I assume conversion kits are available for even old cars like my 1950 Ford?
A. Yes, try Speedway Motors.com. They may have a kit that bolts right to your car.
Q. In one of your recent articles you mentioned the need to flush out the brake system. What do I use to flush out the old fluid?
A. I use DOT 3. The method is to pump each wheel cylinder or caliper until the fluid runs clear and clean. You will go thru at least a quart of new fluid, but the system will be clean. To remove the DOT 3 from the system you will need to remove the lines at the master cylinder, open the bleeders at all four wheels and blow the lines clear.
Q. What's the plan for more DVD's? I think you produce the best body and paint information out there.
A. Thanks. I do have more DVD's in the works. The next ones to come out will be on body and paint work, but with more detail and more explanation than our first ones.
Q. I don't understand why it is so expensive to have a car painted. Can you explain the cost?
A. I sure can. Just the paint, and I'm talking quality products, can cost $1000.00 or more. Add to that the rust, the dents, the panel replacement, the time spent block sanding, and the need to turn out something above what you will find in a typical body shop and the cost goes thru the roof. But let me ask you this. Which would you rather have at the local car show, a half #$% paint job or one that looks nice?
Q. I understand it isn't good to let fiberglass bodies sit around, especially outside.
A. You would be right. Fiberglass, especially fresh fiberglass tends to move around, warp and shrink. The sooner you build the car the better.
Q. You can fix wrecked cars?
A. That's exactly what I did for many years. However, I no longer allow late models into the shop. If your ride is vintage and not completely wiped out, we can talk.
I"m just letting off steam. I've entered my last local car show. The catagories to be voted on by both visitors and contestants were - classics, exotics, customs, street rods, and motorcyles. The show was small, as some are and by chance I had entered the only street rod. What a cinch to win that catagory! Wrong!!!
When the judging was over guess what happened? A late model Camaro with chrome valve covers won the custom award. I guess chrome valve covers makes that legal. A late model Mustang that had been through an engine swap won the exotic class. A '55 Chevy won the classic. I was okay with that, and a nice bike won the motorcyles class. I was waiting for my award. However, a TransAm took the street rod class!???? It seems it had a turbo and loud mufflers.
What's wrong here? Any idiot knows what constitutes a classic, an exotic, a custom, and a street rod. If you want to allow late models into your show place them in an appropriate catagory, maybe "daddy bought it for my graduation" would be appropriate.
Q. Why would I want to put money into an old car right now? I want one, but I just can't see doing it in today's economic conditons.
A. Why not? There is a '68 Camaro BB in my local paper for $5000.00. Needs restoring. Is that a deal or what? I'm sure this isn't confined just to my market. People everywhere are shedding projects that, quite honestly, were never going to be finished in the first place. Why not take advantage of this downturn?
Q. I'm looking for someone who can remove the front sheet metal from my street rod and replace the engine. I can't do the work myself and I'm afraid of letting just anyone work on my car. Can you help?
A. Yes. That's what I do. Everything, including engines.
Q. I see from your Projects page that you do full restorations. I have a wrecked street rod. Can you help in that area?
A. Yes I can. I spent many years doing frame repair, body repair, and painting before moving to restoration work. If your ride is wrinkled I can fix it.
Q. I want a cool car but I'm not sure exactly what I want. Any suggestions?
A. My thought is that you need to decide between a street rod and a mucscle car. After that decide on the year and make. After that it gets easier.
I would also suggest checking out the resto rod route. This gets you a nice car that is up to date with modern conviences.
Follow up - Q. Okay, that sounds good. Do you have any resto- rods sitting around? I trust you to build a nice car. I would be afraid to buy something I don't know anything about, such as who built it.
A. Almost everything I do belongs to somebody else. I occasionally run into people wanting to sell project cars but not very often. All I have at the moment is a '37 Ford street rod convertible I plan to build into a nice street rod.
More follow up - So if I find a car will you be willing to offer some advice as to whether the car is a good candidate for restoration?
A. No problem.
Q. What if I do the body work and have you paint the car?
A. I can do that, but bare in mind that I'm particular about the body work. If it isn't perfect no amount of paint is going to fix that.
Q. I e-mailed about getting an estimated cost on painting my car but you never returned my message. What gives?
A. I try to answer ALL e-mails if they have something to do with cars. However, when my postmaster kicks back an e-mail due to the sender having placed a blocker on his e-mail I'm out of options. Maybe you should check your blocker. I assure you I did attempt to contact you.
Q. What if I don't want you to paint the car, just do the body work and let me paint it?
A. No problem.
Q. I asked about doing some piece meal work earlier. I need quarter panels put on my car and I'm not sure I want to attempt the repair myself. Can you put the quarter panels on and nothing else?
A. Yep.
Q. Will you do frame repair work?
A. When I have to. Since retiring from the 'big shop' I no longer have a frame machine. But, I do have access to one. I won't do any frame repair on a vehicle with the body still on the frame. The frame must be stripped down to the suspension. The frame must be capable of being rolled on and off of the machine. Cost will set you back 90.00 per hour and expect to see a bill for no less than 10 hours work, maybe more.
Q. Do you use crate engines or have the existing engines rebuilt?
A. Most of the time I have the engines rebuilt. I work a lot on resto projects and having the original engine is important.
Q. I've heard that soda blasting doesn't work well on heavy rust. Is that true?
A. Yes. My experience is that soda does a good job on one or two layers of paint, but not on heavy rust or mulitple layers of old paint, especially old enamel.
Q. In this ecomony I can't see putting money into a car that is depreciating in price. Can you?
A. Yes I can. I've heard it a thousand times before and it is still true. 'they ain't making them any more'. That means if you have a classic it will grow in value. It may not grow in value next year, but it will grow.
Q. Do you guys do piece meal work? If so why should I send my car to you?
A. Yes, I do, quite often. But let's go deeper into your questions. Here's an example. A customer shipped a car to me from the west coast at a cost to him of $1300.00. I installed the two quarter panels he requested, but found even more damage that needed to be addressed. I spent about two months on the car and shipped it back to him at another cost of $1300.00 for shipping. What was the benefit? Well, he did spend $2600.00 in shipping cost, but he got his car back in two months instead of two years. He had already watched the car sit in a body shop for two years hoping they would work on it. In the end he spent about $5500.00, but he got the major repairs completed that he couldn't do in his garage. He'll have a car he can drive in about another year.
Q. After compounding a clear coat I can now see what appears to be white spots in the clear coat. What is this?
A. Unfortunately, white spots only occur when you have rubbed thru the initial layer of clear. I suspect you have cleared over an existing layer of clear then compounded until the top layer of clear has been mostly removed, leaving behind that white, blotchy look.
The solution? Sand it and apply more clear.
Q. You mentioned in the past about shrinking metal with a torch. How many times can I shrink the same spot without making the metal brittle?
A. The metal may eventually become brittle, but that takes a lot of shrinking, probably much more than you should ever need to heat and cool a spot to remove a stretched area. The trick is to shrink in an expanding circle to help pull the metal inward and remove the excess metal.
Q. I've got water spots. Any idea how to remove them?
A. How about preventing them? Try drying the surface immediately so water spots don't form. To remove them you can try a number of good polishing products that are out there designed to remove water spots. I use 3M rubbing compound on stubborn water spots and follow that with wax to prevent more water spots.
Q. After apply and finishing glaze to my car I left the over sprayed drops on the paint over night. Now I have what appears to be etched spots in the paint. What happened?
A. You left the glaze on over night and it etched the surface. Compound will do the same thing if left over night. You must wash compound or glaze off of the car immediately after application to prevent etching the surface. To remove the etching spots you will need to compound the surface again.
Q. It is hot and humid. How is that going to affect my painting?
A. As long as you are spraying catalyzed urethane finishes you won't have a problem. Enamel will tend to take longer to dry in damp conditions. Lacquer will tend to blush in damp conditions.
Q. My paint jobber recommended epoxy for a sealer and to add more reducer to the mix. What do you think?
A. I don't like using epoxy as a sealer. I don't think it lays as smooth as urethane sealers. That's why the jobber recommended adding more reducer, to try and get the finish smoother.
Q. I noticed in your Sheet Metal Repair dvd that you applied Eastwood Rust Converter to the inside of a door without cleaning the metal down to a bare shine. Is that okay?
A. Yes, it is. Eastwood recommends applying RC over the old finishes and not removing all of the surface rust. The RC reacts with the rust and that is what makes it work. By the way, the door have only surface rust and I cleaned most of that off with a wire brush before applying the RC.
