Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium

[Terrick down Under]

Hey, what if you used an old door opener... mount to the back wall and the other end on the creeper. remote in mouth and off you go....up.....down.....up....down... You could even put two photo cells at each end of the car and when the creeper crosses the beam it sends you back automatically?

 

[Bob Heine]

Hey, what if you used an old door opener... mount to the back wall and the other end on the creeper. remote in mouth and off you go....up.....down.....up....down... You could even put two photo cells at each end of the car and when the creeper crosses the beam it sends you back automatically?

Terrick, now you're talking. That would be great for buffing but even better for painting the Corvette. When really good pro painters talk about painting a car (especially candy paint jobs) they say "be a robot" and I'm thinking this could be a great way to do that. Just sit on the creeper and pull the trigger. When it reverses, move up to give 1/3 to 1/2 overlap and make the return pass. Move the opener to the other side and repeat the process. That'd take care of the sides....

I'll have to make a Tom Cruise harness for the passes over the bonnet (hood), roof and boot (trunk). Hey, an opener is already installed up there...

 

[BBChevro]

 

[dlcwent]

Lyndon, your idea sounds like an excellent upgrade. My system involved my wife driving the car back and forth in the driveway while I held the buffer steady (using an old carry-on bag strap around the neck). It worked great until the outside mirror caught me off guard (not the fender kind of guard) and dragged me down the driveway too close to the street for my comfort.

You're the king.

 

[Lyndon]

^^^^^^

What he said.

Lyndon
Don't forget who's idea that was.....

 

[jbmatth]

... the doctor has already seen to my puncture wound when I nailed my hand to the shed. Nothing seems to surprise him anymore.

How exactly does a one armed man go about doing this? You have to have ninja/cheetah/honey badger skills and speed to be able to pull the trigger while dropping the gun and throwing your hand in front of the nail. All I have left to do now is

JB

P.S. I managed to nail my thumb to a piece of oak while working in an uncles factory at 14, I'm sure there weren't child labor laws way back in 2000 were there?

 

[rmalkow2]

When you paint that Vette its going to make for some very interesting reading. Make sure to also set up the robot camera so we get pics of the process.

 

[Zeke]

Bob, you need a foot speed controller so you can grip the buffer up by the disc. You could also use a slip in strap at the handle to counter torque. I think the extra weight is both a hindrance and an advantage. The extra weight produces stability. Obvious how the extra weight would be more tiring. Personally, I like the Porter Cable DA polisher which is also a sander when you change out the weights inside the pad holder. The barrel of the tool is easily a one-hander even using the trigger switch. And it weighs in as a lightweight, but not too light.

 

[shortykorte]

Bob,

I have just the things to get you started on the Bob Heine Super Buffer. Polishes not one but all of your favorite cars.

I have a unused garage door opener with remote and a cart used to store a Benz SL roof. Attach an outlet box and trolley system (holds opener) on cart, then attach buffer to opener, wahla!!! Bob's Super Buffer.

 

[Bob Heine]

Mark, back atcha!

Lyndon, your idea sounds like an excellent upgrade. My system involved my wife driving the car back and forth in the driveway while I held the buffer steady (using an old carry-on bag strap around the neck). It worked great until the outside mirror caught me off guard (not the fender kind of guard) and dragged me down the driveway too close to the street for my comfort.

You're the king.

Dan, side mirrors have been costly more than once. My bride pulled the Buick in the garage and took the passenger mirror off on the door frame. Luckily damage was confined to the mirror.

Second incident I was working on the '72 Vette and had the driver door open. Went in the house to look something up on the Internet when my wife came home. With the blinding sunlight outside she didn't notice the Corvette door in the shadows. The passenger mirror caught the door and hyper-extended it, crushing the edge of the door, breaking the mirror and putting a nice crease in the "new to us" PT Cruiser. Luckily the local "Paintless Dent Removal" shop performed some magic on the PT Cruiser for $180 and I put a new mirror on for another $80. I was relieved that it hadn't been worse. The '72 Corvette was up on jackstands and came close to falling off, which would have involved the '87 Corvette. That would have been expensive!

^^^^^^

What he said.

Lyndon
Don't forget who's idea that was.....

Lyndon, I won't forget, even if it's the last thing I do....

How exactly does a one armed man go about doing this? You have to have ninja/cheetah/honey badger skills and speed to be able to pull the trigger while dropping the gun and throwing your hand in front of the nail. All I have left to do now is

JB

P.S. I managed to nail my thumb to a piece of oak while working in an uncles factory at 14, I'm sure there weren't child labor laws way back in 2000 were there?

JB, it was a very slow and very stupid process. The T1-11 siding on the shed in my previous home was rotting so I decided to replace it with Hardy cement vertical siding. most of the T1-11 came right off but one 8-foot high piece had a nail at the top that wouldn't give up. I pulled the bottom of the sheet away from the wall and pushed the head of my hammer all the way up to the top under the sheet. It wouldn't stay so I held it in place with my fingertips. The hammer was on the stud, as was my hand.... I kicked the bottom of the sheet back against the stud and discovered there was a rusty nail still in the T1-11 right where the back of my hand was. It was not as painful as it seems it should have been but it meant I didn't have a good way to pull the sheet of plywood back off the shed. I managed to get a foot in there and pull it back off the wall. Pulling my hand off the nail make a much louder and more disgusting sound than it did going through the first time. If you can't remember when you had your last Tetanus shot, it's time you get another so we went to the Emergency Room (my doctor had the nerve to take the weekend off!).

When you paint that Vette its going to make for some very interesting reading. Make sure to also set up the robot camera so we get pics of the process.

RM, I have only made one video and it was in preparation for a small claims suit I expected to file. Every time I see a blooper reel I realize I'm the one being filmed but my expertise (zero) with a camera means extremely long and boring video of nothing happening, followed by a disaster that knocks the camera over so all you see is the ceiling or a pool of fluid forming close to the lens....

Bob, you need a foot speed controller so you can grip the buffer up by the disc. You could also use a slip in strap at the handle to counter torque. I think the extra weight is both a hindrance and an advantage. The extra weight produces stability. Obvious how the extra weight would be more tiring. Personally, I like the Porter Cable DA polisher which is also a sander when you change out the weights inside the pad holder. The barrel of the tool is easily a one-hander even using the trigger switch. And it weighs in as a lightweight, but not too light.

Zeke you are right about the foot speed controller but I'd have to strap it to one knee and use it like a Thighmaster. On the floor it is a sprained ankle waiting to happen with me. I mounted the foot switch for my "stationary" Portaband saw on one leg of the workbench so I can activate it with my knee. On the floor it was just being kicked around every time I went near the saw.

I'm with you on the Porter Cable DA polisher. I bought mine about 6 years ago and it works great for final polishing and is only about a half pound heavier than the Flex. I even bought the weight kit for the smaller 5-inch pads. The Flex does do a faster job getting 3000-grit sanding scratches out. I need to try the 5000-grit foam disks to see if it helps reduce buffing time.

For really lightweight sanding (and buffing) machines, I have air powered DA Sanders. I thought the Harbor Freight one was light at 3.1 pounds but the Dynabrade DAs I bought weigh only 1.4 pounds. It's like working with a block of wood in your hand. I can sand all day with one of the Dyndabrades. Even the triggers on the pneumatic tools are better because it's under your palm so there's no finger fatigue squeezing a trigger. My arthritic fingers thank me.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Very impressive!, that's all I need to say.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob,

I have just the things to get you started on the Bob Heine Super Buffer. Polishes not one but all of your favorite cars.

I have a unused garage door opener with remote and a cart used to store a Benz SL roof. Attach an outlet box and trolley system (holds opener) on cart, then attach buffer to opener, wahla!!! Bob's Super Buffer.

Stewart, I have been seriously re-thinking Bob's Super Buffer. I have no proof but my wife spends a lot of time talking to our good friends and neighbors without me being present. There is a real good chance they are planning an intervention that will put me in a retirement home at best and one of the few remaining institutions for the totally insane at worst. I wouldn't be so paranoid if people just stopped talking about me behind my back.

Very impressive!, that's all I need to say.

Terrick, I'm thinking you might be easily impressed but I really do appreciate the compliment.

 

[cbacres]

Bob, if she does that, we'll come by and spring you out and see how long it takes them to notice your gone. Shorty has a mannequin in his shop I'm sure we could fix up to fool them.
It is a female , but in today's gender confused climate, it shouldn't matter.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Ah Bob, Luckily I have only had to do a tiny bit of one arm buffing and I was so worried about burning it. The extra amount of tension that it puts on your wrist is huge. Especially if you are doing a compound curve, say the back of a 60's Caddy. Your arthritis would be real bad afterwards.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob, thanks for the DA sander lesson and insight.

You learn something every day.

Regards

 

[BBChevro]

...side mirrors have been costly more than once. My bride pulled the Buick in the garage and took the passenger mirror off on the door frame. Luckily damage was confined to the mirror.

Second incident I was working on the '72 Vette and had the driver door open. Went in the house to look something up on the Internet when my wife came home. With the blinding sunlight outside she didn't notice the Corvette door in the shadows. The passenger mirror caught the door and hyper-extended it, crushing the edge of the door, breaking the mirror and putting a nice crease in the "new to us" PT Cruiser. Luckily the local "Paintless Dent Removal" shop performed some magic on the PT Cruiser for $180 and I put a new mirror on for another $80. I was relieved that it hadn't been worse. The '72 Corvette was up on jackstands and came close to falling off, which would have involved the '87 Corvette. That would have been expensive!

...

Hey Bob, speaking of "Close Encounters of the mirror Kind", I'm rem remind me of a mirror incident that I had when I was about 17...


I was driving one of my brother's old trucks and met another truck on a narrow-ish bridge - to make things a bit more challenging, the bridge was on the apex of a gentle bend.

Apparently, we didn't both fit on the bridge - there was a rather loud noise right beside me as our mirrors collided.

This was the old Commer that I was driving at the time...
View media item 59886


Cheers

 

[Lyndon]

Mark

You must have been doing all of 24 mph..... Might need to check your reaction times.

I also drove an old truck as a young fella. When I was 17 and after the end of the school year I was working as a labourer at Narrabeen National Fitness Camp. They had an old Bedford water tanker. The yard foreman got me to take it one day from the depot on site, to the front fields down a winding road. Was quite easy, so the next day when they asked me to do it again I set off without knowing the bar stewards had half filled the water tank. So I get to the 1st bend, and turn and the water goes swilling up one side of the tank, nearly turning me over......... Learnt a big lesson that day.

Lyndon
The truck driver......

 

[Terrick down Under]

Gee, talk about remembering.
When i was 19, i used to make extra money picking up pallets. One day they asked if i would go to WoyWoy to pick up some bricks. So i grabbed a freind and drove up there in an old crash box International. Well we picked up a full load, i sat down with paper and pen, added up the total....we were 25kg under weight...perfect.
So we stopped at MacDonalds and grabbed travel lunch. We had two other stops to make and ended up going past the weigh bridge. Amazing how fast you you can think sometimes. You see, it had been drizzling since we got loaded. Yep, you guessed it -- no tarps. So we started down the off ramp towards the scales, so i started to go down thru the gears, missed a couple of times with the splitter, in frustration the the truck starts to bunny hop....right on the pad, the needle starts to go like a piano timer, swinging back and fro. The Scaley gets real mad and screams out the window, "get the flock out of here!!!!!!!"
That was the last time i ever forgot the tarps.

 

[Bob Heine]

Bob, if she does that, we'll come by and spring you out and see how long it takes them to notice your gone. Shorty has a mannequin in his shop I'm sure we could fix up to fool them.
It is a female , but in today's gender confused climate, it shouldn't matter.

Craig, just turn the head around so the front is less lumpy and we should be good to go.

Ah Bob, Luckily I have only had to do a tiny bit of one arm buffing and I was so worried about burning it. The extra amount of tension that it puts on your wrist is huge. Especially if you are doing a compound curve, say the back of a 60's Caddy. Your arthritis would be real bad afterwards.

Terrick, I don't notice it while I'm handling the tool but by the time I turn in for the night there's a special reminder.

Bob, thanks for the DA sander lesson and insight.

You learn something every day.

Regards

Steve, it has been a real education for me as well.

Hey Bob, speaking of "Close Encounters of the mirror Kind", I'm rem remind me of a mirror incident that I had when I was about 17...


I was driving one of my brother's old trucks and met another truck on a narrow-ish bridge - to make things a bit more challenging, the bridge was on the apex of a gentle bend.

Apparently, we didn't both fit on the bridge - there was a rather loud noise right beside me as our mirrors collided.

This was the old Commer that I was driving at the time...
View media item 59886


Cheers

Mark, it's sad to lose a mirror but a whole lot better than taking out a door or fender. Back in 1964 my friend let me drive his 1960 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. It had the 389ci engine with tri-power (he disconnected the two secondary carbs because it scared him) with a 3-speed manual on the column (rare setup). I took off from a light (2-lane road with cars parked on both sides) like it was no big deal and passed so close to the car in the opposite lane that something clicked! I pulled over and we checked the entire car over and couldn't find anything. It was probably the side mirror because it was built like a brick outhouse, as was the rest of the car. With the top down that car was always in danger of having a plane try to land on it. As I recall, that was the last time I drove that car (I think I scared him more than the tri-power).

Mark

You must have been doing all of 24 mph..... Might need to check your reaction times.

I also drove an old truck as a young fella. When I was 17 and after the end of the school year I was working as a labourer at Narrabeen National Fitness Camp. They had an old Bedford water tanker. The yard foreman got me to take it one day from the depot on site, to the front fields down a winding road. Was quite easy, so the next day when they asked me to do it again I set off without knowing the bar stewards had half filled the water tank. So I get to the 1st bend, and turn and the water goes swilling up one side of the tank, nearly turning me over......... Learnt a big lesson that day.

Lyndon
The truck driver......

Lyndon, the world is a safer place because I rarely drive even small trucks.

I experienced the water thing when we camped at Lake George, NY. Our island site was lovely but near the end of the first week the remains of a hurricane came through and dumped huge amounts of rain. During the night enough water entered the lake to put our dock under water and the wind blew a corner of the canvas top loose and funneled water into the hull. When I checked the boat in the morning it was inches from sinking. Having no electric bilge pump. I went to work with the hand pump. It was going to be a long process and I was thinking of alternatives.

The guy in the next campsite had a better idea and started his boat up. He planned to get the boat up on plane and pull the drain plug. Had it worked, he would have had a dry boat long before me. Instead, the water sloshed to the stern and he swamped it 20 feet from his dock. His boat had enough flotation so it didn't sink but he had to jump in the really cold water with a line so he could pull it back to the dock.

Gee, talk about remembering.
When i was 19, i used to make extra money picking up pallets. One day they asked if i would go to WoyWoy to pick up some bricks. So i grabbed a freind and drove up there in an old crash box International. Well we picked up a full load, i sat down with paper and pen, added up the total....we were 25kg under weight...perfect.
So we stopped at MacDonalds and grabbed travel lunch. We had two other stops to make and ended up going past the weigh bridge. Amazing how fast you you can think sometimes. You see, it had been drizzling since we got loaded. Yep, you guessed it -- no tarps. So we started down the off ramp towards the scales, so i started to go down thru the gears, missed a couple of times with the splitter, in frustration the the truck starts to bunny hop....right on the pad, the needle starts to go like a piano timer, swinging back and fro. The Scaley gets real mad and screams out the window, "get the flock out of here!!!!!!!"
That was the last time i ever forgot the tarps.

Terrick, it is amazing how quickly water accumulates and even more amazing how a swimming pool can make for a wonky ride.

 

[Bob Heine]

I have been busy with doctors and dentists who I hope are trying to keep me alive and well, not just poor.

I try to keep my hoarding tendencies in check so I stay away from auctions, garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets. My hoard is therefore relatively small and I'm always trying to shrink it.

Because I was once in the Information Technology business, I collected a bunch of personal computers that I assembled from off-the-shelf parts, including cases. Some of those computers can no longer be upgraded and the cases are no longer useful. I was proud of myself for disassembling and getting rid of five systems.

After I put the cases in the trash can, I realized the side panels might be useful and a stack of flat pieces of sheet metal wouldn't take up much room. Luckily this didn't occur to me until I was throwing out the last two cases. Three of the side panels have vents but one is just plain.

This week I decided my Swiss Army Cart could use a side panel. This storage unit was the first of many Garage Journal-inspired purchases and it came into my garage in November 2009 as a $49 Harbor Freight one-drawer cart.

It has morphed into a paint and body cart that holds almost everything but paint and body filler. The end of the cart that holds rolls of tape and sandpaper as well as three air sanders is open and the whips on the sanders interfere with the stuff behind them.

I trimmed the panel on two sides, ground the third edge to get rid of the reinforcement and cut a couple of notches to fit around my light bars. A couple of coats of red paint and the panel was done. You can see the size of the original panels behind my red one.

I used the bolts that hold the bottom shelf on the cart legs and a few pop rivets to attach the panel.

It isn't a very big change but it kept me occupied and entertained for a few hours. The only part of the project that wasn't done in the comfort of A/C was the painting.

 

[rmalkow2]

Good reuse project Bob.I also like to keep some select pieces of steel around when it does not take up much room. It's handy when you need it and can be expensive to buy that one separate sheet.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Good reuse project Bob.I also like to keep some select pieces of steel around when it does not take up much room. It's handy when you need it and can be expensive to buy that one separate sheet.

rmalkow , hit the nail on the head Bob, well done.

 

[dlcwent]

Nice job Bob. It came out a treat. Sometimes it's not the size or complexity of a project that make you feel good, is the fact that you did it. I never thought of having a cart dedicated to my auto/ tin work. I might have to steal that one from you.

 

[Bob Heine]

Front Bumper Saga...

My other project was replacing the front bumper cover on the PT Cruiser. Because I put Eibach springs in the car, it sits a bit lower front and rear. Here's the car before...

...and after (billet grille may help make it look lower as well).

It turns out the turbo intercooler also makes the bumper cover a little lower than the ones on Normally Aspirated Cruisers. It means the bottom edge of the one-inch chin spoiler on the bumper cover is lower than the top of a parking curb (I think they are about 5-inches high).

My wife discovered this when she did the usual pull up until the front tires hit the curb. It made a slight scraping sound on the forward pass and a series of popping and tearing noises on the reverse pass. The bumper cover is ripped loose from both front fenders and is flapping in the wind. The first time it happened I purchased a new bumper cover and had it painted silver.

The second time it happened, I bolted a piece of aluminum angle to the fender mount and pop riveted the cover back on.

The fix worked well and each time the bumper has been ripped lose over the past 11 years, I've pop riveted it back on. The pop rivets are like tear-offs and don't damage the holes or aluminum bracket when they come loose. Unfortunately the bumper has been scraped on speed bumps and steel driveway entrances so many times that most of that spoiler has been ripped off. I was leaning toward replacing the bumper cover many times but each time I pop riveted it back on I thought "4 pop rivets or $400 bumper cover (cover plus paint)" and the pop rivets always won.

I don't know exactly when it happened but the final straw was when someone apparently bumped into the car in a parking lot and put a big tear in the cover. It tore the fog light mount as well.

I try to take care of my things and I know from past experience that when something I own begins to deteriorate I tend to let it go. In this case the PT Cruiser would begin a long downhill slide if I don't fix this. The power door locks on the back doors are not working right and that's on the list of things that should be fixed. The car is almost 12-years old but it only has 44,000 miles on it so I'm going to do the repairs.

The real irony is that a "new" bumper cover has been up in the "car parts attic" for about 8 years. I didn't expect my pop-rivet repair to hold up so I bought the new cover and have been kicking it around the garage for many years before moving it upstairs. Even though it's new, it isn't in "perfect" condition. Gonna have to remedy that.

 

[Bob Heine]

Good reuse project Bob.I also like to keep some select pieces of steel around when it does not take up much room. It's handy when you need it and can be expensive to buy that one separate sheet.

RM, thank you and you're right. I like the double payback of solving a little problem and using something that's just sitting around. My wife asked me what I was doing out in the garage and when I showed her she said "That took you two days?" and smiled. I told her I had planned to stretch into a 3-day project.

rmalkow , hit the nail on the head Bob, well done.

Thanks Steve. I was actually on a roll with another piece of metal that went from trash to treasure, thanks to my wife.

Nice job Bob. It came out a treat. Sometimes it's not the size or complexity of a project that make you feel good, is the fact that you did it. I never thought of having a cart dedicated to my auto/ tin work. I might have to steal that one from you.

Dan, I like the feeling that something is getting done. Much as I enjoy yard work, it's never really done. The tree I trimmed last week will need trimming in a month or two and the children of the weeds I pulled will appear in a few days.

The real reason I dedicated that cart to paint and body was the price of the stuff. A I spent a grand for some decent spray guns and one box of fifteen 6-inch 5000-grit Trizact sanding disks is $85+, I don't want to be wondering "Where did I put those?" I'm starting to think I should be getting a bigger safety deposit box....

 

[Bob Heine]

We have a trundle bed in the guest room that used to be made up as a couch/day bed. There were two end tables and a coffee table in there as well. Whenever guests came, we moved the coffee table out on the patio and opened the trundle up into a queen/king bed (queen sheet is too small and king is too big). After one set of guests left, we decided to leave the large bed set up and the coffee table became a permanent fixture on the patio. Unfortunately it's made of angle iron with a glass inset top and it likes to attack people (me) returning from walking the dog at night. About four seconds after my wife asked if I wanted to throw it out, I was hauling it to the trash can.

Aside from it being too big to fit in the garbage can, it was angle and strap iron with square tube legs. There used to be a ready supply of bed frames on cleanup days but it seems word has spread that it's a cheap source of angle iron and I only see them in thrift stores with higher than retail prices on them. This table is going to be turned into a tidy bucket full of steel scrap. It's a real win-win because I have a new Hitachi 4.5" grinder and some thin HF cutting disks that I've been looking forward to using to make lots of sparks. I cut the corners on the angle iron and cut all the spot welds at the junctions of the strap iron. Luckily there was only one tack at each junction.

The legs were welded and dressed so they took a bit longer.

I don't know exactly how long it took but it was a pleasant way to spend some time outside. It was up in the mid-90s but I was seated under the trees next to the garbage cans with a nice ocean breeze blowing.

The table seemed lighter when it was together because I had to get the hand truck to move my bucket of steel down to the shed. Of course I carried the top by itself and the legs on a second trip so adding the legs to the bucket did increase the load.

 

[jon72vega]

Re: Front Bumper Saga...

My other project was replacing the front bumper cover on the PT Cruiser.
(billet grille may help make it look lower as well).

Bob,
The billet grill looks sweet!

 

[Bob Heine]

Re: Front Bumper Saga...

Bob,
The billet grill looks sweet!

Jon, thank you! You and I share similar taste in cars. Here is a picture of two of the three new cars I've purchased in my life. Both of these were Motor Trend Cars of the Year -- 1968 Pontiac GTO and 1971 Chevrolet Vega. My Vega GT was a very early car with the stainless trim on the wheel wells. It came with 3 installed and the dealer had to order the one for the right front. As if the Vega didn't have enough rust problems.

 

[shortykorte]

Glad to see you back at it Bob.

Curious minds what to know, what type of tape is wide white rolls on the paint cart?

 

[Bob Heine]

Glad to see you back at it Bob.

Curious minds what to know, what type of tape is wide white rolls on the paint cart?

Hi Stewart, thanks for stopping by. I think I have my health care crisis fixed so I'm in the mood to get back to it.

Ah, the wide white rolls are not tape. They are rolls of adhesive backed sandpaper. It's Indasa brand 120, 220 and 400 grit sandpaper with a press-on adhesive back. The paper is 2.25-inches wide and you cut it to length. Peel off the backing and stick it on sanding blocks like the ones from Dura-Block.

 

[BBChevro]

Hey Bob, I was going to send a search party to look for you - good to see you posting again.


The trolley upgrade looks good.


I always save pretty much any re-usable steel too (OK - to be honest, I don't throw anything away ).

 

[BBChevro]

Hi Stewart, thanks for stopping by. I think I have my health care crisis fixed so I'm in the mood to get back to it.

Ah, the wide white rolls are not tape. They are rolls of adhesive backed sandpaper. It's Indasa brand 120, 220 and 400 grit sandpaper with a press-on adhesive back. The paper is 2.25-inches wide and you cut it to length. Peel off the backing and stick it on sanding blocks like the ones from Dura-Block.

Are they the blocks with the rods in them, so you can change their flexibility by adding or subtracting the number of rods?

 

[Grizz1963]

Morning Bob,

Yes, new front end looks good.

I am a bit partial to a PT Cruiser myself, years ago it was a toss up between one of them and a Neon, for some reason I took the Neon.

Anyway, the illusion with the billet front grille works for me.

 

[Terrick down Under]

Bob, glad to see you have come back to us, I agree with Mark....never throw anything out! It may take a while, but you will use it some day.

 

[1/2 Cup]

Bob, glad to see you have come back to us, I agree with Mark....never throw anything out! It may take a while, but you will use it some day.

As above x two...................

 

[Lyndon]

Bob

Glad to see you back on here as well. I know we've been exchanging PM's, but I was worried that you were more worried about me than I was (but I really REALLY appreciated the messages - I can tell you).

I love that you can take that cart and personalise it. Onya.

Lyndon
Yep - still up!

 

[Grumblebum]

Nice mod on the cart Bob, I regularly strip down PC cases at work, always wish I had more uses for the side panels. I did keep just the other day some nice thick aluminium from an old Apple PowerPC that I want to try to make book ends with for the cookbooks in the pantry.

That dura-block adhesive tape is a good idea, shall have to look into that.

Cheers GB.

 

[zmotorsports]

The cart turned out great Bob.

Mike.

 

[Bob Heine]

Hey Bob, I was going to send a search party to look for you - good to see you posting again.

The trolley upgrade looks good.

I always save pretty much any re-usable steel too (OK - to be honest, I don't throw anything away ).

Mark, I'm glad to report that I'm alive and well. I also throw out very little. I do throw out a lot (not all) recyclable stuff and anything that is real smelly. Unlike my wife I flush for everything (I'm fully aware my shite smells).

Are they the blocks with the rods in them, so you can change their flexibility by adding or subtracting the number of rods?

Mark, those are the relatively cheap blocks and don't have the rods. A six block set sells for around $40 US:
http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/dur...xiDCpSI7vuV6W2ApIXIahuj318zKB9DGCnRoCrsDw_wcB

...and $100 Aus:
https://www.thesandpaperman.com.au/dura-block-6-piece-kit.html

I do own one of those Adjustable Flex Sanding (AFS) blocks with the rods. Based on Robert's [MP&C] recommendation I bought one of the larger ones. Robert uses the 36-inch block that sells for around $200 US. I can't handle that big a board so I settled on the 21-inch block (my longest Dura-Block is 16-inches). I picked it up from Summit Racing for about $60.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/afy-8907688307/overview/
If the same price ratio held, that would be about $150 Aus.

I want to paint my Corvette black and you have to have a laser-straight body for that to look decent. If the longer block helps, it will be worth it. Of course the paint job is likely to come out looking like sprayed bedliner with extra bugs and dirt.

 

[Bob Heine]

Morning Bob,

Yes, new front end looks good.

I am a bit partial to a PT Cruiser myself, years ago it was a toss up between one of them and a Neon, for some reason I took the Neon.

Anyway, the illusion with the billet front grille works for me.

Thank you for stopping by Rian! The grille gives it a bit of a 1937 Ford vibe. My wife likes pure stock but when I showed her a picture of that front end she said go for it.

The Neon is a more conventional vehicle so I kinda understand. The '47 Ford two-door we owned early in our married life tipped the scale for us -- more of a hint than a copy. The PT Cruiser is about as close to a pickup as I'm going to get so we use it instead of the Cadillac to carry manure. Luckily my good friend and neighbor has a nice basic Chevy Silverado I can borrow.