Above 1200 Sq/FT The Warthog Hidey Hole

[mefast]

Nice updates JB. I'll be interested to see how the blast cabinet turns out and holds up to abuse. Looks like you've done your homework though.

I'd love to have a Wilton vice, but would have thought the boxes would be in a bit better condition considerong the price. Although, I guess it's what's on the inside that counts.

Keep up the great progress!

 

[BUGTHUG]

I wonder if some of those old combine's that are out in every hedge row would have some kind of bin or hopper that would work?
I would line the drop bins with some kind of metal. That media is abrasive, and you don't want pieces of wood mixed with the media!

 

[madoc1]

That certainly could be the case, I don't plan to replace it either way unless it becomes and issue. Worst case scenario I get stuck between home and work and have to get a ride to my truck to trailer it home to fix it. Not a big deal, with good luck I plan to drive this car past the 1/4 million mile mark which should be easy enough.


I have some more to report on the blast cabinet, I'm slowly getting there, very slowly. This is where I am pretty much now:
View media item 58999
I have the other side on and both of them all caulked up I started on the lights and outlets this morning but didn't get far enough to warrant pictures. Here are some other pictures of the hoppers I built. They will have hinged doors that will open down to drop out any media that would collect down there.
View media item 59000They aren't that heavy, but are awkward enough that it was impossible to fit them up without the boards under them to hold them in place.

Here is what I did on the inside to give the corners a little more rigidity:
View media item 59001Please excuse the 2x6 I had to use, I would have been at a standstill until I was able to pick up a 2x6 so I used what was on hand.

If you've ever wondered what $2,400 worth of Wilton vises look like here you are:

Sadly those aren't mine for use at home, they are for some projects I'm working on at work. A man can dream can't he?
JB

and i thought the oil industry was in a hurt!

jim

 

[jbmatth]

Nice work on the blast cabinet. Maybe I missed it, what will you be using it for

Buick,
I'll be using it for lots of different jobs, mostly for restoring tools for the short term, and perhaps a little on Bugthug's hearse. I'll surely give it a workout.

Looking good JB.

A random thought for your cabinet - could you line the inside back and side wall with some thin sheets of galvanised tin or something to help longevity?

You will have to pop a pic up of those vises in action they look cool just going on the diagram on the side of the box.

Cheers GB.

GB,
I may have to do just that and as Bugthug mentions below if nothing else line the hopper with something. I also plan to paint the inside white, with the paint on it I'll have a better idea on how the wood is handling the abuse of use. As for pictures of the vises in action I can't take those pictures but perhaps I can get one of them mounted on the tables.

Nice updates JB. I'll be interested to see how the blast cabinet turns out and holds up to abuse. Looks like you've done your homework though.

I'd love to have a Wilton vice, but would have thought the boxes would be in a bit better condition considerong the price. Although, I guess it's what's on the inside that counts.

Keep up the great progress!

Mefast,
I thought the same thing, they looks like they've been abused just a little bit in the shipping dept.

I wonder if some of those old combine's that are out in every hedge row would have some kind of bin or hopper that would work?
I would line the drop bins with some kind of metal. That media is abrasive, and you don't want pieces of wood mixed with the media!

Herb,
As mentioned about I'll see what I can scrounge up, the paint will let me know if I'm eating it up too much, if so I'll make it a higher priority.

and i thought the oil industry was in a hurt!

jim

Jim,
They are a little but luckily our budget was set back when we were doing better, and on the refining end we are still making money, just not very much of it stays in the bank.

JB

 

[jbmatth]

I have a little update, but no pictures just yet. I installed two lights and the grateing for the blast cabinet. I'd forgotten how expensive expanded metal is, wow $65 for a 5x9 sheet. I have a little more work to do before I take things back apart to paint it and install the door I have yet to build.
JB

 

[jbmatth]

I'm going to come out and say it now, I underestimated how long it would take to build this blast cabinet...by a LOT! I'm maybe an hour away from actually using it if I had the media.

First the door:
View media item 59181
Then the grating:
View media item 59183
Close up of the grating:
View media item 59184You can kinda see how I cut slots in the extra 2x4's I'd installed so I could run the 2" x 3/16" flat bar (5 cm x 4.75mm) front to back then set the 3/4" (19mm) expanded metal on top of that.

Then I installed two of my old 4' 4 bulb lights I'd converted to T-8's:
View media item 59182
The cord comes out of the side of the cabinet to plug into this control box that has switched outlets as well as a switched light on the back of the box for a spot light:
View media item 59185
I then installed the window and gloves on the right side:
View media item 59187
Then installed these toggle clamps and clamp brackets along the bottom of the door to help seal it shut:
View media item 59188Those brackets took a bit of fiddling as I had to cut up some old scrap and make them work for this.

Here it is currently, still a little more fiddling to do before it is ready for use, and a lot before it actually looks like it belongs in the shop:
View media item 59186
Lastly before I move onto the next project I'll have to clean this place out, wow!
View media item 59189
Keep moving forward,
JB

 

[sean Buick 76]

Nice work on the cabinet!!!

 

[NedNorton]

Wow JB! That thing is huge! I'm looking forward to seeing what projects come out of it.

Nice work!

Cheers,
Chris

 

[jbmatth]

Thank you both, it has some rough spots but I pretty much knew it wasn't going to be perfect and it may have to be rebuilt at some point but it should do it's job fairly well in the near future. I'm not sure what I'll try to blast with it first, but I'll take some photos and show it off.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

Hey JB, we need to make a trip to Wichita to the Yard Store. They have everything you need, and stuff you don't need but want! Its a place that gets all the aircraft business's stuff they don't use or want. They have all kinds of metal. Just look up on the google. We could go Saturday if you want, could meet in Wellington and shoot straight North to Wichita. Or we could meet up there, just bring a truck or trailer and $$$$.
Hey you forgot to hook the outlets to the breaker box?

 

[jbmatth]

I may have to take you up on that sometime Herb, but can't this weekend as I'm spending time with family over the Easter Holiday. I'll get in touch with you on when I can swing back by to hook up the power to the outlets, I can't believe I didn't think about connecting them to a breaker.

I'll update next week on a few things, some good some not good at all, but for now I'll do my best to keep moving forward.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

got my curiosity up? hope all is well and Happy Easter, and may you find the eggs you lost last year

 

[jbmatth]

I have a few things to report as mentioned previously and am just not finding a few spare minutes to post about all of it.

First of all I had to do some repair work on the little red ZX2 pictured previously. The shifter was very loose and would move about 3 inches side to side when in gear. It would also move up and down a couple of inches. This turned out to be two things. One was a bushing missing in the shift linkage, I ordered some from Energy Suspension that turned out to not be what I needed. I ended up making a bushing using some scraps from The Black Plague Dun Dun Dunnn suspension rebuild. I cut and formed a small spacer using a grinder, the Craftsman belt sander, and the Hey Budden anvil using the bolt as a form. In the end it fit perfectly, boom free fix, I'll take it. The other fix was one I'm not proud of but was the only fix I could come up with at the time without buying a new shift lever for the car. There were more rubber bushings that had failed allowing the shift lever plate to fall out of the hole in the console. Two sheet metal screws later and it was fixed. All vertical movement is gone and the car shifts like a dream.

I came across a girl that managed to get stuck in the road after our recent rain of about 1/2". Seeing this as an oportunity to actually use my big 4wd truck to help someone I jumped at the chance to help them out. The road was much more sloppy that I'd even expected knowing the roads. I pulled her out, but she probably won't ever ask again after cleaning her car.

I was everywhere on the road and even in the ditch a little bit, but managed to get her out.

I made a quick trip to pick up my axle from McGill Manufacturing. The owner/mechanic/book keeper/fabricator/jack of all trades was one of the partners with the company that originally built my car in 2001 B&B Manufacturing. He built the 9" to my specs as well as the control arms and installed my disc brakes, he even cleaned them up and painted them as well as powder coated the axle. If anyone wants to check out his shop or offerings here is the website:
http://www.mcgills-streetrods.com/
Full disclosure I don't have any incentives for this or any ties to his shop other than being a happy customer. He is a great guy that will do anything in his power to take care of his customers.

At 56" (142 cm) hub to hub it is 3" (7.6 cm) narrower than my current rear end and will be much stronger. Being so narrow I was able to put it in my truck bed side to side without having to turn it sideways.

Here I'm unloading it with my cherry picker I installed a new pump on previously, as you can tell it worked like a charm.
View media item 59336
Next I decided to try to get all the parts back on my car since I won't be pulling the body off, naturally I had some willing helpers since I was in the house garage.

View media item 59338
View media item 59337
She even wanted to take it for a test drive:
View media item 59339
Luckily I don't get tooooooooo bent out of shape when she wants to use every tool in the garage to help even if that means putting pliers on the lower grill opening and trying to twist off all of the paint. Gotta love them, and I'm not going to tell her she can't be out there helping me, gotta start em young!


Now for the not so good news. I have been going to the chiropractor since the begging of the year for some lower back pain. It has gotten better but the Dr. didn't like how little progress I was making so he ordered an MRI. The results came in and I have two bulging discs. There are two options one would be to have surgery that would most likely work but would knock me out of everything for 8-16 weeks. The other would be really strict orders on movement and exercise, decompression techniques, stretching, ice, and wearing a back brace for 8-12 weeks. Guess which route I chose? I'm feeling better now after almost a week but know I have a long way to go. I've been careful and will not make much progress on anything anytime soon for fear of hurting it worse. I'll do what I can but will take it slow and be as smart as I can about all movements and projects I choose to tackle. In the end I'll slow down but I'll keep moving forward!
Thanks all,
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

So did you have the surgery? It ain't no fun, I've had two low back, one neck, one shoulder, one heart surgery.
I was about your age for the first one, man that's a rough deal. Well just have to take it ez, and if you need some good pain medicine We could sit around and drool about the old days

 

[1/2 Cup]

JB,Your blast cabinet is coming along nicely

I don't need to tell you but do take things easy and look after your back, Mrs 1/2 Cup had the same issue some years ago and I understand what you are going through.

Regards

 

[Scottishross]

stunning garage mate

love ur sand blasting box great idea

a quite fancy making something like that

 

[Gizmosity]

Been down that road. Ouch. Hope you're on the mend.

 

[jbmatth]

So did you have the surgery? It ain't no fun, I've had two low back, one neck, one shoulder, one heart surgery.
I was about your age for the first one, man that's a rough deal. Well just have to take it ez, and if you need some good pain medicine We could sit around and drool about the old days

No I didn't have the surgery, I'm going to do everything possible to keep from having to go under the knife. With my luck the Dr. would sneeze in the middle and I'd be in a wheelchair the rest of my life. I find myself already sitting around talking about the old days, but at 30 I'm referring to the late 90's. LOL

JB,Your blast cabinet is coming along nicely

I don't need to tell you but do take things easy and look after your back, Mrs 1/2 Cup had the same issue some years ago and I understand what you are going through.

Regards

Thank you 1/2, I'm impressed with how well it works and have used it a time or two just fiddling around. The good news about the back is that I don't have much real pain normally and nothing I'd even take an aspirin for, the only pain is when standing or walking for 5-10 minutes. I'm working on my "6 pack" to strengthen that area, then have a recovery 6 pack when I'm done with the workout.

stunning garage mate

love ur sand blasting box great idea

a quite fancy making something like that

Scottishross, thank you for stopping by and saying hello, I appreciate the kind comments. If you have any questions, comments, or criticisms let me know.

Been down that road. Ouch. Hope you're on the mend.

Thanks for the support Giz, I'm feeling better but I know it could be a long road before I'm back to carrying engine blocks around over my head.

JB

 

[Grumblebum]

Ouch, feel it literally. L5 bulged too since 98, which I attribute to pulling the motor out of my VW fastback (and siblings beetles) on more than one occasion. 4 years of Chiro but found 'walking' to be the best thing for it. Also found it interesting recently seeing a physio instead of chiro - totally different techniques for relieving the pressure on the disc.

Just gotta watch how you pick up the youngsters, they get heavy quick !

Anyway you will still progress - keen to see the first result of the blast cabinet

Also good to see your little ones interested in helping out, mine know they need to have eye and hearing protection on if they are out on the tools with me - you are right 'gotta start em young'

Cheers GB.

 

[vonhef]

Hey Buddy... take care of your back. If you can correct with-out surgery, that IMHO is the best option. Hope you get to feeling better.

 

[jbmatth]

Ouch, feel it literally. L5 bulged too since 98, which I attribute to pulling the motor out of my VW fastback (and siblings beetles) on more than one occasion. 4 years of Chiro but found 'walking' to be the best thing for it. Also found it interesting recently seeing a physio instead of chiro - totally different techniques for relieving the pressure on the disc.

Just gotta watch how you pick up the youngsters, they get heavy quick !

Anyway you will still progress - keen to see the first result of the blast cabinet

Also good to see your little ones interested in helping out, mine know they need to have eye and hearing protection on if they are out on the tools with me - you are right 'gotta start em young'

Cheers GB.

Thanks for the tip on the physio, I'll look into it more and see what I can find. Speaking of safety gear, I just received a text from my brother, he was drilling some metal when the bit broke, it came up and hit him in the forehead causing it to bleed a little. He wasn't wearing safety glasses. Having his head two inches different could have been an entirely different text. Just a little reminder to wear safety gear even in those times you don't think anything will happen while working it still could. My daughter even has a pair of safety goggles I'll have to make her wear them next time and I'll wear mine to also show a good example. Sadly I don't typically wear anything when working above the car but almost always when I'm under it and something could drop in my eyes.

Hey Buddy... take care of your back. If you can correct with-out surgery, that IMHO is the best option. Hope you get to feeling better.

That is the plan, hopefully I'll be back rocking and rolling in short order.
JB

 

[slickgt1]

Nice progress all around.

As far as your back. Try a different chiro, one that specifically does deep tissue massage. Mine cured me of severe recurring back injuries. I mean I could be lifting plywood all day long, and then get up from the toilet and boom, I can barely walk all the week after. Then after a week same ****. I got so bad that i started dragging my leg a bit as a means of avoiding the pain. When I stated getting pain shooting from my *** to my nuts, I decided to find a good chiro. Took about 2 month at twice a week visiting, and now about 2 months at once a week. I can say that I have not injured myself 3 weeks, and have been pain free. I have regained so much motion, it still freaks me out sometimes. Most notable is being able to walk up a hill at full leg span. The only pain I have now is where he jabs some crazy *** metal rod at some ligament or another and massages it. But he seems to fix whatever is attached to those massage areas. I'm fairly impressed. Get one that does physical therapy and chiro. That seems to be the good stuff. Try yelp.com for reviews. You will see the ones that stand out the most with a ton of reviews.

 

[JohnnieMo]

I made it to the end! Great thread. I really enjoy all the little side projects. And the names and acronyms you use are hilarious.

I really like the Berline wall. That turned out terrific. And how you embedded the tool chests right in there. Good idea. The downside of a quonset are those lower walls. Hard to get in there. Your solution is a good one.

As i was reading through and seeing your old tools and then the tractor, I was reminded of my grandfather. He was a farmer/carpenter and likely had a host of terrific old tools i was too young to appreciate when he was around (or even when he passed away). He did have a 1940 Ford 9N tractor which i tried very hard to get my hands on. Even in 2000 it was still completely functional. Unfortunately we had to sell it because as a 21 year old I was completely I'll equipped to have a tractor.[emoji14]
Good luck on the back rehab. I've had 'subluxation' issues for over ten years. It comes and goes. Some days i can't even get out of bed. If I have any recommendation it is to focus on the soft tissues. For me it is usually tense muscles which 'pull' my back out gradually over time. It is rarely a sudden event.

Keep at it!

Sent from my BlackBerry Priv

 

[jbmatth]

Nice progress all around.

As far as your back. Try a different chiro, one that specifically does deep tissue massage. Mine cured me of severe recurring back injuries. I mean I could be lifting plywood all day long, and then get up from the toilet and boom, I can barely walk all the week after. Then after a week same ****. I got so bad that i started dragging my leg a bit as a means of avoiding the pain. When I stated getting pain shooting from my *** to my nuts, I decided to find a good chiro. Took about 2 month at twice a week visiting, and now about 2 months at once a week. I can say that I have not injured myself 3 weeks, and have been pain free. I have regained so much motion, it still freaks me out sometimes. Most notable is being able to walk up a hill at full leg span. The only pain I have now is where he jabs some crazy *** metal rod at some ligament or another and massages it. But he seems to fix whatever is attached to those massage areas. I'm fairly impressed. Get one that does physical therapy and chiro. That seems to be the good stuff. Try yelp.com for reviews. You will see the ones that stand out the most with a ton of reviews.

Slick,
I have started using a different chiropractor as of about 2 months ago, his practice is much different than the previous one who just push and popped and called it a day, oh and he is cheaper too. LOL He has a stretching routine he puts me through as well as the pressure on certain ligaments/tendons to help then stretch as well. I can tell there has been a marked improvement on everything thus far. I'm still supposed to have about 10 more weeks of doing his therapy twice a week as well as my ~30 minute routine at home before I should be fully healed. I'll be sticking to it and crossing my finger just to be on the safe side.

I made it to the end! Great thread. I really enjoy all the little side projects. And the names and acronyms you use are hilarious.

I really like the Berline wall. That turned out terrific. And how you embedded the tool chests right in there. Good idea. The downside of a quonset are those lower walls. Hard to get in there. Your solution is a good one.

As i was reading through and seeing your old tools and then the tractor, I was reminded of my grandfather. He was a farmer/carpenter and likely had a host of terrific old tools i was too young to appreciate when he was around (or even when he passed away). He did have a 1940 Ford 9N tractor which i tried very hard to get my hands on. Even in 2000 it was still completely functional. Unfortunately we had to sell it because as a 21 year old I was completely I'll equipped to have a tractor.[emoji14]
Good luck on the back rehab. I've had 'subluxation' issues for over ten years. It comes and goes. Some days i can't even get out of bed. If I have any recommendation it is to focus on the soft tissues. For me it is usually tense muscles which 'pull' my back out gradually over time. It is rarely a sudden event.

Keep at it!

Sent from my BlackBerry Priv

Johnnie,
Thank you for stopping by and trudging through my thread, I appreciate the kind comments. Since getting GJD going I've really enjoyed it, and my girls tend to have fun with it as well. I'm glad I was able to take it over because even the family that actively farms didn't really have any interest in using it or even playing with it as there were plenty of other jobs that were more pressing. Of all of my brothers I'm the only one that has the space for it and the knowledge on mechanical stuff to take it on. However, 10 years ago or even 2 for that matter I wouldn't have been able to take it.


All,
I will have another little update later this week, but as can be expected I really haven't made any progress on anything, Dr.'s orders.
JB

 

[polexican23]

Where did you pick up your cabinet gloves. I have seen some pretty pricey ones out there.

View media item 59187

 

[jbmatth]

Where did you pick up your cabinet gloves. I have seen some pretty pricey ones out there.

View media item 59187

I picked them up from here:
http://www.tptools.com/Sandblasting-Gloves.html

I think mine were the 28" gloves that came with the kit. So far they seem to be durable but I only have about an hour of run time on them.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

So how is the box working?

 

[jbmatth]

It is working pretty good so far, I need to get the dust thing figured out and have found some of the evidence of some leaks I need to seal which shouldn't be too hard. I realize I should have painted the inside before I started using it as now there is dust everywhere in the cabinet. I also should have made the window a little lower. That is part of the reason I made the front out of OSB so I can get those bugs worked out then I'll make a better door out of plywood. Once I filled the hopper with media it blasts like a dream until my compressor runs out of steam, I guess I should have bought that 120 gallon 25 HP 23 CFM compressor for $400 I saw on craigslist a couple of weeks ago but wasn't ready to get into 3 phase power just yet.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

maybe you can get by with another air tank for backup air? 3phase is maybe more than you need?

 

[don long]

JB
I had the same problem with my big blasting box. The way I solved my problem (not enough air) was to go to an auction and pick up a construction compressor
mine has no tanks but puts out 175 cfm and that's plenty of air for my big blaster

 

[jbmatth]

Herb,
The thing with a secondary tank would be that I would then have to fill it once it is empty using the same compressor I'm currently using. In the long run I want 3 phase available but that is a cost I'm not ready to sink in just yet.

Don,
I've given that some thought, I may have to go that route, but wow 175 cfm is enough air to start a tornado and we all know Oklahoma and tornadoes don't mix well. LOL

All,
I may have sourced some more parts for my cobra, I'll post up pictures if it all works out. It will be a much cheaper route and will allow me to finish all of the suspension this year before I leave for the Hot Rod Power Tour in June.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

I was just thinking that if you had another tank, it would give you a head start on the air. Its like backup air, your compressor would still run the same but maybe keep up with the demand? These blast box use a hole lotta air, its almost like letting the air hose go with nothing attached to it, it just whips around.

 

[Bob Heine]

JB, I agree with Bugthug. If you have or can get your hands on a tank, just add a couple of fittings and connect it to your system, inline with the blast cabinet.

I grenaded my oil-less pump on a 25 gallon tank and was going to trash the whole thing. Instead I just trashed the pump and installed a T with a male plug and ball valve for the inlet and a female coupler for the outlet on the tank, Both fittings are Milton V-style high-flow (Air Flow: 74 SCFM @ 100 PSI). When I'm done blasting, I drain any moisture and close the ball valve inlet and the tank remains pressurized until I need the extra capacity again.

You probably already know this but I got some real good advice from a professional sandblaster about air pressure.

"Direct pressure machines require less pressure. Whereas a siphon machine is normally operated at 60-90 PSI, the direct pressure machines can function at 15-80 PSI. Operating at lower pressure reduces the work hardening of the surface and reduces warping of thin parts.

Most people sandblast at an air pressure that is too high. When you blast at pressures above 90 PSI, there is an excessive breakdown of the media and very little improvement of the cutting rate."
​

I lowered the pressure to my cabinet and saw no difference in the cleaning action or speed. I also bought a cheap Harbor Freight pressure blaster but haven't hooked it up to the cabinet yet.

 

[jbmatth]

Herb,
I didn't mention it but I do have my little 20 gallon compressor plumbed into the shop air system now that I know my 60 gallon can't keep up. It helps a little but not very much at all. The 20 gallon kicks on/off around 125 psi, I keep it regulated down to 100 to feed the SAS. The 60 gallon kicks on/off around 110 I believe, but haven't really kept that close of an eye on it.

Bob,
As always thank you for the insight, I forgot all about regulating the blast cabinet down to a lower pressure it never really crossed my mind. My 60 gallon is a 6.5 hp unit rated at 11.1 cfm at 90 psi and 13.2 at 40 psi. The gun listed on TP Tools website I have is shown to need from 10-15 cfm, nice little broad range there huh. I will try to get an inline regulator first as I probably need more than the one at the compressor.

Also a note on the moisture from earlier in the post that you'd voiced some concern over. Thus far I haven't had any issues, I have some at the tank a little less at the first drop, then by the time it gets all the way to the end where I'm pulling from I have very little coming out of that drop. WOO HOO, I'd still like to add more drying/water knockout capabilities added to the SAS but time will tell what I end up doing.

Thanks all,
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

Bob H, On the HF blaster bottle you might want to check the weld seam on the inside for slag from the weld. My cousin and I messed with the same bottle and noticed he was getting little pieces of slag in the gun tip. Apparently when the robot welds those bottles by the thousands, they don't check or have a way of getting the slag out. Just some free info there
On the big plastic blasting machine we had a big hose but low volume of air and high volume of media. On plastic it helps not to ruin the media before it hits the substrate, that's because its recycled until it turns to dust almost.

 

[jbmatth]

Since we are on the subject, have any of you seen this before?
http://www.cleanlaser.de/wEnglish/produkte/high-power-cl-1000.php

Youtube video:

It looks pretty neat, we've talked about using it at work, but I'm sure the average GJ'r would have to take out a second and/or third mortgage in order to afford one.
JB

 

[hpw]

Since we are on the subject, have any of you seen this before?
http://www.cleanlaser.de/wEnglish/produkte/high-power-cl-1000.php

Youtube video:

It looks pretty neat, we've talked about using it at work, but I'm sure the average GJ'r would have to take out a second and/or third mortgage in order to afford one.
JB

there is a thread somewhere here on GJ, that is where I first saw it. pretty awesome

 

[jbmatth]

I did a little more digging and found out they are WAAAYYYYYY more expensive than I could justify for a car and can get more expensive than my house, soooo I don't think I'll save up for one. Maybe Craigslist....

In other news I drove my cobra yesterday for the first time this year and it was a blast. I pulled it into the house garage when I returned home and started the tear down. I have it on my 4 6 ton jack stands as high as the jack would reach.

I planned ahead a little and used my vacuum brake bleeder to drain all of the brake fluid prior to removing the brake lines. Not a drop came out of them once removed, win! I used my new Dewalt 20V 1/2" impact driver to do most of the work and was able to get the axle out this morning before work. I'll post pictures when I have a something to show.

Two things will give me some fits when I go to install the new 9" Ford, one the flexible brake line on the 9" is on the drivers side of the center section and on the passenger side of the 8.8". Also the ebrake cable was all kinds of weird and I will have a little thinking to do on that one.

I did all that and the heaviest thing I had to lift was the impact gun, another win! Back pain is very mild if I even feel it so hopefully that healing will continue but I still plan to be as careful as possible.
JB

 

[jbmatth]

As mentioned previously work on the cobra axle and suspension has begun. Up on jack stands:
View media item 59648
Axle out:
View media item 59649
Plenty of room under here:
View media item 59650
Some of the shiny parts ready to go in:
View media item 59651
I picked up one of the QA1's by the end and the crome plating flaked off in my hand:
View media item 59652
In the end everything was bolted up and seems to work just fine. (For some reason I don't have any pictures of it installed.

I was able to bend the hard brake line over to the drivers side and attached it and all is well there, the parking brake was easy enough to figure out and the cable I got with the brakes worked just fine. The only thing I lack on having the rear complete is the U-joint. I called three places asking if they had a duel pattern U-joint in 1310x1350, only the last place even knew what I was talking about the other two asked what kind of car it was going in. This surprised me because I called a Napa (Tutors) and another mom and pops place that always seems to know what I'm talking about. Oh well it should be in now if I can make it over there to pick it up.

Next I talked to a guy I work with that has a VERY nice '69 Mustang with lots of high end hardware plastered all over it. We worked out a deal to where I'll be buying his tubular upper and lower control arms, coil over shocks, and a polished billet aluminum master cylinder. I'll still have to pick up the springs but it should all just bolt in, score! I decided to start taking everything out of the front including the inner fender liners, this is where I stand now:
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I should do this any time I need to work on the plugs, much easier than getting to them from the top:
View media item 59654As you can see my existing master cylinder has seen better days and needs removed now!

That is all for now, more progress to come.
JB

 

[BUGTHUG]

I wonder if that rear end will fit under my hearse?