I currently have my engine out and while exploring the engine bay nether regions, I’m seeing road dust inside the chassis box section members. A lot. I mean, REALLY a lot. My shop vac has sucked up about five pounds so far and still I feel I’ve hardly made a dent. I have to use a smaller hose to get inside through the few holes in the sides but because of the reduced hose diameter, it immediately clogs up with small pebbles and such. It’s taking forever. Is there an easier and more effective way? Is there a low stressed spot in the box sections that I can cut into for a permanent access point without making too much of a mess of things? How have you approached this?
My approach was basically as yours, I taped a short piece of heater hose onto the vacuum hose and fed in into the frame rail. Yes, it clogged constantly and required removal to get rid of the debris, but eventually… I suppose if one had the frame completely stripped you could stand it on end and let gravity do its thing, however, I couldn’t think of anything else other than the method described.
My method was shop vac taped at one end, wire bottle brush chimney sweep kind of thing on a long wire fed through the other end and worked in and out. I alternated with compressed air with a long copper tube on the air gun end.
Painting the inside I had a wad of sponge soaked in paint crimped on a long wire, like swabbing a cannon.
The biggest impediment to clearing out the box sections is the fact that there are about 3 or so spacers that locate the two opposed “C” sections that are skip welded together to form the box section. You will need to use all the available holes in the frame to get to as much of it as is possible.
Okay, as the shop vac thing seems to be the only way to go, I’ll keep slogging away with it. As a side note, I suppose we can all give ourselves a pat on the back for having done this. I occasionally like to surf other sites for vicarious project cars like Beverly Hills Car Club and whenever I get to the pictures showing the underside of a car, I’m always looking hard at the chassis. The worst seem to be the Austin-Healeys. Sometimes the bottom of those frames are just totally gone. Rob, I like your idea of swabbing the inside of the frame with paint. It reminds me a little of when I was going through A&P school years ago and one of the FAA approved means of preventing internal corrosion/ rust in structural tubing was to pour in boiled linseed oil then drain it out and let it dry. I’m not so sure I’ll go that far though as our climate here in Nor Cal is generally benign enough.
Following the efforts with the vacuum I sprayed penetrating oil through every orifice along the frame rails. Not sure how effective it was, but I felt better!
Eastwood has a product that I used with a three foot flexible wand, worked wonderfully. Make sure you don’t pull it out of the hole with the nozzle depressed!
Christopher, I loved the Beverly Hills Car Club site where a description of a burnt out car is described as mostly bare metal & a great candidate for a full restoration. Any other similar sites you can recommend?
My E-type was on a rotisserie, so it got the whole enchilada… vacuum, power wash, Evaporust, power dry. Then I sprayed in Boeshield T-9 as the first level protectant. When it had dried leaving behind a thin waxy film, I sprayed in Wurthwax. For a roller, I’d probably vacuum/brush and then go with liberal application of Boeshield T-9.
Peter, you’ll also notice that Beverly Hills Car Club is not in Beverly Hills. It’s in East L.A. Ha ha. But if I still lived in L.A. I’d stop on by to kick a few tires. I got my XK120 project from a place called Dusty Cars Ltd. (Dustycars.com). The big selling point for me was price, completeness of car and the fact that it was only 20 minutes down the road from me. After closing on the paperwork I had AAA deliver it in to my garage on a flat bed free as it’s a part of my roadside service plan. Otherwise, these cars are rare enough that you’re looking at an expensive trek in time/ money to wherever it may be located and the expense of having it shipped. I also look at Gullwingmotors.com on occasion. A big inventory like BHHC, but with more high end and rare makes. Too bad they’re on the opposite coast from me. If anyone knows of other websites featuring the same please add them in?
Forgot about fantasyjunction.com. I think everything they sell is restored and accordingly, off the charts expensive. But still worth a look. For instance, who’s ever seen a '52 Riley one-off bodied roadster with a sort of a boat-tail rear end?
Unlike the FHC on BAT, I can’t find as much to nitpick on this one.
Front end cranked down too low.
Wrong tire pump at least 20 years newer.
Red paint under the bonnet, inner wing valences, and even on the throttle linkage parts, should be all black everywhere.
Red front shocks.
Extra lug wrench that doesn’t belong, (maybe carried for actual emergency use to keep the correct one clean).
Jack is the type found in later cars, would be interesting to see if it has a date on the bottom.
I’ve not seen a gray cat’s eye cigar lighter, mine is black.
believe it or not this car is owned currently by an Australian company and speaking with the bloke a couple of days ago they are talking abut bringing it to Australia - yipee
As to the paint finish and other items I could add that if it had been a show prepared car by Jaguar it would have had an engine bay in body colour!
but I am sure there will be many dozens of faults
Typical old restoration standards, where authenticity was not a priority.
Shame, as it looks like it was pretty original pre-restoration.
Even ID plate is poorly done but easily fixed, but a budget killer to fix the paint and interior.