E-tek Restorations - Classics, Rods and Customs

August 1, 2014

390 FE teardown - a TURBO mill for the Galaxie

This winter the E-tek Rod Shop will be a rarely seen "clean zone", meaning there will be no bodywork, sanding or painting going on and all the projects will either be in build-up phase (Camaro and 240Z), or clean-up and detailing phase (Porsche). So what better time to also tackle some of the mechanical projects I have in mind, in addition to putting together the projects that have - or will have - fresh paint on them.

Two such mechanical projects are the flatead I have slated for the E-Rod and the boosted 390 FE I have slated for the Galaxie. The key then will be in getting both mills ready to go the machinist. so that they\ll be back in the shop - ready to go together - before the snow flies.

390 FE teardown: I bought this complete engine from a great guy whose name is Morris, who is also the SK modertator of the FordTruck.com site.

Overall, the engine looked reasonmably well-kept on the outside, with little evidence of leaks or exterior damage. It had spent a winter (or several) outside tho and in SK that can alwasy be an issue...so lets see what lies inside -

Above - little sludge insode the valve covers and a clean valve train was the first good signs.
Below - all the parts removed looked healthy, with no visible wear marks or evidence of heat damage.

Above - though the parts were easily removed, the rotating assesmbly took somewhat more torque to move than normal
Below - a ton of slack in the timing chain often signlals some obvious wear and likely high-milage

Below - Most of the pistons where relatively free of carbon build up and the cylinder walls where smooth. Some flash rust is evidence of moisture settling on the cylinder walls over years of storage, which would have caised the increase in rotating torque I saw ealier.

Below - bottom end looks clean as well, with previsuly numbered rod end caps,

signifying at least one previous rebuild.

Once everything is off the block, the crank will be shipped off to my machinist,

along with it's 30+ year older brother, the flathead, where it will undergo all the work deemed necessary to renew it for another term at the buisness end of a fine automobile!

Via www.E-tekRestorations.googlepages.com

July 30, 2014

1 year Update! POR15 vs RUST BULLET "Real World RUST PAINT Test"

July 31st, 2014 - the test plate I attached to the underside of my van was removed 364 days later, after having travelled approximately 45,000kms across the salted, sanded and gritty roads of Saskatchewan Canada, where temperatures ranged from +38C/100F to -40C/-40F and with constant speeds of up to 125kph/80mph for up to 5 hours at a stretch. While by no means a "scientific Study", it serves the purpose of showing how these paints perform in "real-world" conditions - when applied properly - and meeting or exceeding the abuse they would be exposed to in wheel-wells, frames, suspension components, trailers and other exposed, rusty or etched, metal surfaces it is intended for. Both paints also clain to be great for cement coating, but I have yet to have attempted their use on other substrates.

For details on how the test plate was prepared and the two brands of rust paints applied,

please refer to my post of 1 year ago: Here.

Removing the plate:

And here it is, the even rustier control section is on the Left, the POR15 and Rust Bullet painted sections on the Right. The test peice and paints are still coated in a film of salt and road-grime.

Photo A - After an initial (dry) wipedown, the plate was placed on the original labelled board -

Photo B - Plate was flipped over, showing the underside

after being cleaned with a water-dampened paper towel -

Discussion -
Both paints where largely intact and protective of the base metal underneath, suffering no major adhesion issues. However, both paints suffered minor damage and removal along the leading edge, an area subjected to direct contact from grit, stones, salt and more (top edge in top photo A, bottom edge in photo B).The uncoated section continued to rust, whereas only small sections of the leading edges of the coated sections did so. After wiping with a wet paper towel the sheen/shiny surface was returned and in good shape.

For comparison, here is the plate 1 year ago, when it was first prepared and painted with the two rust paints:

Overall impressions:
As promised by the manufacturers, both single-stage, air-cured epoxy paints did a very good job of protecting the metal substrate overall and sealing/protecting the vast majority of the coated surfaces. As mentioned above, both paints did suffer what I would term as a "minor" adhesion issue - damage/removal atthe leading edge, which would have taken a large amount of abuse from road debri and harsh weather conditions.

Due to the results of this test, I will certainly continue to recommend either paint and use them in my shop on both my own, and other peoples vehicles, with a good amount of confidence that they will remain on the substrates and protect them from deterioration in most conditions - when applied to surfaces that are either clean and rusty or clean and well-etched. They need a rough/porous surface to adhere to and many people report issues with adhesion when that has not been the case.

I would hazard a guess that "most conditions" these paints will be subjected to may or may not be as harsh as they were in this test, so your results may vary.

Thanks for reading along!.

Via www.E-tekRestorations.blogspot.com

July 23, 2014

Preparing 68 Camaro for paint prep...

Rear panel and trunk lid alignment: the previous work looks like it was done without using sanding blocks, so we'll make sure it all gets straightened as it gets readied for paint.

The seams and joints where all sealed with PRO-seam sealer and a light coat of rockgaurd was sprayed on

Althought the gaps are even, you can see the body lines don't quite match up. This will be rectified by adjusting the doors, then installing and the latch and striker to ensure the doors line up with a smooth action on the latch.

The lower quarters that were removed had a ton of filler in them in order to match them up to the rokcer panels. The new quarter was aligned so that only a skim of filler was required.