http://www.vetteprojects.com/cthulhu/images/frame-off/partprep/part_prep.htm

I slaved in the garage all night and took some pictures of my mess..

im trying to get the suspension parts ready so when I get my frame back and my replacement/upgrade parts in ill be ready to get the chassis up and going

Looks like my shop after I've cleaned up
What are you using for primer?

It's not so bad. looky what I started with. Although I've been working on mine for 10 yrs.

BTW - What did you call that headlight setup you have?
Brand and model?

It looks like you are having the time of your life....

My garage looks like the one in the pictures often, I saw what you were up to and I thought I would offer a couple of thoughts. I don't mean to stick my nose where it doesn't belong but I thought it might help you a bit.

I take my car apart and every time I work on it I try to improve on it a bit, other than just reparing.

My car came from Kentucky in 1967 but made it to Maine in the late 70's. I still find a bit of corrosion here and there so what I did was set up a system to eliminate the corrosion and properly refinish each item I remove for sevice. I bought a 2 stage air compressor, a tip Sand blasting cabinet, a 20 gallon parts washer, a twenty ton hyrdraulic press, a Eastwood powder Coating kit and lots of PQR rust encapsulant. I love Eastwood and their products, my cabinet looks like their display shelf. I am sorry if it sounds like I am bragging, I just like to have everything I need when I am doing a project. I go to Carlisle fairgrounds for at least two or three of the shows each year if I can so I can save money on my habit.

I set up my garage so I use the parts washer first then I use the sand blasting cabinet to take all the remaining finish or rust off and then clean the part with spray solvents and then I powder coat the parts before I re-use them. When using a sandbasting cabinet you should have a selection of blasting media and very dry air. I also found a guy a Carlisle that sells grade 8 hardware in bulk kits of all sizes, I have replacement hardware available here in my garage to reduce my trips to the hardware store. I also like switching to grade 8 hardware where GM saved money.

My system has sure made my car look better.

The parts washer has a good commercial de-greaser in it and then I put a silicone "engine oil pan heater" on it so that I can raise the temperature of the de-greaser to between 170 and 185 using a thermostatic control on the power cord for the heater element. This makes de-greasing a very simple process, no brillo pads and no grease up to my elbows.

This may sound expensive but it was probably the best thing I could have done for my car.

My 1968 Roadster had a frame off back in the late 70's as a body shop man owned her at the time and wanted her to look as good or better than new. She is now in need of keeping up but I hate doing anything twice unless I absolutly have to.

The Eastwood Powder Coating kit for $130 is a great investment, what a great finish you can do all by yourself in your garage. I bought an old stove/oven unit for $25 and use it to bake the powder coating on (400 degrees for 20 minutes). Inside the oven I removed the shelves and installed hooks on the top so I can bake some pretty good size parts. I love powder coating... once you learn how easy it is you will find uses everywhere.

If the part is under constant exposure I will use a clear powder coating over the final color. There are a zillion colors of powder available today from several manufacturers and if you have ever tried to remove this stuff you will understand why it is so great.

Recently I found another company called Caswell Plating and they have an incredible supply of cool stuff for car nuts. I now plated hardware from my car so it doesn't rust using several tyes of finishes but my favorite is black oxide. I have hard chromed parts, copper coated electrical parts, silver plated fine parts and so on. Caswell even offers kits to triple plate chrome in your own garage. Ther kits are top notch and the manuals and tech support is the best yet.
The fun is limited by the space in your garage and the bank.

My habit is so bad now that my wife and I have just bought a house with garage space for five cars or my two vettes and a NICE shop. Or should I say we bought a 5 car garage with a house attached to it....

The most recent addition to my car tools was a buffing setup from Northern Hydraulics, my chrome trim never looked so good in such a short time, I found myself taking off the bumpers and doing both sides..
Anyway the right tools make the fun of taking care and modifying our Corvettes a real joy and not a down and dirty experiance like mine used to be.

I am very fortunate to have a very sweet loving wife who is very understanding. A garage like mine was built up over about three years with a budget of less than $1000 a year. The only part I need now is a car lift, I have five crushed disks in my lower back and use Morphine just to be able to walk, this bending over stuff is taking a toll on me.

I wish you the best in your endeavor, its always worth it in the end.

Chris McCloskey

40 years... geezzzz, you in a rush or something