Nice looking 28 Chev Speedster

Always had a soft spot for Chev speedsters.

Is it too late to change direction with the ute project?

Just take a look at this beautiful award winning example that belongs to Dave Cufr from Northwood Ohio in the USA.

 

Club Run to Ambulance Museum (Thomastown) Victoria

Great turn out today for a DVHCC run to the ambulance museum at Thomastown, followed by lunch at the Watsonia RSL.

Jan and I meet up with Terry and Josie and were chauffeured in Matilda the 1928 Chev, the first time I have ever been a passenger in the back of a 28 Chev.

Very comfortable, and spacious compared to the front seat.

Terry and Josie

 

Matilda looking and running great

Some pictures of the vehicles on display at the museum

Day 24 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (4th July 2015)

Another few steps today, and getting closer to the end of the dirty work.

After 4 weeks of soaking I took the first load of parts out of the molasses bath, and reloaded it with the 4 cross members from the original chassis plus a few other bits and pieces.

I had been made aware that as soon as parts are taken out of molasses and high pressure cleaned they can start to rust immediately. The option of painting a heap of parts on a cold wet Melbourne winters day was not my preferred choice, so I came up with another solution.

Drying the parts after the high pressure wash, I wiped them down with Rustbuster. Perfect, as it took away the rust stains that had developed after just 35 minutes and left the surface a nice shade of gun metal grey.

Todays pictures are below.

Day 23 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (2nd July 2015)

Raining this morning so I spent the first few hours cleaning up a few Chassis hang on parts before they are put into the molasses for a few weeks.

The rest of the day was spent on the rear half of the chassis, stripping of original chassis black paint then the rust underneath.

A bit of pitting here and there, nothing serious

 

Day 22 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (1st July 2015)

Big day today, only just got out of the shower at about 7.30 and had some dinner.

This ute project is taking me into a few new areas, and it just shows you can always learn something.

The original damaged ute chassis looked to have a better front and rear cross member than the replacement chassis, so I spent a few hours drilling and punching out every rivet and stripping the damaged chassis into the individual pieces.

Very pleased to say the effort was well worth it, as the front cross member is one of the best I have come across. There is a lot to be said for having a long lasting oil leak over many years that picks up dirt and dust and forms a protective coating on both sides. Before I could use the wire brush on the angle grinder I had to hammer and chisel the crud that was between 1/4 to 3/8 thick. Underneath the crud was in places paint, surface rust, and minimal pitting.

The rear cross member was in a similar good condition, the heavy surface rust on the underside will be taken care off in the molasses tank.

Today's pictures are below

The damaged chassis donating its parts to the spares department

Stripped and going nowhere

The rear cross member from the donor chassis

After a  bit of panel work, wire brushing and a very light grind with a flappy disk

 The donor front cross member

Looking pretty good