In a message dated 1/21/99 7:44:54 AM Eastern Standard Time, lrw@aop.com
writes:
> Least favorite part: popping the rear hubs loose.
snip
>. Last time, when I pulled them
> the possibility to knocking the car off the jackstands frightened me
> s***less. Advice?
Either find a hub puller to rent or take it to a shop with a hub puller. It
makes the job trivial.
>
> The front suspension doesn't bother me; it's been out so often I should
> have used wing nuts to hold the crossmember on.
Amen
> I recently saw a sign in a local industrial park: "Powder Coating";
> gotta look into that for the crossmember, A-arms, etc. Anybody do this
> before, and, if so, how do you deal with threaded places or mating
> surfaces--- tape over them ? Don't want to have to chisel off some of
> the new coating to permit reassembly.
I'm becoming a big fan of powder coating. Had my convertible top pieces done
in gray and several of my interior pieces. I'm presently in the process of
getting my intake manifold coated. As I remove pieces in the future I plan to
get them coated prior to reinstallation. Coating in the threads is not a
problem. They have a heat resistant tape that they can use to mask off holes,
or you could run a tap through the hole afterward to clean up the slight
over"powder".
There are only a few drawbacks. The coating does not hide any imperfections in
the surface. If you have some surface pitting from rust, it will show
underneath the coating. Whereas with paint, you can glob bondo or glazing
putty to cover the defects. The other drawback is a limitation on the colors.
While there are many colors to choose from, there is not a full color spectrum
available. Mixing the powder to get different shades is not possible. You
end up with a speckled finish (kinda like those Harley Davidson paint jobs.)
So if you need to match an exact shade, it is not possible. If want green,
red, or black, and not chartreuse, fuchsia, peach, mauve, or those other
girlie colors you'd be fine.
BTW, earlier this year while I lived in Houston, I watched Joe Parlanti use
the Eastwood powder coating kit. For a little investment it was quite an
operation. Very good results for the do it yourselfer. I found a hot rodder
in Florida with the kit. Now I need to become his buddy. :^)
Rob Kempinski
Melbourne Fl
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