New Toy!

Not technically a "GARAGE" topic but....... It's my blog!
(click any pics to embiggen)


It's a WWII Russian/Soviet 1942 Mosin Nagant 91/30 firing 7.62x54R. It came NEW with Rifle, Bayonet, 2 ammo belt pouches, Shoulder strap, Oiling/cleaning/tool kit. It has a great finish and the Wood looks so good in person the pics don't do it justice. Here it is next to her new family!

If you look closely at the pic below It says 1942 the year it was made, has the hammer and sickle and arrow mark of the Izhevsk Armory in Russia (Soviet Union)

These Ammo is big and kicks so hard my shoulder hurts after shooting 5 Rounds!

A closer look at the Ammo pouch shows it was made in 1955 and getting a box of 20 in a pouch is a tight fit

The bayonet below is a whopping 19 3/4" adding this to the end of the rifle makes the overall length a grand 69" length not great for close quarters but, It was commonly used as a sniper rifle in World War II. Early sniper versions had a 4x scope attached. You know what my next purchase wil be...

Delays, repairs, upgrades

Well It's been a while since I've posted any progress on the car... because there hasn't been any! I have managed to get the car (Nissan) fixed, got my new air compressor set up, saved up some more overtime money to buy a few more tools, (dual action sander, more wrenches etc.) Now I should be back in business and can knock out a few of these body panels (as in grind down,smooth out and prime) Then I can put them somewhere besides the garage floor, freeing up enough space to pull the engine and rebuild it! If anyone wants to come give me a hand with any garage shenanigans Shoot me a message I'm usually home.
So to Keep us in a good progress mood I'll post some motivational pics I like!

I'm Shedding!

I've been on hold with progress on the 55 since I have nowhere to put anything I have random parts laying everywhere in the garage... if I get some of this crap out of the garage I can actually have room to get the engine out then finish the front frame.

I've had a 10'X14' shed laying in pieces in the backyard for a long time so I decided to finally put it together! Here's how far I got before being unable to go any further, apparently it takes 2 people to put the frame and roof together so I think I have some ppl coming over on Sat to help me finish it up.

OOOOH Shiny!

I love the Glossy "wet look" that this ended up with! I put like 3 or 4 coats of the gloss black on it and i think it looks nice.

I was Framed!

Here's what I got done today... I dragged the 55 half out of the garage to sandblast the frame around the engine, I got the driver's side as done as I can until I yank the engine & trans these pics of the primer look pretty good, I have since put on a few coats of glossy black that look really nice. (a shame since most of the frame won't be visible...)
I only had about an hour and a half to do the work since by the time I got her dragged out and the time I knew it would take to clean up the sandblasting mess(to please my beloved wife). I think the other side will turn out nice too either tomorrow or Monday...




Should anyone like to come over and lend a hand with anything (sanding,painting,tear down of interior) please send me a shout on Facebook or call me (my #'s on FB as well)! If you'd just like to stop by to chat or watch me get frustrated ;o) do the same. Just give me a days warning to have the place spiffied up for company!

PS here's what I plan on her looking like when finished...



My interior paint will be a few shades lighter than the ones pictured but they are pretty.

Stalled due to Inflation!

Sorry I've been dormant so long, between biking to work and other random things...(video games) I haven't had/made a lot of time to work on the '55. The other problem is a lack of fundage... Saving up money to buy a new air compressor while trying to catch up on bills from my "disability pay" period put a huge damper on my spending for the car. I did manage t get a few more parts primed and painted though.
The problem I came across yesterday is how am I to sandblast the front frame without turning my garage into a beach again? Anyway I've had several guys offer to help me yank the engine and rebuild it properly which I have gladly accepted and plan to get together as soon as all parties are free to do so.

Upper control arms after 1st coat

Radiator Support frame

The exhaust/intake manifold next to the Valve cover, I decided the engine is going to be "Chrysler blue" since thats the closest shade I can find to the original in High heat paint, and the Exhaust & all engine accessories will be glossy black (i.e. generator, oil filter holder, fan, pulleys, battery box etc...) I think they look good together.

Here's a pic of the stock engine!

Painting!

^Front Spring Before, After Soaking, Painted

^Inner Fender after soaking, Painting

Valve Cover Before, after soaking, scrubbed, Painted

Freshly painted Valve cover on the engine waiting to be pulled so I can rebuild and paint it!

So I got the replacement tips for the sandblaster, got them installed and..... nothing! I dumped out the sand from the hopper to see if it was the problem, but no... the siphon tube that was supposed to be sucking the sand up through the blaster nozzle was blowing air into the hopper! Thanks Harbor Freight for a $20 piece of junk!
Now in their defense a lot of their stuff is awesome and I spend WAY too much money there, and if I take it back they'll probably give me a new one. I just don't feel like driving to W-S to do it because the GSO store doesn't carry this one...
Anyway that ticked me off and set back my plans for world domination.... OOPS I mean the restoration...

Check out all of my 55 pics on Facebook...
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Frame Up!

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The front end is down to frame only! Well the engine is still in until I get the transmission & Stuff unbolted but I'm excited! I was stuck on how to get the Upper and lower arms separated from the hubs I spent a few hours trying to figure it out when My best bud Kevin Conklin showed up with his father in law Bob McCue. This man knows his stuff! In like 30 minutes we had that thing completely taken apart. Thanks Bob!!!

When I attempted to do the other side by myself today I had a bit of trouble... I did everything we did yesterday, but the ball joint just would not come free from the spindle so since I have to replace the ball joints anyway I used the trusty recip saw to cut the ball joint Bolt in two. Now the problem is that the cut off bolt is stuck in the spindle arm. I guess I'll try to drill it out tomorrow.

^Just to prove the molasses does work, here's a part that 3/4 of it fit in the solution and 1/4 was hanging out. I hadn't even hit any of it with a wire brush yet, from the rusty crap on the right to bare metal in 4 days.

^Crankcase Breather tube

^Oil Filter Holder

The springs are soaking in the molasses so we'll check on them in a few days and i'll post more pics.

Before & Afters Rust Treatment

Fan Before & After

Jack Base & Hood Latch Bracket After & Before

Jack Pole

Grille Before & After

Fan, Radiator Support wall, Battery bracket, & Water Pump Pulley Before & After.

Here's some before and after pics I took after leaving these parts in the Molasses from Thursday night to Monday morning. I pulled the parts out of the solution and hosed them off and gave them a quick scouring with a wire brush and there was bare metal and original paint! I noticed that after a few minutes the parts began to "flash rust" I wasn't too surprised since I'd read about that happening. So I brushed off the parts again, rinsed dried and sprayed them down with "Rustoleum Automotive Rust Preventing Primer" so that they wouldn't re-rust. More to come!

JACKED up

I got the other fender off today, the frame and engine are kinda grimy and rusty.

After about 10 minutes of using a wire brush you can actually see the original paint and some bare metal on the engine!

Yanked the Wheels off to get them blasted and repainted!

I am about exhausted from all of the physical exertion involved in tearing apart a car! I only had to cut off 3 bolts with a recip saw because the nut/frame was so rusted it couldn't be held onto.

I forgot to mention that my 5gallon molasses experiment was ruined by the garage door knocking over my hood causing a syrupy mess of molasses all over the garage floor. Needless to say I was P.O.d The rust was dissolving really well though I could see bare metal on all the pieces I was testing so I went with a bigger idea that can't get tipped over by anything smaller than a car... I filled up the 80+gallon Trashcan (like the company gives you) with 70gallons of water and 7 gallons of Molasses! Its big enough for me to be able to get the fenders into when I pull all of the other stuff that's soaking out of it!

will be posting before and after pics...

FEND FOR YOURSELF!

Got the Grille, Radiator and all of its support brackets, the drivers side inner and outer fenders off! Most of the parts are soaking in my giant vat of molasses/phosphoric acid to strip the rust off. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get the other fender off so I can pull the engine

Check out all of my pics on Facebook!
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.892900972381.2354362.25003132

HOODwinked

I managed to get a few things done today...
I got the doors and floorboards totally stripped down to the metal (no upholstry or molding),
the entire driver's side floor pan was rusted out so I ripped it all out.
I got the Hood off and the hinges and springs soaking in the molasses, the battery box and a few other engine parts have been removed. It doesn't sound like much but it tok a long time to do.

fRUSTration

Well I tried to get started on the de-rusting campaign with the wire brushes, manual & drill versions to no avail. The rust and old paint just kinda laughed at me while i sweated at it. So I gave up on the wires and broke out the Sandblaster for the first time, dumped in the sand i had just laying around and.... nothing happened apparently the sand was damp and too clumpy for the blaster. I dropped/threw the blaster in frustration only to have the ceramic tip shatter on the concrete. Have to run to the harbor freight to remedy that problem.

Tonight I ran over to the tractor supply to pick up some Molasses, that's right Molasses just like the cookies grandma used to make. Well not exactly, its feed grade molasses for deer hunting but I have another use for it. Mixing 1gal of molasses to 4gal of hot water produces a gross gooey sweet smelling substance full of phosphoric acid. this solution is ideal for dissolving... can anyone guess? RUST!! So i mixed up a batch and plopped in some super rusty parts (original '55 jack, hood bird), I'll leave them in there for a few days and post before and after pics.

OOH! I almost forgot I did pick up a 50# bag of black diamond sandblasting media to test out when i get my replacement tips in.

I'll let you know when I do some more!

Progress Pics

^Floor pan trunk^