Recent content by ab705

Somewhere on my never-ending "to-do" list is the installation of an aftercooler/condenser for my compressor, which is a good way to dry out compressed air. In the meantime, I've been getting by OK with a couple of water separators in combination with the relatively dry air in my shop (I have a...

I think 80 mesh is what I have now in glass beads, but the same 80 mesh size in aluminum oxide is more aggressive, since its density is greater, the particles are quite angular, and it doesn't break down as quickly glass beads, which have what I would call 'moderate' longevity. In my experience...

I blasted about 10 rims before I got down to five that I liked well enough to use on my M37. I used a pretty aggressive media on the rims (aluminum oxide.), but it still took a long time and was quite tedious. I currently have glass beads in my little blasting cabinet, which I prefer for doing...

There have been several good suggestions by others, so please pardon any repetition, but I have some questions/comments: After replacing or cleaning the spark plugs, are they still sooty after running the engine? And if so, are ALL of the plugs equally sooty? Do you know what your electric...

I put the M37 up on my new scissor lift for the first time a few days ago. The lift works great. I weighted the rear end of the chassis to shift the center of gravity so that the CG would be over the center pivots of the lift. I placed two 3" x 5" x 1/4" rectangular tube beams across the tops of...

After a brief hiatus, I've started moving on my M37 project again. I brought the chassis home from the storage unit the other day, and sometime this coming week, I plan to move it into our new second garage. I just installed a full-rise scissor-type car lift, and I'm planning to take advantage...

I found a book on electroplating that said high-carbon or high-tensile fasteners should be baked at 200C -220C (428F) for four hours following the plating step. Another source recommended baking for at least four hours at between 375F and 450F. I bake them at about 425F for four hours...

I did some more electroplating of M37 fasteners and other parts yesterday. Here are a couple of "before" photos of some rusty 'stair' or 'step' bolts. The threads actually aren't bad; they're just clogged with rust and gunk. Below is a rusty hood latch that I disassembled. The spring is...

I don't doubt what you say! Of course, the net result of accepting the lowest bid can sometimes be a design or manufacturing flaw, depending on whether the bid was from a design firm that submitted a defective spec/design or from a manufacturer that didn't correctly follow the spec.

I would think that part of the latch would be (or at least should have been) made out of some variety of spring-steel, but I don't own one that I can play with, and if it bends that easily in your experience, you could very well be right, although IMO if they used mild steel for that part of the...

Yes, I would suggest the same thing. Place a dowel or bar against the latch body and push the latch spring plate up against it to bend it. If you open the battery box cover first, you might be able to bend it farther. I don't know how many times you can get away with bending it before it...

Merry Christmas (or holiday of your choice) and Happy Holidays to you all. Here's a little card I cobbled together with some help from Photoshop.

I'm quite certain those openings are original. My 1954 has the same openings in the mounts, as you can see in the photo below. I can't recall if those mounts are castings or forgings (I'd have take another look at them to refresh my memory), but the openings appear to have been a feature of...

I finally got my electroplating setup working. I'm planning to zinc plate many of the original M37 fasteners, as well as a number of other parts. Here's a typical batch of rusted bolts. My preferred method of de-rusting fasteners is glass bead blasting, as it's gentler than many other blasting...

Glad I could give you an idea or two. :)