The New, Newer Project: Part Tres...

[scuncio]

That is one amazing turnaround on the driveshaft.

Were you concerned about the liquid penetrating any porosity in the weld seams and filling the tube with Evaporust? I can't imagine those welds were always perfectly done.

[njsteve]

Not really. I didn't hear any sloshing sounds afterwards.

[njsteve]

The cleaning continues. I have been carefully wiping down the underside of the car with some rags and a little diesel fuel. The diesel method seems to work wonders on the original exhaust system. It cleans the surface rust right up and then slowly evaporates leaving a slightly less rusty looking exhaust system. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/grin.gif[/img]

I found some interesting items on the rear differential after wiping the grease off. It looks like the differental was half-heartedly blacked out on random surfaces of the tubes and the center section before installation at the assembly line.

Here is the factory GYC stamp code (3.08 posi) on the partially black painted axle tube. There is also a &quot;191&quot; stamp which could be the date of assembly (191st day = July 10, 1973) which matches with the late July build date of the car.



and here is something I haven't seen before: a yellow ink stamp of the same &quot;191&quot; on the upper webbing of the center section.



An orange &quot;G&quot; on the top and bottom of the center section:





Some green paint marks on the upper portion of the axle tube, partially covered by the black paint:

[njsteve]

And the underside view of the axle tubes, one side with black paint and the other, not so much. (and the shinier-looking exhaust after I wiped off the surface rust.)

[njsteve]

Cleaning continues. I used some dishwashing soap and water in a bucket and sloshed it all around the wheelwels with a soft carwash brush. Got most of the road dust off. I then used the diesel-damp rag to wipe everything down including the frame rails. It seems like the assembly line used a bit more black-out paint on the passenger side than the driver's side. Looks like they were just trying to cover the white frame rails and a bit of the wheelwells. By the amount of non-coverage on areas shaded by things like the lower lip of the inner wheelhouse and the sway bar bracket, you can deduce that they didn't move the paint gun around much and just blasted it from one position.

I also pulled the brake drums and gave them a quick dip in the evaporust which removed the surface rust immediately (once it was warmed up to 70 degrees in the sun). They look asssembly line fresh now.

[cook_dw]

Great progress.. If you already stated then I apologize but what cleaner did you use on the floors? One the green car I used cheap Dollar Tree oven cleaner &amp; their citrus degreaser on just about everything. Did not harm the paint and I had great results. Also not sure what you plan to use for preservation but I really like the Cosmoline Rust Veto in the aerosol can. Works great and its thin enough that it can be wiped off with alcohol. Just a thought. Keep it up!

[njsteve]

On the rear end I used some diluted purple stuff and dishwasher liquid in water. Then I used rags with some diesel fuel on them, paying attention to any paint marks and staying away from them. For the floors I just used the diesel dampened rag and did it all by hand. I split up the floor cleaning process into sections - rear, middle, and front, and spent a day working on each. You can only do so much before all the feeling runs out of your fingers and arms. Boy were my hands and arms hurting after that! [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/eek.gif[/img]

[Jonesy]

Reminds me of my 74 z/28. The orginal owner spray bombed the whole underside when new with black paint.
I have been slowly cleaning it with Easy Off and it seems to do the trick. The paint just melts off and the original finish remains like it was from day one.
The gas tank was painted Black, so when I was getting the fuel sender fixed, I had it out. Easy off worked great. Even chalk marks and the US Steel logo showed up under all that paint. Looks like a brand new tank right now.

[njsteve]

Look what just came out today in the July issue of Hemmings Muscle Machines. I made sure that they interviewed Enrico for the article and they even put in a photo of &quot;Rick&quot; and his lovely bride of 50 years, Lenora in the owner's comments section.

[njsteve]

Here's the link to the online article which is accessible if you have a magazine subscription: http://www.hemmings.com/magazine/mus/201...55/3749884.html