We’ll have some fun with that a little later but first I wanted to give Cedric a few more in process pics so he and you guys can see what’s happening on the “Ruby” project.  Very unusual to have a chance to do this….I mean letting a fresh paint surface cure for over a year before the wet sand and buff process begins.  Most folks can’t wait that long but the more curing the clear has before sanding the more rock hard it gets and the better luster a wet sand and buff to 3000 will be.  What do I mean?  Well here is the reason Cedric’s coach was named “Ruby”.  That’s our buffmaster Junior there in the fuel door reflection    You do the edges and tight in buffing first   Here is the metallic in the red giving it the ruby luster  It’s like wet sanding to 3000grit 2 elephants back to back…..man THIS is the hard work!   Not just hanging around taking pics, one project I’ve been given of course were refininging and replacing speakers in the bedroom speaker grills.  I’m doing project #3 and Ruby’s together.  The interesting thing about using the variable texter gun is we can produce a finish still textured but so fine that it doesn’t fill in the speaker grill holes….or we can get a finish surface coarser as “knockdown” in a house.  You can see how close we are to the original color….the grill on the left is showing the original back color of the grill plastic.  One more pic for Cedric..you know another baby pic……  

there’s Junior again………..good job man.

And now for the “Lincoln Locker”…….you old timers may know about this but most rear wheel drive cars are called “1 wheel wonders” because the planetary gear in the differential puts power under normal conditions to only the right front tire.  If it starts slipping it will allow the left wheel some power but mostly you pull with only 1 tire.

Well…..if we want “MO POWA to da ROAD” we want both rear donuts to grind rubber so the limited slip differential was developed and BTW you can have a limited slip feature added to a fresh diff for the GMC over with Jim K. at Applied.  Hey but how did us nutting car guys do it before?  Welding the planetary gears in the diff. togetherwill make both wheels churn but it also makes making a turn problematic and forget driving in the rain!  Hey but in the hot rod world chirping your tires attempting a turn is …..cool!  Whateve3r….we’ve progressed beyond doing such goofy things hey but if you wanna build a REAL rat rod which Phillip is doing…… you need a “Lincoln Locker”.  That’s welding the diff and holding onto the steering wheel!

Step 1…get an extra differential so you’re not screwing up the only way your car will move.  How bout a complete car for $100   complete with a suitable rear end…and front suspension for that matter for the low rider pickup he’s building.  How to get out the suspension when you don’t care about the car?  Make everything a little more……accessible …Badabing–badaboom and the diff is out

So you might ask how did the car get into the bay…upside down?  Well Junior couldn’t resist playing the Silver Surfer as Phillip pushed the carn on it’s roof with the fork lift 

Like I’ve said before…you have to have fun doing this kinda work and this is how the guys unwind!  So with the rear axle suspended by the fork lift Phillip goes to work adding the “Lincoln Lock” feature

It’s as easy as ABC and 123……. MIG welding the planetary gears……..taking a Q from the Flat Earth Society…..don’t need no stinkin planetary gear!!!!  I’ll show you a pic of what he’s building tomorrow….hey but lemme show ya another $100 car Phillip got for Rat Rod parts and check out his custom mods!    Hey and working some of that fun into things having to do with GMC’s……….our new motorstand is outside    We need to flip the tires around before adding the air bags though…stay tuned…….

Had to get the guys going so now for page 2

I’ve had folks ask me how difficult it was to install a quad bag rear suspension….here on Marco’scoach one side has the first upright that thru bolts to the frame with 4 new bolts

Then the other side has 4 bolts to the first vertical member and 2 new pin nuts and there it is    Now there’s plumbing air, a small mod…easy…to the “T” skirt but that’s it.  We fing it takes @ 6 hours install.

Here on Texas Tux the red shopping cart is bringing in some fresh hubs and knuckles

Changing out one of the knuckles we are drilling in to install the temp sensor in the fresh knuckle    Do ya need that?  hey, if you already have it…why not!

Last but not least here’s proof positive rebuilt parts just don’t last like we want them to.  This recent purchase coach had as a list of featured a recently replaced steering box…..

and it was but with Manny’s 1 ton front suspension and all new everything else this 2 1/2 year old Autozone steering box is the weak link…has play…..there ya go!  Expect fresh parts to not perform……and “it’s brand new” does not mean what it used to…….I’m sad to say.

I think that’s quite enough for 1 day….man this place is hoppin’….see ya tomorrow

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