more more sanding

I WAS going to make a new myspace for the saabette, and move all the blogs over there...but Myspace makes it exceeding difficult to copy blogs...so pppbbbblllttt...I'll find another blogspace that is more backup friendly and myspace loses my "business"
sanding sanding sanding. I found a source for the windshield gasket, so I got to break up the monotony of sanding with removing the windshield. I have all of the sanding done except for some little spots here and there. I'll take care of those this weekend. Hopefully this weekend, I'll have the first coat of primer on too.

I say first coat, because first I'll seal it, then hit it with a high build primer. I'll then carefully sand the high build primer until the surface is perfectly smooth. That may take a couple of attempts.

I like the jawbreaker effect sanding it. There is blue topcoat, rust color primer, white somethingorother, and brownish fiberglass.

more sanding

late saabette update.
I sanded. The passage of time measured by the gradual flow of sand...ing. Leaded dust gently exchanging it's 30 years of stored potential energy for a final kinetic rush to its lowest energy state. The heat of friction releasing stored poly esters dormant since their casting in a far away land. Perhaps they will be carried back by the air currents to their home in sweden. Perhaps they will mate with the chemicals in the air above pasadena to form super esters. Perhaps, in time they will coalesce into super ester life forms, reproducing with squirts of catalyst into super ester resin, hardening exothermically into baby esters. Many millenia after the passing of the human race, they will rule the planet. By that time...i should be done sanding...i hope...

sanding!

first day of class was today. I put the body of the saab on the trailer. Body=fiberglass shell from the windshield back. Put the trailer on the back of Janna's Corolla and headed off to San Jac south. It actually stayed on the trailer! I took off all of the extra parts (turn signals, tail lights, mirror, sun visors) and scraped off all of the body glue. Those wacky swedes actually glued the body onto the chasis. Then I got to sanding. I basically finished an area about 18x24 inches....oh boy! and 8 more hours of sanding next week! . Plus there are a handful of cracks that I have to glass in. Then just spray on some sealer, and filler primer...and sand some more...then more filler primer...than sand some more...and if i'm lucky...a hit with color and clear...then more sanding....sanding is my life.

rear suspension tweak

I worked on the saabette! I'm so proud. I took the rear axle off...AGAIN...took the rear wheel bearing out and put them in correctly this time...with the spacers installed..doh! I also managed to get the center bushing...um...centered. I had someone else do it, initially, and they didn't quite get it...which threw the rear alignment out of whack. This is one of those jobs that is a 15 minute job once you get on the right path...but is 5 hours long by the time you've failed several times, broken a tool or two and been to the store. It must have taken about 3000 psi to budge the little bugger. I finally got it with my giant vice, a 3 foot cheater bar, and some carefully positioned half inch steel chunks. I'm fairly certain that I cheated death. At anyrate, its all back together and looks pretty good. We'll see when I go for the first test drive.

That little project was a big black cloud over me, knowing for months that i'd have to get it done...now it is. So hopefully that opens the door for wiring! I'll start up the class in the spring again and start painting the body. By the time I get the body painted I should have the interior wired and plumbed so I can put the body on...that will be very weird looking...I haven't seen the body on it in years.

Well...not much new in the world of saabettes. Its hard to get anything done when you only work on it 2 hours a day twice a week. I'm going to finish up a few more things and bring it home for the summer to do the brake lines, gas lines and wiring. Then I'll get into the saturday class and start work on painting the body. I think I found the paint codes, and i'll probably get a paint chip and find a matching metallic, or crystal paint to add a little more depth to the paint job, while maintaining the same color.

I did finally get the doors hung. gah...that was fussy work making a new hinge pin with an interference fit with the hinge.

All i did was get a #8 bolt of the right diameter. I can't remember what size it was...I think it was metric. It was a perfect fit for the hinge. I welded the bolt to the chasis so it wouldn't spin, and viola, new hinge pin.

finished chasis paint

can't remember where I'm at with saabette stuff. let's see, finished painting the chasis..put the car back on its wheels...what else? I brought in the doors for fitment, and by golly they FIT! The rear axle is out of whack though, I *think* the axle itself is bent...which would mean a trip to the frame machine for a good ole fashion beating. It could alternatively mean that the mount is slightly tweaked...which, actually, has the same solution. So either way, the saabette's rear end is going to take a beating...I know some of you will be very jealous...
I found a problem putting one of the doors on, that I'm surprised I hadn't noticed before. One of the hinge pins was loose. Given the wear on the pin, it's been loose for 15 years. No replacements are available anywhere, but I can get a slightly larger pin and drill out the hinge for it. Oh well...one more thing.
Let's see...i think I have a picture here somewhere..wow...dusty camera!

saab update 11/15/06

put some work into the saab lately. got the trunk and rockers painted. Man those rockers took a lot of work, but they look really good now. Unfortuneatly, i'm afraid that all that work is going to get broken off by a jack stand or good rock hit or something. I really wish my metal work had been better. It's solid. More solid than stock actually. But it wasn't straight so I have a lot of fiberglass filler on it. The guys at school say that the stuff will be fine, but I worry about it. I suppose I'll know how to do it better next time..

I also put the steering arm back in with new tie rod ends, and remounted the suspension with new bushings, and ball joints. I cleaned and painted some of the components to make them look pretty. Those springs are absolutely deadly to install. I only got one of them installed next week, and then realized it was upside down. I didn't think it would make any difference, but the winding of the springs and design of the spring cups makes it slip off the top cup if it is installed upside down...drat!

To install the springs I have to take the upper A arm completely off, compress the spring, install it, and put the A arms back on. gah...and if you have the spring compressor in the wrong spot it binds when you let it out, and you have to start all over...bloody freaking fussy engineering.
Here are the pictures...

more rockers...more rockers

I've spent days shaping the rocker panels. They're the one piece of metal work that shows. It was: put on fiberglass mud, sand to shape, find imperfections, repeat..and repeat and repeat and repeat... I finally got to the point of "good enough", and hit the area with some high build primer to fill the sanding scratches, and sharpen the body lines. Looks pretty good. Now, I want to work on cleaning and reinstalling the suspension, so that as soon as i paint the rockers and rear wheel wells, i can put the car on its wheels. Then, i can safely cut off the bracing keeping the car from tacoing, and paint the interior black. Things are looking up, even though everything takes 10 times as long to do then planned. I guess a career in project management is not in my future. Ug..just bought another $300 worth of paint...hopefully that will last me through the chassis. It looks like I'll need another $500-$1000 to finish painting the car completely. Doing good work is EXPENSIVE. Good thing it takes me forever, because I can save all my nickels and dimes to do it...
Looking, i decided i needed new boots and ball joints. Need to buy those. Possibly some new rotors too if I can find them. They are badly pitted, but I'll check the thickness tolerances before I spend the money. Maybe I can get them turned. Looks like one is much thinner than the other already though...could be a problem. And i lost a suspension bushing in the move. They can only be bought in packages...crap. $200 for a $25 bushing. I guess i'll put that one on the cost of divorce charge code.

filler

school started again...yea!
Every saturday from 7:30 to 4:30 I'll be narrowly escaping death! Today's death is the slow and painful death of lung cancer from inhaling fiberglass. I am smarter now though, and wear a filter mask when I'm working with dynaglass. I wish I had something interesting to say about my glass this week, but really I spent 8 hours putting on filler and sanding it off. I'm trying to match the contours on the rocker panels, just so. I think I've got 40 hours total now in shaping filler on the rocker panels...They are nearly done, and then I can move on finally...

Some more paint progress

Tonight was my last class for the summer. School starts back up in sept sometime. School is dead! Long live school! It's switching back to saturdays, so my weeknights will be free for...something..i don't know what. I've spent all this year keeping busy with getting the house ready to sell, selling the house, moving, unpacking and then school. Trying to keep my mind occuppied? maybe...

at anyrate, i had to get SOMETHING finished before the end of the semester and here it is. I undercoated and painted the bottom of the car and the front wheel wells. For jollies I also painted the engine bay. It looks fantastic. Well...the patches are VERY amateur, but the paint is professional. very tough stuff. You get what you pay for. That's about $150 for just the bottom. I've also spent about 4 or 5 classes with fiberglass filler, shaping and sanding the rocker panels. they are almost perfect, but I'll still take another saturday or two making them all perfect. and then I'll hit a big bump and the f'ing stuff will crack I'm sure.

painted

puh....puh ug.
finally...
painted...
the
car.
actually only the underside, front wheel wells and engine bay. 50%. So freaking exhausted. Who would have thought painting like that would kick my teeth in. 4 straight hours. Sweating in the booth. I stink like skin flake snow man. What in the hell makes that so exhausting. Partially the adrenaline. My mind was set on "die hamster die". 32 parts paint to 13 parts flattener to 8 parts thinner to 4 parts hardener, mix, strain, check the gear, spray, maintain distance, steady pace, follow the curve, paint don't turn corners, get the underside of that bracket after this pass, do this part first and feather the overspray later, will i hit the paint with the hose if i don't do this part first? remember steady, slower, same distance, even trigger, set the hose up, turn the car, keep spraying, refill, paint, mix some more, half as much this time, what was that ratio, no half of 13, did i put the hardener in, forgot to strain, gear check, don't stand on the fresh air hose, breathe. breathe, you're panting, the gun is getting heavy, breathe, not too much paint there, it will run, did i get that spot, jesus how did i get so wet, did i hit a water buffalo, still breathing? thats good, what was i doing, ah painting, done? done miss anything, how about under that bracket, don't forget to breathe, get off the goram breathing hose okay done, check, clean the gun, clean the equipment, make sure the lids are closed, did the room just spin, it must be your imagination, the instructor is waiting, you're the only one left, damn, what time is it, damn, DAMN! I feel sick, i'm skipping dinner, taking a shower and going to bed. okay feeling better, still skipping dinner, still showering...going to bed..you are getting very sleepy...sleepy...you are asleep. sleep..that's where I'm a viking....

sandblasting

Quick update on the saabette. I sent the master cylinders off to get rebuilt. Rebored and everything. The full deal . I also ordered the last of the suspension pieces. That will allow me to paint the undercarriage, then install the suspension and paint the rest. The timing is critical though because of paint cure times and such. I've also spent a bunch of time sandblasting all of the suspension parts. I'll probably paint them blue. I think that would look nice. Dad, the sandblaster is a little slow but working fine. I've blown through almost 100 lbs of sand on the suspension pieces..much of it ended up in orifaces that I thought I had covered pretty well...

primed

Yikes. I finally got the car primed. There are a few holes here and there to fill in. I might break out the welder and do those, or just use seam sealer, I don't know. I'll get the body filler out and smooth out a couple of spots too. then...I get to prime again! yay. at any rate...here is a picture:

painting the tub

I have the entire outside of the tub stripped and prime. All I have left is the inside floor and trunk. I'm hoping to be done with those by wednesday. Then next week I'll put seam sealer on...well...the seams, and get out the plastic filler to touch up a few spots. The rockers were a bear, and I didn't get them perfectly straight. I got them close, and the filler will make it perfect. Next week though, I'm going to have to take a day off. I need to go to school and get my student ID. Then I'll go to the paint store, get another quart of epoxy primer, a couple quarts of undercoating, and then a gallon of the final urethane. It'll probably cost $200-$300 and my student ID gets me 20% off, so it will be worth the trouble I think. Then I have to go to the junkyard and get the switchgear for the honda. None of these errands I have to run are at places that are open after 5, so I have to take a day off to go to all of them. Maybe I can get it done in a half day...stupid banker hours.

screw air conditioning

Forget it...I'm tired of messing with the designs. I'm not even sure the engine can support a modern air conditioner on the days that I really need it. I wear a heavy leather jacket and bake on summer days on the motorcycle, so sitting in short sleeves and shorts with the windows down in the saabette, will be a comparable luxury.

I can remember being stuck in traffic when I was in school, in the sonett, and the temp gauge was pegged. It was the middle of august in houston and close to 100 degrees. Probably even higher smack dab in the middle of houston on a concrete slab with 4 million other cars surrounding me. I turned the heater on full blast in a desperate attempt to supplement the overworked radiator up front. It was just barely staying green. And I want to add the additional load of an air conditioner? I suppose I could upgrade the cooling system...which will require an upgraded alternator...plus the extra belts will pull on the balace shaft bearings and strain them...forget it! Nobody will EVER want to ride with me...which may not be such a bad thing. And it will probably scare off more girlfriends. But I don't care. I'll just keep the subaru. It will be paid off by the time I finish the saabette anyway. Plus it will make a nice tow vehicle to take motorcycles to the track.

Learning something new

I welded in the last patch of sheet metal yesterday....weird. I did 8 small patches. i realized just how good at it I had become. I can tell the difference in thickness when I'm cutting the metal, just by feel. I can feel the difference between rust and solid metal through the cutting wheel, and even just by knocking on a seemingly good surface. My MIG welding is just short of fantastic. I can cut through a 1/16th inch piece of sheet metal, and barely scrape the sheet metal beneath it..(assuming I know its there). I really surprised myself. But it's time to move on to the next skill. I've been collecting information on paint, and I'll go spend the money this week. I'll stip the whole chassis with a wire wheel, and the places I can't get to with the wheel, I'll hit with some chemical stripper. Then, cover with some two part epoxy primer/sealer. I'll only have time to do a small part at a time, so I'll do the bottom and vertical surfaces first, and then the top surface last. Primer will not stop rust from forming by itself, so I don't want any standing water on any of the surfaces. I'm going to put some Roadgaurd on the bottom and in the wheel wells and then cover with a one stage urethane, eggshell black. Then, at home I can rebuild the master cylinders, and reinstall them and the rebuilt suspension onto the chasis, along with new brake lines, fuel lines and wiring harness. In the meantime, during the class, I can start stripping and sanding the body and front clip. Paint that and drop in onto the chasis. Then engine work, transmission, and a million details...then I'm done...thats it! I"ll take it to car shows and win all kinds of trophies and girls will find me irresistable.

Learning something new

I welded in the last patch of sheet metal yesterday....weird. I did 8 small patches. i realized just how good at it I had become. I can tell the difference in thickness when I'm cutting the metal, just by feel. I can feel the difference between rust and solid metal through the cutting wheel, and even just by knocking on a seemingly good surface. My MIG welding is just short of fantastic. I can cut through a 1/16th inch piece of sheet metal, and barely scrape the sheet metal beneath it..(assuming I know its there). I really surprised myself. But it's time to move on to the next skill. I've been collecting information on paint, and I'll go spend the money this week. I'll stip the whole chassis with a wire wheel, and the places I can't get to with the wheel, I'll hit with some chemical stripper. Then, cover with some two part epoxy primer/sealer. I'll only have time to do a small part at a time, so I'll do the bottom and vertical surfaces first, and then the top surface last. Primer will not stop rust from forming by itself, so I don't want any standing water on any of the surfaces. I'm going to put some Roadgaurd on the bottom and in the wheel wells and then cover with a one stage urethane, eggshell black. Then, at home I can rebuild the master cylinders, and reinstall them and the rebuilt suspension onto the chasis, along with new brake lines, fuel lines and wiring harness. In the meantime, during the class, I can start stripping and sanding the body and front clip. Paint that and drop in onto the chasis. Then engine work, transmission, and a million details...then I'm done...thats it! I"ll take it to car shows and win all kinds of trophies and girls will find me irresistable.

Learning something new

I welded in the last patch of sheet metal yesterday....weird. I did 8 small patches. i realized just how good at it I had become. I can tell the difference in thickness when I'm cutting the metal, just by feel. I can feel the difference between rust and solid metal through the cutting wheel, and even just by knocking on a seemingly good surface. My MIG welding is just short of fantastic. I can cut through a 1/16th inch piece of sheet metal, and barely scrape the sheet metal beneath it..(assuming I know its there). I really surprised myself. But it's time to move on to the next skill. I've been collecting information on paint, and I'll go spend the money this week. I'll stip the whole chassis with a wire wheel, and the places I can't get to with the wheel, I'll hit with some chemical stripper. Then, cover with some two part epoxy primer/sealer. I'll only have time to do a small part at a time, so I'll do the bottom and vertical surfaces first, and then the top surface last. Primer will not stop rust from forming by itself, so I don't want any standing water on any of the surfaces. I'm going to put some Roadgaurd on the bottom and in the wheel wells and then cover with a one stage urethane, eggshell black. Then, at home I can rebuild the master cylinders, and reinstall them and the rebuilt suspension onto the chasis, along with new brake lines, fuel lines and wiring harness. In the meantime, during the class, I can start stripping and sanding the body and front clip. Paint that and drop in onto the chasis. Then engine work, transmission, and a million details...then I'm done...thats it! I"ll take it to car shows and win all kinds of trophies and girls will find me irresistable.

Eventually the saab died of old age. There was no single specific cause of death, just everything started to not work right. The clutch slipped at anything over 3000 rpm. It died when you hit bumps, and I had to pop the clutch to restart it. It wouldn't start when it was hot. And it would mysteriously lock the tranmission after 10 miles of driving. Let it sit for 4 hours and it is fine for another 10 miles. (I discovered that 10 hours before I had to catch a flight to Moscow...fun) So it sat in my garage. And moved from one garage to another like Sloth until I felt I was stable enough to take on an undertaking like I knew lay in front of me. I mean stable as in I didn't move every year, not stable as in emotionally. Emotionally stable people drop cars like this off at the junk yard and buy Camrys. But you know, the car was my first and you never forget your first car...unlike whats her face...(I keed...I keed). So when I bought the house, (also my first but no such emotionally attachment, I'm glad its gone), I took apart the saabette to cure what ails her. Which is when I found out that the rear axle was not solidly attached, and with the body off, the chassis was limber like a yoga instructor. At that point I dragged her down to the community college and learned how to weld and fabricate. I must be really good at it now because I've had a LOT of practice.

Here are some pictures of the school and the state of the car when I started.

pictures died. I'll try and come back later and fill them in.

Its been, I guess, nearly a year and a half now, and I just finished the structural body work, and most of the hole patches. I cut, bent and welded about 4x14 feet of sheetmetal. That is 56 sq ft, 512 cubic inches, and weighs 145 lbs! I have about 350 hours in it now.I still have some structural work to do, I guess, in modifying the firewall to put in an as of yet undetermined airconditioning system. I can still busy myself with little patches to some non structural holes, and finishing stripping the entire chasis so I can take all the undercoating and paint off and repaint it. Once I get it painted (hopefully this summer) then I've really turned the corner. I can actually start assembly, instead of dissassembly!

My first time

14 years old. My dad would take me around the neighborhood and let me drive. Hehehehe...sweet. 78 screaming horsepower at my command vibrations coming through the clutch, brake and gas, and I was scared to death....My knuckles white and my face green. I take stuff like that way too seriously. I get so set on being a 'natural' and doing something perfect my first time, that I tense up and totally mess it up. (HEHE, i'm such an arrogant bastard) If i would just relax at stuff like that, I probably WOULD be a total natural.Yep. The saabette was my first...you always remember your first. Its probably why i'm spending everyweekend of my thirties rebuilding the STUPID FREAKING RUST BUCKET! I WOULD BE LUCKY IF IN PLACES THERE ACTUALLY WAS RUST BECAUSE THEN AT LEAST I WOULD KNOW WHAT WAS SUPPOSED TO GO IN THE GIGANTIC GAPING HOLE!. This car better be AT LEAST half as much fun as I remember. HEHE, its a hell of a project, but half of it is proving to myself that I can do it, and actually follow through on one thing in my life. I'm going to be VERY proud of it. Woe to the poor bastard who asks me about it. Plus, I'm having a hell of a time learning about all the welding and painting and mechanical stuff. I wish I liked TV instead, or drinking..is drinking a hobby?...Maybe I'll learn curling...

How I got the car

I'm going to try and get caught up on my saab blogs. I have about 20 years of catching up to do, and no one is going to be interested. The story starts when I was 8 years old. My dad came home wrapped in a itty bitty, baby blue two door, some kinda, what the hell is that car. I wish I could remember my mom's face, but I get the impression that at this point she was getting used to this sort of thing. At anyrate, this is about what it looked like:






OK, well, this is a much later picture, but you get the idea. Many of you have no idea what this thing ever looked like...poor car. It was a Detroit car and the rockers and floor were already rotted out. (let's see, the car was about 9 years old at that point) My dad took it apart, with pieces in the basement and he car parked sideways in the back of the garage. He sent the engine off and messed around with the brakes and clutch. He patched the holes with what appears to be roofing tin, rivets, some sheet metal, fiberglass and bondo. I can't complain i guess, it kept my feet dry for 10 years of driving. I still don't know how he had the time to even get done what he did with him working so much. What I do wish is that I had paid more attention...I'm paying for that now.I do remember when he got the car back together (or was it before?) He took the whole family out on a drive...now, this is a two door car with the gas tank mounted 4 inches behind the non-reclining seats. My dad drove and me (8ish) my sister (5ish) and mom were all in the passenger seat. HEHEHE, i bet I'd be pulled over and beaten by the cops if I tried that stunt today. That's pretty much my only memories of the car for about 5 years. I wish I could blame my horrid memory on large quantities of alchohol and weed, but neither apply. I can only assume that my parents horribly beat me during this period of time.