This weekend I started the process of swapping out my carb, and while I had it off, I figured it's as good a time as any to tackle a bunch of small tasks while I'm there. Tidying up some rough wiring from a PO, adjusting valves, that sort of little stuff.
I figured since I was doing all these other touch-ups, I may as well work on looks, too. My car isn't a show car by any means, but from time to time I bump into people who after hearing my rave about how great the Studebaker engine performs, want to see under the hood. It happened just this last Friday in fact. I love showing off the Stude power plant and people think it's cool to see something other than a SBC in a car, but at the same time I almost feel like cringing when I open the hood around strangers! So this week, all of that changes.
Take for example, the valve covers. Here's what they looked like when I started:
I only took a shot of the one, but they were both about the same. Greasy, wrong color yellow, aftermarket valve cover sticker, paint missing in places, etc. Not pretty.
So after a dip in grease-cutting dish soap, here's what I had:
Or maybe not. I used the dish soap to cut through the oil and grease on the surface (worked great, by the way!) so when I applied the paint stripper it would have a slightly easier job to do. There were still a few flecks of the old yellow when I took this photo, but I was armed with sandpaper, and a few moments later, they were ready to prime and paint.
I went out back, put a couple coats of primer on, followed by a few coats of yellow, and here's the final result:
and
Much better.
Sure, it's a small project. A few hours work and a couple cans of spray paint and you're done, but sometimes even the small projects can be rewarding.
I'll post a couple more of the projects to this thread later. In the mean time, if anyone wants to add their little before/afters, I know I'd love to see 'em.
I figured since I was doing all these other touch-ups, I may as well work on looks, too. My car isn't a show car by any means, but from time to time I bump into people who after hearing my rave about how great the Studebaker engine performs, want to see under the hood. It happened just this last Friday in fact. I love showing off the Stude power plant and people think it's cool to see something other than a SBC in a car, but at the same time I almost feel like cringing when I open the hood around strangers! So this week, all of that changes.
Take for example, the valve covers. Here's what they looked like when I started:
I only took a shot of the one, but they were both about the same. Greasy, wrong color yellow, aftermarket valve cover sticker, paint missing in places, etc. Not pretty.
So after a dip in grease-cutting dish soap, here's what I had:
Or maybe not. I used the dish soap to cut through the oil and grease on the surface (worked great, by the way!) so when I applied the paint stripper it would have a slightly easier job to do. There were still a few flecks of the old yellow when I took this photo, but I was armed with sandpaper, and a few moments later, they were ready to prime and paint.
I went out back, put a couple coats of primer on, followed by a few coats of yellow, and here's the final result:
and
Much better.
Sure, it's a small project. A few hours work and a couple cans of spray paint and you're done, but sometimes even the small projects can be rewarding.
I'll post a couple more of the projects to this thread later. In the mean time, if anyone wants to add their little before/afters, I know I'd love to see 'em.
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