Today we want to talk to you about one of the most critical things you can do during restoration; body panel gaps. What you want to do is assure that you have even gaps going around your hood deck lid doors most importantly you want to make sure that during reassembly you’re not chipping fresh paint.
Author: Joe Dick
How to Gas Weld Aluminum Sheet Metal
Today we’re going to show you a quick tutorial on aluminum welding using the DHC Torch Kit . We’ll be showing you the process on some thin body aluminum. These test panels here are .035 3003 Aluminum which is common in automotive body panels.
How to Balance Car Tires
Today we’re going to show you the process for balancing your car or truck tires at home using an Eastwood Electronic Tire Balancer. This balancer will show you where to apply clip one or stick-on weights. You can balance wheels from 10 inches up to 24 inches in diameter and wheels that are one-and-a-half inches to 20 inches wide covering most wheels available today. The maximum tire diameter for this machine is 34 inches and it operates on 120 volts with a balance range of 0.25 to 25 ounces or 1 to 999 grams.
How to Build a Weather Pack Electrical Connector
Wiring and electrical work on your car can be a mysterious and frustrating thing to troubleshoot. When repairing or restoring the wiring in a classic it is sometimes better to take a bit of modern technology to give you a piece of mind. In the 1970’s Packard Electrical created the […]
How to Repair Broken Plastic Tabs
When working on metal it is quite easy to repair broken or damage tabs or brackets. You simply clean the metal, fire up your favorite Eastwood welder and melt the metal back together. You get a strong repair that will last forever. When repairing broken plastic it isn’t that easy. Sure you can melt it up and stick it back together but it won’t have any rigidity and will fail again at the repair. With more and more vehicles using mostly plastic for assembly we wanted to show how you can permanently repair broken plastic tabs, brackets or other plastic parts on your vehicle.
5 Ways to Improve Your Restoration Project
The term “auto restoration” can mean a lot of different things to different people. There’s everything from a weekend warrior light restoration to a full “nut and bolt” restoration that will border on OCD status. There’s no right or wrong way as long as you’re happy with the vehicle in the end. We decided to list our top 5 favorite simple ways to improve the quality of your restoration.
How to Clay Bar Your Paint for A Perfect Finish.
The surface of your car should be clean before you start detailing. Obviously, you want to wash the car and get the major dirt and road debris off the car. The next step is to get the dirt and contaminants that are bonded into the clear coat off the surface. So, the first thing you should do to this panel after an initial wash is using a clay bar over the paint. What that’s going to do is pull out all the contaminants that are in the paint so that when we buff the entire panel we’re buffing the paint and not just pushing the contaminants around.
Top MIG Welding Accessories for a Beginner
If you’re a beginner or got your first MIG welder you’re going to need a few different accessories to get you welding safely and help you get the job done right. Now that you’ve got yourself a MIG welder let’s go over some of the items you’ll need.
How to Protect a Chassis from Rust
Chassis and frame rot is a problem all cars and trucks need to worry about. Whether you’re restoring a classic or maintaining your daily driver you’ll need to protect your chassis from rust and frame rot. We recently had a 1960’s Chevy frame in the Eastwood Garage that needed to be stripped and treated to stop the rust and get the frame ready for a body again. Below we show you the 3 basic steps for restoring and protecting your chassis from future rust.