Only a few guy from the golden age of kustomizing and hot rodding are still with us, and even less are still working on cars. One of the best is Gene Winfield and even today, well into his 80’s he’s still traveling the world kustomizing old cars and teaching classes about metal shaping, leading, and anything you want to know about custom cars. I was lucky enough to catch up with him at one of his recent metal working seminars to get the process he uses to apply lead to a panel.
Tag: how to
How Do I Control the Thickness of Electroplate?
When you are using an electroplating process to coat one of your metal auto parts, it is important to know how to control the thickness of the electroplate you are adhering to the part. The thickness of a coated electroplate has….
How to Repair Rust With a TIG Welder- Rusty Door Skin Repair
There’s a handful of ways you can tackle repairing rust in your vehicle and all of them have their place. The most common would probably be cutting out the metal and MIG welding a patch panel in place. While this method is the easiest to accomplish, it can be difficult to blend the weld seam into the surrounding metal. I’ve done repairs this way for many years and they’ve turned out ok, but I’ve always wanted to master TIG welding patch panels and metal finishing the area for a seamless repair. I’ve recently begun switching a lot of my welding projects ….
Learn from a legend- Gene Winfield Custom Metal Working Class
I decided to make a trip to Harmony, PA (about 35 minutes outside Pittsburgh, PA) to Hahn-Vorbach & Associates Collector Car Restoration to visit Gene and become a student of “Windy Winfield”. The metal shaping classes are always small in size and very intimate. This isn’t a class where you’ll be sitting in a chair listening to a lecture and just taking notes, Gene gets EVERYONE involved and is happy to take on any and all questions. The classes are commonly two day events starting promptly at 9AM and lasting until whenever everyone is exhausted. If you want to attend these classes, be sure to get plenty of sleep ahead of time because it’s high paced with little to no breaks.
Tips to save time when Powder Coating Harley Wheels
These wheels originally were polished aluminum factory wheels on a Harley and after a years of daily-riding the wheels had some pretty heavy corrosion and baked-on brake dust. The first step was to disassemble the wheels completely (remove tires, all bearings, grease, seals, etc) and media blast them until we were left with clean, virgin aluminum.
Tips and Tricks to Flare Your Own Brake Lines
The brake system in a modern car is very complex, but when you break it all down they all work the same. The simplest description is that the brake pedal is depressed which compresses a piston in the master cylinder creating hydraulic pressure that sends fluid to each corner of the vehicle and activating the brakes. The system MUST be air tight and free of any contaminates or air bubbles. The sealed connection at each brake fitting is made by tightening a brake line and fitting into an opening that is shaped the opposite of the flare. Once tightened, an air and fluid tight connection is made.
How to Paint Your Car- The Basic Steps and Methods Uncovered
Painting a car is one of the most misunderstood parts of our hobby. It can be a daunting process to sand off the paint on your car, but it’s one of those jobs that things must get worse to get better.
Shaving the Column- Custom Steering Column Mods
I had previously covered in a few steps how I had come up with the steering setup on the truck. To make it short, I’m using a Packard steering column housing, a custom column shaft, and a Ford steering wheel. To make all of this work together took a bit of work, but I’ve got it all bolted up and it should all jive pretty good when done. Now I need to finish up the small details that will make the column not only look good, but also work smoothly together. I’ll be covering the latter in another post, but for now I decided to show you how I went about shaving the unneeded holes from the column housing.
Autobody Teacher and Students Teach How to Paint A Car using Eastwood Products
Donnie Smith’s (AKA “Butler Collision”) YouTube channel has for a while now been a wealth of FREE knowledge for anyone interested in learning more about the collision or autobody hobby and trade. Recently Donnie and his students decided to tackle a color change on a 2003 Mustang and document the supplies, costs, and time needed to do the job. Along the way they’re using DIY-geared Eastwood products to help make the job easier AND more cost effective. We’re excited to see how the car turns out and maybe we’ll even learn a thing or two ourselves along the way! Make sure you follow the project on their Collision Blast Blog.