Archive for June 4, 2012

Budget Mods: Paint your wheels

admin / June 28, 2012 / No comments

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Painting Wheels

So to continue an earlier searies, Budget Mods, we are going to show you how to paint your wheels for under 20 bucks.

So while painting my wheels I decided to do a little write up for folks that aren’t quite sure how.

Materials:

1 can of Primer ( I used black)
1 can of color (you choose)
1 can of clear
a pack of 5×7 note cards
Sandpaper I used 400 before priming
1 bottle of wax/grease remover
Masking tape for the air valve

Spray Technique:

You will want to keep the nozel of the can about 8 inches from the sub-straight as much as possible. Also try to be as close as possible to perpendicular to the sub-straight as you can, this will give you the best look.

In general you will want to spray coats in 5-10 minute intervals when it is 60-75 degrees out, and low humidity, with higher humidity let dry times be longer but only by about 5 minutes. If it is very hot out the paint will dry faster so your flash time will decrease.

Flash Time is the period of time in between coats of paint, if you let the paint fully cure you will have to sand each coat to let the next coat bond.

First take the wheels of the car, and set them on the ground or where you plan to work on them.

Next clean off the wheel to remove and brake dust or other road grime.

Next sand all the areas to be painted thoroughly

Then you will want to clean the area using the wax/grease remover using a clean cloth, make sure to have a couple as the clean one gets dirty use a new one. If not you will rub the grease right back on the wheels and the paint will not bond.

Let dry, and begin placing the note cards around the wheel, overlapping them to avoid overspray on the tire.

Now, get the primer can ready and begin spraying in light coats every few minutes until no original color shows through.

After ten minutes begin doing the same with the color spray can, remember light coats every few minutes to avoid runs.

Finally after ten minutes spray the clear in the same manor, let dry and place back on car.

Then enjoy your work.

Pics of the wheels

Before Paint

starting

Wax and grease remover

masking my wheel

primered

painted my wheel

finished wheels

Category: Uncategorized / Tags: Budget Mods

Decades Of American Automobiles Part IV

admin / June 10, 2012 / No comments

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With the first two decades behind us we get into the Roaring 20′s. A lot happened in the twenties in the car world and we are going to cover as much as we can. But we unfortunately never saw what was coming and what would become the demise of a majority of the young automotive companies from the previous decades.

American Cars 1920-1930

Chrysler
DeSoto
Plymouth
LaSalle
Pontiac
Viking

What was special

Chrysler:

The company was founded by Walter Chrysler (1875–1940) on June 6, 1925, when the Maxwell Motor Company (est. 1904) was re-organized into the Chrysler Corporation. The first Chrysler had features we take for granted these days, such as high compression, carburated air filter, pressurized oil system, and an oil filter. A lot of cars around at the time didn’t have some of those features. Another goal was to offer a highly featured, quality car that was affordable. Usually those types of things do not go together. Another innovative change was the first mass-produced four-wheel hydraulic brakes, a system nearly completely engineered by Chrysler. Also you could find rubber engine mounts that where added to reduce vibration. Chrysler also developed a wheel with a ridged rim, designed to keep a deflated tire from flying off the wheel. This wheel was eventually adopted by the auto industry worldwide. Pretty awesome huh?

1924 Chrysler

Plymouth:

In 1928, Chrysler brought about Plymouth as it started to structure it’s cars by price and features. Plymouth was Chrysler’s way of getting into the lower priced car market. The only problem was, that Ford and Chevy already had a strong grasp on this market. They came out strong by offering a car slightly more expensive, but with standard features, such as Chrysler’s Hydraulic brakes.

Plymouth Model Q

DeSoto:

The DeSoto make was founded by Walter Chrysler on August 4, 1928, and introduced for the 1929 model year. It was named after the Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Chrysler wanted to enter the brand in competition with its arch-rivals General Motors, Studebaker, and Willys-Knight, in the mid-price class. Not long after the DeSoto what released Chrysler also bought Dodge, which gave them two mid priced lines.

Desot

LaSalle:

LaSalle was brought about to fill a gap. GM had a decent umbrella covering all the covers of the car market, except a few. LaSalle was here to do just that. There is not a lot to be found about LaSalle, and many of you may have never heard of them. It was around only up to the early 40′s.

LeSalle

Pontiac:

Pontiac in the early years had the exact same purpose as LaSalle, to bridge gaps in the product line. It also owned by GM lasted a lot longer just recently going out a couple years ago. Pontiac is best know for its cars in the Muscle Car era which we will get to soon enough. Pontiac was originally made to bridge a gap around Oakland, but quickly took over and made Oakland obsolete. Pontiac was actually the only car brand to out last its parent company (Oakland) The Pontiac Chief was built with an L-Head inline 6 with a whopping 40 horsepower. By the end of the release year 76,742 Chief sold. Later they would be offered with an inline 8, which oddly enough, as the v-8 was already a popular motor.

Pontiac Chief

Viking:

Viking was an automobile manufactured by General Motors’ Oldsmobile division for model years 1929 to 1931.
Viking was part of Alfred Sloan’s companion make program introduced to help span gaps in General Motors’ pricing structure, and was marketed through GM’s Oldsmobile division. Viking was one of four makes introduced by General Motors, the other lines (and their GM divisions) being Pontiac (Oakland), Marquette (Buick) and LaSalle (Cadillac). Of the four makes, Viking was the only one priced higher than its “parent” make.

Viking Sedan

Category: Uncategorized / Tags: Decades of Automobiles

Decades Of American Automobiles Part III

admin / June 4, 2012 / No comments

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So we left off in the first decade of the 1900′s. We had quite a bit going on but we had yet to see the real action to come. Remember America is still young in the Industrial Revolution. Lets take a look at who joined the game in this decade and what they did and where they went.

American Cars 1910-1920

Dodge
Lincoln
Chevrolet
GMC
Sheridan

All but one of these major brands are still around today as or due in part to another major brand. With GM buying up many smaller brands let see who they pick up and when, as well as Ford and Dodge, the race to be the biggest begins here.

Dodge

Dodge started in the early 1900′s, so you may be wondering why we are introducing them now. Well they didn’t start making cars until 1915. They where shortly after bought by the Chrysler Corporation in 1928. They originated making engine and chassis parts, which was a good business to be in with all the new auto companies coming about, most of which where carriage builders so they only needed an engine to get off the ground, well Dodge was there to fill the void. In 1914 Horace created the Dodge Model 30 with a 4 cylinder, and to get it past the Model T they made many option type items standard. It also brought about all steel body construction with many cars using wood for a lot of the car. With many other firsts Dodge grew fast and luckily for them they had parts to back them when they started. It backed them all the way up the current line up even with the financial issues of the parent company Chrysler.

Dodge Model 30

Lincoln

Lincoln born of Cadillac, which coincidentally was born of Ford, which later became part of Ford again, Lincoln that again, started August 1915. The name comes from Henry Leland’s hero Abraham Lincoln. He set out to build Aircraft Engines using Ford cylinders, until after the war when they retooled to produce the Luxury cars they are better known for now. This worked out decent until they ran into severe financial issues, which led to the acquisition by Ford. They saw the potential and kept them alive, which makes me happy as I drive one now. Ford bought the company for 8,000,000 and turned it around with some new sheet metal to become one of the top selling luxury car. They also made a 60 degree v engine to reduce vibrations found in the 90 degree v engines. Lincoln flourished offering may models with amazing looks.

Lincoln

Chevrolet

The American brand of vehicle commonly know as Chevy was produced by General Motors (GM). Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911. General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918. If you remember Louis earlier was racing in Buicks. Another GM owned company. Chevrolet gets its logo from a stylized Swiss cross, which is where Louis’ family originated. Not much was going on with Chevy at this time but wait until we get a little father down the line.

Chevy Series C

GMC

Was started in 1909 as a GM Holding company. The General Motors Truck Company, from which the “GMC Truck” brand name was derived. (Rapid was established on December 22, 1901, by Max Grabowsky. The company developed some of the earliest commercial trucks ever designed, and utilized one-cylinder engines.) The Reliance Motor Car Company (another independent manufacturer) was also purchased that same year by GM. Rapid and Reliance were merged in 1911, and in 1912 the marque “GMC Truck” first appeared on vehicles exhibited at the New York International Auto Show. Some 22,000 trucks were produced that year, though GMC’s contribution to that total was a mere 372 units. GMC had some currency within GM referring to the corporate parent in general. Later “GMC” would become distinct as a division brand within the corporation, branding trucks and coaches; in contrast, the abbreviation for the overall corporation eventually ended up as “GM”.
1915