Front-end goes back together this weekend!!!

[COBALT]

I'm really excited. After 3 weekends of work I'm finally going to be able to put the font-end back together.

Everything got cleaned and painted. EVERYTHING. All the new parts from Early Classic got cleaned, masked, and given 2 coats of Rust-o-leum Gloss Black. The upper and lower control arms I wire brushed for about a million years until I had rust-free metal, and those got 2 coats of the same paint (I had to buy a can that I could brush on because of those wierd spot-welded towers where the bumpers go on the lowers. What the hell are those things??? Had to get paint inside them... :P).

The coil springs I debated about what to do with. I finally decided to wire brush them too even though it was going to be a major pain, but I figured out a trick! To do the wire brushing I had a 3/8" drive power drill, and 4 different wheels. I used the cup to brush the entire outside of the coil to get it clean. Then I used a 12" extension, and placed the cup inside the coil, and attached the extension from the outside. Then I simply turned the drill in a big circle from the outside while I wirebrushed the inside of the coil. I finished it up with the regular wheel to get in between the coils, and they looked brand new!

I used Silver Metalic Rust-o-leum on the coils after they were cleaned and dried. They look outstanding.
Finally, I didn't want to disconnect my brakes so I cleaned the big yoke-thing the upper control arms, the coils, and the brake lines attach to while it was still on the truck. Scrubbed it down with a couple of wire brushes and the wire wheels. Cleaned the spindles the same way. I have each of the complete drum assemblies + spindles each sitting on a piece of douglas fir I split probably 5 years ago so they're out of the way.

I'm getting a digital camera soon, and I'll snap some shots before I start assembly on Friday evening. I'm going to have a picture perfect front-end on a rusty body, falling apart bed truck, but oh well. One section at a time.