Saturday Jeff and I put the finishing touches on the Hillbilly Blaster. We installed the light fixture, wired the switch/outlet box on the top of the cabinet, and cut a hole for the shop vac attachment. Then it was time to try it out and see how it worked.

And...

It worked great! We moved it out onto the lawn because there's more room there, and we did not know how much dust it would create. It does spill a small amount of sand out the sides at the bottom because we haven't put in anything to deflect the blast to the center, but we expected that. Two other glitches came up. First, I want to make it a little higher because it's just a little too low for working comfortably. I think I will put wheels on it to make moving it easier, and that should give me the height I need. The second problem is not really related to the cabinet, but has to be addressed. We have been having a real problem with moisture in the sand, and so we are going to have to get a much better water filter than the two we are using now. TP Tools has some nice ones, so I think I'll order that soon.

The shop vac and sandblaster both connect on the right side of the box:

In this picture you can see the light fixture at left and, if you look carefully, the shop vac attachment at in the top right corner:

We tried a couple of different abrasives, starting with white sand and moving to some volcanic ash Jeff found (not lying around here, of course, but in some bags at Menards). The volcanic ash seemed to have the same problems with moisture, and made a lot more dust. The shop vac kept up pretty well with the white sand, but the black stuff created a cloud that was at times impenetrable.

We blasted the axle halves, brackets for the strut rods, and misclaneous tools and parts just for fun. Tomorrow I am going to take my axles to Delaney's and have Pat press out the U-joints because I can't break them loose.

I also took a suggestion from Rick Norris and buffed the new stainless stabilizer rods that Clark's sent me last week. I have sorted out all the hardware for the suspension as well:

The stabilizer links are now in the car, although I do not have pictures to prove it, so you'll just have to trust me on that one. Jeff did most of the work getting those in because I was supervising the kids last night while my wife was out.

I also pulled out the old, dead heater hoses. Makes it much easier to work under there without them in the way.

The plan from here is to get the axles finished off, but leave them out until the motor is in. I think I will do the same with the strut rods, but I want to have everything to ready to go when the motor gets done, so I have a little more cleaning and painting to do -- axles, brackets, transaxle. I talked to Pat this morning and the motor should be done late this week. I plan on dropping in tomorrow morning to take pictures.

I have done a lot of internal debating about how far to go in restoring under the car. From the topside, I want everything to look as good as I can possibly make it. But the only real purpose for going nuts under the car would be to compete in a Corsa National Concours. I suppose if I am going to do that someday, I'll have to get under the car and really scrub. But bottom line, I don't intend to start disassembling everything and blasting and painting the whole of the underside of the car just to be more competitive in a once-a-year contest. I bought this car to drive it, although you wouldn't think so if the last 15 years were any indication. I don't want to have to freak out if it starts raining while I am driving the car. With this in mind, I have done some superficial cleaning to the underbody, but I think I am going to stop there. Maybe some other time the spirit will move me to get under the car again, but what I would really like to do is drive it.

As for the Legends of the Engine Compartment Celebrity Charity Pool:

We now have five entrants:

 Since I am probably going to post tomorrow after I go to Delaney's, I will extend the entry deadline to Legends # 15. I expect to be writing a lot of posts in the next two weeks.

Just to tantilize you a little more, here's another picture of those fabulous prizes:

For Pool details, see Legends # 12.

Back to Index.

Back to Part 12.

On to Part 14.

All images and text copyright Norman C. Witte 2002.