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KarensKaiser Review

GRAND NATIONAL ROADSTER SHOW

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January 21 to 26 2015 we took the 1953 Kaiser "Karens Kaiser" to the Grand National Roadster Show "The Grand Daddy of Them All"  We stayed at the KOA RV Park next to the Fairplex, unloaded the car from the trailer on Thursday morning and carried the display carpet sticking out of the passenger window. Waited in line an hour before they would let us into the building.  We got in, unloaded the carpet & lay'ed it down, moved the car in place and started the display setup that took 2 hours including the cleaning.  One of the outstanding was this hand formed all aluminum car.  This 1947 Hudson truck won first place and best paint.  Moor beautiful hot rods.  This is one of 13 contenders for most beautiful roadster.  The theme was The Grate Gatsby and lots of people dressed up.  This 1959 Cadillac De Ville is from Italy and was hung up in customs untill just before the show.  Lots of low riders...

68 Mustang #4 add clutch pedal

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 The project car was originally a 289 V8 with automatic transmission, no power brakes or steering. When finished it will be manual 5 speed transmission, 302 V8, power brakes and steering. I'll get to the adding a clutch after an update on clean, paint & repair. Above is the passenger side rear fender well ready for underseal & no repair needed. The driver side rear fender well had been cut back for the rear quarter panel replacement and will be seam sealed before under seal. This is the inside of rear fender showing the weld for the replacement quarter panel, cleaned & ready for paint. Bottom of the car cleaned and undersealed. Glad that part is done. The radiator support was badly bent where the hood latch is attached, and I decided to replace it. this one is the second one replacement as part of the original was still there and it was braised in place not welded. I tried heat to melt the braise without much luck and ended up using a grinder and cut off disc. This is t...

68 Mustang #3

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 The car is still on the rotisserie getting the grease, oil, under seal & old paint cleaned off. I have a couple more passes to be made before it ready for paint. I can only scrub on the bottom for an hour each time and clean and repair other parts for the rest of my workday. Took the heater out and apart to be repaired as extra parts for it came with the car, new heater core behind the old one. The box is fiberglass, but the internal parts and doors are rusty steel. The packages in the background are new gaskets and seals that came as spare parts. The emergency brake unit, cable and parts were bead blasted and painted. The handle was broken off and will be replaced. All the metal parts of the heater were bead blasted, painted then put back together using the new core and gaskets. The rear fender apron was rusted through and needed repair. With the rusted part cut out a new panel was made. New panel welded in place ready for a coat of paint. Leaf springs and fuel line were sand...

1968 Mustang #2

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Started to take the car apart for cleanup and prep for paint. In this picture the front fenders, side glass & regulators, rear end and interior have been removed with one of the rotisserie units bolted to the front frame.  Hoisted the back of the car with the overhead hoist and put jack stands under it so I could work under the car. The gas tank came right out and is in good condition and will be reused. With the rear end removed it should have been easy to remove the leaf springs, the driver side came right out, the left one front bolt was frozen in the spring, and I tried a hydraulic press, penetrating oil, and heat then ended up having to cut the bolt out with a cut off wheel. You can see a rusted-out place on the passenger side Inner fender that will be repaired.  Once on the rotisserie it was turned up on its side and pressured washed. I used a degreaser product and dawn soap mix to scrub down the bottom then pressure washed it again. The dirt and road grime came off,...

1968 Mustang project

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 I decided it was time to start a new project car and started watching Craigs List and Facebook marketplace and found a couple of cars with little or no rust and most of the parts with them. The one in Kingman was sold before I could get the money together and ended up going to Victorville California, a couple weeks later, for a 1968 Mustang coupe.   I selected a Mustang because of the parts that are available for them as almost everything is remanufactured now days. We bought car trailer a couple of months ago and put it to good use on this project car.  The car came with a 1989 302 (5.0) engine with GT40 heads and T5 transmission (that are out of the car) and an extra 9" rear end with a disc brake setup, front coil overs, set of headers, front disc brakes (calipers only), new Painless wiring harness (as well as the original), new aluminum radiator and a bunch of extra parts. There is a new padded dash but all the gauges and radio are missing. I'm currently taking the ca...

RV shelter mezzine extension and inclouser

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 I guess I was on a roll after the solar project as I continued to look for an additional project to use up some of the materials that has been collected over the years. The largest being the 4'X8' & 4'X10' AIRLIGHT building panels from Wanessa-Sue Inc. that are the same construction as the ones used for the caboose project, posted a few years ago.  The RV Shelter is completely home made from 2' heavy wall conduit for posts and trusses, 2x4's, and Home Depot metal siding and roof panels. The side and end wall have been insulated with 5 1/2" panels that were free from Wanessa-Sue as they were flawed and not sellable. The existing mezzine is 20' wide by 8' deep built in 2007 that has been used for storage and car restoration projects. The concrete slab is 20' X 10' and we were going to extend it 20' but decided the cost was too much. A Laser level was used to get the elevation level correct for the 10'exrension to the next 2' p...