Project Steph's 1978 Honda Civic 1200

[Steph]

...with the little time I have available (lazing around trolling the boards achieves little I've found.. and witnessed!), so I really need to focus my energies into all my projects! :D

Lately I've been repolishing, or improving the original finish of various components up to a contest level.

It's all fun to post photos, but is almost always the case, the car looks more and more tragic, the closer you get, and that won't do at a car show, well not if you want anybody to take you seriously.

It's amazing the difference it makes to a finish when you spend the extra time eliminating all the imperfections. Even my friends have gone bug eyed when they've noticed the difference I've made on the stainless exhaust, and other parts. I've moved onto the front of the engine now, and so far I've finished the crank pulley to a mirror finish, as well as the water pump pulley, which was super difficult to sand and smooth due to the hardness of the metal. The crank pulley was even harder!

Next I'm going to pull the alternator and intake manifold out/off and give them a mirror finish as well.

I have to say, last night I spent ages just walking around my engine soaking up all the details. It felt soo good. That's when you know all the effort has been worth it... knowing I'll be admiring it for years to come. A friend of mine is in video production, and he said he'll do a professional quality walk around/editting when it's finished, and HD is very unforgiving, so I have my work set out for me. It's like I have the HD gremlin looking over my shoulder, plus one of my friends keeps finding imperfections every time he drops over!

[Steph]

Been looking for a vacuum brake bleeder for a while now, when I stumbled upon this beauty. 2 litre tank, with a 1 litre top up bottle that mounts on top of the master cylinder. Local price was A$69.95 + $13.60 for delivery. Bargain!

http://www.on line auctions.links.au/itm/380798832617

2 Litre Air Brake Bleeder.JPG (18.65 KiB) Viewed 1166 times

[Bill]

Good deal, looks like the Vacula bleeder we have here, works great and that is a better price than I can get here!
Oh and H.B. !

[Steph]

Good deal, looks like the Vacula bleeder we have here, works great and that is a better price than I can get here!
Oh and H.B. !

Cool, thanks Bill :D

I couldn't believe how cheap it was either, that's why I thought I'd share the link. I'd been searching for a while now, but not in the big dollar price bracket, but then this one popped up, looking like a professional outfit. Can you lock the air on, or do you have to 'man' it continuously? It's no big inconvenience, but time is money! LOL

[Steph]

I bought this Vacuum Radiator Filler from the same seller for A$37.95 + postage. I've been looking at the AirLift models, but this one looked like great value for what I need, plus the petcock looks pretty decent, and easy to operate.

http://www.on line auctions.links.au/itm/380934911201

Vacuum Radiator Filler.jpg (119.72 KiB) Viewed 1176 times

Vacuum Radiator Filler Acces.jpg (91.57 KiB) Viewed 1176 times

Vacuum Radiator Filler Gauge.jpg (107.46 KiB) Viewed 1175 times

[bob78cvcc]

Keep the posts coming Steph.
It's in single digits here.
The worm gear on my garage door opener shredded
and I fret attempting to repair it in this artic blast.

[Steph]

Keep the posts coming Steph.
It's in single digits here.
The worm gear on my garage door opener shredded
and I fret attempting to repair it in this artic blast.

We're having a mid-summer cold spell that makes no sense at all, as in, it's normally reaching 40C+ temps for days on end at this time of year, but today they say it's only going to make it to 20C!!! It's 15C right now 7am and the arctic winds are almost gale force... global warming? Bush fires last week where I was walking the dog and getting a sore throat from all the smoke... right through to torrential downpours yesterday (put the fires out completely, I bet), and today arctic winds? On the upside, it's not 44C

Anyway, I have been keeping busy, re-polishing, or rather, upgrading the finish on items I've polished in the past. I've also been updating my polishing 'kit' with the addition of a Foredom SR with foot pedal, as well as a pile of attachments, like right-angle sander attachment, plus a ton of their Screw-Lok abrasives to make my future work move along at a quicker rate. I used an old sewing table I bought a while back from a church sale for $5 from memory. Anyway, it turns out it makes a great little station to set up for polishing, with little fold-down table extensions, for longer work. I covered it in a non-slip, woven rubber padding/blanket thingie that came as a freebie with something I bought many, many years ago. I knew it would come in handy one day! Actually, I've been saving it, as it's that gooey-ish rubber that's perfect for stopping the work from creeping all over the place. It's absolutely perfect for this application. I think it was a wood working product, that came with a set of Time Life wood working books I bought years ago. I still have the books, too. Never used them though :P I'm more drawn to metal than wood. One day maybe? I doubt it.

[Steph]

non-stop polishing again... while I was taking a break, I thought I better order some insulating tape.

Not the type to cheap out on such things, I ordered some rolls of 3M Super 33+ insulating tape.

If you're going to do a job, you might as well do it properly...

ECM tape article.pdf

(313.04 KiB) Downloaded 29 times

[Bill]

Okay, it's useless posting time again... Does anyone know what the 3 'M"s are in 3M? don't just Google it right away, let's see if anyone already knows!
(see how I choose to use my 10,000th post...)

[Steph]

Okay, it's useless posting time again... Does anyone know what the 3 'M"s are in 3M? don't just Google it right away, let's see if anyone already knows!
(see how I choose to use my 10,000th post...)

I haven't a clue, and it's not obvious, that's for sure... can I go have a look now? :shock:

I always assumed they were a European company, Swiss or German, but I've never checked until just now, and I was amazed to find out it was a mid-west US company.

I've been looking at more and more of the 3M range, and I'm constantly amazed at the selection of new products that make life so much easier.

They might cost more, but they always pay for themselves in increased productivity and less pain. These days, I just defer to 3M for everything. It's the safest bet you can make.

...as a side note, I've been working on polishing the engine again over the past couple of weeks. I've repolished the intake manifold, rocker cover, and now I've moved back to the engine block. I still had one side of the block that needed to be hit with #2000 grit paper to remove the last of the tiny scratches that catch the light. Fun, fun, fun...