Cleaning Your Car--the Hard Way (Post # 30)

Not Our First Rodeo

Setting up to clean the Alfatross was not our first experience with soda blasting.  Many years ago we figured out how to clean pewter plates recovered from a ship that sank in 1686 using abrasive blasting.  Pewter is a very soft metal composed mainly of zinc.  There were fine patterns etched on the plates that had to be preserved, so we approached the task with caution.  We tried using fine pumice, then cornstarch, and even corn meal before we settled on wheat flour as the best medium to use.  Bread flour would not be the first thing that pops into your mind when you are looking for an abrasive substance, but in this case it was perfect.



Cleaning pewter plates that had been underwater for more than 400 years using
wheat flour.



After cleaning the plates even fine details such as this design etched into the
surface were preserved.

Not for Sissies

Like getting old, soda blasting is not for sissies! It looks so easy, so simple in the Eastwood catalog: "Soda removes paint without damaging or warping metal, is environmentally friendly and strips without chemicals."     Fact is, soda blasting is a great tool, it's just that there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. And we all know how men love to buy and try new tools . . . .



Tool envy:  Look guys! New tools you can't live without!

So why all the hype about blasting with sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)?  In the first place, it is very gentle.  Soda crystals have a hardness of about 2.4 on the Mohs Hardness Scale.  That's the same as the average human fingernail: hard enough to remove paint, but not hard enough to damage the underlying metal--or even rust!  Soda crystals "explode" upon impact, turning into even finer particles that just seem to disappear.  It dissolves in water and is safe--even beneficial--to wash into sewer systems (once contaminants have been removed).

The Alfatross gets blasted.

The descriptions you read in the soda blastng sales brochures make it seem pretty simple.  OK, it isn't rocket science, but there is a lot more to it than you might think.  In addition to the blaster, soda, and rotisserie,  you're going to need a few other things:

• High volume, low pressure compressor
• 1/2" diameter supply hose from compressor to blaster
• 3/8" diameter air gun hose to blow off dust
• Large funnel to recharge blaster reservoir
• Ground tarps to catch debris for faster cleanup
• Weights to hold tarps down
• Wrenches for various parts of the blaster
• Many 5-gal buckets
• Sifter with 1/16" mesh
• Scoop for transferring soda
• Dust pan and brush
• Push broom
• Sun shade tarp
• Vacuum cleaner
• Goggles
• Respirator
• Head protection
• Ear plugs
• Jump suit
• Keffiyeh
• Heavy rubber gauntlets
• Sacrificial boots
• Cooperative weather
• Thirst quenchers
• Advil
• Long, hot shower

You're also going to need to do it long enough to develop some finesse.  You can vary the air pressure, the type of soda you're using, the volume of air vs. the volume of soda with the various valves and regulators on the blast system.  that provides a lot of room for experimentation and control.  Even the angle of attack between the nozzle and surface makes a difference. 

The actual experience of soda blasting is a lot like working on a shipwreck excavation under water. By the time you're suited up, masked, and ear-plugged the sensory deprivation is much like being in a wetsuit underwater. All you can hear is yourself breathing. You've even got an umbilical hose connecting you to a compressor! Open the valve on the soda blaster hose and visibility goes to zero for a few seconds until the water--I mean air--clears enough to see what you're doing. After an hour or two of this you're more than ready for a "surface interval" so you can peel out of all that equipment and hear, see, and breathe again!

Shipwreck excavation underwater is surprisingly
similar to soda blasting,

As soon as the work starts, visibility drops to zero.

To complete the analogy, in both cases you're uncovering something important albeit with slightly different arrangements of compressors, hoses, and life-support systems.

But There's a Catch . . . . 

Unlike sand, which can damage lung tissue, sodium bicarbonate is as harmless as a useful substance can be. Also unlike sand, soda doesn't recycle well, so you need a lot of it! About the only down side is the cost. The initial cost of about one dollar per pound almost doubles when you factor in shipping. Cleanup is easy, but even though the soda is harmless the paint and debris removed from the car might not be, so it has to be disposed of properly. Soda is good at removing grease, too, through the process of saponification (grease + NaHCO3 = soap). Its chemical composition makes it amphoteric (a good pH buffer), meaning that it has the characteristics of both an acid and a base. As such, it inhibits flash rust on newly exposed surfaces. Finally, because it is water soluble there is little danger of abrasive entrapment in moving parts.

All this is good news for the Alfatross, but what's the catch?  Stripping the Alfatross naked of its paint and other coatings leaves it vulnerable to oxidation (corrosion).  Fortunately, Northern New Mexico is in a protracted drought and  relative humidity this time of year is in the single digits.  Still, even though soda leaves a film that inhibits rust, it won't last forever.  Before the Alfatross is ready for paint we will have to pressure-wash it to remove all traces of the soda used to clean it.  One company recommends adding a product called Hold Tight 102 to the pressure-wash mixture for optimum results.  It seems to be some type of surfactant (a chemical that makes water "wetter").  So we can add "pressure washer" and "Hold Tight 102" to the list of equipment and supplies needed to do a proper job of soda blasting. 

But before we get to the paint stage we still have to make repairs to the Alfatross' steel frame and aluminum body.  As the soda blasting chapter comes to a close, the more expensive, time consuming, and expertise-intensive body work and paint chapters lie ahead . . . .

Carchaeology II (Post # 29)

Updates on Previous Posts

If you've been reading the posted comments you know that Jason Wenig of The Creative Workshop in Dania Beach, Florida (www.thecreativeworkshop.com) contacted me after reading the Keeping Cool post because the Ghia Aigle he is restoring for the Pebble Beach Concours was also missing its radiator shutter linkage.  I sent him my parts so he could copy them and in exchange  he will send me a radiator thermostat "widget" so I can replace the faulty one I have.  Win-win for all!  Both Jason and I are now beneficiaries of Ed Leerdam's generosity and trust when he loaned me his original linkage for duplication many years ago.  Thanks, Ed!

After reading the 39 . . . or 41 . . ? post, Peter Marshall wrote with very interesting updated information about the Alfatross' siblings which I will pass along in a future post.

Matteo Bosisio of Ruote Borrani, the source for my knock-off hubs mentioned in the Wheels and Spinners post, sent me addresses for knowledgeable people in both the Zagato and Alfa Romeo companies.  I will be making contact with them shortly in the hope that they can answer some persistent questions.

So I don't know how this blog is working for you, but for me it's becoming indispensable!

"Partifacts"

Why does a restoration take so long?   I am continually impressed with how well a career in marine archaeology has prepared me for restoration of the Alfatross.  Not only am I already accustomed to long hours spent in the tedious, repetitive, and seemingly endless task of cleaning and recording thousands of artifacts, but also familiar with the principle that unless you finish the job, there are no rewards!   

Archaeologists used small pneumatic chisels to clean the thousands of artifacts
from the Molasses Reef Wreck, the oldest shipwreck found in the Americas.

All the basic objectives and procedures are the same whether you are excavating a shipwreck site or restoring an old car.  In both cases you are dealing with thousands of individual "partifacts" made of different materials in different stages of deterioration that have to be put back together again. 

A few line items from my spreadsheet designed to keep track the Alfatross' "partifacts":

The Alfatross is made up of more than a thousand individual parts, each one of which has its own special identity and task to perform. Because each piece has to be cleaned, inspected, repaired, checked to make sure it works properly, and refinished, they all go in different directions for various types of treatment before being finally reunited and reassembled. Not surprisingly, no one can remember how all 1,000 pieces go back together, so if you don't use some kind of tracking system things can get out of control in a hurry.



What is it?  Where did it come from?  How do we know where
it goes after it is cleaned, inspected and checked?

Take this simple screw, for example. It is one of about 100 parts that make up the double wishbone left front suspension. I wouldn't remember that now because I took it apart about 10 years ago IF it weren't for the fact that I put every part in a Ziploc bag and labelled where it came from.

The next step was to photograph the artifact--oops, I mean part--on background paper printed with a grid of 1-inch squares to give some idea of scale.



The Alfatross' left front leg.  The screw above goes into the
middle of the spindle (cylindrical shape the axle is attached to)

So now we can actually start to work with the part because we have a record of its identity and where it came from. This one needs degreasing, so the first stop is a nice relaxing solvent bath in the heated, sonic degreaser.

. . . Followed by 24 hours in a vibratory tumbler filled with abrasive pyramids to take off corrosion and whatever else shouldn't be there. . .

. . . Followed by manual scrubbing with Scotchbrite pads under running water to get the abrasive off . . .

. . . Followed by another tour of duty in another vibratory tumbler, this time filled with corn cob granules, to give it a good as new shine (usually).




This old laboratory sonic cleaner cleaned a lot of  marine artifacts
before it took on a grease-heavy diet of filthy Alfatross parts.

Vibratory tumblers one, two, and three (wish I had about 3 more)!

Of course it would take forever to treat each part separately--but if you mix them together to speed up the process won't their identities get mixed up too? No, because the labelled bags and photo IDs follow each piece through the entire process.

Maintaining the spreadsheet takes a lot of time because when you move a part from one stage in the restoration process to the next, you have to update its status on the spreadsheet.  But I've had plenty of practice here, too.  Each artifact in one of our shipwreck sites has its own entry in a tracking system, and that information follows its conservation/restoration progress through to completion.  The artifact database stays with the actual artifact collection forever so that it can be consulted if problems arise in the future.

If this sounds like a lot of work, pity the poor marine archaeologist who might have to do the same things for hundreds of thousands of objects from a shipwreck! 







Where There's Smoke There's Wire (Post # 28)

For safety as well as aesthetic and functional reasons there are certain systems that almost invariably need replacement during an old car restoration.  In my last post I featured one of those systems: the five Plexiglas windows.  Rubber brake lines are another example, along with weatherstripping and various rubber and plastic seals.

As early as 1970, after wisps of smoke curled out from under the dash when I switched on the heater fan, I realized that the Alfatross' wiring might need improvement.  Later, during disassembly, it was apparent that the best course of action would be to replace the whole wiring harness.



Rats' nest or wiring harness?  Note the disintegrating insulation around the
component in the upper left corner 

Easier said than done (as usual).  There are a lot of wires in a car, even one like the Alfatross that was built almost 60 years ago.  The good news is that the wiring harness, the electrical circuits it represents, and the components it connects are moronically simple, compared to modern electronics.  The bad news is that they don't make components--or even wires--like these any more.  Time to call in the experts!

I put out a request for help in 1981 through Peter Marshall's Alfa Romeo 1900 Register and made contact with Hans Josefsson in Uppsala, Sweden.  Mr. Josefsson owned one of the Alfatross' siblings and was in the process of restoring it.  He must have been an engineer because he dissected the wiring circuits and produced a series of 9 beautiful schematics comprising the entire electrical system: instruments, starting and charging, service (wipers, heater fan, electric fuel pump), lighting, signalling, and braking!



The "Light Functions" schematic drawn by Hans Josefsson, one of 9 such
drawings covering the entire electrical system.

The layout for the dashboard electrical switches and components for 1900C SS Zagatos, taken from Josefsson's car. 

Armed with Josefsson's schematics I began the process of removing the wiring harness intact.  It would have been easier just to cut it and pull it out in pieces, but I needed it as intact as possible so I could reconstruct it.   

Removing the original wiring harness intact while labeling each of the connections was tedious, but absolutely necessary.

 Somewhere along the way I heard about an outfit called "YNZ: Yesterdays Parts"  (http://www.ynzyesterdaysparts.com/).  They supply exact replicas of original wiring harnesses and systems using identical parts and materials.  After 43 years of experience they amassed a catalog of wiring patterns for all sorts of vehicles--but not one for the Alfatross!  I sent them my original intact (but a bit tangled) harness and a check for $1,428 and in due course back came the new harness with labelled terminals along with a two-page list of circuits and clear drawings showing which wires attach to which terminals on which fuse blocks, switches, and relays.  

I asked Gene, the proprietor, to send me some photos of his shop so I could see how they make a new harness from an old one. All you need is the original to work from, a table as big as a car, about 200 nails, a whole lot of solder, and a thousand different types and gauges of wire with an equal number of terminals. 



That writhing mass of wires all over the top of the workbench is a harness for a '67 Lambo beginning to take shape. Notice how the wires are routed using nail "goalposts" to group them.



We're still a long way away from being ready to install the YNZ harness, so it's too soon to sing its praises, but I will say that it was a pleasure to work with Gene at YNZ and I will be surprised if it doesn't perform as advertised.  Their products carry a 100% refund guarantee up to 60 days after purchase.  No question, this is probably a task best entrusted to professionals!

Keeping It Light (Post # 27)

The Alfatross was built to race.  The faster, the better.  There are only two ways to make a car faster: increase the horsepower or reduce weight.  The Alfa engine was tweaked about as far as it could be, but it still made only a little over 100 HP.  These days a lot of production motorcycles make more HP that that, so getting the overall weight down was crucial.  There wasn't much they could do about the steel frame to lighten it, but making the body in aluminum instead of the normal steel dropped hundreds of pounds compared to a factory Alfa 1900.  Giving that body its svelte shape added the advantage of improved aerodynamics at high speeds.  On some cars even bumpers were deleted.  When they were present, they were aluminum. 

The interior, too, was put on a diet.  The aluminum dash probably weighs less than 5 lbs.  The tall, imposing central transmission hump is all aluminum.  The back seat is just a pad about three inches thick.  Of course there is no radio, no stereo system, no power windows, no air conditioning, and no handy drink holders, to name just a few items that used to be considered luxury accessories but are now standard.  The only items that could be considered accessories are the single sun visor for the driver and a rear view mirror in the center of the dash. 

The "skeletonized" driver and passenger seats weigh less than 30 lbs each. 

Beneath the simple seat cushions the only support is a band of
some kind of fabric stretched across the seat frame. Everything
you need to go fast . . . and nothing that you don't!

The third weight-saving strategy was to make all the windows except for the windshield out of Plexiglas instead of glass. This works brilliantly on a race car, but it also demonstrates vividly why there is a reason normal cars have glass windows instead of plastic--durability.  All the Alfatross' Plexiglas windows needed replacement due primarily to micro-cracks that can't be buffed out or cleaned away.  I had new ones made from the originals at a shop in Houston that makes windows for airplanes.  The door windows and back seat windows were easy, just fairly small pieces with simple gentle curves.  But the rear window is pretty large and has a compound curve.  I bet it's going to be a challenge to install.

This is one of the original Plexiglas rear seat windows.  After almost 60 years
it is hazy, cracked, and discolored.

 


And this is the way it's supposed to look.  Plexiglas is easy to scratch and you
shouldn't use glass cleaners on it.

The original drivers side window.  The long vertical scrapes on the right side that make the window almost opaque were created by an out-of-adjustment roller in the door.  That is something I will guard against when I reassemble it.

The new Plexiglas window is almost invisible in this view.

The windshield is more problematic than the Plexiglas windows.  It had no cracks or dings, but was marred by a long wiper scratch on the passengers' side that looked like it was too deep to polish away.  Should I try to replace it?  I was reluctant to take it out.  What if if breaks?  Where would I find another one?  So I did some research to find out how I would replace it if something went wrong.  Rich Heinrich put me touch with a company in Pennsylvania called ProCurve Glass that makes windshields.  The reply to my inquiry was a terse "2500 for 1, 3200 for 2  6 weeks." The Alfa 1900 Yahoo Groups source put me in touch with Antti Wihanto whose company in Turko, Finland, also makes windshields to specification and has lots of patterns on hand.  His prices were competitive, but what about shipping by air?

The problem in both cases is that you can't make a windshield without a pattern, and there is enough variation between individual Zagatos to make you wonder if the patterns that exist will work for your particular car.  The windshield itself is cheap.  Making the pattern is the expensive part.  The best way to get a good result is to send your windshield to whichever company you pick so they can check for a pattern match, or if there is no match, make a new pattern just for your car.  Here's where it gets both expensive and risky.  How do you pack a windshield for shipment to Pennsylvania or Finland?  It's going to have to go by air, so how much is that going to cost?  And you might as well make two at the same time in case one gets broken later.  And then you have to fly the original and at least two copies back . . . cha-ching!

The Alfatross' windshield packed for transportation from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Santa Fe.

The only problem: a wiper scratch on the passengers' side.  How much of it can be removed by polishing?  Is it bad enough
to warrant replacement? 

In the end, the windshield came out without damage, but of course the wiper scratch was still there.  If the scratch can't be polished out, does replacing the windshield for clarity's sake outweigh keeping it for originality's sake?  It's a decision that has to be made soon so that the windshield--whether original or new--doesn't hold up reassembly of the Alfatross.