This winter's first MINI PROJECT
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2013 6:33 pm
Hey Guys I thought you might enjoy my MINI PROJECT: Operation - Cool Trailer Plate.
So I really enjoy little details that might escape those not paying attention - if you've ever looked at my dragster you'll know what I mean - nothing terribly difficult - just small stuff that either makes things a tiny bit easier to use or just cool to look at. This falls into the later category.
When I built my trailer I wanted it to have a certain "older" flair - not just good looking, but functional as well - for instance the total LACK of sharp corners - one shin whack too many I suppose. Anyways to me it's the kind of detail often missing today. I digress...
So here's the deal I wanted a super cool license plate to put on my trailer just for the vintage races and or shows. So after scouring Ebay for a few months I came across this:
WOW PERFECT - well not quite but 99% there!!! I IMMEDIATELY knew what this thing had to become!!!
The next step was a little modification - I first squashed the "8" flat - only problem was that the metal although sorta flat (no creases) was still all stretched out due to the original stamping. The plate was not only BULGED but now had that all too familiar "twist" would NOT lay flat no matter what. Clearly the metal was stretched and in need of shrinking. I was gonna try that new fangled shrinking disc, but wasn't patient enough (waiting for order to arrive) so I instead grabbed the faithful blue wrench for some old fashioned torch shrinking. Since this plate was so super thin .020" IIRC the normal tip was way too big - so the red hot spot was just too big and it just wasn't effective at all - so I grabbed a small welding tip and made some very small (1/4"-3/8" ish) spots following the figure 8 pattern where the metal was obviously stretched - cooling it with a wet rag every couple spots. Now keep in mind that the metal was bulged our well over a 1/4" when I started. Before long I had pulled the metal in and the bulge was nearly flat. A few hammer hits and it was pretty close. Next step was to make the "0" look like a "9". I took the easy way out and made some throw away "forms" on the bandsaw - scotch taped into place and a little squeeze in the press. I probably goofed up a little here - I should have annealed the part I was re - forming I bet it would have come out better, but to be honest it came out pretty nice there anyways so I called it good and moved on.
So now it looked like this:
Next I blasted it to see what it was gonna really (kinda) look like. Oh yeah I might have fixed a few other defects as well. It actually started to look pretty good:
Maybe a few more whacks with a hammer and it was time for paint:
So the picture makes it look a little bit better than it actually is - if you look close and the light hits it right you can see a faint reminder of the "8" that was once there. I suppose I could go for perfection, but honestly I have lots of other projects to do so this time good enough will have to be good enough.
I still haven't decided if I will try to roll the color back on or try to pin stripe it back - I'll update a pic when it's totally completed.
Oh yeah BTW - for those not 100% Hemi guys - back in the day - there were a couple foundries pouring these blocks - one foundry always cast in A1 on theirs to identify it was theirs. Supposedly the A1 blocks were of better quality and all the fuel guys preferred the A1 blocks. I'm not sure if that was ever a reality or just a wives tale, but I've heard the story many many times - blocks sold even today are often touted as being A1 blocks. So now you "get" my plate. I hope you guys enjoyed my babbling.
Jacin
So I really enjoy little details that might escape those not paying attention - if you've ever looked at my dragster you'll know what I mean - nothing terribly difficult - just small stuff that either makes things a tiny bit easier to use or just cool to look at. This falls into the later category.
When I built my trailer I wanted it to have a certain "older" flair - not just good looking, but functional as well - for instance the total LACK of sharp corners - one shin whack too many I suppose. Anyways to me it's the kind of detail often missing today. I digress...
So here's the deal I wanted a super cool license plate to put on my trailer just for the vintage races and or shows. So after scouring Ebay for a few months I came across this:
WOW PERFECT - well not quite but 99% there!!! I IMMEDIATELY knew what this thing had to become!!!
The next step was a little modification - I first squashed the "8" flat - only problem was that the metal although sorta flat (no creases) was still all stretched out due to the original stamping. The plate was not only BULGED but now had that all too familiar "twist" would NOT lay flat no matter what. Clearly the metal was stretched and in need of shrinking. I was gonna try that new fangled shrinking disc, but wasn't patient enough (waiting for order to arrive) so I instead grabbed the faithful blue wrench for some old fashioned torch shrinking. Since this plate was so super thin .020" IIRC the normal tip was way too big - so the red hot spot was just too big and it just wasn't effective at all - so I grabbed a small welding tip and made some very small (1/4"-3/8" ish) spots following the figure 8 pattern where the metal was obviously stretched - cooling it with a wet rag every couple spots. Now keep in mind that the metal was bulged our well over a 1/4" when I started. Before long I had pulled the metal in and the bulge was nearly flat. A few hammer hits and it was pretty close. Next step was to make the "0" look like a "9". I took the easy way out and made some throw away "forms" on the bandsaw - scotch taped into place and a little squeeze in the press. I probably goofed up a little here - I should have annealed the part I was re - forming I bet it would have come out better, but to be honest it came out pretty nice there anyways so I called it good and moved on.
So now it looked like this:
Next I blasted it to see what it was gonna really (kinda) look like. Oh yeah I might have fixed a few other defects as well. It actually started to look pretty good:
Maybe a few more whacks with a hammer and it was time for paint:
So the picture makes it look a little bit better than it actually is - if you look close and the light hits it right you can see a faint reminder of the "8" that was once there. I suppose I could go for perfection, but honestly I have lots of other projects to do so this time good enough will have to be good enough.
I still haven't decided if I will try to roll the color back on or try to pin stripe it back - I'll update a pic when it's totally completed.
Oh yeah BTW - for those not 100% Hemi guys - back in the day - there were a couple foundries pouring these blocks - one foundry always cast in A1 on theirs to identify it was theirs. Supposedly the A1 blocks were of better quality and all the fuel guys preferred the A1 blocks. I'm not sure if that was ever a reality or just a wives tale, but I've heard the story many many times - blocks sold even today are often touted as being A1 blocks. So now you "get" my plate. I hope you guys enjoyed my babbling.
Jacin
