I pulled the two halves of the drive shaft apart today. I found the original stripe still visible. I was not sure this was the original drive shaft but now I want to believe it is. If it was a replacement, it would not have had a paint stripe. The stripe is on the front section and the back section is what is different than most Jetfire cars so maybe just the back section was replaced. hard to say what happened to this car between 62 and 74….
I have been using electrolysis to remove rust on many parts. I put this front section of the drive shaft in to see if the rust would come off and leave the paint stripe. I will bead blast it anyway but want to see how well it will clean first.
This is what it looked like this morning when I took it out of the tub. Will still have to bead blast it but will be much easier to do now that the tight crusty stuff all come off. It is beside the back section of the same shaft for comparison. Also, this is what the tub looked like when I took it out.
A local place has wanted me to try them for zinc plating for a long time. I decided to try them on this project and most everything turned out really good. There are a couple pieces I am going to take back to them in my next batch of parts but overall everything will work as it is.
The transmission is done. The shifter parts were zinc plated and is only loosely mounted. I am waiting on more parts for it and going to have to have a new shaft made for it.
I didn’t know the body guy started on it yet but he called today and said to come over. The bottom side is MUCH better than I expected. The pitting is not even that bad. We have decided to not use a bed liner and will use a thick epoxy primer and paint it. He also has patched the lower right quarter. He hand formed the patches and look really good.
I was worried that it had a former repaint because of damage or rust. Turns out there is no body damage at all and no former rust repair in the body. Both front fenders had filler in them but I have an NOS and a rust free replacements. He has almost 40 hours init so far.
That’s an excellent shot of the way the generic F85 floor tunnel stamping from the Fisher body plant was cut and patched only on cars with 4 speed transmissions. Mine looked very much identical to that. It’s great to see the progress of Eric and everyone else on this website who has a current project. Keep the photos and updates coming. If my wife were more understanding and willing I’d like to get another project started.
After it was cleaned up I am sure that is correct. I want to believe that is how they done it for all of them. I know it is this way for the 70-72 cars also
