The purpose of this Blog

This blog is to detail my 50 years (1973 - 2023) with a 1928 Chevrolet tourer, affectionately called "The Red Chev".

The acquisition, restoration, improvements and my experiences over the years are covered in as much detail as I can remember.

Some of the later postings include car club outings and other vintage car items that I hope will be of interest to people.

If you have the time, scroll back to where it all began in 1973 and follow the journey so far.

Thanks for dropping by.

Regards Ray Dean


See my new section "The Red Chev - Repairs, Improvements, Maintenance and Technical Details" located on the left hand side of the screen.




Pages

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Day 40 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (29th August 2015)

A couple of jobs on the go today, the ongoing preparation of the chassis prior to painting in the next few days, being the main task.

I pulled some wheels and rims out of the molasses bath after a month's soaking, pressure washed and gave a wipe over with rustbuster, followed with a couple of dash panels that I am restoring for Terry (Matilda the 28 Chev).





Another load of wheels and rims were put in the molasses bath for a month or so.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Kev's Chev - Another 1928 Aussie Chev being restored - Update 25th August 2015



















Day 39 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (25th August 2015)

A couple of hours work this afternoon sees the chassis structurally finished, dead square and ready to clean up, etch prime and paint over the next few days.

Both front spring hangers were removed, de-rusted, contact areas painted and re-fitted with hi tensile nuts and bolts




Chassis appears very square, first by sight, then checked with spirit levels front and rear





Monday, August 24, 2015

Day 38 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (24th August 2015)

Follow my gut feel, do I or don't I.

Yesterday when my welding mate was repairing a wear spot on the front 6 inches of one of the chassis side rails, he nicked one of the spring hanger rivet heads with the angle grinder, removing a sufficient amount of material to make up my mind to remove both spring hangers to check for rust.

I had thought about doing this off and on for the last few weeks, so this gave me a reason to do so.

Was it overkill?  I don't think so.

There was enough rust ticking away underneath to justify the hour or so to remove and refit the hanger, with 24 hours of rust buster in action in-between. A coat of etch primer and top coat was applied to both surfaces prior to assembly using high tensile bolts and conical lock nuts.








Sunday, August 23, 2015

Day 37 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (23rd August 2015)

Good progress today with the chassis, and starting to see light at the end of the tunnel after all the preparation, grinding, wire brushing and rust conversion over the last month or so.

Getting so close to the end of the dirty work

First up this morning, Noel, from across the road, waved his magic, and his skill being a professional welder, and within a couple of hours we had chopped out a 450mm section of the chassis bottom rail that was a bit thin from rust and welded a new piece in....... Nice!!

Out comes the bad section


That's where it was


In goes the new section


Presto....... we have solid steel again


Top picture is the new piece, bottom is the thinned section



Next job was to refit the rear spring hangers


And the front spring hangers, complete with new bushes


Next week will be spent tidying up the appearance of the chassis prior to painting.

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Day 36 - 28 Chev Ute Restoration (19th August 2015)

Three down, one to go.

Fitted the rear engine cross member today, one more crappy bit gone and replaced with good clean steel.

The inside chassis rail prepped, ready for etch primer and top coat under the contact areas



All lined up, starting to bolt up



We have a fitted cross member




Next I removed the cross member second from the rear, wire brushed the area and applied some rust buster to



These are some of the removed and discarded cross members, with rust in the contact areas that vindicates my decision to replace them all.