67 Power Wagon
Well-Known Member
Well guys, I have to say all the woodworking an such posted, I thought about other hobbies I have.....
Having said that, I take and hunt down old MoPar valve covers, in somewhat useable shape for my project, an restore them to what they would be new-ish. Then use them as lamp shades! For different sort of lighting purposes.
One hunt, I found all sorts! I only (to date) have a few pics of one of them "as-found".
After the above pics were taken the first thing it got was cleaned with oven cleaner to remove oil and grease.....I then proceeded to wire brush the whole thing, with a wire wheel on my angle grinder to remove all the rust possible. Once that was done, and it was damn near bare metal, I again cleaned the whole thing with oven cleaner to get any remaining oil and grease off it. Be a much easier task had I had, a sand blaster but unfortunately, I do got one so its all done the hard way!
Then I look to tap out dents, and "shape" it as close as I can get without hurting or over denting the outer surface. IF need be then add Bondo to smooth it out. Once all thats done sanded to shape, and primered heavily.
Then it gets color treatment, just like a real car wet sanded between coats, until the last wet sanding is smooth to have yet clear coat applied to protect the painted surface. Can get up to 3 coats clear to get the desired look, I want. I don't have no finished pics ofthis particular valve cover, but its needing a 3rd coat of clear at the moment.
I do however have one thats finished. It was found the same day as the rusty ole MoPar 225 Slant 6 seen above in rust.
This valve cover tho, is gonna be a different sort of light. I'm going to use the baffles inside to mouth normal twist in bulbs, to have the smaller florescent bulbs in it, and then used as a "top" to a model car display case, for the model cars I build. -Ought to make an AWESOME display case, with glass shelving inside for the light to shine down through!
Then I found this:
And one for the lettering thats going to be placed on it:
It was in as bad of shape as the 1st one pictured! Actually, was a bit worse. The whole thing was going to be painted Hemi Orange till the work involved was more then I was willing to do, BUT for what it is I wasn't about to give up on it!!!! SO it got the wrinkle finish you see here that I sprayed myself to get the desired finish of a somewhat "factory" look!
This one is going to be a lampshade that will have a Florescent light fixture mounted to it VIA the inside (underside) spark plug boots I made (They're made from PVC). The light itself, however is going to be a floor standing one, that has a 1/4th scale RUNNING "clear" 426 Hemi as a "body" supported by an aluminum plate fixed to the lamp post.
Got a ways to go, but both these will make EXCELLENT lamps!
Enjoy!
Having said that, I take and hunt down old MoPar valve covers, in somewhat useable shape for my project, an restore them to what they would be new-ish. Then use them as lamp shades! For different sort of lighting purposes.
One hunt, I found all sorts! I only (to date) have a few pics of one of them "as-found".
After the above pics were taken the first thing it got was cleaned with oven cleaner to remove oil and grease.....I then proceeded to wire brush the whole thing, with a wire wheel on my angle grinder to remove all the rust possible. Once that was done, and it was damn near bare metal, I again cleaned the whole thing with oven cleaner to get any remaining oil and grease off it. Be a much easier task had I had, a sand blaster but unfortunately, I do got one so its all done the hard way!
Then I look to tap out dents, and "shape" it as close as I can get without hurting or over denting the outer surface. IF need be then add Bondo to smooth it out. Once all thats done sanded to shape, and primered heavily.
Then it gets color treatment, just like a real car wet sanded between coats, until the last wet sanding is smooth to have yet clear coat applied to protect the painted surface. Can get up to 3 coats clear to get the desired look, I want. I don't have no finished pics ofthis particular valve cover, but its needing a 3rd coat of clear at the moment.
I do however have one thats finished. It was found the same day as the rusty ole MoPar 225 Slant 6 seen above in rust.
This valve cover tho, is gonna be a different sort of light. I'm going to use the baffles inside to mouth normal twist in bulbs, to have the smaller florescent bulbs in it, and then used as a "top" to a model car display case, for the model cars I build. -Ought to make an AWESOME display case, with glass shelving inside for the light to shine down through!
Then I found this:
And one for the lettering thats going to be placed on it:
It was in as bad of shape as the 1st one pictured! Actually, was a bit worse. The whole thing was going to be painted Hemi Orange till the work involved was more then I was willing to do, BUT for what it is I wasn't about to give up on it!!!! SO it got the wrinkle finish you see here that I sprayed myself to get the desired finish of a somewhat "factory" look!
This one is going to be a lampshade that will have a Florescent light fixture mounted to it VIA the inside (underside) spark plug boots I made (They're made from PVC). The light itself, however is going to be a floor standing one, that has a 1/4th scale RUNNING "clear" 426 Hemi as a "body" supported by an aluminum plate fixed to the lamp post.
Got a ways to go, but both these will make EXCELLENT lamps!
Enjoy!
