Date:         Sat, 09 Mar 1996 19:35:48 -0800
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Thom Fitzpatrick <thom@calweb.com>
Subject:      '54 deluxe progress - more sandblasting

        After pulling a 60-something hour Monday, I took Wednesday off and
got the "Cougar Valve" for my sandblaster.  $186 all told, once you get the
ceramic tip, hoze, etc.  Oye!

        Turns out it was well worth it.  The sandblaster does not clog up
anymore.  It "clogged" twice in 5 hours of working today:  they
first time was a huge grain of sand in the ceramic tip, and the second was
probably a moisture problem (it _was_ humid) - I laid the
unit on its side and it started working again!  Total down time: less than 5
minutes between the two incidents.

        I got quite a bit of the driver's (RHD remember) side done.  I will
be saving the 3 I-beams and cutting out the rest, so I cleaned them real
well and just got the rest so-so.  This nozzle was also worth it because it
cuts a wider swath than the other one did.

        Areas like the reduction boxes and lever shocks cleaned the fastest.
Some areas are undercoated heavily, and it takes a while to get all that
stuff off.

        I hit most of the general areas all along the side, the wheel wells,
the floor, the axle tube and reduction box, brake lines, cargo floor, front
beam, etc.

        The bus looks 150% better in the spots I did get.  I figure another
4 hours to really clean it up.  I plan to remove some scraps of vestigial
metal first, to kinda pave the way.
Thom Fitzpatrick
thom@calweb.com - http://www.calweb.com/~thom
Keeper of the Barndoor Bus Web Page: http://www.calweb.com/~thom/barndoor.html