Nomad C4 chassis assembly

[55 Rescue Dog]

WOW, that is attention to detail!

[Bow tie downunder]

Suspension polish

Take a look here Bluegrass. BTW, did you ever find those rack fittings for hoses

https://www.facebook.com/Ult1mate-431101560298974/timeline/

https://vimeo.com/66486376

I've been trying to get ahold of these guys...they're in Australia but supposedly setting up dealers/applicators in the US.

Hi Chevynut
Would you be interested in contacting the guy they coated my parts
I can send his phone number
Mick

[chevynut]

Mick, I contaced a guy by the name of Gerard Short who said they had an applicator in Illinois, and he offered to send me their contact info. I asked him to do that and never got it. I asked him if I could do it myself and he said I could if I had a spray gun, which I do. I asked about pricing and he never gave that to me either. He told me he was going to send me a "trial kit" weeks ago. I've e-mailed him a couple of times after giving him my address, and he won't respond. I finally told him to forget it because I refuse to deal with a company with such shitty customer service and horrible communication. I don't need the grief.

After talking to them at SEMA I have decided to use Cerakote Clear to coat my polished parts.

https://www.clearcoating.com/

[Bow tie downunder]

Clearcote

I purchased Budnik wheels with clear coating called ceramicote .$100 per wheel.very nice work .
Your chassis looks great .The polished parts make it pop
Mick

[chevynut]

I've been sanding and polishing stuff for a couple of weeks now. Got the Dana 44 case prepped and ready to shoot primer, then off to get assembled. I polished my stainless mufflers and pipes but have one more joint to weld on them. I have a hard time getting a nice polish on the stainless, and it's so awkward to hold onto the buffer. If anyone is contemplating using stainless tubing bends to build a system, I recommend polishing all the pieces first, before welding them together. I got mine buffed with scotchbrite but that's as far as I went. Good thing I did that.

The aluminum is sooooooo much easier to polish. I deburred the parts to remove all the forging seams and dings, then I hit some spots with scotchbrite. I sanded with 180 to get the parts smoothed out, then 320, then 600. I find that 600 is all I need to go to get a good polish with the buffer and green compound.

Here's a couple pics of what I've buffed so far. Some of the other parts are sanded, ready for buffing. The bottom one shows the upper a-arm stock (hard to see the forging seam), sanded to 600, and polished. The pics really don't show the shine very well.

Once I get everything to this polish level, I plan to hit them all again with white compound on a clean cotton buff, clean them really good, then coat everything with Cerakote clear.

[WagonCrazy]

Dang...that looks great Laszlo.
BLING.

[mmsalt]

Chevynut

What control arm bushings are you using?

Mike

[chevynut]

What control arm bushings are you using?

Years ago I bought a front and rear rebuild kit from P-S-T and I plan to use them. They're polygraphite.

"PST perfected polyurethane with the introduction of POLYGRAPHITE? - a special formula incorporating a low-friction graphite lubricant into the actual bushing material. With POLYGRAPHITE?, you get the near-zero deflection performance of polyurethane with a self-lubricating bushing. As an added benefit, POLYGRAPHITE? is impervious to grease, oil, weather, and other natural elements and will never dry rot. PST has the most complete line of POLYGRAPHITE? bushings available for your musclecar. Replace components as needed, or save time, money, and reap the ultimate performance benefits by installing one of our Complete POLYGRAPHITE? Kits on your vehicle today!"

http://www.p-s-t.com/

[chevynut]

I was gone on vacation for a couple of weeks but got back last weekend so I've been out in the shop most of the time since returning. My first task was to prime my differential housing, batwing, torque arm, and torque arm brackets. I got that done, at least the first coat. It's all sanded. Once I get the diff gears installed I'll spray another coat, sand all the parts, and paint them charcoal.

I've also been working on prepping some bolts, nuts, washers and other hardware for zinc plating. I used glass beads to clean everything up and I hae most of the parts ready. I'm going to do what I can in one batch, but I'm sure I'll forget something. I found a couple of platers in Denver that do barrel zinc plating cheap.

Today I decided to dive in and get my exhaust welding done. I drilled the holes for the O2 bungs in my headers and welded them in. I got some tips on stainless welding from a couple of guys and a Miller rep at SEMA and tackled welding the flanges onto my cutout turndowns and the collector extensions that they bolt to. So all I have left is to weld on new tailpipes at the rear (due to changing my hangers) along with the tips.

[DocHarley]

Nice job!

[chevynut]

Thanks Doc!

I've been working on a few things simultaneously to get as much done as I can. I got the old tailpipes cut off and ready to fit the last 3 feet of pipe once I get the rest of the exhaust final polished and bolted onto the frame. Still working on getting all my parts together for zinc plating and getting them bead blasted. Between all of that I'm working on polishing the suspension pieces when I have time. I figure I'm about halfway done with that stuff since everything is deburred and rough-sanded and some parts are polished. My Cerakote Clear should arrive today so I can give it a try soon on the polished pieces.

I need to get the frame off the rotisserie and onto jackstands before I do any more assembly work on it. Plus I will need the rotisserie for the body before long....I hope.

I plan to take the Dana 44 differential to the shop today for the installation of my new 4.10 gears, so I decided to glass bead blast the 5 rearend u-joint yokes and spray them with the Eastwood cast iron paint I've been waiting for. I upgraded the pinion yoke to a 1350 u-joint so now all the u-joints are the same. The weak link in the Dana 44 rear is the outboard stub axles, and you can see why. They're the same part found in the Dana 36 IRS and I don't know why GM didn't upgrade them to a larger diameter at some point. I think they look pretty good cleaned up...

[chevynut]

A little update on progress, as I AM making some nearly every day but not much to show yet.

I got the Cerakote Clear last week along with the tert Butyl Acetate that they say to clean the parts with. I have a lot to do before I can start spraying it, though. I'd like to spray all the front suspension parts at one time, then all the rear suspension parts in another batch or two.

My Dana 44 differential is in the shop and I expect to get it back in a few days with the new ring and pinion installed. Then I'll be re-priming it, my batwing, and torque arm parts to get them ready for paint. I have ordered some ARP 12-point stainless bolts and nuts for the upper balljoints and torque arm. I like the looks of those bolts, but they sure are pricey!!

I have also been gathering up more bolts and bead blasting them for zinc plating. I think I'll take a load down to Denver in a week or so. I'm trying to think of all the little fasteners and special pieces I want plated.

In the meantime I polished up the two pieces of tailpipe behind the C4 batwing. They look really good and weren't too bad to handle since I cut off the straight section at the back before polishing.

I've been sanding suspension parts whenever I get a chance and have the patience . The halfshafts are both smoothed and sanded to 1200 grit, ready to buff. I have one front knuckle that's almost finished sanding, and the other one and a rear knuckle smoothed with scotchbrite ready for 600, then 1200 grit. The other rear knuckle and both lower a-arms have been rough sanded to remove seams and nicks. It's a slow process but the parts sure look good when done. So far I have 4 dogbones, both upper a-arms, and both a-arm shafts finished.

I realized I'm going to have to buy another set of 4 jackstands since the body is on one set and we need another set I have for frame builds. It's always something.

[56-210Sedan]

Your frame is turning out very nicely Laszlo, your color choice is very cool.

[Bow tie downunder]

Hi Lazlo
Having done some polishing I can appreciate your pain and pleasure .Im sure Rick Roush would be envious.Looking at your batwing I see you have removed The large mounting rubber bushes ,I removed the bushes on my Dana 44 thinking I could make up the tools and replace them with new ones .I could not buy original bushes and had to fit after market bushes.

[chevynut]

Hi Mick, I bought this batwing as a spare with the bushings already removed. I have replacement Polygraphite bushings from P-S-T that I plan to use in it. It's my understanding that GM doesn't offer any replacement rubber bushings for C4 suspension parts and the parts are to be serviced with new assemblies. That seems a bit bizarre to me, but it's created an aftermarket for the replacement urethane bushings.

My Dana 44 still isn't finished, or at least they haven't called me yet. The owner told me they'd turn it around in a couple days and it's been 2 1/2 weeks now. Guess I need to call them.