I stopped driving The Blazer a while back because just a couple days after the whole heater core incident it started leaking anti-freeze once again. This time I traced it to up near the water pump. It was either a lower hose or a the water pump itself. I need to get The Blazer going so I can haul some things so today I figured out that it was the water pump itself. After I fixed our gazebo roof that was damaged in the tornadic winds a couple weeks ago I removed the water pump. It just so happens that two different people came in to the parts house today and bought the last two water pumps for a Chevy 350, so my friend there said I would have to wait until tomorrow. I could have bought one from Auto Zone or the other place but I truly despise those companies and their company ethic so I stay away from them as much as possible. Also, I called the upholstery shop today because he was supposed to have called and determined if he can get the materials to put the headliner in The Clam but he also runs a towing business and apparently someone broke into his tow-yard last night and stole something out of a customer's vehicle so he had to deal with the police all day.
Before all this I got a call today from the machine shop that has the head I bought for my '31 Chevrolet. I saved birthday, Christmas and gift money for over a year to buy this head and today the shop called to say they checked it and it has at least two cracks in it. I had intentions of going over and removing the head that's on my '31 now but if the new one has a crack that puts me in a situation. My dad's boat is out in the weather because there is a '75 Corvette where it used to be because I had to make room in the barn for a workspace to work on The Clam. The end result of all this is that if the '31 is sitting there with no head that means I can't move it out of the way to put the boat up, which I plan to do as soon as the ground dries. All of this basically means that the most efficient progress I could make today was starting on that dreaded box of trim.
I set up a high class, mobile, all purpose trim detail shop right there in my driveway. You can observe the kitty litter soaking up the coolant under The Blazer, evidence of the fun I had with the water pump, giving a nice ambiance to the park bench adorned work space.
I believe while this car will be a daily driver these details make the difference between a decent looking car and a good looking car. When it is all together and finished the polished brightwork may not be something a person will consciously notice, but it will give an overall greater appearance that those who see it will subconsciously be aware of leading to, in my opinion, an overall much better looking automobile.
For the aluminum pieces I would first wash them with water and then clean them with polish. For the chromed metal pieces I would first go over them with fine steel wool and then come back with the polish. I didn't bother taking many pictures because once you've seen one pair of dirty chrome pieces look shiny you've seen them all. The end result doesn't show up on camera quite as well as it does in person but it at least gives a small idea of the difference.
I didn't finish all the pieces today as the air outside began to get too cool and I could tell that if I stayed out any longer I would be asking for a sore throat. Fortunately my super amazing work station is, as I mentioned, mobile, so I moved it into the garage to finish up a couple more pieces and then packed it up and called it a night. It was very nice to work on something that involved getting to sit down for a change.
