THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
NEIGHBORHOOD SEDAN
We’ve all heard stories of fellow street rodders who have searched far and wide for that special car. Weeks are spent on the Internet, days are spent stumbling through hot, dry, cold, wet, dusty or muddy swap meets, and even more time is spent at major rod runs, car corrals and cruise nights. Even with all that effort, time and expense, often times you still don’t find a particularly special car. Of course, you could do what Cecil Watts did and walk next door while your neighbor is having a barbecue for the hot rod club and say, “I didn’t know you were going to sell the Fordor—I’ll take it.” It was really that simple, and the best part is that the car is really special.
The Cars & Trucks That Defined PRI 2025
PRI is where performance gets honest. No hype cycles. No trend chasing. Just builders, engineers, and racers showing exactly what works when the gloves come off. At PRI 2025 in Indianapolis, the show floor was packed with innovation—but only a handful of cars and trucks truly separated themselves from the noise. Those are the builds we’re spotlighting here.
CREATIVE CABRIOLET
Cabriolets have become popular over the past few years, and the ’37 is an enthusiast favorite. They have become so popular that numerous reproductions have been made. Because of the original’s low production figures—only 10,184 were built—most, but not all, of the ’37 cabriolets attending rod events are fiberglass. The problem with the originals is that for years they were only marginally desirable and many were junked. The ones that weren’t were parked outside where the weather had taken its toll. When the tops rotted, the cabriolets would begin to rust from the inside out. That means that finding a nice, solid, rust-free cabriolet can be difficult.
Spotlighter
An Overview of Restoration Products
Author
Tim Gavern
Story & Photography
It’s a great time to be building and restoring vehicles, as there are so many reproduction parts available that weren’t around 10 or 20 years ago. Completing a project car is much easier today. Also, in addition to those hard-to-find trim items, some of the best restoration products available today are chemicals.
3M Underseal Undercoating
Some cheap undercoatings stay tacky forever, picking up dirt, rocks, road kill, etc. Not exactly what you want to see under your Chevelle after all that scraping and preparation. Try 3M’s undercoating. It’s rubberized, it covers well, it’s paintable and it has that nice undercoating texture. 3M’s Underseal Undercoating is the best undercoating we have found, and it was recently reformulated with even lower emissions (40% VOC). Underseal may be a little harder to find. Check out auto body supply stores, rather than Pep Boys or Kragen.
Chemical coatings that were once sent out for are now available in spray cans and bottles, and can be delivered right to your door. Gone are the days of the local plater losing your “correct-head” intake manifold bolts among 50 other guys’ bolts. Now you can plate them yourself and take the worry out of it.
In fact, there are so many great restoration chemicals out there that we could fill this entire magazine with chemical articles. We won’t, but you get the picture. You may not know about them all, so we’re going to show you a few of the more popular and most effective at work. We’ve even included a few traditional chemicals that we use regularly. Hopefully, including them may save you some time trying to find better solutions. We’ve just scratched the surface this time out. There are hundreds of other resto chemicals available. Sit back and enjoy the ride. Then get out to your garage and get to work.
Gunk Engine Brite
Old faithful. We’ve included it because it works and doesn’t harm original finishes, wiring or plastic. It just degreases. Still smells bad, however. Still cheap, though. Still the first chemical we grab after bringing home a new find so that we can really see what we’ve gotten ourselves into.
Eastwood SelF-Etching Primer
Eastwood’s Self-Etching Primer etches and primes bare metal fast. It adheres to bare aluminum, steel and stainless steel much better than typical spray primers. Use it under primers and paints. Industrial quality. Lacquer based. Available in Sage Green, Gray and Black.
OEM Paints React
React rejuvenates black oxide parts without the expense and hassle. It dries quickly and brings the black oxide finish back to bolts that are looking a bit tired. It works on everything from bolts and nuts to clips, rivets, springs, etc.
Steering Box Quickie Cleanup And Resto
There are many schools of thought as to what to do to restore cast-iron parts that originally came from the factory with no protective coating. These “as-cast” parts have been nightmarish for restorers throughout time. General Motors’ Saginaw steering boxes came from the factory in bare cast iron. Therefore, by the time the car reached the dealership it already had a light coating of surface rust.
We’ve seen it all when it comes to restoring and protecting cast-iron parts on vehicles that actually get driven. We’ve seen black-painted cast iron, silver-painted cast iron, clear lacquer over cast iron. We’ve even seen one restorer who covers cast-iron parts with a light coat of old-fashioned, stringy wheel-bearing grease. Each has its good and bad points. Black is a little amateur. Silver is better, but can look tacky. Clear lacquer looks good for a while, but then it either chips or yellows. The grease idea looks good, but attracts dirt like a magnet.
So what to do? We decided to try OEM Paints’ Steering Gear Box Finish, which is a blue-gray that mimics the color of the iron fresh from the mold. Not a bad idea, so we gave it a whirl. We like it, but this look may not be right for everyone. The bottom line is that you have to decide what’s best for your car.
Steering Box How-To
Okay, let’s get started. Using these four chemicals, we’re going to do a quickie steering box cleanup and resto. First, we’ll degrease the box with Gunk Engine Brite. Then, we’ll remove the surface rust with Permatex Rust Dissolver Gel. While we’re at it, we’ll remove the grease plug, the bolts that hold the adjustment cover on, and one at a time, the bolts that hold the steering box to the frame. The bolts will receive a thorough cleaning, wire brushing and a quick dip in a coffee can full of acetone for good measure. When the bolts are super clean, we’ll shoot them with OEM’s awesome Black Oxide, which does a great job at getting bolts back to black without leaving a “painted” look. Our steering box ought to look pretty good after our afternoon redoux. You be the judge.
Hood Hinge And Latch Resto
Next, we’re going show you the correct finish for your hood latch and hinges. That finish is zinc phosphate and it used to be that you had to send out for it, but not anymore.
Here’s our steering box “before” photo. The box was already pretty clean, but still needed degreasing underneath, and the surface rust made it stand out like a sore thumb. The rust has to go.
First step is to degrease the box with Gunk Engine Brite, which does an excellent job at grease removal when used in conjunction with a hose sprayer or high-pressure car wash spray wand.
We also used a sponge soaked with Engine Brite to remove the grease that was caked on in many places. The sponge died.
Our degreased box can now be treated to rust remover.
Permatex Rust Dissolver Gel is used to kill any rust on the steering box. It works very well and we have used it many times.
We used an old paintbrush to apply the Rust Dissolver Gel, and then let it sit on the box for about an hour before hosing it off.
After the steering box has been thoroughly rinsed and given time to dry, it will look like this. The rust died.
Next step is to mask off any areas you don’t want painted. We use 3M’s Professional Masking Tape because it sticks well and doesn’t remove paint when pulled off.
With most of the bolts removed, we gave the steering box one good coat of OEM Paint’s Steering Gear Box Finish. Of course, we were careful not to get any paint in the fairly large hole left by the grease plug. We then put the car back in the garage to allow the paint to dry overnight.
Next, we made a little paint booth out of a cardboard box top. We also cut a few Xs in another piece of cardboard with an X-acto knife. The X-shaped cuts in the cardboard hold the bolts nicely on the end for painting. The bolts will be refinished using OEM Paint’s Black Oxide, a synthetic resin that etches into the bare metal. It provides the correct black tint that duplicates the heat-treated look of genuine black oxide.
We sprayed our cleaned bolts, nuts and washers with OEM Paint’s Black Oxide and left them to dry in the sun for a few hours.
The “after” photo shows what a good job OEM Paint’s Black Oxide really does. Nice.
The next morning, we pulled the car outside and replaced the newly restored bolts, nuts and washers. The finished box looks good—much better than before. Not bad for a couple hours of work. The only way we could have done a better job would have been to pull the steering box off the car. We’ll do this later, but for now it looks great. If you like the finish and the color, try it out on your Chevy. If you like black or silver, use our cleaning tips and paint it whatever color you like. Black oxide-coated bolts will look good with whatever color you choose.
Now when you look at this engine compartment, there’s no rust-covered steering box sticking out like a sore thumb. The box just blends in and that’s good enough for us.
Eastwood OxiSolv works amazingly well, and is sold as a rust remover, but after it dissolves the iron oxide, it leaves a zinc phosphate coating. OxiSolv can be sprayed, brushed or dipped and is non-toxic, non-flammable and reusable. It is not intended to be a primer; for most applications, it is only a rust remover. In our case, the zinc phosphate coating was a bonus.
We sent a set of hood hinges and latches out to the sandblaster a few months ago. We got them back, boxed them up and set them aside. Even in super-dry Southern California, they picked up some moisture and got a “beard” of rust in places
We really thought we were going to have to use typical rust removal gel on them before sending them out for zinc phosphate coating—that is, until we read about Eastwood’s OxiSolv. So we gave it a try.
We quickly got to work spraying OxiSolv on our parts and literally watched the rust disappear in front of our eyes. Be sure to wear latex or rubber gloves when using OxiSolv, as it is a harsh chemical. Try not to breathe it, either.
After giving the parts a good soaking with OxiSolv, thoroughly inspect them. Use a rag to wipe your parts with more OxiSolv if there are any bare areas. Break any bubbles and wipe the area with more OxiSolv. The idea is to create an even surface of the zinc phosphate left behind.
This closeup shows a part still wet with OxiSolv Rust Remover. OxiSolv must stay wet on your parts for at least half an hour to get the full effect of the zinc phosphate. Be sure to inspect your parts continually during the entire half hour and wipe down bubbles, apply more product, etc. The entire surface of each part should have a consistent look when finished.
A closeup of the part when finished (dry) shows what a beautiful zinc phosphate finish OxiSolv leaves behind. If rust removal is the priority of your OxiSolv bath and the parts will require painting, the treated parts must be wiped with thinner or Eastwood Company’s “Pre” cleaner prior to priming or painting.
Eastwood also has Zinc Phosphate coating available in a 12-oz spray can. We’ll give our hinges and latches a thorough coating of Zinc Phosphate again prior to installing them.
