Work on the frame commenced with painting and
finish work on the suspension.

 

You can almost smell the heavy odor of the red primer... A lot of spring leaves, and a bunch of other parts made a visit at the sand blaster's, and are seen here squirted in red pimer. (January 2007)

As the spray gun was loaded with primer, the frame also got its share. The right hand side running board mounts were finished and the rear crossmember was boxed before this pic was taken. Oh, and some filling and sanding has taken place too.

Satin black was then sprayed on the frame and suspension parts. This was fun, and didn't create as much mess as the primer.

A few weeks later the leaf springs have had all bushings changed for new ones. The rear axle is sand blasted and painted and has received new brake cylinders, brake lines and -hose. The brake hose bracket on the frame is new too. Shocks are Volvo 240 ones. (February 2007)

The spring to axle mounting plate is fabricated, painted and mounted in this shot, as are both the upper and lower shock mounts. Those are Pete and Jake's shocks found at a swap meet.

As the body went back on for various checking duties, The main brake cylinder was installed on the fire wall. The fire wall is just as flimsy as it looks, so the pedal mount has been seriously braced on the inside. (March 2007)

One of the 11" Plymouth front drum brakes is seen here. New return springs, cylinder and all fittings are used.

Here's the somewhat sad looking Range Rover engine that will be dressed up to be used in the Essex. Someone painted this aluminum engine red without using any primer, so all the paint had to go. The good news is it came off quite easily with a rotating steel brush in an electric drill.

After lots of cleaning with a tooth brush, rotating brushes and whatever, the engine was thoroughly cleaned with brake cleaner, and squirted with acid primer for adhesion, as seen here. After this a coat of red primer was applied.

A couple of days later the engine was painted with blue PPG two part paint. The following days some small parts and bits were painted black, and bolted to the engine. In this pic the Essex has been turned around in the garage to have the engine hoisted into position. it's rarely been seen from this side. How could you survive without a floor jack to move your car around? (April 2007)

The engine mounted in he frame for the first time and dressed up with Buick valve covers. The Lucas generator is brand new, mounted on home made mounts. As the kick down linkage clashed with the intake manifold, the Holley 390 has been mounted on a 1" spacer after this snap was shot.

Ok, here's what the Essex looks like as it's time to take a spring time break to make the Buick ready for another summer of cruising.

Go on to part ten