First Step Complete

My new paint booth finally showed up and I had a good day of weather as well. The paint booth turned out better than I expected. It sets up in about 15 minutes and tears down just as quick. It has two fans on it. One inflates the structure that holds the booth up and the other ventilates the booth to keep overspray from staying in the air and ruining the paint job.

I was able to get the chassis primed. I used a self etching epoxy primer so it would be strong and chip resistant. It was difficult to say the least to get the primer into all of the creases and crevices!!! If the weather holds out, I will try to get some color on tomorrow.

Here is the frame in primer:

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Still making progress but a long way to go!!!

I have been taking some time off and working on the Black Hole in between going to the hospital to see dad. Dad is doing pretty good but is going to be a long road for him. He is walking with a walker now so that is a good thing. They are trying to build up his strength before they release him. He probably has at least another week to go before he comes home. We hope he is home in time for Christmas.

I have been continuing to get the chassis ready to paint. It has taken forever because there are so many joints and obstructed areas it is hard to get the paint off everywhere. It is pretty much finished now.

I decided to build a rotisserie to put the chassis on to make it easier to paint. It would be impossible to paint without it. It turned out pretty nice. Now I can flip the chassis over and roll it wherever I want it.

Looks pretty good now that it is all clean.

This rotisserie stand allows me to roll the chassis over to paint hard to reach spots. It rotates 360 degrees and rolls around the garage.

I also built a floor where my feet will be accessing the brake and throttle pedals. The chassis had exposed tubing that made it very uncomfortable to keep your feet on the pedals while in a comfortable position. I built this from titanium sheet so it is light and strong. It turned out nice!!

Lastly, I ordered a portable inflatable paint booth so I can paint the chassis without getting dust all in the paint. It will also keep paint off of all of my stuff in the garage. The paint booth works like a kids bouncy house. Air holds the structure up and keeps the paint dust circulated out of the booth. It was supposed to be in tomorrow but it has been delayed because of Christmas package volume.

I am ready to get this thing painted and start final assembly!!!!

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Interesting week!!

Well, it has been an interesting week. Apparently Satan is working overtime as we get closer to the day of celebrating our Savior's birth.

As most of you know, my dad fell last Thursday and broke his femur. He has had surgery and is now in the rehabilitation center at the hospital recovering from the break.

Two of our employees were delayed on going to a critical project in Alaska because there was a major earthquake in Anchorage.

Now tonight, we realized that my enclosed  tool trailer with every home construction tool and construction supply that I own was missing from my sister's house next door. I moved it down there a couple o weeks ago so we could do the repairs on her house. I haven't even begun to list out all of the things that I lost but I guess there was at least $50,000 to $70,000 worth of stuff in there. I am sure the thief that got at least $500 in drug money for all of our stuff. He/she must be so proud.

The funny thing about this is that if Satan thinks this changes my outlook in life, he is messing with the wrong person. You see, I have been saved most of my life and I am extremely hard headed. IT IS NOT GOING TO WORK!

This is just an inconvenience and Jesus has our back. Some of you that watch my blog have real hardships. If you do, hang in there and keep your eyes on Jesus, he has your back too. It may not seem like some times it but he does.

Who knows, the tags on the trailer were expired and the thief may already be in jail after he got stopped with expired tags. We will call the police in the morning and file a report.

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All Stripped

The chassis is stripped and I am sanding it to get it ready for paint. After it is sanded, I will treat it with acid to make the paint stick better. The first coat will be epoxy primer followed by the base color, then clear coat.

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Almost Ready For Paint

I have been working long hours to try and catch up on the "Black Hole" February is coming fast and I have a long way to go.

I should finish stripping the paint off of the chassis tomorrow so I can repaint and reassemble the car for the final time. I have about 4/5ths of the stripping done. It is a slow process with all of the nooks and crannies to get into.

The chassis is amazingly light weight. I can lift it easily by myself from either end.

Hopefully, the weather will cooperate in the next week or so so I can paint. I need a 67-70 degree day with no rain to spray the chassis.

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NHRA Chassis Certification

We had a major accomplishment this week. As you all know I have done a lot of modifications to the chassis to modernize it and make it safer. As always, I tend to critical of my own work and worry about my workmanship being good enough. I have been nervous about getting the chassis certified ever since I made the first weld on it.

When I started this dream, I had never done any TIG (Tungsten Inert Gas) welding and not only was I concerned that my welds would not pass inspection, I worried that they might not even hold the car together. By the time I finished my modifications, my TIG welding skills had improved dramatically. Although I have good days and bad days, most of my welds look pretty good.

Yesterday, The NHRA chassis inspector came to my shop and performed the inspection process on the car and it passed! As of yesterday, there are no other barriers other than money and time that would prevent the dream from coming true! There were a couple of pieces of tubing that the inspector thought were not sized to spec, but after review of the SFI spec, those tubes were legal.

When the inspector was preparing the tag for the chassis I told him what a "Big Deal" this was for a rookie like me. He made my day when he told me "Your not a rookie, this is a good chassis".

Now the marathon begins to try and meet my goal of having "The Black Hole" ready for a test session in February.

We only got to celebrate our victory for about 1 hour  before I got a phone from my dad (who was in the house less than a 10 feet away). He told me had fallen and needed help. Unfortunately as I write this, we are at the hospital with him waiting for him to go into surgery to repair his broken left Femur. He is in good spirits and is ready to get the problem fixed. We do not know what the rehab process is going to look like or how it will affect our lives, but God will provide. Stay tuned to see if we can still meet our schedule!

We would appreciate all of your prayers for my dad. He wants to be able to see " The Black Hole" make that first burnout and run.

Here is the proof that I have an approved NHRA ProMod chassis:

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Heavy Duty Anti-Roll Bar and 4-Link Bars

I just finished fabrication the new anti-roll bar and the larger 4-link bars. All of it  is tack welded but still needs to be final welded. This is the last thing that has to be done prior to the inspector coming next Thursday.

2inch diameter anti-roll bar. The old one is still attached and is below the new one. Look at the difference in diameter!

New larger diameter roll control links

1 1/2 inch 4-Link Bars

Old vs New

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