Then we had a bit of luck, in that this past Thursday, despite being Hallow-frickin'-een, was a sunny day with a most unseasonable high in the low seventies Fahrenheit. Which meant it was a perfect day to roll the beast outside and do some pressure washin'.

Our weapon of choice: a high-powered Kärcher industrial washer that came with the garage. It was originally used to wash the heavy trucks the building's first owner's haulage company used. It requires 240-volt power and came with a telescoping wash wand that can extend to a length of about 30 feet, in addition to the normal-sized one. The only thing it doesn't do is heat the water (and they make a version that does).

Fun side fact: we weren't the only ones who thought "wow, this is a perfect day to wash a truck." At the same time we were doing it, someone at the beige garage you can see in the background (which once belonged to the same company as ours, and unlike ours is still in commercial use) was doing the exact same thing to a dump truck. :)

The washer did a pretty good job considering how much ancient dust-mixed-with-grease was on those front-end components. You can even see where the steering box and the upper suspension arms were originally painted Chevy engine red. :)

The difference is less dramatic in back, since the washer didn't have much to say to rust, but it's just surface scale and should be easy enough to clean up before we put the body back on.

Artsy late-afternoon sunshine shot with some of the original color showing!

Don't worry about that mess of wiring getting wet; it's all coming out anyway. It's too old and brittle and previously-spliced to be worth messing around with; we're going to end up rewiring the whole vehicle.

And back inside.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.