- Joined
- Dec 12, 2012
- Messages
- 109
Hey guys,
The Christmas tradition in our family is for each of us to draw a name out of a hat and we only buy a small gift for that person. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters, plus the parents and significant others, and kids... this is our solution to keeping gifts under control. Anyway, this year I drew my younger brother from the old hat and I'm usually not one to buy a Made in China wrench set as a gift, I'd rather build something. My brother is easy because he's a gear head like myself.
A little history about my brother before I get into the gift...
When our grandfather passed away almost 10 years ago my brother inherited his baby blue 198X (late 80's) Buick Lesabre 4-door. At the time the rage were Hondas and neon lights but my brother fell in love with this Buick. He's since cycled through almost 10 late 80's Buick Lesabres, either buying them for parts or replacing one with less rust. In the Winter of 2010/11 my 2 brothers and I drove to Quebec City to pick up a clean '87 Lesabre T-type that would be the summer project car. He bought a Supercharged Pontiac Bonneville that was being scrapped, we made a big event out of pulling the engine, he rebuilt it, and we finally had another big event getting the engine into the T-type this past summer. He put his heart and soul into the rebuild (it was his first) and finally got it running this past fall. He did an awesome job and the car runs great, so I though about making him something 'Supercharger' related. In keeping with our Christmas tradition we're not supposed to spend a lot of money, usually < $50, so I'm trying to do this on a tight budget.
I found a used 'for parts' Mazda Millenia supercharger on eBay for $40, shipping was $15-20, can't remember, so I'm already pushing the budget. My idea is to take it apart, clean it up, cut out a window in the casing to reveal the screws, and mount it on a 3/4" piece of stained wood. I'm about 75% finished.
Completed:
Disassemble and clean everything
Cut out window in the casing
Paint the SC screws
Paint the casing
Make the mounts out of old bolts on the lathe
Reassemble
To be completed:
Cut wood base and router edges
Stain and clear coat
Make a little plaque
Mount supercharger and "Buick" hood ornament to the base
Here are a few pictures of where I am so far.
This is the Supercharger as I received it from the magical world of eBay:
[I have disassembled pictures at home, will post tonight]
These are the old bolts I used for the mounts:
After a few hours on the lathe they don't look like bolts anymore:
Here is a close-up of the mounts painted and installed:
And this is pretty much what it will look like (minus the plywood):
I used Caliper Paint for pretty much everything, I've had good experience with it before and I had a couple cans on the shelf. The screws turn freely which is cool to play around with. I've never been inside a supercharger before so I'm learning quite a bit from this project. I was trying to think of places to add a bit of color since it is very silver, but I think once it's mounted on the final piece of wood it'll look good.
What do you guys think?? I'll upload a few more pictures tonight of the progress.
This is risky business posting these pictures before Christmas but I'm pretty sure he won't stumble into this forum!
Barry
The Christmas tradition in our family is for each of us to draw a name out of a hat and we only buy a small gift for that person. I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters, plus the parents and significant others, and kids... this is our solution to keeping gifts under control. Anyway, this year I drew my younger brother from the old hat and I'm usually not one to buy a Made in China wrench set as a gift, I'd rather build something. My brother is easy because he's a gear head like myself.
A little history about my brother before I get into the gift...
When our grandfather passed away almost 10 years ago my brother inherited his baby blue 198X (late 80's) Buick Lesabre 4-door. At the time the rage were Hondas and neon lights but my brother fell in love with this Buick. He's since cycled through almost 10 late 80's Buick Lesabres, either buying them for parts or replacing one with less rust. In the Winter of 2010/11 my 2 brothers and I drove to Quebec City to pick up a clean '87 Lesabre T-type that would be the summer project car. He bought a Supercharged Pontiac Bonneville that was being scrapped, we made a big event out of pulling the engine, he rebuilt it, and we finally had another big event getting the engine into the T-type this past summer. He put his heart and soul into the rebuild (it was his first) and finally got it running this past fall. He did an awesome job and the car runs great, so I though about making him something 'Supercharger' related. In keeping with our Christmas tradition we're not supposed to spend a lot of money, usually < $50, so I'm trying to do this on a tight budget.
I found a used 'for parts' Mazda Millenia supercharger on eBay for $40, shipping was $15-20, can't remember, so I'm already pushing the budget. My idea is to take it apart, clean it up, cut out a window in the casing to reveal the screws, and mount it on a 3/4" piece of stained wood. I'm about 75% finished.
Completed:
Disassemble and clean everything
Cut out window in the casing
Paint the SC screws
Paint the casing
Make the mounts out of old bolts on the lathe
Reassemble
To be completed:
Cut wood base and router edges
Stain and clear coat
Make a little plaque
Mount supercharger and "Buick" hood ornament to the base
Here are a few pictures of where I am so far.
This is the Supercharger as I received it from the magical world of eBay:
[I have disassembled pictures at home, will post tonight]
These are the old bolts I used for the mounts:
After a few hours on the lathe they don't look like bolts anymore:
Here is a close-up of the mounts painted and installed:
And this is pretty much what it will look like (minus the plywood):
I used Caliper Paint for pretty much everything, I've had good experience with it before and I had a couple cans on the shelf. The screws turn freely which is cool to play around with. I've never been inside a supercharger before so I'm learning quite a bit from this project. I was trying to think of places to add a bit of color since it is very silver, but I think once it's mounted on the final piece of wood it'll look good.
What do you guys think?? I'll upload a few more pictures tonight of the progress.
This is risky business posting these pictures before Christmas but I'm pretty sure he won't stumble into this forum!
Barry
