Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Day 30 – 5-9/5/11


The metal ready, solvent and topcoat turned up today so this evening I set about cleaning and prepping the fuel tank mounting straps, the washers for the front wishbone bush washers and radiator fan motors.  I took a look at the parts I had painted at the weekend.  I bought the topcoat because the first coat looked quite dull and I wanted it to be a thicker finish but after looking at the second coat I might have changed my mind about the topcoat.  As I had it I put the top coat on.  The top coat was thicker than the first two coats but still went on well.

I have had a call from MCS about the parts I had shot blasted and dry powder coated.  The shot blasters weren’t happy with the rear diff bushes and couldn’t blast without removing the bushes.  I was told initially they had removed the bushes and that I would have to press them back in.  A later call revealed they had actually cut them out and that I would have to find some new ones.  Another 50 notes! The problem is actually finding them.  They do not appear on the Polybush website, nor on Flat4online.co.uk. I did manage to find one on the powerflexshop.com web site.  But on the bright side I can pick up the sub frames and manifold tomorrow and have a busy weekend ahead.

Day 29 – 3/4/11 second coat.


I checked the brush the following morning which was a stiff as a board despite the efforts to clean it.  Mothers Day and MOTO GP today so only managed the second coat done update the blog and order the metal ready, solvent and topcoat.

Day 24 – 26/2/11 It’s all about the scrubbing

This weekend is all about cleaning and stripping the remaining parts from the engine. I have managed to strip the rear sub frame and now it needs wire brushing, cleaning and readying the parts to remove the bushes and paint.  I will also have to find some pipe to make a couple of bush extraction tools similar to those used on the You Tube demonstrations.

I cracked the fixing bolts that were holding the gearbox and engine sub frames.  Then after lifting the engine slipped the sub frames out.  One of the powered steering pipes was still connected to the engine steering pump.  I disconnected it at the pump end simply because the steering shaft end was covered in oily road grime.

Once the sub-frames were out it was a simple job to clean the grime off the steering rack and remove the pipes before taking the whole rack off the sub-frame.  Then it was out with the degreaser and brush/scrub down all the sub-frames. Engine and gearbox are fine but the rear sub-frame has alot more corrosion in comparison.  They may not be bushes but there is definitely some rubber in there but the corrosion may be hiding it.  Shot blasting is one answer but if there is rubber in the joint shot blasting is not going to be desirable. I’ll have to do some more brushing with a strong wire brush.

I cleaned up the steering rack which should be good with a lick of paint.  Speaking of painting I have also painted one side of the fan mounts but it is taking forever to dry.  Temperatures are still not high enough to paint properly.  It is really frustrating.  I can’t leave the stripped and cleaned in the garage as they will just start to rust again.  My house is starting to looks like the Dewsbury scrap yard where I picked up the car seats.

After washing the degreaser of the sub-frames and steering rack let them dry in the winter sun until the rain stopped play. I just wish it would warm up enough to paint. Guess the Six nations are calling.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Day 28 – 2/4/11 Painting at last.

I made the decision a few weeks ago to purchase some good quality chassis paint called POR 15.  It is a 3 part system consisting of de-greaser, metal preparation and paint. With the de-greaser it is advised to wear latex gloves (provided in the kit) and safety glasses.

The parts were already clean from the rust remover I had used on them a few weeks back but now some surface rust had begun to creep back.  I brushed over the degreaser (marine clean) and washed it off with the hose pipe and dried the parts off.  Then I brushed the metal ready on and kept going over the parts for about half an hour before washing it off with the hose pipe again and let the parts dry in the sun.  As the parts dried where there was shiny metal a white coating of zinc phosphate now covered the bare metal which is a good key to paint on.  Once they had dried fully I opened the paint.  Two to three coats are recommended.  The paint is water thin.  It is not like Hammerite paint. I set about applying the first coat to the parts.  The paint went on a treat and it was no trouble to keep the coat thin and maintain good coverage.  I hung each part up to dry.  Drying time is 3-5 hours. So I hope to apply the second coat tomorrow.

Now there is a down side to the paint I discovered to my cost.  Having finished the painting I wanted to clean the brush and my hands.  I had some xylene (Hammerite thinners) which I used the clean the brush and then with a rag used it to clean my hands. 45 minutes later and numerous washing and scrubbing with xylene soaked rag, nailbrush and swarfega and I’m still failing to scrub the paint off my hands. This stuff sticks better than the proverbial to a blanket and the xylene just seems to move it round my hands not on the rag.  I think gloves are definitely necessary and a different solvent.  I have also been checking on the Holden website and there is a 4th stage to the process in order to seal the paintwork for “life”.  I have used all the metal ready supplied with the kit and will need some more to finish off the diff and other parts I haven’t got round to yet.

Day 27 – 29/3/11 Busy lunch breaks and the birds

It’s been a while but I have been making some progress.  The bushes have turned up but to my surprise the kit had fewer bushes than I was expecting. Compared to the original kit the gear box bushes and steering bushes are not in the kit.  I’m not too worried because those bushes are in good condition.

Next job is to remove the bushes from the suspension arms.  Having got permission to use the 25 tonne press in the fab shop at work I took a few pieces each day and pressed them out. I used a piece to 12mm stud bar and some nuts and a small stack of washers  to press the smaller bushes out.  I used and pipe fitting to press out the larger bushes on the trailing arms.
I took the pipe fitting home with the stud bar and with a piece of plate managed to remove the trailing arm bushes in the Rear hubs.

The front arms I knew would be a bit trickier.  They are Aluminium and the outer ring of the bush is a steel casing.  I managed to press the inner sections of the bush at work without issue.  I couldn’t find anything the right size to press the outer case so I had to apply a different technique I found online. First you make a cut in the steel case with a hacksaw without cutting into the aluminium (that’s the tricky bit).

  
Once I had cut as close to the aluminium as I dare I used a thin pointed chisel and a hammer to bend one side in toward the centre.  This removes the tension on the aluminium and the steel shell can be tapped out easily.  The smaller front bushes were the hardest to do and took twice as long.

 
In hindsight if I had made two or three similar cuts instead of just the one within say 15-20 degrees either side of the first cut.  Releasing the tension would be easier and less risk of damage to the aluminium.

Whilst I was sawing away at the bushes outside on the workmate I got this eerie feeling like I was being watched by someone.  I looked around at all the neighbours windows looking on to my garden but couldn’t see anyone and there wasn’t anyone on the other side of the fence.  It seemed eerily quiet too.  I stopped sawing again and looked around there were no sounds of birds.  There is a family of sparrows usually calling to one another or squabbling in a bush in next doors garden, but it was totally quiet.  Then I saw them. Magpies, seven of them all sat evenly in a row on my TV aerial, all completely engrossed in what I was doing.  I stood there watching them watching me. They didn’t move, or even make a sound, just watching, waiting...... There’s a film reference in there somewhere and I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.  Hitchcock really was on to something.  They didn’t leave until the light started failing and I moved into the garage to finish off the bushes.

Kim has been in touch, even though she has been off college with back problems that have left her bed ridden.  She called a friend who works at a local garage to remove the springs from the dampers.  I popped round and picked them up.  I only need the tops to mount on the new coils. When it warms up I will be able to clean them up and paint them.  I am getting the parts together ready for a warm enough day to do a big cleanings and painting session.

I called a mate who gave me some contacts for shot blasting, dry powder coating and spraying.  I took some photos of the parts and emailed them to MCS and asked what the cost would be to restore the sub-frames and Inlet manifold.  I was quoted £160 to have the lot blasted and dry powder coated, but would not be able to have the crackle finish on the manifold. I do have some concerns about the Rear diff mounting bushes, which are very hard to get hold of if I’m forced to replace them and they are £25 each, and the dry powder coating process bakes the pieces at temperatures of 200 deg C.  The many machined faces on the inlet manifold are also a concern.  I left the fixings for the many parts in the manifold.  The parts should be back next week so hopefully I can start putting the engine back together.