Any colour you like...

My poorly eye is now free from all rusty particles and recovering well.

Back to it then... all recently sandblasted parts were cleaned up as per the usual process (described in previous posts). On this occasion I shall let the photos do the talking:

After a couple of liberal coats and with the masking removed:

More glorious paint

As predicted, I got all of the recently blased chassis parts into paint. It is worth noting that because these parts were blasted at different times, some flash rusting started to emerge in some of the areas with heavy pitting. It goes to show how fast atmospheric humidity gets to work on bare steel; 'rust never sleeps' is a truism of classic car ownership! I swiftly remedied this by throwing the parts back in the cabinet for a quick once over with the blast gun, so that everything was equally immaculate before paint. Followed up with a careful bit of re-masking on some key parts and I was good to go:

Pretty happy with the results this time round (plus, I got this portable spray booth for a bargain):

Yes, I do believe that I have found the sweet spot in terms of gun settings and paint viscosity:  

A close up detail of one of the axle tubes with the masking removed. The transition lines were as sharp as I could have hoped for: 

Whilst I am in the flow of praising my own craftsmanship, I will also highlight that the crisp factory stampings are still perfectly legible after a couple of liberal coats: 

Finish is better than perfect

Got the blasted chassis parts into paint this week:

Wasn't sure if my old half used tins of Mastic 121 would still be usable; haven't touched the paint in almost 5 years. I asked Rustbuster (the manufacturer) and they could only guarantee it would remain good for one year. Although exterior of the tins were scabby, the paint components were still looking alright on the inside upon vigorous stirring. 

Top tip: this miraculous preservation could be down to the fact that I covered the remaining paint with cling film when it was last used. Literally laid it directly on the paint surface inside the tin to create a barrier between the paint and air.

I was a bit frustrated at first as the paint mix and gun settings were off and as a result too much paint was being let through and affecting the finish. Also, although it had been thinned to the recommended 20% the paint was quite 'splattery' on application. It was a passable finish, but not as good as I hoped. I let it cure for a couple of days and then applied a second coat, this time I thinned the paint down to somewhere in the region of 25 - 30% and that really helped with the flow. Also, I took my time dialling in the gun settings that gave me pretty decent control and reduced the amount of paint flowing out of the gun. 

For the most part the second and third coats helped to reduce the sins of the haphazard base coat and left a result that I was satisfied with. It goes to show that a few small adjustments can yield far better results.    

P - A - I - N - T

I proudly present to you;

It looks like new, wouldn't you agree?!

Now that the grand reveal is out of the way I will back up a bit and explain the painting process. This was a steep learning curve for me and I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a touch nervous entering into it! For some considerable time I have been mulling over the best method and almost gone down the foam roller and brush route (I kept my receipt, so I can take all those particular items back to the shop). Foam rollers would have been straight forward and simple, but that is not what this project is about! Having asked for advise on the Volkszone forum I opted to spray using a HVLP gravity fed gun with a 2.2mm nozzle. I opted for a cheapo Sealey SSG501 that I picked up off eBay and I also added an additional water trap which mounted to the inlet (I already had the regulator laying around):

My painting paraphernalia:

Thanks to Dangerman who loaned me the use of the adjoining garage to spray in, it would have been near impossible to do it without this space! I thoroughly cleaned the area out so that there was no trace of dust that could be disturbed by the spray gun and end up in my fresh paint!

To get the paint to the right consistency for spraying it needed to be thinned by about 20%. For the first layer I mixed up far more than I needed as I had no clue how far the stuff would go, but for the additional coats I only mixed up 720ml (300ml comp A, 300ml comp B and 120ml of No 17 thinners):

A little time-lapse of the first layer going on (unfortunately the camera didn't capture the very beginning):




The best inter-layer adhesion occurs before the previous layer fully cures, so I waited 3 days before adding the 2nd coat and a further 3 days before the final coat. The 2nd and 3rd coats were more challenging to apply as it is obviously not as easy to see the areas that have been freshly sprayed versus those that have not. Requires a bit more focus and strategy, but in on reflection I think I did a pretty good job for my first time!

...and relax!

Fettle, fettle, fettle!

The time had come for the addition of the frame head bottom plate. I knew the fit was going to be a challenge with this Klokkershite panel and my intuition was correct! The main cause for concern was around the front lip which had not bent up to 90 degrees, so it caused the panel to sit further back than it should. To remedy this I cut a series of slits around the corners of the lip in the report panel to allow for easier manipulation of the steel. I gently bent the lip back so that I could get the whole panel into rough alignment. My thinking was that if I could get 75% of the panel to fit satisfactorily then I could fettle the rest using the persuasion of my body hammers. I spent A LOT of time on this - checking, measuring, making small adjustments and rechecking etc...

I unclamped the bottom plate and began my final preparations before welding it on. Once again I coated the inside of the framehead and naps hat with some FE-123 and once it had dried I mixed up some Mastic 121 and coated the inside for extra rust protection. Also stripped part of the bottom plate with a wire cup and gave it a lick of 121 in the middle and zinc primer around the edges to be welded: 

before permanently sealing everything up, I bent the last section of the new fuel line into place so that it exited through the correct hole in the top of the frame head:

I cleaned up all the framehead flanges and gave them a decent coat of zinc primer:

Drilled out a series of 8mm holes for plug welding, to emulate the factory spot welds:

Starting with the centre of the spine I added the first few tack welds. I then filled the plugs along the Naps Hat flanges before filling in the rest of them on the underside:

To ensure a flush fit in the hard to reach areas I invested in a deep throated G-clamp, which really did the trick here:

Got very positive signs of penetration on the top side. In fact I probably could have eased back a little on the power settings, but at least I know these plugs are super strong:

The bottom plate is almost there now. Just a few tweaks to make along the front edge, a couple of seam welds to add and the brake line brackets to reattach. 

More updates to follow shortly...

Vinegar, rinse, blast, paint, repeat...

After a lot of experimenting I have finally settled on a method for taking rusty components and transforming them back to good-as-new. It all starts a lot of vinegar, citric acid powder and a Bristol City council recycling bin:

I came across this method after reading through an amazing build thread over on Volkszone, so full credit to Andy Sweeney (aka: Last Triumph) for originally sharing this idea.  Basically, once the vinegar and citric powder have been mixed, you simply submerge the dirty components in the acid bath as they are, close up the bin lid and wait. Over the course of a week or so the solution dissolves the grease, dirt and much of the rust. 

A word of warning in case anyone reading is considering doing this; the vinegar bath should be used on components that do not have a structural purpose. This is due to potential embritllement, which could compromise the integrity of such parts. So, no suspension, steering boxes etc!

The results straight out of the bath are impressive... Here is a before shot:

After:

However, when I put a second batch of components in the vinegar solution I unintentionally left them in a bit too long (summer is full of distractions and tangents!). When I pulled them out I was baffled to find that they were covered in a stubborn residue like a coral reef:

I am unsure if this is the result of the sediment from the previous components that were cleaned or simply what happens when you leave metal parts submerged for too long. I guess another possibility is that the citric acid powder and vinegar somehow breaks down or alters over time?

Unexpected coral reef cultivation aside, the parts are then rinsed in water and any loose dirt is cleaned off with petrol and a toothbrush or wirebrush:

The parts then go into the blast cabinet and without that stubborn coating of several decades worth of accumulated crap encasing everything, it only takes a minimal amount of time before they are done. Not only does this process remove the last traces of rust, but also provides a perfect key to the surface ready for paint:

Its then a case of masking (if required), mixing up some Mastic 121 and painting it on using a regular brush:

Chassis paint has arrived! (Mastic 121)

Just received the hard-as-nails paint that I will be using to coat the chassis and various other components:

 

Mastic 121 is a two pack Epoxy paint and is highly recommended amongst restorers (believe me, I did a LOT of internet research before choosing my paint system!). Additionally I purchased some FE-123 Molecular Rust Converter, so that I can thwart any sneaky rust areas that I cannot reach with a wire wheel before applying the top coat. 

Most importantly is the correct mask; the epoxy paint is not too pleasant on the lungs if inhaled. At the recommendation of Rustbuster (I phoned them directly to check this) I opted for the '3M 4251 Gas/Vapour and Particulate Respirator'.

Exciting times ahead....