Stripped and prepped

Spent an eternity stripping the temporary primer and grime off of the chassis in preparation for the top coat of Mastic 121. It is hard to stress in words just how time consuming this was - the big flatter areas obviously get stripped relatively fast, but that can be deceiving as it is all the nooks & crannies that become the vortex of time! Here is a breakdown of my pre-paint bare metal process:

• stripped what I could easily get at with the drill-mounted wire brush and an angle-grinder mounted poly abrasive disc (< this was a true godsend!)
• masked up the all the chassis orifices and shot blast the hard to reach areas 
• keyed everything with 80 grit sandpaper to create a suitable roughened surface for the paint to bond to
• Tack clothed the entire area to remove debris particles
• Thoroughly panel wiped the chassis to clean and degrease
• Applied FE-123 into any pitted areas of steel to neutralise any lurking residual rust
• Once the FE-123 had hardened/blackened I sanded back those localised areas to remove excess
• Blew entire area over with compressed air (including inside the chassis tunnel for good measure)
• Final tack cloth & panel wipe all over until no trace of dirt was detectable on the rag

So here is the naked result of my boundless endeavour (NB: these were taken just before I applied the FE-123 because, despite being necessary, it made the chassis look less shiny and presentable);

The next post is going to be epic. The chassis will finally get a lick of sumptuous semi-gloss black (truth be told, I have already sprayed the first layer and it looks pretty damn sweet - but that is a story for another post)...

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...

Shot blasting the frame head

Ordered myself some affordable fine abrasive called ‘J Blast’ from Frosts to use on areas of this restoration where a wire wheel is ineffective. It was quite amusing when I answered the door to a flustered postman who had just lugged the thing from his van. He asked something like “what on earth is in this package, sand?” to which I replied “errm... actually yes!”. 

In typical unorganised fashion, I am switching my attention back to the chassis. I am sure you are all getting used to my unconventional approach by now! Anyway, I hope to get the entire floorpan in paint by the end of the summer. First up is to properly clean up inside the frame head area. Introducing my siphon fed blast gun that came with my compressor; 

The grit is disposable and only really intended for one time use, but with creative use of a decorators dust sheet I was able to capture and reuse the stuff a few times; 

Getting inside the end of the tunnel was difficult with the shot blast gun because of the limited angles at which I could blast. I was keen to clean up the first section of the base plate as that seemed to be where rust had set in the most. Fortunately the tunnel was in remarkably good health further back and did not require any stripping. I also switched to a drill mounted wire brush to get in where I could. Having really assessed the condition of the front of the spine base I was not happy to leave such heavy pitting in place and the years of corrosion had really thinned the metal work down. So out came the spot weld cutter and angle grinder;

With the small section removed it is clear to see the extent of the corrosion;

I will make a repair patch for this section soon, but for now I was grateful to have improved access, so I sandblasted what I could inside;  

That strange pink stripy thing in the upper left of the tunnel is actually an old pair of boxer shorts. I basically stuffed a load of old fabric back there to prevent all of the grit being lost down the back of the tunnel - it stopped most of it, but there was still a lot that made it passed the formidable underwear barrier;

Once I had blasted to the best of my ability (trust me, DIY blasting takes a long time!), I used FE-123 rust convertor to ensure that any hidden or small pitted areas of rust were eradicated;

Just applied neat with an old brush over the whole area;

Should soon dry into a hard black permanent barrier. I'll let you all know next week how it turns out....

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....