Aaarrrrgggghhh!!

Well, the good new is that last night I did my first shooting with the HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) gun last night. Got the decklid shot in self-etching primer. The first, anti-rust step. It got a bit late and the neighbor came over to let us know that she was trying to put her baby down. Who knew babies went to sleep at 8:45? Good thing I was just about finished. Here it is:





Also, I dove into the trunk rust repair with the POR-15 trunk and floor pan repair kit. More on that in a moment... Oh! I forgot to mention that I got a compressor. I ended up getting a somewhat small dual tank design, 8 gallons total, but it's got a 5 HP Honda gas-powered motor on it. With that, it manages to crank out 9.5 cfm at 90 PSI and 11.5 cfm at 40 PSI. I know a lot of people say that's not enough, but my gun is rated to run at 4-7 cfm at a max of 29 PSI. So I think I'm good. It just runs all the time, which is why the neighbor complained.




So tonight I hauled the decklid out again to prep it for the high-build urethane primer (the last step before paint. after you sand it smooth, of course.) I went over it with 220 grit paper, then blew it with pressurized air, then went over it all with degreaser as a final step before shooting it. I had just gotten some teflon tape to get ride of some air leaks at my hose connections. Things were looking good. Oh...what's that? One last fitting I forgot to tighten, the one at the end of the hose that feeds the gun. Torquing....snap! The cheapo fitting on the pressure regulator gauge that came with the gun kit broke and is useless. I was just about to mix primer and go live! Alas, it was not to be. Lesson: If you buy a bargain-priced HVLP gun kit, DON'T torque anything too much. (You'd think they could at least use a brass fitting on there....geez.)

Well, it was too late to do anything about it, so I touched up a few bare metal spots on the decklid with the VERY LAST drops of a spray can I still had (after fishing it out of the recycle can) of self-etching primer. I think before I said something about rust starting to form in about 8 hours. Scratch that. It's actually 8 minutes. Can't leave that metal bare. Then I put everything away and I'm showered and done for the night.

About the POR-15...they supply a fiberglass cloth to lay over rust holes and then coat with their thick, rust-inhibiting paint. I assumed that the fiberglass would just kinda blend into it. Nope. Take a look:



It's still a fibrous mess. Not sure if this is supposed to sand out or what. I've got a message in to the folks at POR-15. At this stage I have two coats of the thick silver paint, and now (after taking the pictures) a coat of the black, thinner paint. I also filled some of the pits and irregularities with the putty they provide. Good stuff. If I had it to do again, I'd fill all the rust holes about the size of a pea and smaller with the putty. It's easier to work with. If you're going to use the putty, I recommend taking about a grape-sized chunk from each of the two bars and then blend those together. I did about three times this much, and the stuff sets up sooner than you can make your way through it. It's really easy to smooth at first, but got a bit too stiff to work with after about 20 minutes. I ended up throwing about half of the original walnut-sized chunk away.

Trunk preparation

Not a lot to say today. I didn't get too much done in the last week from being out of town for the weekend, then kind of waiting for the heatwave to subside. Now that it has, I mainly spent the day prepping the trunk for rust repair. I washed it out with soap and water, then industrial strength marine cleaner (which is the first step in my Por-15 Trunk and Floorpan Restoration Kit), waited for it to dry, then sprayed on the rust remover, and that's as far as I got. Tomorrow will be brushing on the first coat of Por-15 paint and patching holes with the included fiberglass fabric which basically just holds the paint in place over the hole while it cures. Supposedly this stuff is amazing and will set up hard and put all the rust to sleep.

I also finally sanded down the filler on my replacement deck lid. There were just a few spots--pitting from surface rust--that I had filled. The Rage Extreme sands really easily. I went back over the same spots with Evercoat metal glaze and it's setting up as I write.

I'm also getting started on removing the cloudy anodized layer from my aluminum trim, using Easy Off Heavy Duty oven cleaner. That came recommended from the folks at V8TV who did a series on the COMPLETE restoration of a '69 Chevelle SS 496. A pretty good video blog, if you ask me. It's on youtube. (What isn't?) You have to spray the trim several times and wash it off, then go over it with 1000 grit sandpaper. After you get the rough spots out, you polish it with aluminum polish. Looks pretty good so far!

That's all I have for today. I'm going to see how this Por-15 stuff turns out, and then maybe try it on my floor pans. If it's tough enough, then I can forgo having those cut out and replaced. That would be so nice...

Til nex time.

"Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you."

I now know this to be true. Just look at these pictures:





This is the floorpan under the driver's (my) feet. I knew I had seen some rust under there, but had not really delved. I was in denial. I already knew since I pulled the rear seat last week that there was some rust in the driver's side rear seat floor pan. But today I was pulling the plastic cover that runs along the bottom of the door jamb in order to get at the wiring harness for the taillights and started seeing the rust. And the more I looked, the more I found. I peeled and chipped off the rubber coating of the floorpan to reveal holes. Not quite Fred Flintstone, but give it a few years. And just when I think I've found it all...




psych!



So each time I do something on the car I make more work for myself. But as you may start to notice, I can be a terrible perfectionist about some things. Not everything...those who know me know that I can definitely do a half-arsed job on certain things. But when it comes to tedious tasks, something about my brain likes to find more and more to do. Plus, if I see something there (at least with my car), it will drive me nuts knowing I didn't do anything about it. So, bad for me, good for my car.

I also have a huge tendency to set out to do one thing and end up doing another. Today I was going to try out my new cheapo hammer and dolly set on a few dings on the car. Really I should be practicing on a scrap piece, and probably still will, but I figure I can't hurt things too much if I just tap lightly (I can just picture the grimaces of the experienced body guys reading this). Anyway, I did a little of that on a couple of small dings and I think I actually might have made them slightly better. But I got distracted looking at the rear window seal which needs to come out (one of the things I'm afraid to do, and with good reason), which got me looking at the inside of the seal, which I noticed holds in the head liner at the back of the ceiling, and then my eyes wandered down to the aforementioned plastic cover that runs the length of both doors along the jambs. I had had difficulty pulling it up before and I'm always afraid to pull too hard on things for fear of breaking them. But I got under the edge of it with a chisel and started prying, and *pop*, it started to come up. Turns out it's just clipped onto a metal ridge. The only other things kind of holding it back are the vinyl-covered plastic (or metal? i don't remember) piece on the center post and the fabric covered metal strips that are crimped onto the back of the back door jamb and the front of the front one.

Ugh, that paragraph got out of control. So, after pulling that plastic piece out, I started pulling the carpet that's stuck down with adhesive along the length of both doors next to the floor pans. This is when I really started to notice the rust. Guess that whole side is going to have to be replaced. Which means more money to the welder. I already didn't wanna have to pay that guy for the quarter panel. But all in all it'll be cheaper than renting a TIG welder and then doing it wrong myself (as much as I wanna try to weld).

Anyway, in my zeal to get a real good look at the floor, I pulled both front seats out. Right after I got both pulled, it started to shower and I had to rush to get my floor mats and sheepskin covered seats into the basement. That concluded the outside portion of my day.

I came in and started prepping my replacement deck lid (trunk lid) for a final self-etching priming. Did a quick soap and water wash, then after it dried, I did a solvent wash for good measure. Don't think that's as crucial on the self-etching stage, but I figured what the heck. Between steps I started cooking dinner (Thai green curry with chicken..mmmm). I had most of it sprayed but had gone back over some surface rust with the grinder to get the bulk of it off. The rust has left some pitting on the underside of the trunk along the edge, and then a little where the emblem and deck badges were on the outer side. So now I'm going to try my hand at body filling.

As I think I mentioned, I splurged for the Evercoat Rage Extreme which is supposed to be excellent. It adheres well, sets up quickly and sands very easily. Shouldn't be too tough, but I figure it's good that I"m starting out on the underside of the deck lid. Not too terribly crucial.

So, all in all, kinda tough day as far as adding things to the list. On the upside, I found $2.47 in change under the driver's seat. I knew there was some under there! That's a half gallon of fuel (sigh...).

Well, I'm off to mix filler. Wish me luck. Til next time!

You'd think I was Aaron Burr from the way I'm droppin' Hamiltons...

So, money. When I'm savin' it I'm still spendin' it. Those in the know say, "You've gotta spend money to make money." In that case, it's about to come pouring in. I just dropped (skip to the next sentence Mom and Dad) $500 on supplies today alone. That's not counting the grinder and sander I just bought.
Because of the way I'm stripping the paint off (one section at a time), I'm going to need to do an initial and immediate self-etching primer coat. This well keep the rust at bay. Apparently there's a window of about 8 hours before rust starts to form on newly-exposed metal. So, I'll be priming the car twice. The second coat is the high-build primer that fills in minor imperfections and is sandable, creating that smooth surface before painting. So the primer alone set me back close to $300 (with accompanying activators).
I also got a gallon of Evercoat Rage Extreme body filler, as well as some of their metal glaze for final scratch filling before priming. Add on a roll of 400 grit sandpaper, 2 sanding blocks, a glaze spreader, and probably something I'm not remembering right now, and we're at $500. But that's okay. It's saving me money in the long run. Now I just have to decide if I'm going to do the cheaper BASF Limco paint or spring for something better. (No, I'm not going get Glasurit. It's super expensive and you have to know what you're doing, apparently.) The store I'm going to also sells Sherwin Williams. They guy said they've got one that's very high quality, and sells for $308 per gallon, and I'd need just one gallon. That's not including reducer and hardener. All told it'd be $500. Anyone have any experience with it? The salesman said that the only difference I'd see between the expensive stuff and the cheap stuff is how long it lasts. Which is a big deal to me.
OH! I also got a spray gun kit. An ATD 3-gun kit. Yes, it's cheap ($96). But they assure me that it's going to atomize my one-stage paint just fine. No, it won't last as long as the more expensive ones, but I'm not going into the painting business either. (Or am I?) No.

So today I tried out my new grinder and went to town on the inside and rim of the trunk to remove rust scale. Good thing I drive a diesel or I'd probably be in the afterlife right now. As the sparks were flying (with my 1/3 full fuel tank right below me) I thought "This might be one of the dumber things I've ever done. Wait, it's diesel. It won't blow...will it?" It didn't. I didn't smell any fumes, so I figured I was fine. I was still a little nervous though. I can't wait for my POR-15 trunk repair kit to arrive in the mail. I have to get all the rust fixed before I can really move forward with the rest. I suppose I could start stripping panels further forward. I just wanna get my quarter panel cut out and replaced and all the trunk rust fixed, then prime it before I prime the quarter panels. I just wanna know the rust has been put to bed.

Things I'm thinking/concerned about:

-Getting a good enough air compressor for painting. I guess you need a really big one so you don't run out of air. However, I'm thinking that since I'm doing a panel at a time, basically, that I don't need to go too big. Maybe 25-30 gallons with a 5 hp motor? My biggest area to prime or paint at one time will be the roof and rear pillars. Will this be enough?

-I DON'T HAVE A GARAGE. My car is on the street. Painting it there will be less than ideal. The neighbors might be a little concerned. But the biggest problem is wind/breeze and dirt, bugs and pollen. For the primer it doesn't matter so much because I can sand it. But the paint?! If anyone knows of a place I can go in the DC area to paint it, please, please let me know.

That is where I am as of today. Finding an air compressor stands in the way of getting started on stripping down the panels. I'll be isolating an area at a time: strip, fill/sand, glaze/sand, prime, prime again. Wish me luck! Until next time...

Let the great experiment begin!

I've always liked Courier font. There's something so newsy about it. As a boy, I'd often lay awake at night setting type in my mind. I know this is different from your normal boy, but then again, I was no ordinary...okay, sorry. Let's start again.

This is my blog. My first blog. Ever. And probably last. In fact, this may be the only entry, knowing me. But I'll try to overcome that tendency and write at least two. I don't know what you're expecting from this blog, but I'm going to keep it respectable. It's PG-rated. Possibly PG-13 at times, but only if it is something my character would really do. No gratuitousness. Unless you go with the second meaning of gratuitous: "given or done free of charge." In that case, it's all gratuitous.

Alright, enough self-aware rambling. Go read Salinger for that. Um...okay. Oh yeah! My car. I have a 1975 Mercedes Benz 240D. Really it's a 240D 3.0, for those in the know. NO, it's not a factory 240D 3.0. It was made as a regular 240D with a 4-cylinder 2.4 liter engine in it. But someone at some point installed a 5-cylinder 3.0 liter engine in it, but left everything else the same. My good friend Peter (a.k.a. Pierre) Hedary down in Orlando helped me with a lot of things, one of which was to put in the corresponding rear axle out of a 300D. I can never remember the ratios...I think it was a 3.4something and now it's a 3.3something. Or not. Anyway, since the interior package and a few other things are still a 240D, that makes it more or less a 240D 3.0. With a 4-speed manual. Eat your heart out all you automatic-diesel-driving schmucks. Mine has pep. At least as much as an old Mercedes diesel can have.

Okay, so, I've had this car for a couple of years now, and have taken good care of it. The paint is not original and has always been dull, not to mention poorly done, since I've had it. Also there are various dings and rough spots, as well as the all-too-common quarter panel rust on one side. Then the other non-rusty quarter panel got smashed in along with the rear door one night in a parking lot. Hit and run. That has since been repaired but not painted. So for the last 8 months I've been driving around with a gray primered quarter panel and rear door on the driver's side.

Well, now that school's out (I'm doing a master's in Second Language Acquisition at the University of Maryland) for the summer, I'm going to go into full-blown restoration mode. I thought it would be fun to document it with this blog and some photos in order for a few of my friends and family to follow along. For you non-enthusiasts out there, which I anticipate are most of you, I'll try to make it somewhat interesting. But I can't guarantee anything. For those who happen upon this and are contemplating doing a restoration, or those who have already done one, comments and questions are more than welcome.

I've been polishing this and replacing that with a better/cleaner one since I got the car. The steering wheel is not original, I put in euro headlights, the front seats have been switched out for ones in better shape, the instrument cluster is a conglomeration of the best parts of I think three different ones. The list goes on and on of little things that I have switched out or just made nicer. But now that I've set my sights on doing the body work and repainting, I'm seeing ALL KINDS of things that I need to do. The scope keeps getting wider and wider. Here's a list of what I've done in the last few days:

-Strip paint off, sand and prime a replacement trunk lid that I found (mine is rusty).
-Pull all trim off.
-Pull rear bumper off.
-Pull trunk seal and grind rust around edge
-Pull rear seat and disassemble back part (there is no padding left in it and the frame is rusted)
-Probably more that I can't think of at the moment...


Here's a list of things that I need to do as far as I know right now:

-Fix the rust in the trunk and around the trunk seal and repaint the inside.
-Replace the trunk seal
-Repair or replace the back of the rear seat and reinstall.
-Fix torn ceiling liner by back seat.
-Run new tail light wiring.
-Run new vacuum lines for the locking system.
-Have the rust cut out of the quarter panel and a new piece welded in.
-Grind out all the rust I can see which, incidentally, is almost everywhere in spite of what decent shape the car is in.
-Strip ALL of the paint off the car.
-Straighten dents and dings as much as possible.
-Fill the imperfections with body filler.
-Spray the whole thing in self-etching (acidic, rust-inhibiting) primer.
-Block sand and look for more imperfections.
-Fill and sand those.
-Spray the whole thing with high-build primer to smooth things out.
-Sand the whole thing completely smooth.
-Pull windshield and back window (backlight).
-Paint it.
-Put windows back in with new seals.
-Put all the trim, lights and bumpers back on.
-Buff to a shine.
-Drive and smile.

Here are some pictures of what I've done in the last few days...








Stay tuned!