Roller Paint Job Diary

Why are engineers' brains so complicated?!?! It seems I always come up with complex jigs at first, and then when I get to it, I find a simple way.:banghead3:

Now this is simplicity for door hanging. Bolts to a floor jack. Piece of cake.



http://www.eastwood.com/e-z-rest-door-hanger.html?reltype=2&parent_id=2630

 

Found some good panel alignment sites too. Most of te cars you see in Hotrod and other Performance mags are for two-doors, which is ok, but four door vehicles have other details to deal with.

Here's a really neat site about Model A Fordor:

http://www.abarnyard.com/workshop/workshop.shtml

This thread led me to their tech reference, where one author synthesizes all the best ideas on different aspects of car restoration:
http://www.chevelles.net/cgi-bin/forum7/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=17;t=000044;p=0

Hanging Doors and Fenders:
http://www.chevelles.com/techref/ftecref9.html

And looky here! Especially the SBC and GM members:
http://www.chevelles.com/techref/

Another good site:
http://autobodystore.com/ms1.shtml

Carcraft magazine has a good one too:
http://www.carcraft.com/howto/51979/

And this home made Rotisserie is K.I.S.S.
http://www.prostreetcar.com/body_rotisserie.html

Not as pretty as this commercial one, but how often would a hobbyist need one like that? Our wives would push us out into the doghouse.
http://www.rollerhoop.com/

And this is one very handy site. Scroll down to see the types of vehicles - automotive, aircraft, etc.):
http://www.allmetalshaping.com/index.php

 

Another brainwave on the Door Hanger. Couple lawnmower handles, bolted to a 2 X 8 by 30" long and some rubber floormat wrapped on the tubing to protect the paint, all bolted to the floor jack. Hmmm. I know I've got one old handle around here...

 

You do have neighbours.....

I've found rotisserie's often on CL for a couple of hundred dollars. Guys buy/build them for a project, then need the room when they are done with it. So far I've resisted but I would be nice to have one available when I get silly on another car. Thanks for the various hints and websites - I am finding all kinds of things to spend my car loot on

 

All it takes is a floor jack and a piece of 2x4 about 12" long. Been done that way in body shops for decades. It only takes one hand to start screws and the other to balance the door. Course and engineer might have trouble doing 2 things at once with his hands.

Back in the day, hot rodding was about making do with what you have and adapting to the situation. Reminds me of Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge. Progress kills any activity that involves the common man. Businesses spring up where none existed before. This drives the prices up beyond the means of many. Skills disappear and are lost as new technology steamrollers them. Can't rebuild your own motor....gotta buy a crate engine. Can't get a valve job done.....gotta buy a rebuilt head. You notice on all the TV shows when they hawk their sponsors products. They always include the word ONLY $XXXX from so and so.

Years ago, college students discovered flannel shirts at Farm & Fleet. Sturdy and inexpensive. They became the "style." All the stores started carrying crappy flannel shirts at designer prices. The price of the good ones doubled. So it is with everything we do.

Right now, there are a lot of baby boomers reliving their childhoods. They've got lots of disposable income and good union pensions to blow on stuff. The middle class has all but disappeared. Youngsters coming up will have none of those amenities. When the boomers die off, there will be a huge crash as all those businesses who depend on them no longer have enough customers to sustain their business.

 

Too late Safari, already built it!

Our trash used to be in those big BFI type bins. Folks would leave metal outside, for the local metal collectors. A few times they used my fence to lean stuff up against, and there was this lawnmower handle. I snagged it to make a lawn roller, about six years ago. Dug it out of the shed, and got it done today!

Eastwoods


Mine:
Lawnmower handle


Custom bracket to fit my cheapo floor jack


And there she is! I'll use a couple lengths of that tubular pipe insulation foam, and wrap it in some slippery synthetic. And mine's chromed!


Oh! And I had an old 2'-8" aluminum threshold from changing our door to 3'-0" to use for a base. and some old lag bolts in one of my coffee cans.

 

That'll never work S-Norman. Send it down to me and I'll junk it for you.
What's all this got to do with rolling on paint? I got lost a few hundred posts back.:confused:

 

Door alignment tool. from previous page.

 

The building of tools while repurposing materials, often found or left over from other projects, sure is fun. It sometimes takes over from the original project - seems to be a problem I have from time to time. I see or need a tool, realize like you that with a bit of creativity it can be made for elcheap and off I go. Life is good when you can do that. Enjoying your thread. Now, I know somewhere in the back I've got a lawnmower that no longer needs a handle.................

 

I didn't do it, occifer!

Nice chrome work too.

 

Safari don't you have moles to tend too? Leave your doors alone.

Yes, Stormie Norman I know what that lawn mower door thingie is for. Now put a door on it and roll some paint.

You guys spend more time makin stuff to fix stuff than you do fixin the stuff.

 

Cat, I'm good with the roller, but not good enough to roll between raindrops.

That tool would've cost me a couple c-notes from Eastwood, and 2 weeks delay. After tomorrow I've got 4 days without rain.

Think I figured a way to swing mine over enough to pitch that portable shed. This rain will thaw out the ground enough to get the augers down and hold it in place, after Tuesday. We get lots of wind and the neighbours'' trees are shedding their bud coverings. Gonna be tight, but I think it'll work.

 

Cat's gonna nail me, but maybe not, after he sees this ...

My wagon was built in Mexico. We bought it there in 1997, but didn't move to Canada's road-salted roads until 1999. So my aluminum bumpers' anodized aluminum is in good shape, even though the front bumper got whacked on the driver's side:

The last time I tried to 'fix' the finish, when I did the first resto, I didn't clean them properly, and the paint started to flake off.




The mounting holes for the rubber bumperettes are Ok, on the front bumper.




Continued below (5 picture limit demands...)

 

So, I was searching on all kinds of sites to do with Anodized Aluminum bumpers. Seems a lot of big car corps used them, as did Ford.

I don't recall which site, but I think it was a BMW or Mercedes forum, where I found a link to a YouTube video, about welding Aluminum with a regular propane torch. That led me to the manufacturer's site:

http://muggyweld.com/

And their YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8M4XJkNO0BPVn_g1dR-EkQ

The Zephyr bumpers DID take the roadsalt corrosion, right behind the bumperettes on the front, and the center nose got dented:



and right through on the rear one:


Once you sand anodized bumpers, your paint will flake off, and even if you don't, the paint chalks up. So... I went to my local Canadian Tire store, and got 3 cans (two for the car, one for the bumpers) of a paintable beige Rock Guard spray, which will almost match the sand colour that will replace the woodgrain sides.

This flick is the one I first saw:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqkceLrH9Ao

EDIT:

This is the kit I'm going to use:
http://muggyweld.com/super-alloy-5

So besides tucking the bumpers in, I'll coat them with the Rock Guard on the outside, and Truck bedding on the inside.

If you want to see their short videos:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Aluminum+Welding+at+600+Degrees

Their site has downloadable instructions for the full range of specialty metals repair, even potmetal and stainless.

Used bumpers for these cars run from $75 to $195 each, plus freight, plus US exchange.

Their welding kit (Alloy 5 Starter Kit 3/32" rod) is only $59.

I'll make up a fixture using the Zephyr for length, then mark and cut the centre section on mine, including the bumperette holes, and weld them up, sand and tweak the joints, and spray them with the Rock Guard.

According to this metallurgy forum, it doesn't even need primer, but I do have some self-etching primer for the weld joints.:

http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/paint-adhesion-anodized-aluminum-157007/

And painted bumpers didn't hurt the look of the Bimmer at the bottom of this page.
http://forums.bimmerforums.com/foru...13-Time-for-Paint-but-what-to-do-with-bumpers

 

Gotta strip the donor doors, fenders and hood. The paint is scaley. Something weird in the repainted mixture.









This guy does a good job of detailing what's involved, using Aircraft Paint Stripper:
http://www.mig-welding.co.uk/paint-stripping.htm

If I can't get the one I want locally - TOP brand:


I'll get this one, sold through Sherwin-Williams:
http://www.greensolv.ca/produits_detail/eng/products/paintstripper.html

I figure I'll need a gallon to do them all.