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bbrock
The hinge post patch clamped in place and ready to weld.

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Welded in and ground off. With just a touch of filler, you will be hard pressed to notice it was patched even with the door off.

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Patching the skin was just like the other side, so I won't bore by repeating those details. Next time I take the doors off, I'll tune the flanges on both sides a little and finish off the inner crimp flanges. Just a spot of filler and that patch will completely disappear.

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TravisNeff
Nice work, that looks to be pretty tricky to fabricate and not much room to weld.
dr.tim
Keep going!
cary
Nice work ...........
I hope to get back to welding next month.
Dion
Nice one Brent.
bbrock
Just a quick one

I had to leave this gap in the lower apron early in the project when I patched the tail section. At the time, even a simple patch like this was intimidating so thought it best to get some more welding and fabbing practice before coming back to it.

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Filled the hole.

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aggiezig
Your car and your fabrication skills have come such a long way. Looking great, Brent!
bbrock
Bumper Bracket from Hell (Part 1)

I've spent the last week tackling that nasty tinworm nest I found back in May under the headlight bucket and behind the right bumper bracket. It sure looks innocent from this side but I was NOT looking forward to this job.

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I got a salvaged bumper bracket from Garold and Plan A was to just cut wide around the replacement bracket and butt weld the whole patch in as a unit. Unfortunately, the replacement is from the other side of the car so that won't work.

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Plan B is to liberate the bracket from the salvage part, then cut a patch from the inner fender wall that can be flipped over to fit the right side. The salvage patch includes a long indent that would be tough to fabricate and I'd never get it to match as perfectly. I went too deep cutting those spot welds so will have to do some repair on that patch. Cutting this piece apart is about as fun as cutting out the rear suspension console and engine mount.

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Now I had to cut the bumper bracket out of my car, but first, I had to rig an alternative support since the thing I was going to remove was holding up one quarter of the chassis on the rottiserie. The fog light uses an surprisingly large M10 bolt and looked like a good candidate. So I bent a piece of bar stock to bolt in that location, and welded the other end to the rotisserie bar.

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Removing the bracket takes several hours of grinding and a copious application of F-bombs working in cramped quarters. The nice thing about working in this area is about every 10 minutes, you ram your back into the sharp corner of the rocker cover flange in the wheel well behind you. Lot's of breaks were required but I finally ground the entire bracket into fine shavings to reveal what all the fuss is about.

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Then the long process of trimming the patch piece and cutting an opening to plug it into. This took a lot of switching back and forth between tools and getting creative with attachments. In the middle of this, my trustly $14 HF mini angle grinder took a dump so I had to make an unplanned run into town. Knowing that the HF quality control isn't great and not wanting to risk getting home to discover my replacement grinder was a dud like the first one I bought, I picked up a Husky brand at the Home Despot. Online reviews looked good and I will say it is a nice step up from the HF unit, and quality is much nicer than the POS Kobalt die grinder I bought at Lowes. Anyway, eventually I had a hole worthy of a patch.

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And a patch to plug the hole.

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There is still a lot of work to do but this gives a pretty good idea of where things are heading. Stay tuned...
defianty
Keep it up Brent, you're doing a sterling job there!
flyer86d
I have been doing rust repairs on my cars since the mid 1970s. I have to admit that it is a learning process. Some of my first attempts were amateurish at best when I replaced the first set of jack points on our 71. I’ve done rockers, suspension pickups, and hell holes since. Also rear subrails and torque boxes on early Mustangs and floorpan repairs. I rebuilt the 1929 Ford Roadster body that became my period Rod. I picked up pointers and techniques along the way but seeing your work, as well as Kent’s and Jeff Hail’s has really taught me a lot. The patient fabrication and weld finishing really cuts down on the finish bodywork and filling. Great work and I thank you all.

Charlie
bbrock
QUOTE(flyer86d @ Jul 3 2018, 05:25 AM) *

I have been doing rust repairs on my cars since the mid 1970s. I have to admit that it is a learning process. Some of my first attempts were amateurish at best when I replaced the first set of jack points on our 71. I’ve done rockers, suspension pickups, and hell holes since. Also rear subrails and torque boxes on early Mustangs and floorpan repairs. I rebuilt the 1929 Ford Roadster body that became my period Rod. I picked up pointers and techniques along the way but seeing your work, as well as Kent’s and Jeff Hail’s has really taught me a lot. The patient fabrication and weld finishing really cuts down on the finish bodywork and filling. Great work and I thank you all.

Charlie


Charlie, thanks for your compliments. I'm not close to the same league as Jeff and Kent, and to be mentioned with them is truly humbling. The first rocker repair on a 914 I did was in the 80s and resulted in a door that had to be slammed a little thanks to me not understanding how heat shrinks metal. Even on this project, when I go back to the repairs I made in the beginning, they make me cringe a little because they are going to require a lot more cleanup than they would if I knew what I was doing, but I am determined to get them in shape before paint goes on.

Now the guy I "complain" about the most - which means I take inspiration from is Stephen (defianty). If you believe his story (and I still suspect he may be a ringer), he's just a guy like us figuring out this stuff as we go. Yet, the quality he produces is up there with the seasoned pros. Kind of annoying. laugh.gif
bbrock
Bumper Bracket from Hell (Part 2)

Well Happy 4th everyone. I spent the day back on task. Yesterday I prepped my patch by filling all the rings left by going to deep with the rotabroach. The piece is part of the crush zone behind the front bumper so I wanted to make sure it retained its original strength. Right or wrong, I filled the holes with Easy Grind wire because that stuff seems a little more ductile and seems to match the characteristics of the original metal a little better. I switched back to regular .023 wire for actually welding the patch in. Here it is welded in place. Not too bad considering what a PITA the access to that area is.

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And here it is after grinding. I didn't go too crazy since nearly the entire thing gets covered by the bracket.

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Next was the bracket itself. Take a look at the shit show left after welding! What a PITA that was! bootyshake.gif It is totally blind welding with little room to manipulate the nozzle. Just line the wire up with the center of a plug weld which completely blocks hour view, the pull the trigger and wiggle the nozzle around the best you can. Pull away and realign with the areas you missed, and go blindly at it again. Oh, and half the time you are welding with the nozzle twisted in weird positions. For several welds, I had to squeeze the trigger with the heel of my hand. Awkward. But the thing is stuck for sure and I pity the poor bastard who has to take it off again.

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Then after a lot of grinding, it isn't too bad. It was tempting to keep working on it to make it more presentable, but this bracket is going to be covered with bed liner and it just wasn't worth the cost of expensive grinding consumables to keep going.

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This is really the money shot anyway since it's the most visible part of the patch.

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And here's a shot under the headlight bucket where there used to be a nasty rust hole. I'll try to sneak in there and clean that up a bit later, but once the trunk reinforcement is back in, this area will be hidden in the nether regions.

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Wait a minute... blink.gif was that?... Why yes. Yes it was. That was the last major rust patch on this car! There are some small dinky things to do, but I just completed the last of the curse-worthy patches. I think this calls for a celebratory dance:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiAwpYIkRmU
Dion
beerchug.gif pray.gif top work Brent!
Always a pleasure seeing your progress.
I’ve been neglecting mine. Distracted by my sons 944.
Awesome work mate. Man you’ve accomplished a lot.
Looking forward to your next endeavor.
Cheers mate!
bbrock
QUOTE(Dion @ Jul 4 2018, 08:31 PM) *

beerchug.gif pray.gif top work Brent!
Always a pleasure seeing your progress.
I’ve been neglecting mine. Distracted by my sons 944.
Awesome work mate. Man you’ve accomplished a lot.
Looking forward to your next endeavor.
Cheers mate!


What is it with you guys getting hijacked by your son's 944s. Is there some special club I haven't heard about? poke.gif
Dion
QUOTE(bbrock @ Jul 4 2018, 07:37 PM) *

QUOTE(Dion @ Jul 4 2018, 08:31 PM) *

beerchug.gif pray.gif top work Brent!
Always a pleasure seeing your progress.
I’ve been neglecting mine. Distracted by my sons 944.
Awesome work mate. Man you’ve accomplished a lot.
Looking forward to your next endeavor.
Cheers mate!


What is it with you guys getting hijacked by your son's 944s. Is there some special club I haven't heard about? poke.gif

lol-2.gif In my defense it’s a case of having a driving.gif “running” sports-car to “test drive” it’s a moment of weakness. I’ll be on task soon.
Seriously though nice progress on yours. aktion035.gif

mb911
QUOTE(bbrock @ Jul 4 2018, 07:37 PM) *

QUOTE(Dion @ Jul 4 2018, 08:31 PM) *

beerchug.gif pray.gif top work Brent!
Always a pleasure seeing your progress.
I’ve been neglecting mine. Distracted by my sons 944.
Awesome work mate. Man you’ve accomplished a lot.
Looking forward to your next endeavor.
Cheers mate!


What is it with you guys getting hijacked by your son's 944s. Is there some special club I haven't heard about? poke.gif



Yup it's club you want to join? biggrin.gif looks great.. You have caught up to me . I have to make and upper cowl hood seal channel repair and plug the trunk push button hole for the GT look.. Then final body work..

Great work again.
bbrock
QUOTE(mb911 @ Jul 5 2018, 05:01 AM) *


Yup it's club you want to join? biggrin.gif looks great.. You have caught up to me . I have to make and upper cowl hood seal channel repair and plug the trunk push button hole for the GT look.. Then final body work..

Great work again.


We have no kids so can't qualify for the club, but I was tempted to make an offer on a 944 that sat in a field 3 miles down the road a number of years ago.

I left a lot of grinding and metal finishing to do as parts were going on, so you may still be a little ahead, but I'm closing the gap. Going into the tent for final complete media blasting today, then lots more grinding, fixing pinholes, and prepping for primer.

I think this project may send me to therapy. I had a dream last night where I looked at the car and had not noticed that the left front fender was practically falling off the car from rot. Luckily, I woke up from that nightmare. lol-2.gif
bbrock
Let's Get Naked!

Spent quite a bit of time reconfiguring to roll the chassis out into the tent so I could begin the long process of blasting the remaining paint and surface rust off. After a very cold and rainy spring (we actually had frost on our deck yesterday), as soon as I rolled the car into the tent, the sun popped out and started blazing down with a forecast for record breaking temps the next few weeks. Perfect timing for for working in an enclosed tent wearing a hood doing an already dirty and miserable job. mad.gif

I wound up with just enough time to blast the bottom of the frunk clean. Starting to get excited about the idea of having a fully stripped chassis.

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KELTY360
Nice solution on supporting that corner for the bracket and bucket repair. Bet you're glad that's in the rear view mirror. Are you concerned it's going to get a little boring without all the cutting, welding, shaping, pounding and pondering you've had to do to get to this point?

sawzall-smiley.gif smash.gif welder.gif idea.gif biggrin.gif

Congrats!
Cairo94507
Great work and blasting that chassis clean is the best way to find all of the damage and rust needing correcting. beer.gif
bbrock
QUOTE(Cairo94507 @ Jul 6 2018, 08:33 AM) *

Great work and blasting that chassis clean is the best way to find all of the damage and rust needing correcting. beer.gif


A prophetic statement! I sneaked out for a round of blasting this morning while the weather was cool. Found this nasty surprise on the front left fender.

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Similar to the right quarter, it looks like they did a good job of bringing the metal back to very close to straight, and then drilled and slathered on way more Bondo than necessary. Over 3/16" in this case. I was worried the fender would be trashed but the rust is confined around the drill holes and wart. The wart was going to disappear anyway so mostly this adds the job of welding those holes up and trying to straighten the panel properly.

Boring Marc? I don't think so. This car is still throwing enough curveballs to keep things interesting. And the closer I get to paint, the more terrified I get. yikes.gif

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone! beerchug.gif
KELTY360
QUOTE(bbrock @ Jul 6 2018, 09:38 AM) *

QUOTE(Cairo94507 @ Jul 6 2018, 08:33 AM) *

Great work and blasting that chassis clean is the best way to find all of the damage and rust needing correcting. beer.gif


A prophetic statement! I sneaked out for a round of blasting this morning while the weather was cool. Found this nasty surprise on the front left fender.

Click to view attachment Click to view attachment

Similar to the right quarter, it looks like they did a good job of bringing the metal back to very close to straight, and then drilled and slathered on way more Bondo than necessary. Over 3/16" in this case. I was worried the fender would be trashed but the rust is confined around the drill holes and wart. The wart was going to disappear anyway so mostly this adds the job of welding those holes up and trying to straighten the panel properly.

Boring Marc? I don't think so. This car is still throwing enough curveballs to keep things interesting. And the closer I get to paint, the more terrified I get. yikes.gif

Thanks for all the encouragement everyone! beerchug.gif


Too bad you didn't take that left ft corner I have when you had the chance. slap.gif bye1.gif
bbrock
QUOTE(KELTY360 @ Jul 6 2018, 01:30 PM) *

Too bad you didn't take that left ft corner I have when you had the chance. slap.gif bye1.gif


lol-2.gif That was the very first thing that popped in my mind as soon as I discovered it. wacko.gif But after removing enough filler to get the whole picture, I'd still rather patch the holes on this fender than cut the corner out and have to contend with another long butt weld.
bbrock
Not much happening with the car lately. Family visited over the weekend, going on a short trip this weekend, and friends in the area next week. But the UPS folks dropped off a package from Dave Bonbright at Engine Masters today. New guides, springs, valves, and studs. I forgot to ask if he had to replace seats but his reputation is such that I trust his judgement. The work looks spectacular. I'll try not to get diverted from the chassis work too much. smile.gif

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Dion
Ooooh, fresh heads wub.gif This car deserves them. thumb3d.gif
bbrock
Not the Blast You Might Think
I've had a lot of distractions keeping me from working on the car, but I've also been spending a lot of time media blasting. The subject of DIY chassis blasting pops up now and again, so I thought it might be worth sharing my experience so far.

First, let's be honest. You have to be a masochist to take this task on unless you have access to some premo equipment. If there is one part of this project that I would have liked to farm out, this is it. But I'm a pathologically CSOB trying to do this on a budget without putting more actual cash into the project than the car will be worth coming out.

Second, the best time to blast a chassis is at the beginning of the project, not 1/3 to 1/2 of the way through like I'm doing. Having the car stripped to bare metal from the start would just make the rust repair more pleasant, and save time stripping areas piecemeal to find the sound metal. I didn't take my own advice simply because I had serious doubts about prospects for success going into the project. DIY media blasting is a huge investment in time, and not a small investment in $$. I wanted to make sure I could actually make this car straight and sound before making that investment. Also, with all the sheet metal that was replaced, there is a lot less left to blast now than in the beginning. Enough of coulda shoulda, here's what I'm doing.

I'm using the el cheap HF 40 lb. media blaster
IPB Image

I've never used a blaster before so don't have a comparison, but it seems to work okay. I'm running it with about 50 psi pressure which is about 40 psi delivered when in operation. The unit has 4 ball valves to control air to the tank, air to the nozzle, media to the nozzle, and a shutoff at the nozzle. Every review says the valve at the nozzle will wear out within a few minutes of use. Mine lasted a surprisingly long time, but it has gone now. I believe Cary recommended buying the optional deadman valve which I think I will do next time I'm in town.

The thing is a bit fiddly to dial in, but once you do, it operates pretty well. The ceramic nozzles are a little prone to clogging when new because they start with a small opening which widens with use until it has to be discarded. I've read complaints that the nozzles wear out fast, but I blasted at least 50 pots of media before my first one wore out. The area that can be blasted is small - only about a square inch with a new nozzle, a little wider as the nozzle wears, but once you have grit flowing, I build a steady rhythm and can strip about 2 sq. ft. before my 60 gal. compressor cycles on. By that time, the hood is starting to fog so it's a good time for a short break.

The biggest frustration is the hood. The blaster comes with a worthless POS so I bought HF's "upgrade" hood. Also a POS that flops around on your head and fogs up as soon as you put it on. I wound up getting this hood:

IPB Image
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00442XOK...=UTF8&psc=1

I'll describe this one as adequate, but barely. It has better ventilation so doesn't fog too bad as long as the temperature is not too hot or too cold and the humidity is not too high. Because of this, I'm limited to blasting in the mornings and evenings. The hood also has a piece of aluminum window screen in front of the plexiglass window which reduces the amount of peppering and etching the plexi gets. I'm still on the original piece but frequently remove it for cleaning and polishing. I think I'm going to try a glass window to see if it lasts longer (with safety glasses worn under the hood of course). Had I seen this hood when I started, I probably would have given it a try: https://www.fullsource.com/north-safety-pa1...ASABEgLRsvD_BwE What I have is working and an hour or two in the morning and the same in the evening is really about as much blasting fun as one needs.

For media, I'm mostly using medium crushed glass at $21/bag at my local lumber yard. The last time I passed through Billings, I picked up several bags of Black Diamond Medium Blasting Abrasives at $8/bag. It works almost as well as the crushed glass but seems to wear out faster. Unfortunately, it is a 300+ mile round trip to get it which eats up the savings. I have my tent set up with a tarp on the ground to catch spent media. I vacuum up the used media with the shop vac and pour it through a window screen into a bucket for reuse. The cheap media seems to be good for 2-3 trips through the blaster before it become too dusty to use (oh yeah, I wear a P95 dust mask while blasting). The crushed glass is good for at least 3 and maybe 4 cycles through the blaster. It's a pain in the ass, but saves money.

So far I've spent probably 12 hours actually blasting and another 4 or so vacuuming and sieving media. I've almost completed blasting the front clip of the car which I think will be the most difficult. That does not count the outer body skins which are being stripped with a stripping wheel but I may switch to chemical stripping. My guess is that the front clip is about 1/3 to 1/2 of the total job. So making progress slowly. Like I said, you have to be a masochist.

Now for a few pics:
[Warning: these pictures contain nudity. Parental discretion is advised.]

Sorry for the wonky colors. The tent throws an odd light that doesn't always adjust out.

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mepstein
We take ours to a local (1.5 hours away) commercial blaster. They mostly use plastic media but supplement with more aggressive media on rusty areas. Drop off, pick up a couple weeks later and pay around $12-1500 unless we want epoxy primer, add $300. Plastic media is nice because it doesn’t hold water unlike sand or glass. It also doesn’t seem to get trapped in the seams as much. We’ve looked into diy since we send a chassis over every couple months but after buying the equipment and material and paying labor, it barely pencils out.
dr.tim
I delivered (and picked up) a BMW 2002 to these guys:

http://blastingtechnologies.com


I want to say the job was on the order of $800 with a turn around under a week.

bbrock
QUOTE(dr.tim @ Jul 23 2018, 09:42 PM) *

I delivered (and picked up) a BMW 2002 to these guys:

http://blastingtechnologies.com


I want to say the job was on the order of $800 with a turn around under a week.


That's the only shop I found that I considered - and I did think hard about it. Everyone else around here seems to be focused on blasting brick and stuff so wouldn't trust them with a car. Doing it myself isn't fun, but it mostly just costs time and is saving me coin so I will soldier on. Actually, I don't mind doing it. There is a certain satisfaction in watching the paint and rust strip off to reveal clean metal. It's just slow and messy. My post probably comes off whinier than intended. I just want people to know blasting a full chassis DIY with cheap equipment is possible, but serious work. beer3.gif
bbrock
Lucky 13

Is this too much? My goal for this resto is to enjoy the experience of owning this car when it was new. Part of that experience would have been that when the driver's headlight was changed or serviced, you'd see the number "13" hand written in marker in the bucket.

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So a quick trace was made to help me put it back after paint.

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And some more nudie pics

Making progress ...

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aggiezig
Great progress, keep on keepin' on with the blasting. I've been there too with the HF blaster pot and I can vouch for how little fun it is.

Some things I learned in the process...
  • Coal slag does blast quicker than crushed glass, but leaves a more abrasive finish afterwords that is harder to prep for paint.
  • Try running as much PSI through that sucker as you can. Also, the more CFM the better. We ran my pot at 120 PSI and our 60 gal compressor has about 12-14 CFM.
  • I rented one of those trailer diesel compressors once because I got sick of waiting on the air compressor to catch up with me. It worked really well but is an added cost and hassel.
  • I ditched the blasting hoods all together and use a good pair of googles that seal to my face and then another face shield over that. Not perfect, but at least I can see what I'm doing.
  • Definitely switch to another valve with a bigger orifice when you get the chance. Eastwood sells a kit.
  • Also, you will probably find that the media will tear a hole through your rubber hose at some point. I ended up replacing my hose with a Goodyear one and rebuilt all of my valves at the same time with new hardware. Made a big difference.
  • Make sure you have the driest air possible. A trick I used was to coil up 50' of air hose in a cooler filled with ice and then use a moisture trap afterwords. The hope is to condense and catch anything before it wets your media.
  • Don't underestimate the value of a handheld speed blaster for quick jobs that don't require the pressure pot. These can be had for $30-40

Lastly, Godspeed. This job sucks but it looks like you are making great time.
bbrock
QUOTE(aggiezig @ Aug 1 2018, 07:46 AM) *

Great progress, keep on keepin' on with the blasting. I've been there too with the HF blaster pot and I can vouch for how little fun it is.

Some things I learned in the process...
  • Coal slag does blast quicker than crushed glass, but leaves a more abrasive finish afterwords that is harder to prep for paint.
  • Try running as much PSI through that sucker as you can. Also, the more CFM the better. We ran my pot at 120 PSI and our 60 gal compressor has about 12-14 CFM.
  • I rented one of those trailer diesel compressors once because I got sick of waiting on the air compressor to catch up with me. It worked really well but is an added cost and hassel.
  • I ditched the blasting hoods all together and use a good pair of googles that seal to my face and then another face shield over that. Not perfect, but at least I can see what I'm doing.
  • Definitely switch to another valve with a bigger orifice when you get the chance. Eastwood sells a kit.
  • Also, you will probably find that the media will tear a hole through your rubber hose at some point. I ended up replacing my hose with a Goodyear one and rebuilt all of my valves at the same time with new hardware. Made a big difference.
  • Make sure you have the driest air possible. A trick I used was to coil up 50' of air hose in a cooler filled with ice and then use a moisture trap afterwords. The hope is to condense and catch anything before it wets your media.
  • Don't underestimate the value of a handheld speed blaster for quick jobs that don't require the pressure pot. These can be had for $30-40
Lastly, Godspeed. This job sucks but it looks like you are making great time.


Great tips, thanks! I'm down to just the rear wheel wells and cockpit left to go. Paint is thin in the cockpit so should go quickly.

A few responses:

- Coal slag - I saw youtube videos where people said the slag left a rougher texture. I tested mine on undercarriage areas that will get Raptor and couldn't tell any difference from the glass. Maybe because I was running at a low (40 psi) pressure? confused24.gif Anyway, the slag got used up mostly on areas where Raptor will go.

- Pressure - I'll try bumping mine up a bit. With the small nozzles that came with the blaster I found that about 40-60 psi at the pot worked best. But I've switched to larger nozzles so I'll bet more pressure could speed things up.

- Nozzle - I picked up an HF deadman over the weekend. It has a larger nozzle which I like. The trigger spring is pretty stiff so tires the hand but not too bad. It doesn't shut the air flow off completely so you still need to shut off the media valve if you are going to stop for more than 15 seconds or so, but still, a big improvement over what can with the blaster.

- Rubber hose - Yep, mine blew and scared the shit out of me when it popped. Luckily it had eroded where the tube bends coming out of the pot so I was able to just cut 8" off the end and reattach. Expect it to blow again but hoping I can get through the last of the job first.

- Air - I am lucky and live in a dry climate. People complain about it getting "muggy" when relative humidity reaches 40%. I grew up in the humid Midwest so know how funny that is. So what I have is the longest line loop and drop I could fit in the compressor shed between the compressor and wall regulator. The wall regulator is a Sharpe drier which does a good job. I get about a teaspoon of water out after a day of spraying (more from the tank which is on an automatic purge). The only time I saw moisture in the little drier on the blaster was after forgetting to purge the Sharpe after several days of compressor use, and then only a few drops. I've had no problems with the blaster clogging except after recycling media with a fresh small nozzle. Window screen allows a few chunks too large to get through those tiny nozzles. Not a problem with the new nozzles I'm using. Before I paint, I'm thinking of replacing the copper line drop from the compressor with a length of coiled copper tubing to increase the drying capacity just for extra measure.

- Hand held speed blaster - Great tip! I'll look into getting one because I'll have a lot of little spots to touch up after the main blasting is finished. Sounds a lot more convenient than the pot.

Thanks again and enjoy your pretty blue car! Onward ho!
76-914
Brent, I went thru 2 Horror Freight POS units before I found this place. I'm usually OK and settle with their "Not Quite as Good" products but I was so tired of clogged pick up tubes I thought I'd try them. I gutted my blast cabinet and used this kit they offer. OMG, what a HUGE difference. They have a sale 2-3 times a year and you can get 10%-20% discount. beerchug.gif

http://www.tptools.com/USA-Cabinet-Gun-and...0.html?b=d*8026
aggiezig
QUOTE(76-914 @ Aug 1 2018, 03:40 PM) *

Brent, I went thru 2 Horror Freight POS units before I found this place. I'm usually OK and settle with their "Not Quite as Good" products but I was so tired of clogged pick up tubes I thought I'd try them. I gutted my blast cabinet and used this kit they offer. OMG, what a HUGE difference. They have a sale 2-3 times a year and you can get 10%-20% discount. beerchug.gif

http://www.tptools.com/USA-Cabinet-Gun-and...0.html?b=d*8026


TP makes great blasting equipment. I use their gun in my HF blasting cabinet. Miles better
bbrock
+1 on the TP gun. I thought I had posted about my CSOB mod but can't find it. My blasting cabinet is actually my neighbor's who loaned it to me as long as the project lasts. Not HF but the pickup tube sucked (well, actually DIDN'T suck... which sucked) although the gun and hose are pretty much the same as the TP design (maybe the same gun). So I modded the pickup by drilling and welding on a piece of tube I had laying around to replicate the TP design. Made a HUGE difference.

My blasting equipment:

IPB Image

Can't find a pic of my modded pickup, but it looks pretty much like this:

IPB Image

Before I get back to blasting parts in the cabinet, I'm going to install two under counter LED strip lights I picked up on clearance and enlarge the window. My neighbor will get back a much better cabinet than she lent me. beerchug.gif
bbrock
I'm a little overdue on an update. I've been working my butt off on the car with little interesting to report so lack of motivation. The last couple weeks can be summed up with blasting, blasting and more blasting, and wiring, wiring, and more wiring. A few snags ordering the wrong parts to finish up harnesses, so that will be revealed in a later post. On Sunday, I finished my first round with the media blaster so the car is nearly naked. I need to do a bit more work on the roll bar and tail which I should finish this week, and strip portions of the right fenders with an abrasive wheel. I'm quite happy with the result.

Total bill for tools and consumables on the blasting was $380. That's a pretty good savings over having the car done elsewhere but you pay in other ways.

Space was tight and lighting bad but here are some shots. Next task will be stripping out the remaining seam sealer and adhesive and blasting those areas. mad.gif

Before blasting the dash, I made a quick trace of the pattern for blackout spray around the vents. Why? I don't know. The factory did it so the car probably won't run right if I don't do it the same way. screwy.gif

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Nothing like a clean cabin.

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Fenders stripped.

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And a peak under her skirt. This area is a bitch to blast. I didn't go for total anhiliation of the rust, just made sure the paint and poly were gone and flaky rust removed down to solid metal that rust converter can handle. Not looking forward to stripping out that sealer. I hate that crap.

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bbrock
So what surprises popped up with the blasting? Not much really. Biggest surprise was the Swiss cheese and bondo on the front fender already posted.

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Moisture under the bondo attacked the side marker opening. No biggie since they are getting deleted, I'll just do a wide excision operation here.

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There's an annoying bit of rot near the left headlight opening that will need a patch.

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And this little dick on the rear right wheel arch.

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Other than that, a half dozen or so pinholes under the trunk, and a stromberg.gif load of pinholes and boogers to fix from my welding.
tygaboy
Brett - Looking really nice, all that bare metal... drooley.gif
You've got to be happy to have the blasting work behind you.
Dion
Nice progress bro. I still have sand coming out crevices from last summer! What a job.
Looking great. beerchug.gif
bbrock
Mailman brought a few last electrical doodads today so I can button up my harnesses. Getting close. Since I was ordering stuff anyway, it added just a few more dollars to get materials to make one of these. Not sure I got the lengths right but it looks neat. Should be a nice upgrade.

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raynekat
Looking great there man....

You definitely saved some pesos by doing the blasting yourself.
Well done.
doug_b_928
Brent, what is that sub-harness for?
bbrock
QUOTE(raynekat @ Aug 17 2018, 12:03 AM) *

Looking great there man....

You definitely saved some pesos by doing the blasting yourself.
Well done.


Thanks. There were times I wondered if it would save money at all. The really nice thing with investing this kind of sweat equity is that you wind up with the tools to do it again, or tackle other projects.

QUOTE(doug_b_928 @ Aug 17 2018, 08:09 AM) *

Brent, what is that sub-harness for?


Here I was starting to think nobody would ever ask. biggrin.gif It's an intermittent wiper relay harness. Just need the relay now.
KELTY360
[/quote]

Here I was starting to think nobody would ever ask. biggrin.gif It's an intermittent wiper relay harness. Just need the relay now.
[/quote]

If it was a British car it would just be called a wiper switch. shades.gif
bbrock
QUOTE(KELTY360 @ Aug 17 2018, 06:45 PM) *

QUOTE


Here I was starting to think nobody would ever ask. biggrin.gif It's an intermittent wiper relay harness. Just need the relay now.


If it was a British car it would just be called a wiper switch. shades.gif


Probably why they won the war. Better rain gear.
bbrock
Finished up some loose ends on harnesses today. UPS delivered some new crimpers for heavier gauge wires. My old alternator harness was beyond shot so I decided to make a new one from scratch. Everything is brand new. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I had to buy more wire than I needed so I figure I'll make a couple extra and sell them cheap to recoup some of the material costs. I'm just waiting on a slow boat from China to bring me some more gray heat shrink tubing.

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bbrock
I also finally finished the main harness. Wires cleaned. All the rat's nests spliced and repaired. Sleeving cleaned or replaced. Every terminal cleaned and treated with dielectric grease. All missing terminals replaced. I also ran new 12 gauge wire to relocate the fuel pump to the late location under the fuel tank and integrated the rear window defrost cable I picked up from Mr. Baker into the main harness. Maybe some day he'll ship he window and I'll pay him poke.gif Hopefully all this work will eliminate electrical gremlins when the car is back on the road.

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My counterfeit OEM snorkel. I noticed that OEM snorkels have a band of green tape wrapped around them so when a bundle of wire arrived bound with green tape I figured, what the hell. This is actually a 914rubber snorkel which is a little too long because its made for a six. I put what I'm calling the "reverse foreskin fold" in it to shorten it in a tidy manner.

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I crimped on new positive and ground terminals today and attached the positives to the 914rubber battery terminal block.

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I ran an appropriately color coded blk/rd 12 gauge wire from the relay terminal to the fuel compartment area for the fuel pump relocation. I'll have to wait to see what length to cut the wires before I terminate the ends.

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I routed the ground wire from the new pump location to the left headlight ground lug location. I was a little bummed that the brown wire I got was much darker than OEM, but at least it still matches the schematic.

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I just have one more simple harness to build and I will be done with all the harnesses on the car. Waiting for some more heat shrink to arrive for that.
76-914
Looks good Brett. Have you thought about adding a little solder to those terminals? idea.gif @McMark got me hooked on soldering crimp fittings. beerchug.gif
bbrock
QUOTE(76-914 @ Aug 24 2018, 08:41 AM) *

Looks good Brett. Have you thought about adding a little solder to those terminals? idea.gif @McMark got me hooked on soldering crimp fittings. beerchug.gif


Jeff Bowlsby said (and I've read it other places) that soldering crimp connections is frowned upon and not allowed in aviation standards. The rationale is that terminal connections are subject to vibration flex and a rigid solder connection can fatigue and fail. I don't know how important that is in the real world of a 914 and suspect it isn't an issue, but that's why I spared the solder. That said, I did solder a few flag connections because I couldn't justify $40 for a special crimper just to do a couple connections. So I massaged the best crimp I could with the tools I have and then added a little solder for good measure. I'd be interested about other people's thoughts and opinions on this.
aggiezig
Great work as usual. There's a lot more time invested in cleaning up that harness than the pics show.
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