396 replies to this topic

[Designer]

Looking good

 

Off topic but intrigued by the railway tracks.

[stuart bowes]

yeah that's just a little G-gauge LGB simple setup we put in to entertain the kids (my kids that is, not some weird 'come into my garden' thing lol)

 

electric not steam which is a shame really because steam does sound fun, also when the track gets ditry you have to spend hours cleaning it again which is actually something my dads been working on recently

 

it does puff smoke though if you put oil in the chimney stack and there's little pickups on the track to trigger the sound effects and so on

 

my dad loves a bit of model making so he's doing some really cool scale buildings for it as well

Edited by stuart bowes, 25 September 2023 - 08:14 AM.

[Designer]

Nice one

[stuart bowes]

Nothing over exciting but progress with the subframe paint

 

red oxide primer complete and spraying hammerite direct to metal black paint into all the crevices for any bare metal still showing, and to ensure coverage in some of the harder to reach areas

 

 

 

and then just standard black chassis paint with a brush, 3 coats constantly turning it round and round hunting for tell-tale red spots not covered 

 

long laborious process now about 90% complete 

 

 

[stuart bowes]

We've also started talking about colour schemes now because obviously some of it needs to be painted before the pipework / subframes / steering rack etc get fitted.  namely, the inside of the engine bay which is probably going to be in the 'contrast' colour (roof, wheels, interior, etc) and the underside of the floor which after my dad reading reviews and watching a bunch of real life youtube tests looks like it will good quality black truck-bed paint for good protection and easy hosing down.  with the sills and inside wheel arches masked off for now, later to be stone chipped and then body coloured later on when the 'proper' attention-to-detail type painting goes ahead 

Edited by stuart bowes, 02 October 2023 - 06:59 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Subframes finished and stored on some plastic sheeting to really harden off over a few days (will probably just stay there now while I add more refurbed and repainted bits to the pile)

 

 

next up the radius arms get a good clean and degrease before painting.  can't see in pics but I did carefully mask off the flats both sides where the handbrake quadrants go as well because I want the smooth bare metal just there only to make sure it turns freely

 

 

 

(weights just to hold in in the right position to stop the underside sticking to the sheeting)

 

gave the backplates a good wire-wheeling (front and back, before and after shots)

 

 

 

I did get into the ridges around the outside a little more than that after the picture but still not as much came off as I was hoping.. oh well

 

soaked overnight in double strength white vinegar

 

 

and then scrubbed down, dried off and kurusted all over, hang to dry

 

 

same for the little handbrake cable brackets, pictured after soaking in the vinegar, top straight from the tub, bottom after a quick easy brush off

 

 

and painted.  went with straight to metal hammerite spray paint rather than the chassis paint, I don't know what tolerances are like but it's only cosmetic anyway and I don't want thickness of paint to cause issues with the moving brake parts.  plus for the brackets it's just easier to hang them and spray quickly

 

after a couple of coats the signs of pitting in the metal started to smooth over

 

 

and finally the tub of small parts, bolts etc which were all left soaking as well

 

 

now in the process of rinsing, drying, and wire-wheeling those as well, coming up nice and clean, some sample parts already done (rest to finish tomorrow)

 

 

which has nothing to do with the bandsaw except I have tools all around the place and that was pretty much the only clean free space left to stack them up

Edited by stuart bowes, 08 October 2023 - 09:12 PM.

[stuart bowes]

all done down to the last nut and bolt all sparkly and new again (or close enough)

bagged up with some desiccant to keep them nice and dry until used



I did order one or two new bits like the smaller washers because who's got time for that, they're pennies.. and the nylock nuts obviously

sorted through all the bits I have so far, made notes and ordered various other bits including..

- new rear drums and mintex shoes
- braided brake lines all 4
- brake line, fittings and end flaring kit
- Camber/toe adjusting brackets for the rear
- the little rubber gaiters for the handbrake lever into the backplate
- cone knuckles x4
- new rear bearing grease caps, shiny
- subframe mount bushes (rear)
- 1 new subframe trunnion because I cut into one when cutting out the boot floor
- a pair of front shock brackets for £20 slightly used but very clean which is better than my grotty old ones
- rear cones because the donuts were glued on solid and someone was selling a pair on ebay rubber removed 15 quid, yes please all day long, old ones -> bin
(strangely the front donuts just fell straight off ?)

ebay to the rescue here for the last two items, cheap used but totally rescuable parts instead of buying new

Spent the last part of the afternoon stripping down and degreasing the front hubs ready to clean, paint, and add new balljoints (getting the old ones off was fun). I've left all 4 corner's bearings fitted for now because actually they feel really smooth, must have been fairly recently done I think. will give them a good squirt of grease during assembly and see how they go. just mask off during wire brushing and painting to prevent filling with crud

Edited by stuart bowes, 12 October 2023 - 08:48 AM.

[johnR]

I'd recommend getting those fixings zinc plated or they will rust very quickly once fitted - I found it's not expensive to have done and makes the parts look like new.

[stuart bowes]

Good idea cheers I was wondering what to do with them maybe getting an anodizing kit or something but that sounds ideal if it's reasonably priced, I'll have a shop around thanks

-- update, £30 for 'about 2/3 of a bucket' at a place 20mins drive away .. yes please

Edited by stuart bowes, 10 October 2023 - 10:43 AM.

[stuart bowes]

next (almost final) batch of cleaning and wirebrushing







all that lot's gone to the zinc platers today and will collect in a week or so

building up a nice little pile of refurbed parts now, with a few new bits added in.. a week well spent (annual leave)



one nice thing I found out as well, on cleaning up the hubs I left the bearings in and masked them off while painting, afterwards I gave the outer bearing faces a little wipe off to look at the markings and found the rears are SKF, and the fronts are Timken. so I'm leaving them in definitely, they feel smooth, they look reasonably new (although admitedly have spent their entire lives coated in grease) they all came off their respective spindles easily by hand, felt snug but slid off nicely. not really any other way I can test them at the moment but I'm willing to bet they're perfectly fine

also, the rack feels decently smooth and tight, no rattles or looseness, I can turn the input spindle with finger and thumb to full extremes with some minor effort, I took the inner tie rod ball joints off and nearly ditched them because they were very brown at the ends but realised they're perfectly fine, the shafts thread and nuts just needed the vinegar and wire brush treatment, bit of WD and the nuts spin all the way in and out easily. nice. sorted that out and refitted them (plus, it doesn't seem very easy to get hold of replacements? do people really just buy new racks every time..??) Wound the rack out to the drivers side and smeared a liberal amount of grease on the rack teeth, wound back in and out a few times, not sure it really made any difference but it can't hurt.. will have to get a new pair of bellows and track ends but nothing too hard there

de-greased, wire brushed, masked off and painted the body of that as well with the nice thick enamel chassis paint, looks good as new pretty much



rear cones received minus rubber, punched out knuckles (one needed a bit of blowtorching) and cleaned them up too. I think I'm gonna give them a go on the buffer and see what they come up like, failing that an etch prime and some nice light grey metallic paint maybe

also received new(ish) pair of front gas strut brackets which are literally lightly covered in some grime that will wipe off, otherwise could have been straight off the shelf. good old ebay

Edited by stuart bowes, 13 October 2023 - 12:10 PM.

[Retro_10s]

Great great progress, man! looking forward to seeing the bits & bobs returning from being zinc plated!

[stuart bowes]

me too, looking forward to that nice pile of shiny parts :)

 

I tried the buffer on the trumpets and it did add a bit of shine, but there was too much pitting for my liking, although they looked 'honest' it was still a bit nasty considering all the other nicely painted and cleaned bits 

 

so I etched primed them and found a tin of cold zinc which looks about right for my tastes

 

 

obviously I didnt paint the face where the rubber attaches, that is still 'old' looking and will be smeared with a bit of anti-seize to try and stop the new ones gluing themselves on this time

 

trial fitted the new knucles and after a little bit of light filing to clean out paint they slot in nice and snug, will probably add a smear of anti-seize there too

Edited by stuart bowes, 13 October 2023 - 07:02 PM.

[stuart bowes]

Next up one of the bits I was a bit worried about because I had no idea if they were all seized up or what state they were really in... 

 

first scrub down to remove 30 years of crud

 

 

 

then a strip down, actually everything came apart nice and easily

 

 

bores all look fine after a bit of cleaning up

 

 

ordered all new parts and while waiting for them to arrive decided to use up a bit of the gold caliper paint used on the Volvo a few years back

 

 

looks the tits though I say so myself 

Edited by stuart bowes, 14 October 2023 - 04:04 PM.

[colinf1]

+1 for the ZG-90 cold zinc spray, I've done a fair few parts with it, trumpets and also done the handbrake drum levers and quadrants, which were sandblasted back to bare steel and they're as good as the day I painted them.

Very nice job on the calipers! Take your time with the piston seals, very delicate and easy to twist when tapping them in.

[stuart bowes]

more shiny new bits / bump stops / some random nuts because why not 

 

 

some points to note which are slightly annoying or just seems a bit silly

 

when you buy new brake pads they don't come with the little spring piece and new split pins ? for such cheap items you'd think they'd throw them in

 

and when you buy a caliper rebuild kit from minimine (who are pretty good in fairness) they don't throw in the small ring seals that go between the two halves, or new nipples?  again such cheap bits, why not make it part of the kit.  as if I'm gonna put grotty old nipples on a totally refurbed new looking pair of calipers.. eugh.  not a major drama just remember to order seperately.  fortunately I'd watched a youtube video so I was already aware

 

anyway moan over

 

also dragged the old lower arms out of the bin (glad they haven't been take away yet!) to measure up and lock in 'standard' measurements as a starting point

 

 

at least I'll have half a chance of getting to the mot / tuning / alignment etc without smashing into a tree

 

thinking about it actually I might make a simple wooden jig that positions them for me and I'll use that just before fitting in case they get moved about and adjusted slightly in storage

Edited by stuart bowes, 17 October 2023 - 06:44 PM.