Tailgate repair

[DanielC]

All this talk of tailgates, removing letters, and pins has prompted me to start working on one of my tailgates for a Datsun 521 truck.

The tailgate at one time looked good, it had a white stripe, and the letters highlighted white, a while ago. Not now.

Some of the paint was sanded off, there are some dents in it, a few cracks welded previously.

Sorry, no pictures of when I started to work on it, but I did take a few pictures today.

 

I put the left end of the tail gate into electrolysis, to help remove the rust yesterday, and took it out this afternoon. I then hosed it off, and lightly wire brushed the end that was in electrolysis.

 

This is what the whole tailgate looked like before I started.

 

And here is a closer picture of the side that was in electrolysis.

 

I also did some sanding on the tailgate, and put the rusty end back into electrolysis.

 

Here is my "how to" electrolysis thread.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/3012-electrolytic-rust-removal/page__p__40613__hl__electrolysis__fromsearch__1#entry40613

[Wide14u]

it's coming out nice

[DanielC]

The plans are to get the rust, and paint off it, straighten it, reform the letters, and paint it.

The last time it was painted, I used a lacquer primer on it. Years ago. My current plans are to prime it with PPG DPLF, an epoxy primer, and then top coat it, and redo the letters, and stripe.

[DanielC]

I had the other end of the tailgate in electrolysis. I had to do one end at a time, the whole tailgate will not fit into the plastic tub I am using.

I pulled the tailgate out of electrolysis today, and hosed off the other end.

 

I then wirebrushed it.

 

And then I spent a little time sanding it. It now looks like this.

[skyblue]

hey daniel. just curious if you have any updates on this?

[DanielC]

I have worked on it a little, here and there, but not a lot. This tailgate has some pretty bad stretching of the metal, it had been repaired more than once.

The tailgate is really low priority. I have had to deal with my daily driver, a Ford Aerostar. My backup vehicle is a 1974 Ford F-250, and I am driving it now, since my Aerostar is getting some front end work done on it now.

I am also doing some work on Ratsun. Most recently, I had to find out why the timing chain rattled on it. The slack side chain guide was worn, and adjusted away from the timing chain. By replacing the guide with a "gently used" one, and adjusting it closer to the chain, I got the chain tensioner to retract somewhere between a 1/4 and 3/8 of an inch.

When I removed the front cover off the engine, I decided to remove the oil pan and clean it. After cleaning the oil pan, I found a lot of rust on the inside and outside surfaces of the oil pan. I attempted to weld the holes up, but the pan still has some porosity. and then I tried to braze the inside of the pan. That helped a lot, but I still see some small leaks when I put some paint thinner in the pan, and let it sit. It may also be the drain plug leaking. I got another oil pan off another engine I have.

I got the engine in Ratsun put back together yesterday, and ran it a little. I found an electrical issue, it blew the fuse that supplied power to the combo meter. Because the truck has been set up with a IR alternator, this fuse supplies power through the combo meter to the alternator, that makes the alternator start to charge.

OH, yea, you asked about a tailgate. This project is currently on hold.

[skyblue]

no worries. i hear ya. It never ends with these cars. Even when i had a civic that thing gave me quite a fuss sometimes, Sucks about the oil pan hope you plug it up. Bu it sounds like your making some good progress on ratsun so thats good. I hate electrical problems. that's the one area i lack skills in.

 

well cool dude, get that dd going so you can ratsun on the road. :thumbup:

[mrbigtanker]

All this talk of tailgates, removing letters, and pins has prompted me to start working on one of my tailgates for a Datsun 521 truck.

The tailgate at one time looked good, it had a white stripe, and the letters highlighted white, a while ago. Not now.

Some of the paint was sanded off, there are some dents in it, a few cracks welded previously.

Sorry, no pictures of when I started to work on it, but I did take a few pictures today.

 

I put the left end of the tail gate into electrolysis, to help remove the rust yesterday, and took it out this afternoon. I then hosed it off, and lightly wire brushed the end that was in electrolysis.

 

This is what the whole tailgate looked like before I started.

 

And here is a closer picture of the side that was in electrolysis.

 

I also did some sanding on the tailgate, and put the rusty end back into electrolysis.

 

Here is my "how to" electrolysis thread.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/3012-electrolytic-rust-removal/page__p__40613__hl__electrolysis__fromsearch__1#entry40613

not bad i seen worse.keep up the good work.

[uberkevin]

What ever happened to this? I would like to see the finshed tailgate lol

[DanielC]

It is on hold for now.  Besides, it is only about 11 months since I posted last on this thread.

 

I ran into some issues with he metal being very thin, due to rusting from the inside out.  Some places I could weld, other places, just touching the metal with the mig would blow about a 3/8 hole in the metal. 

In the Spring, Summer and and well into fall, I spend a lot of time waterskiing.  This fall, I have been working on Ratsun a lot, I hope to get it on the road soon.

See this thread.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/30606-my-ratsun-datsun-521/

 

For now, I have put another tailgate I had on the back of Dragon, this thread.

http://community.ratsun.net/topic/49698-my-dragon-datsun-521/

[Phixius]

Oh the fun of chacing welds...