mklotz70 project MEND

[datrod]

Man if you Oregon folks didn't hate us cali guys so much, I would move my shop up there. Just so mike could come over and make handles and other shit I don't want to do. NICE WORK. If I only had one employee like that I could retire. :mad:

[mklotz70]

Mike - I wish I had your skills! & tools too :lol:

 

That is too cool!

 

Thanks. As for tools, I could have made the initial cuts with a hacksaw, after that, it was all belt sander and hand files. I'm sure you have the hand files...get busy :)

 

Datrod......we only hate the Cali's that don't bring their shop equipment with them!! :) I've heard housing in Sacramento is pretty reasonable right now....maybe we could meet halfway?!! :) Seriously.....move to Gresham....that would give me a reason(besides my kids) to stay here!! We could do so much more than dato parts!! :) There's some cheap CNC equipment on CL around here lately....might be cheaper than shipping yours up! :) When you come up for Canby.....check out some shop spaces. :D

[nukeday]

Amazing. I love how you can succeed with any bit you touch on these trucks. You are an inspiration, Mike.

[fisch]

Geeze Mike that is amazing!! you kill me!

[]2eDeYe]

mmmmm shiney...way better than powder coat :cool:

[mklotz70]

LOL I just don't show you guys the stuff I don't do well :)

 

If you think about it, they used chisels and files before they had mills.....so you can literally whittle metal just like you do wood....only it's a bit harder :)

[mklotz70]

At least was a good bit more necessary and a lot faster!!! And just to prove I don't always do it right.....I left the end on the video where it messed up. Once I trimmed it with the scissors, it worked just fine :)

 

..geez...been waiting for PB to upload the vid. It took me twice as long to pull the double sided tape off the vice as it did to mill the foam ....and now, twice as long to upload the vid as it did to do all of the foam work!!! :(

 

...so here's the pics....hopefully, I can add the vid later.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2009 by mklotz70

[mklotz70]

It never did come up as finished, but I pulled up another browser page and went into PB that way.....and it showed up there.......so here it is. I should have used a climb cut instead of conventional...meaning I should have gone the other way around and it would have pushed the foam out instead of pulling it in, but hey....that's why I'm not a pro :)

 

[Charlie69]

Hi Mike, I learn a lot from your posts. I glad to see you back on Mend. Mend is going to be a remarkable little truck.

 

So when you start selling those little heater knobs put me down for 2 of them. In almost 30 years of owning and working on Datsuns I have yet to see an original heater valve control knob complete and in one peice. Your aluminum knob will not get eaten up by the sun or the heat. Lifetime Knob! LOL

 

Keep up the great work Mike.

 

Oh by the way I just got off the phone with phatdave and he speaks mighty highly of you.

 

Thank you,

Charlie

[BEEBANI]

Looks good Mike, it's a coincedence that I'm rebuilding a spare heater assembly for my truck right now. That heater is so much different than the 620 heater, it's crazy. I've got a lot of foam to rebuild as well.

[mklotz70]

Thanks Charlie. I don't imagine I'll be making any more of those....feel free to copy it :) Part of why it was a complete waste of time is because I already had a perfectly good stock one. :) The shaft is 1/4". I suggested an old outdoor water facet handle to ADrummond and he put one on. It looked kinda cool and worked great. Not sure if he had to modify anything to make it work. Almost any control know off old electronics should have a set screw and a 1/4" hole. Find something cool :)

 

I thought they took Dave off the drugs?!! :)

 

Bee.....if you do the foam in the mill thing....I'd find something else to stick the tape to first......that was a royal pain getting that back off the vise!!!

[BEEBANI]

No worries Mike, the 620 heater core is just wrapped in 2" wide 1/8" thick self-stick foam. No machining for me!

[mklotz70]

Bee....you say that like not getting to machine something is a good thing! :( If I could get it to pick my nose, I'd be in the shop all the time!! :)

 

Anyway.....looky what came in the mail today.....finally!!

 

 

 

.....the hair color is recent too :)

[Skib]

Mend sent me a pic of that earlier :D sweetness!

 

im still trying to figure out what the Z's plate should be :(

[yellow wheels]

Just want you to know that Brian and I smile whenever we think about the fate of Amanda's Mend. We're totally awed by what you're doing.

 

BTW I think that plastic heater knob broke off about twenty years ago. We said at the time it should have been metal... a vise-grip lived on the stump for years. Nice to see it being done right. BEAUTIFUL!

[yellow wheels]

The plate pictures finally downloaded... 56K takes forever...

LOVE the hair!

[mklotz70]

Awesome! Everyone....I'd like to welcome Brian and Do(doe) to the forum. They are the wonderful couple that we acquired Mend from. I know they're pretty busy right now moving, but hopefully, they'll get a chance to share some of their stories about and history with, this particular 521. They're not what you would call "car people", but they sure loved this little rig. I'm really quite impressed with some of the ingenious ways they've come up with to keep this rig alive and running all these years.

 

56K? Ouch!! My threads are usually very picture heavy....sorry! :)

 

Amanda's hair has been home to many color changes. I think the pink and pink/blue have been my favorite. I think this is the 3rd time pink has taken up residence on her head :)

[mklotz70]

I've got a couple more things to get setup, but for the most part, I can start sandblasting parts again. I hate to do all the paint/rust removal with the glass beads, so I setup a really "ratsun" sandblasting booth.

 

I played with the heater cover first. Despite having a fairly agressive grit, you'll see that the glue and foam didn't come off. The "soft" stuff absorbs the impact of the abrasive. Once I scraped it off with a razor, it came right off with the glass beads.....got too dark to finish outside.

 

 

 

 

[mklotz70]

I used the portable blasting gun above because I didn't have time to pull out any of the 3 other blasters in the shed :) Had to fill it up 3x's to do the front and back of the cover.

 

So, here's the really "ratsun" blasting cabinet and booth. I wanted to be able to blast outside, semi protected from the rain. The 3 sided cabinet is so that I can blast without having to get all bundled up in a bunny suit first.

 

I hodge-podged the cabinet together with a patio furniture cart that has been rotting outside for the last 15+ years. The grate is from the blast cabinet inside....I've never used it in it. The cardboard is an old tv box. The glass is the back window from a wagon :) The rectangular area in the window is protected by a sheet of plastic that is for my other cabinet. The come with the doublesided tape already on them. When they fog up too much, you peal it off and put a new one on......as opposed to having to replace the window. The "hood" of cardboard is to knock the abrasive down so it doesn't come up and over the window. The arm holes were cut with a 4" hole saw from HF...the kit was like $5? I need to raise the whole thing up about 4-5"....it's too low even for me :(

 

 

 

 

The booth was made from left over parts of the collapsed canopies. Yep...that's duct tape holding the cross bar. I cut it down to about 6.5' square. That's about the height of the side uprights too. I had to add some grommets to the roof tarp, since it was a side piece. I left the opening on the white side so I can just walk in and out. The tan side has a screened window in it to help with air flow. I left the top open on the tan side for the same reason. The white side will get more rain, so I put the tarp to the top.

 

 

Edited February 13, 2009 by mklotz70

[mklotz70]

Here's one of the frame work. The landscaping boards add the weight to keep it on the ground. By lag bolting the uprights to it and using lag eyebolts to anchor the tiedowns.....it's really pretty dang rigid!! The only movement is across the booth, but the wind doesn't come from the sides :)

 

 

.....oh...I put the blue tarp down so that I can sweep up the abrasive......not to reuse it, but to keep the *&%*$%*&%$* cats from using it as a litter box!! Have I ever mentioned just how much I hate cats? :)

Edited February 13, 2009 by mklotz70

[]2eDeYe]

Nice booth Mike.

 

So cool the PO's are following the thread. They get to watch it become new again. :)

[mklotz70]

Few pics while I have a min.....

 

For a ton more pics on the rear view mirror...check the

 

http://forum.ratsun.net/showthread.php?p=133178&posted=1#post133178

 

These aren't in any real order and I may not give much narration on these right now. You'll get the idea of what's going on :)

 

.....yes....the grill in the background is the same one with paint stripper on it :)

 

 

Edited February 20, 2009 by mklotz70

[mklotz70]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mklotz70]

The black is mirror black powder....not perfect, but I'm not going for perfection. :)

 

 

 

 

 

[fisch]

Geeze Mike, you are freakin amazing! Will you adopt me!