mklotz70 project MEND

[mklotz70]

How you gonna fix that, Mike?? :D

 

 

Stay tuned....we'll see if I can figure it out :)

 

 

I was supposed to be working on Mend today....but the weather was so nice, I kept finding excuses to go out and drive the NL! :) I should be able to get more done tomorrow. :)

[BRAAP]

Stay tuned....we'll see if I can figure it out :)

 

 

I was supposed to be working on Mend today....but the weather was so nice, I kept finding excuses to go out and drive the NL! :) I should be able to get more done tomorrow. :)

 

 

Was he working on Mend yesterday? uh... Noooo..

BUSTED :lol:

 

Mike and Dave stopped by the shop and we spent the better part of the later afternoon shooten the breeze, talking Datsuns and what not. Thank you for stopping by Mike. I really enjoyed the visit.

He was kind enough to bring the NL!

 

[watsonius]

After that heroic effort with the bumper and fender, Mike deserves a spin in the NL. We promised thumbtack stories tonight-

 

When we bought the truck (Fall of 1976), it had monster towing mirrors on both sides. Great for seeing what

[mklotz70]

Paul...we had a great time chatting with you. Absolutely loved your shop and toys!!! We'll be back!!

 

I see my NL everyday, but when I see it sitting somewhere other than my house....that's when I realize just how much I like that little thing :) Thanks for the pic!!

 

 

Brian.....thanks! I don't think I've ever tried Liquid Steel.....but I'm a huge fan of 5 minute JB Weld!! The next set of mirrors are anything special or stylish. They were on Paula's truck until we got the ones she really wanted. These will be a lot bigger, on both sides, but Amanda should be able to see over them without too much trouble.

 

I almost got the fender/door done.....probably tomorrow :)

[mklotz70]

I got a bit done yesterday, but I spent most of today up at Freaky's place figuring out how to make the 411 brakes work....I think we got it. Anyway....

 

 

I made the bar so that I could get the crown pushed up a bit more. Notice the heat marks made by the stud gun with the shrinking tip in it. My buddy A100addict convinced me to shrink a few spots.....I think it definitely helped out. Doesn't seem like it does much until you rub your hand across the fender...then you can feel it. I got a bit further than the pics show, but I haven't taken pics of it yet. Tomorrow's my first day back after a week off.....chances are good I won't do a think when I get home....we'll see :) Keep in mind...I'm not going for perfection...just close enough :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mklotz70]

..bit of an update on the molasses rust removal....

 

in the beginning...

 

 

 

The first couple of weeks was done with the 2yr old solution...I mixed up a new one....started fermenting around two weeks.....starting to work now. This is a slow process, but this is some really heavy rust. If I could get at it better with a brush, it would go faster. The more you can brush away, the more the molasses can get at the next layer. I don't need the buckets yet, so I put the back in. :)

 

..........old solution....

 

 

 

 

 

......new....

 

 

 

[watsonius]

Wow- it's like magic- complete with bubbling cauldrons. I've just got to make some of that stuff and find something rusty to throw into it. At home in Seattle that would be easy, but here in Davis we are apartment dwellers, and we don't have much junk yet... :)

 

May I ask just what was all that green stuff?

 

This just gets better and better- :)

[72240z]

Ya It's really impressive how good that works.

 

I'm pretty sure the green is either bondo or putty. Cool that it's green, I only ever worked with red or blue.

 

What brand Mike?

[mklotz70]

The molasses has a strong smell to it, but it's a bittersweet smell...like molasses on steroids. I wouldn't do it in an apartment, but you could do a gallon jug on a back porch probably :)

 

The green stuff is plastic body filler. It's Rage Gold by Evercoat. It's about twice the price of bondo, but it sands so much better it isn't funny!! It doesn't clog up the sand paper like most of the others.

[bonvo]

good stuff thats what i use for filler i like it alot not cheap but its sooo much easier to work with and turns out alot better

[jrock4224]

mkoltz....alaways use that rage gold...dont let your supplier try and sell you on the rage extreme. its super runny and sands like crap...the manufacturer tried to make it better and ended up making it worse. i had to take back like 8 cases and sent them back to the manufacturer. even after rage gold you should use a glazing putty it makes primer sanding time alot less. something like icing by usc or metal glaze by fiberglass evercoat. i know it sounds redundant to use more filler but the primer will be five times flatter and it will block out ten times faster too. as for a real good high build filler primer, if your spraying get a product called g2 feather fill by fiberglass ever coat., its super high build and sands like butter. its a polyester so its a lot like a sprayable bondo. plus it has very little shrinkage. once your throuhg that seal it with a good epoxy primer and your ready for colro . or just run the epoxy its non water soluable....meaning it wont absorb moisture if you dirve it. DON'T ever drive with just filler primer on your ride it's pourous and will absorb moisture causning blistering later on.. loks good you know what your doing when it comes to blocking. nice stiff long board i see in your pic. makes sanding go faster and get straight faster.

[mklotz70]

I had read that the extreme was self leveling...to me that meant more runny...didn't even tempt me to try it. I'm pretty sure I have some glazing putty in the cabinet. I had always thought it went on top of the primer....so I've never actually used it, but it makes more sense to put it on the filler. That would really help fill up the 40 grit scratches!! I've still got half a gal of feather fill.....love that stuff!!! Not sure I'm trying to make this nice enough to worry about using it. This fender is already smoother than the bed. If I make this one perfect....I'll have to do the whole truck....then I'll cry when it gets scratched! :) I didn't use a sealer or epoxy primer on Paula's rig....went from the feather fill to the SEM Trim Black(cheapest way to get a satin black), but I just might consider it on this one. We'll see. I actually like the fact that the Trim Black is not catalyzed. In the case of my NL and Paula's 521....I plan on going back and doing more body work......it will be real easy to take off the Trim Black and do some spot work, then cover it back up :)

[jrock4224]

true that shit da's right back off if you wanna change it up......as for self leveling, i asked the rep. how does one get filler to self level on a vertical panel? they had no answer and eventually agreed to take it back cause on vert panels you'd have a huge ridge on the bottom where the filler all saged too. rage gold hands down best filler to use ....more expensive but worth it for how it sands. You can use glazing putty over primer if need, but only in emergencys like a missed ding...sticks best to other fillers and bare metal.. yeah it looks good if your not gonna block the crap out of it save the g2 for something down the road. your stuff looks cool the way you do it. if your looking for CHEAPER alt. to ppgs dp catalized epoxy , try transtarr 2k epoxy, works good as the old dp before the lead free version....new orange labeled dp....as opposed to the older purple label that was mixed 1-1. works good , cheap and lays flat plus its catalyzed so it will accpet anything over it. stay away from anything self etching wise...its a ploy by paint companys to increase revenue by adding unneeded steps to paint process.

 

remember one thing in paint the less film build the better. 10 coats of clear are way more brittle then 3 medium coats. ie more rock chips. easier to chip too. i like to clear two coats of clear then let it sit over night. sand clear with 1000 grit next day, let sit for a few days allowing clear to shrink and evaporate all reducers, then apply 2-3 more coats of clear a few days later. clear will lay glass flat and you will have plenty of clear on the car to colro sand with 1500 and polish to a retardedly smooth finish. this process has turned garage painters into show car painters. Alot of peopple think poujnd on ten coats and color sand away but your wastin time materials and it will never get as flat as this process. when clear dries it shrinks thats why you see orange peel in factory cars these day the clear is shrinking back. and if you pound coat after coat on to show clear your car all it will do is maginfy the peel every coat until your ten coats look like sheet rock texture. unfortunately when you color sand that it gets semi flat but all the trapped solvent from the layers of clear take way longer to evoporate out and cause the orange peel to continue to progress for month's on end, sometimes takin a year to fully cure.

 

thats why you put on three coats then sand then letting it sit for a couple of days sanded is where you make up a ton in appearance. and unfirtunaelty if you just sand the crap out of your ten coats and you think you get it flat , when you ppolish it you will se a ropey condition where the clear looks flat but the orange peel in previous coats is magnified through polished layer of clear giving you a strange apperance especially on metallic colors. as with most things in painting again less is better. 75% percent of paint failures early on originate from too much product applied leading to any numbers of failure condition.....

 

holy crap i m off on a wild tangent...i should get a info-mercial. how did any of your post warrant a two paragraph diatribe on clear coating ...especially since you are wanting a flat paint color. man im sorry to everyones eyes. hopefully someone found this useful.

[mklotz70]

Actually...I didn't mind that tangent at all. Makes me want to try shiny paint on my wgn or NL :) Thanks for the info!!

 

Some of these pics are somewhat redundant.....just a change in lighting. There's still sanding scratches and pin holes in it, but it's now the smoothest section of the truck! :) I'll be going over it again when I do the rest of it, I just wanted to see it in Trim Black :) I'm kinda pleased with it! The crown is still a bit off, but it's Amanda's truck...not mine....I can live with it!! :) The camera has some trouble trying to focus on the flat gray and black.....so some of the tiny imperfections don't show up well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2009 by mklotz70

[freaky510]

:lol:Iam sure mend wont mind if its good enough for you i should be for her lol

[izzo]

man that is looking good

 

 

what kind of drill attachments did you use to get that paint down to bare metal, from what i could see it was a giant braided line

[mklotz70]

Thanks :)

 

This same disc works great for striping the mill scale off and the paint.

 

 

 

 

They're a bit on the spendy side, but they don't grind the metal away underneath. The wire rope cup was for getting into the really tight creases to get the rust out. It doesn't take the paint off very well at all.

[watsonius]

"The crown is still a bit off..."

 

"The young man proudly shows his scars to his lover, the old man looks in the mirror and sees himself whole again"

 

I don't know the source. (Anyone know?) Mend will always carry a few scars, but we humans should be so lucky as to have Mike make us almost whole again.

[datsun 160J SSS]

body work looks good :)

[mklotz70]

"The crown is still a bit off..."

 

"The young man proudly shows his scars to his lover, the old man looks in the mirror and sees himself whole again"

 

I don't know the source. (Anyone know?) Mend will always carry a few scars, but we humans should be so lucky as to have Mike make us almost whole again.

 

Believe me....I'd love to make this rig red again!!! I already have the paint and everything :( Maybe my wgn will end up red.

 

 

body work looks good :)

 

Thanks :)

[watsonius]

Believe me....I'd love to make this rig red again!!! I already have the paint and everything :( Maybe my wgn will end up red.

 

 

Satin black looks pretty good to me. Mend has been red for 38 years, it's ok to change. :)

[mklotz70]

Thanks! ......red would have been a lot less work! Could have simply cleaned the eng bay and interior :)

[fontana620]

Mike, Love looking at all your threads. Great work allways. Thanks, Guy.

[mklotz70]

Thanks Guy. This has all been really simple compared to what you guys are doing on the 320!! Great stuff there!!!

[Wharf Rat]

Hey Mike thats lookin' just fine man! My Dad always told me that when people walk up to a car they always look at the hood and the the drivers fender and door so if you get them looking great the car will sell. Not that Mend is going anywhere, you know what I mean:) nice job!