International Harvester Metal Work - Rust Prep

A key ingredient to my metal work involves liberal amounts of POR15 Metal Prep (nee Metal Ready). It's expensive at $65.00 a gallon, but the chemical reaction the phosphate creates is like nothing else. It turns rust (Iron Oxide) into a black inert substrate (Ferric phosphate) that can be then primed and painted.

Eastwood sent me something similar to try, but it doesn't work as well I found....

So, with the "liquid-money" in a spray bottle, I doused the rustiest part with it. You're probably

 asking - why didn't you sand blaster that part? Reason being that it was rusted really thin 

around the one side and so we could either blow it apart with the sandblaster, or actually 

build it up by turning the rust into ferric oxide.

 After it dries, you can see the white phosphate that is left behind, doing it's work for days to come.

Lots of hammer and Dolly work is next:

Plus some cutting welding:

Everything that was just surface rusted was spared the abusive sand blaster  but will be treated with the Metal Prep.The Gallon will go quick on this project, but what better insurance?

Repairing the BRE front Air Dam on Datsun 240Z

The E-tek Datsun (Nissan) 240Z is on a 5 year-to-completion schedule and this weekend was the time to do some repairs to the front air dam. BRE (Brock Racing Enterprises), the Datsun racing team that took many SCCA races in the mid-70's, put together a 240Z shell that stil looks great today. Much of that cars iconic shape is die to the front air dam and the small rear lip-spoiler. All these years later, we still have an original BRE-inspired fiberglass dam for our car - but it needs work.....

So, being fiberglass, we purchased a small FG 'bondo' branded repair kit and went at it. The kit comes with everything you need: resin, hardener, fiberglass matting and some mixing paddles:

But before we start mixing, we'll need to make some extra-strength repair pieces out of metal bits, secured by some well-placed rivets:

With those bits completed, its now time to mix up the resin with a few drops of hardener:

Once mixed, the FG matting is dipped into the resin mixture and placed strategically on the saned repair areas. All areas where rough-sanded with 80 grit.

The tongue-depressor paddle that came in the kit was handy 

for lifting and placing the soaked matting, A couple of layers, plus a little

 resin to smooth out and adhere the edges will make for a strong repair

And once dry, the fibreglass is like rock. With the metal structural bits underneath, it'll be near-indestructible and likely won't crack in those weak spots again.

 The overall shape is back and the edges are stronger than they ever where. We'll sand the rough bits down again, then fill them with easy-sanding filler. Once done no one will ever know - except you and me!

Another piece for the Datsun: the gas tank was sandblasted down to 

bare steel, removing 45 years of paint, rust and scale:

Of course 45 years doesn't go by without some chemical reactions occurring. A close inspection showed a few perforations that will need to be addressed with the welder:

Once welded it will be completely sealed with Rust-Bullet Single Stage Epoxy paint. Stay tuned!