Blue Mule resto in Malawi

[M5driver]

There are a few silicon removers out there but since you have an abundance of labour, you might as well try this solution. You can get the supplies at a market even in Malawi.
JonEakes.com > Jon's Fixit Database

Geocel have a product. ::: Geocel : Geocel® SILICONE SEALANT REMOVER :::

They are in the UK, and their stockist page doesn't have anyone listed, let alone international distributers.

I hope it comes good.

Eish Dan, sorry to hear.

Heatgun maybe ?

Dan just use a plastic hook to pull the most of it out, then use a stiff nylon brush to remove the residue, then some kind of cleaning solvent - the RB should not be affected, and you should be able to re-caulk and paint normally.

Don't blast the RB, until you have tried everything else.

All,

Thanks for the suggestions. We are gonna try pulling as much off as possible, then we'll try lifting it out of the seams with plastic knives (raided my 's picnic & camping supplies). Then the stiff brush and a little solvent. Don't want to mess up that RB.

I talked to my facilities guys today and they pointed me to a supply of an acrylic seam sealer that is paintable, so we will try that after we get as much as possible of the silicone cleaned up. This may turn out to be only a 3-4 day setback

I did say these guys went crazy with it, right? Here's just a small sample.

 

[M5driver]

Do you know how much rust bullet you used painting the tub, fenders and hood?

How did the paint lay down on top of it?

Can't wait to see pictures.

Hamish

The entire job should have taken about 1.5 gallons US. But, with as much as was wasted or spoiled, or had to be redone, I'm almost 2.5 gallon into it. I'm down to 1.5 quarts at this point.

The large panels haven't been painted yet - we need to fix the silicone sealer snafu first. But the silver bits are looking NICE! Everything primed with RB, of course... Here are a couple of pix:

 

[Southeast Overland]

I did say these guys went crazy with it, right? Here's just a small sample.

Oh my...

 

[M5driver]

While the body men work on fixing the silicone sealer problem, I'm trying to keep things moving. Got today off from work (but not tomorrow ) so back to the shop with my hand tools.

The front springs bolted up and the axle went in easily

 

[M5driver]

Mmm... new shackles

 

[M5driver]

With a lot of help, I had the engine back on the chassis by 2. That went pretty easily as well. The rolling chassis should come home tomorrow!!!

Once home, I'll have to take that bell housing off again to replace the metal plugs that leak oil at the back of the engine, and get the back cleaned and bulleted/painted. Then, I can do the little bit of engine work I need to do, and clean and paint the engine. It's starting to look like a truck again

 

[M5driver]

OK, just one more, then I'm done tonight. Feels good to see a little progress

 

[tmarx]

... It's starting to look like a truck again

Yeah it does ! Congrats Dan

 

[exrsa1]

M5, you are doing a great job. Love to read your thread. You are in my part of the world where I grew up, but now live is the US, hence my name on mud.

One thing, I believe the anti-inversion shackles go the other way around, meaning the short side of the tri-angle go on top.

Keep up the posting, and take care.
Ex

 

[lostmarbles]

....One thing, I believe the anti-inversion shackles go the other way around, meaning the short side of the tri-angle go on top. .....

Well spotted.

Yes. I too believe they are incorrect.

I'm sure a bit of searching on MUD will show how they should go Dan

 

[M5driver]

One thing, I believe the anti-inversion shackles go the other way around, meaning the short side of the tri-angle go on top.

Keep up the posting, and take care.
Ex

Well spotted.

Yes. I too believe they are incorrect.

I'm sure a bit of searching on MUD will show how they should go Dan

EX, thanks for the encouragement. TOM! Good to see you back here. Long time, no carriage return

I thought long and hard about those shackles, then talked to the vendor and went back to look at old pictures taken after I had the OMEs originally installed. I also searched on MUD for info on anti-inversion shackles. Seems the rears can go either way - up or down - so I put them up. The fronts have to go down, otherwise they don't clear the front shackle. I did try installing one up, just to see, and sure enough - I couldn't get the spring to bolt up without a spring stretcher, which are as hard to find as wire stretchers when you cut the electical wire too short

Anyway, after talking to the vendor and trying it out and then looking back at photos of the old installation, I think I have it right.

Kinda hard to see in the photo, but here is one I could find quickly.

HOWEVER, I absolutely welcome all comments and questions about anything I do in the course of getting the mule back on her wheels. THANK YOU for looking out for me. It gets a bit lonely here at times, and I welcome the comments and feedback.

 

[lostmarbles]

EX, thanks for the encouragement. TOM! Good to see you back here. Long time, no carriage return

I thought long and hard about those shackles, then talked to the vendor and went back to look at old pictures taken after I had the OMEs originally installed. I also searched on MUD for info on anti-inversion shackles. Seems the rears can go either way - up or down - so I put them up. The fronts have to go down, otherwise they don't clear the front shackle. I did try installing one up, just to see, and sure enough - I couldn't get the spring to bolt up without a spring stretcher, which are as hard to find as wire stretchers when you cut the electical wire too short

Anyway, after talking to the vendor and trying it out and then looking back at photos of the old installation, I think I have it right.

Kinda hard to see in the photo, but here is one I could find quickly.

HOWEVER, I absolutely welcome all comments and questions about anything I do in the course of getting the mule back on her wheels. THANK YOU for looking out for me. It gets a bit lonely here at times, and I welcome the comments and feedback.

Here's a link to a vehicle (1st post) that has them fitted the way I have always thought they must go Dan. (I'd post a picture but I'm at work with unfriendly computers now.)

https://forum.ih8mud.com/vehicles-trailers-sale-wanted/225458-1987-fj60-3b-h55-sale-indiana.html

Are you sure you can't fit both front and rear like this?


Oooh. Here's a much better link to a Radd Cruisers thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-seri...first-lu-lu-bj42-restoration.html#post3417249

This thread shows how you can leave the anti-inversion bolt out until you get more weight on your vehicle Dan. (That bolt may be why you couldn't fit them that way.)



PS. I'm always watching this thread (----- even if I'm not posting) ---- and by the way - I think I'd really if I had someone put silcone in my seams between priming and topcoating!!!

 

[M5driver]

Oooh. Here's a much better link to a Radd Cruisers thread:

https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-seri...first-lu-lu-bj42-restoration.html#post3417249

This thread shows how you can leave the anti-inversion bolt out until you get more weight on your vehicle Dan. (That bolt may be why you couldn't fit them that way.)



PS. I'm always watching this thread (----- even if I'm not posting) ---- and by the way - I think I'd really if I had someone put silcone in my seams between priming and topcoating!!!

Thanks for the link, Tom. I hadn't thought of leaving the pin out, and at the moment, I just wanted to get that part of the project out of the panel beater's and back home. Once the engine was back in and the spring had shifted, it looks like the shackles can be reversed. I'll save that for a later date I've got this part back home now (delivered while I was at work) and will have LOTS of work to do

What I have not shown is the rather poor job these guys did on the chassis and black bits. It's sort of like they figured the black parts are mostly hidden, therefore, no need to do a really good job. They turned the apprentice painter loose on this and it definitely shows. There are runs in many places, uneven paint in a few areas, and noticeable differences in the finish in many places. The bits the regular painter did are much better. I will have to do some clean up on some of this myself - sanding and topcoatin/touch up in a number of spots. At least I can get Hammerite smooth black here in rattle cans ($17/400ml ) and in tins.

The other panels that have been done so far are great. I'm just disappointed with the uneven quality. As for the silicone sealer cock-up...

I just try to keep a stiff upper lip and soldier on, because it is obvious by now that these guys won't listen to anyone except the foreman or the manager, and there are some things they don't want to deal with, or don't know how to handle, so they experiment, rather than take advice from a foreign mzungu, who can't possibly know anything about their business. Now, I just have to wait to let them figure out for themselves what to do about it. I did suggest Teebag's solution and provided some plastic picnic knives to help remove some of that junk, but the foreman still thinks they can paint it by just trimming off the excess, sanding the remaining sealer, and priming. I'm a bit worried that they will try to cover it up and won't want to redo anything that doesn't come right. I have provided them with one tube of paintable acrylic sealant to use after they remove the silicone - assuming they do that - but I'm afraid they will waste a lot of it, like they did the Rust Bullet, and I do not have more sealant. The place I got that one tube is out of it now, and may not have more for 2-3 months. I have my facilities guys keeping a lookout for this stuff, in case any of our other suppliers for embassy maintenance have this product.

It has been a real blow to get this far, and suddenly have a completely unnecessary problem of this magnitude

I can only hope for a good resolution at this point. The manager of the panel beater shop had another visit from the majority owner from S Africa last week. That guy apparently reamed Mario out and threatened the foreman's job, because my project has languished for almost 6 months now. So Mario threatened to just load all my stuff up in a dump truck (tipper) and drop it in a heap in my driveway. It took about 3 hours and a lot of tea to get him to unwind and start acting rationally again. Now, I feel like I will just have to accept whatever I get, and be glad to get my parts back from these guys. Not a very happy situation, I'm afraid. At least the foreman seems to be more or less on my side and told Mario he wants to finish the job up right. That was right before the sealant mess, so who knows what I will find next week.

'nuff fer now.

anyway!

 

[M5driver]

Having the chassis and engine home means I can do the small amount of work needed on the engine. First job - remove the bell housing,so I can replace the two metal plugs at the back of the block that were leaking. Turns out that wasn't too hard. Too bad I won't know if it took care of the leak until it's all back together and I have the engine running again

 

[M5driver]

Those cleaned up pretty easy. I scraped the old sealer out with an Xacto knife, then smoothed the lips up with emery cloth, put a little Loctite blue on the plugs and in they went - seated the small one with a socket of appropriate size, and just tapped the large one in a soft hammer. Ready to clean up a little rust, and get the back of the block painted up while it's easy to get to

 

[M5driver]

Tom, Ex,

Check it out - turned the shackles over. Didn't actually plan on doing it so soon, but today, I discovered I had the front springs on backward :whoops:

So.... in the process of turning the springs the right way round, I figured I'd try turning the front shackles over, too. You guys were right - with the engine weight on it, the anti-inversion pins just clear the front shackle hanger.

Good catch

 

[M5driver]

Made a bit more progress today. Got the bell housing back on after painting up the rear of the engine. Reassembled the front seats. Turned the front springs around the right way :whoops: and turned the front shackles over Got the new shocks on. Pretty good day, especially considering I'm working mostly with one arm. Anyone who knows about torn rotator cuff and old shoulder surgery will know what I'm talking about. I'll have to take it a little easy thru the week to let the arm recover a bit. Overall, pretty happy with the progress. After working with nothing but parts for several months, it's nice to start putting some of those parts together!

 

[lostmarbles]

Looking REAL good Dan.

There's tremendous satisfaction to be gained from the "putting together phase". I've learnt that from the "piecemeal" work that I do but it must be so much greater still when doing a full "body off restoration".

You've got Ex to thank for spotting the shackle problem. I have to admit that I didn't notice it till reading their post.

I'd love to get my bell-housing and engine block looking like yours (black paint) - But I can't see me pulling my engine anytime soon. Although I might paint the sump "in situ" in the next year or so. (Whenever I feel inclined.)- I don't set myself any firm schedules because if I did, it would eat into the enjoyment aspect for me...

 

[lulo]

Look nice your TOY mate!!!

 

[KOOTENAY KRUZER]

Dan - I hope this thread isn't dead - I and a lot of others are really interested in seeing you overcome your problems. We all want to know what magic solution your panel beaters have for painting silicone sealer.