Bumps on my 78’s rear tub/fenders? (2 Viewers)

[Gusb]

Grinding and some more touch-up welding complete on "floor" patches and ready for the brackets. Note I'm leaving quite a bit of the weld bead where it doesn't interfere with the bracket that lays on top. Can't see grinding that away to thin (weaker?) metal when it get's covered with undercoating, etc. anyway.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

Nice work Gus. I agree with leaving the weld where it won't be seen under the finished coatings. I do often grind mine all away but it really wouldn't be seen under a thick rough coating.

 

[Gusb]

Thanks Kevin.

Finally - tacking the 14 GA brackets in. Made a small clearance cut in (2, 4) that really is not stock, but seemed to help the brackets sit better.

 

[Gusb]

Just when I thought the rockers were almost finished I took a closer look at the little rear vertical sub-bracket and found another problem. This area (front of the passenger side rear fender) on #3 has the small vertical sub bracket stacked where the bolt holds the brackets together. The rust was pushing the small bracket to the inside and was almost rusted through (even though it looked fine on the outside). Made a new small bracket earlier on #1 - I'll try to cleanup and reuse this one in addition to a new 18 GA patch for the outside.

 

[Gusb]

Another patch rushed out - not a great fit along the top - required a little copper on the backside. ;p

 

[Gusb]

Rockers more or less completed - maybe a little hammer/dolly and some light filler required? Like so many things, finishing seems the toughest part. These panels were already somewhat bent out of shape by the running boards, etc.

 

[Gusb]

Another bump repair behind the driver in the rear seat mounting area - the top of that big body tube. Looks like driver weight/movement opened up the seam and a good chunk of rust developed over time between 2 spot welds.

 

[Gusb]

Old rusty cruiser, new shiny paint gun

Now if I can just figure out how to use this thing ...

SATA minijet 3000 B HVLP - 1,4 SR

 

[miker]

SATA minijet 3000 B HVLP - 1,4 SR

Hey Gus, I'm curious, why did you pick this gun?

 

[Pork-n-Bean]

Great work!

 

[Gusb]

Hey Gus, I'm curious, why did you pick this gun?

Mike,

It should go without saying that I don't know anything about painting - but here's my thought process on this gun.

I decided I really can't do any kind of full blown "auto" painting in the garage, and that has sort of put a damper on previous plans to get a larger, 2-stage compressor, hard-lined and set up with filters, etc.

But I still felt like I needed a way (besides a brush) to get some epoxy primer down to protect small repair areas as I drag along with the body work on the cruiser. Started thinking I could get away with a little spot painting here and there if I could find a gun my little Dewalt compressor could push and not choke on the primer in the process. Sort a big airbrush kind of thing (I do some large canvas painting - that's another story). The main question was if a smaller mini/touchup gun would spray epoxy primer - a few knowledgeable paint people said no because of cap size, etc. I thought about a $50 touch-up gun at Sears, etc. but worried about the whole conventional/traditional gun excessive over spray (more pollution to deal with in the garage) thing, etc. And I don't think that gun's cap would have handled the epoxy.

The spec sheet for my epoxy primer calls out a Fluid Tip 1.4 - 1.6 mm ...

Then I looked at the Iwata LPH80 HVLP and almost bought one with the E4 1.2 air cap (largest), a few guys on the Iwata forum said it would work with a bit of extra reducer in the mix. Right before I ordered I looked at the SATA minijet again and they had a "new" 1.4 SR (spot repair) setup available. I thought it would cost too much but it was basically the same price as the Iwata and the guy at TCP also told me he thought it would be better.

Time will tell. I picture mixing up a small amount of paint in a 3M PPS mini cup, spraying a small prepped area for a few minutes and then taking an hour to clean the gun , not the most productive methodology.

Gus

 

[miker]

Sounds like you've done some homework and your reasoning makes sense. I've never seen this gun (not that I'm an expert on paint guns) and when you posted it I did a little research and saw that it was a spot repair gun with largest tip size of 1.4. I thought your 40 was going to take more than some spot painting so that's why I was curious.

I understand your concern for painting overspray. Awhile back, I bought a 2 gun Devilbis Startingline kit (inexpensive) and have used the larger gun in that kit for epoxy primers and surfacers with good results. These are HVLP gravity feed guns and when shooting primers and surfacers, I'm happy with the limited overspray. These are certainly not top of line guns and a better quality gun designed for the thicker materials would likely do an even better job.

For base and clear coats, as well as some single stage color I use a Binks M1-G which produces a nice finsh (once you are used to it) and has very little overspray. It is spec'ed at an 18psi inlet to produce 10psi at the tip with good quality results and very little overspray. I generally run it at little higher input than 18psi as I find it is more forgiving to me that way, but even with that, it still produces minimal overspray compared to other HVLP guns I've used. It was not a cheap gun at nearly $400 out the door but I know I've saved more than the cost of the gun in would be wasted material (overspray).

Let us know how you like the Sata once you start using it.

 

[Gusb]

I thought your 40 was going to take more than some spot painting so that's why I was curious.

It sure is - I may even get a good color match and try to keep some original paint ... who knows what this thing will look like when I get done.

 

[miker]

It sure is - I may even get a good color match and try to keep some original paint ... who knows what this thing will look like when I get done.

I have no doubt its going to look great!

 

[miker]

Try out that new gun yet?

 

[Gusb]

Try out that new gun yet?

Well... moving slow, been busy at work, kid's birthdays and not much time in the garage.

Bought the 3M PPS (mini cup size) stuff and they sent the wrong 3M adapter (#12) for the gun - took almost a week to get the right one (#41). Then I got wrapped up in sanding, prep, a light coat of POR15 on the rear bed floor and cleaning the garage up so I can easily cover things. Still working on cleaning/reorg of the garage in an attempt to make stuff easier to protect from overspray. I'm going to try starting inside the tub on small areas and work my way out.

I'm getting there but still need to find a simple line filter of some kind, a short whip hose for at the gun and maybe some "high-flow" fitting. Guy on the Sata forum said they might help. Sata makes a small in-line air/water filter but it's around $100 and I'll try to get something less pricy. Don't even have the simple things like a gun rack yet but I picked up some cleaning stuff, bottle, thinner, etc. Also think I should get a replacement air filter for my small Dewalt, it's probably really dirty. I'm just trying to get everything in place and being a bit a-retentive about it - before I start spraying.

Thanks for all the kind comments/interest Mike - helps me keep my chin up.

 

[alaska60]

Tried to chemical strip as much old paint first but I’d still like to find a better abrasive since blasting is not an available alternative right now. None of the abrasive discs, etc. I’m using really seem to get in the small areas that well. May need to just wait until I can get light sandblast here and there to really make sure the rust is out. I’m looking at Scotch-Brite™ Roloc™ Bristle Disc, 2 inch, Coarse grade, 07524 from 3M never used them before.

Disc is a molded, abrasive filled bristle disc instead of wire brushes for automotive use on aluminum and metal. Use for deburring, blending, finishing, polishing, cleaning and for coating, defect, scratch and rust removal. Use 3M holder #7500 for ea

Try this.......its the only thing I use now for removing paint down to the metal..best part is it wont dig into the metal, it rather leaves it clean. This sucker takes it off fast and clean it will also flex into corners. You can also make a homemade mini sandblaster if you have a compressor...? Let me know if you need more specs on the mini blaster.

Milwaukee 4 in. Carbon-Steel Full-Cable Twist Wire Wheel

 

[Fast Eddy]

Sata makes a small in-line air/water filter but it's around $100 and I'll try to get something less pricy.

I used one of these to remove moisture when I painted my half doors. It's "less pricey".

Disposable Inline Moisture Filter

 

[ravenholm]

Sata minijets are a GREAT gun, albeit a bit small for large auto body panels.
We use them at work in production for industrial painting of consumer electronics.

As for cleaning: They make an aerosol gun cleaner that looks kinda like a WD40 can (whatever you don't use WD40 ) but it's got the little straw thingie, and you just aim it down the throat of your gun and pull the trigger while also triggering the gun. It is very effective for guns that are usedly lightly and occasionally, and takes about 1 minute to clean a gun.

We cannot use them in our production lines because of EPA regulations of VOCs. However, our R&D department doesn't fall under those guidelines, and that's how we do it. Private use is unregulated.

You might check with the folks who sold the gun to you, if not, try Sherwin Williams Automotive. They have a branch in most cities.

Just an idea, because otherwise, you may indeed be in for a 1 minute of painting, 20 minutes of cleaning experience.

Best,

Guy

 

[Gusb]

Sata minijets are a GREAT gun, albeit a bit small for large auto body panels.
We use them at work in production for industrial painting ...

Glad to hear you like the mini jet. I'm hoping the 3M PPS stuff will help with the cleaning too. Got a squirt bottle for an initial flush of the gun but I plan to take it apart every time I use it.

Made a little strainer holder out of some stuff that was laying around. Going to make a holder of some kind for the gun next.