Continued from part 4
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a long time since I last updated you on the progress of Slomat. (Slomat is a project that has been ongoing for the last 22 months for those of you who don’t know).
Where to start! Well, for the last 7 months (yeah I know, 7 months!) I have been trying to put some form of labour into Slomat. I am happy to say it has been worth it.
Even though, as you are all aware, it has been cold and dark of a night time, Slomat is finally on 4 wheels again. Yep! The revitalisation of the front and rear subframes has turned out much better than I thought with all components, trumpets, control arms, frames etc all being given the once-over, measured, replaced as required, and reassembled with all perishable items being replaced.
Both the frames have been placed aside for a moment whilst I attend to Slomat`s body. I am happy to say the side skirts are now welded in place. With lots of measuring I was able to confirm I had not managed to weld a twist into her body. With all the welding previously undertaken this was of major concern coz` once you weld in a twist you can’t unweld it.
With this new found info I have progressed to the final stage of under body prep, the painting. Whilst on her side, Slomat has her first coat of final colour to the wheel arches and underbelly areas, this went off without a hitch. Time to apply paint to the engine bay, idea was good, however what a disaster! You see, if anybody tells you that you can use body deadener under top coat to assist in a wrinkle finish DON`T LISTEN TO THEM! Whilst the finish was of the desired effect, my brother who was visiting and wanted to see how I was going, proved to me the effect was not going to last. He asked me beforehand how long the paint had been on. I told him it had been there over a fortnight. He then said it wasn’t gunna stay there coz` the body deadener would never set hard. He then showed how easily he could remove the paint with his fingernail. Damn, didn’t like that. He said "Oh s@*t! Sorry son. didn’t mean that to happen I just wanted to see how hard it had set!" As it turned out it hadn’t. Lesson learned.
Now time has come to remove all painted areas in the engine bay that had body deadener on it so as to repaint this time without the body deadener. Have you any idea of how many joints there are under the bonnet? Go have a look, there are heaps. Finally, the engine bay is ready for painting again. This time I had no problem albeit without my desired wrinkle finish. Slomat is now right side up. Subframes fitted and rolling. Wife says bout bl#*dy time, too.
However, she did say she looks good and is starting to look like a car again.
Not much time to chat now - I still have a long way to go. She still needs her heart put back together, her gearbox to be regeared, her pacemaker configured and fitted to make all the bits that contain the Lucas smoke work again, the top bits you can see to be prepped, undercoated, painted etc to make her look good. Goodness me, I do have a long way to go. Better get back to it.
David Pullen 1128F
Hi Everyone,
It’s been a long time since I last updated you on the progress of Slomat. (Slomat is a project that has been ongoing for the last 22 months for those of you who don’t know).
Where to start! Well, for the last 7 months (yeah I know, 7 months!) I have been trying to put some form of labour into Slomat. I am happy to say it has been worth it.
Even though, as you are all aware, it has been cold and dark of a night time, Slomat is finally on 4 wheels again. Yep! The revitalisation of the front and rear subframes has turned out much better than I thought with all components, trumpets, control arms, frames etc all being given the once-over, measured, replaced as required, and reassembled with all perishable items being replaced.
Both the frames have been placed aside for a moment whilst I attend to Slomat`s body. I am happy to say the side skirts are now welded in place. With lots of measuring I was able to confirm I had not managed to weld a twist into her body. With all the welding previously undertaken this was of major concern coz` once you weld in a twist you can’t unweld it.
With this new found info I have progressed to the final stage of under body prep, the painting. Whilst on her side, Slomat has her first coat of final colour to the wheel arches and underbelly areas, this went off without a hitch. Time to apply paint to the engine bay, idea was good, however what a disaster! You see, if anybody tells you that you can use body deadener under top coat to assist in a wrinkle finish DON`T LISTEN TO THEM! Whilst the finish was of the desired effect, my brother who was visiting and wanted to see how I was going, proved to me the effect was not going to last. He asked me beforehand how long the paint had been on. I told him it had been there over a fortnight. He then said it wasn’t gunna stay there coz` the body deadener would never set hard. He then showed how easily he could remove the paint with his fingernail. Damn, didn’t like that. He said "Oh s@*t! Sorry son. didn’t mean that to happen I just wanted to see how hard it had set!" As it turned out it hadn’t. Lesson learned.
Now time has come to remove all painted areas in the engine bay that had body deadener on it so as to repaint this time without the body deadener. Have you any idea of how many joints there are under the bonnet? Go have a look, there are heaps. Finally, the engine bay is ready for painting again. This time I had no problem albeit without my desired wrinkle finish. Slomat is now right side up. Subframes fitted and rolling. Wife says bout bl#*dy time, too.
However, she did say she looks good and is starting to look like a car again.
Not much time to chat now - I still have a long way to go. She still needs her heart put back together, her gearbox to be regeared, her pacemaker configured and fitted to make all the bits that contain the Lucas smoke work again, the top bits you can see to be prepped, undercoated, painted etc to make her look good. Goodness me, I do have a long way to go. Better get back to it.
David Pullen 1128F
Last Updated on Wednesday, 03 December 2008 22:14