Jyrki's Buick Site - project status 12/2000

December 2000- metalwork

Well, nothing much happened in December. I have been ill, very busy, and very tired. Anyway, more panel beating to come.
This is the right front fender. After blasting, I coated the external surfaces with Spies-Hecker "primer", a mix of zinc chromate and phosphoric acid. I used it because there was some rust left in the pores (the blaster told me he didn't have the guts to go deep enough to remove it all. The green stuff is the primer, and it kills the remaining rust, but being a thin coat, should be topcoated with a real primer pretty soon. Zinc chromate is a very nasty chemical, so be careful when dealing with it.

I left the areas to be worked and leaded uncoated. As you can see, there's a lot of rotten areas, cut lines already marked. There are some factory-leaded areas, too, shown lighter .

I will use a headlight frenching kit from Night Prowlers.
Turn signal holes will be filled.

This is the same fender upside down. In addition to rust, there was a badly dented area, already cut off here. When a made the first cut, BANG, the tensioned metal let some "steam off". I had to fabricate a support (dark flat bars) to get all the different panels stay in position in relation to each other, while under work.

The right rear fender was an easy one compared to this left rear fender. The black stuff is POR-15 rust preventive paint. I like it, but I don't like the company's Metal Ready metalwash. Treated with Metal Ready right after blasting, the surface became coated with rust again, plus some loose zinc salt (grey stuff). I would recommend Metal ready only for etching new, fresh sheet metal.
Also, use POR-15 rust preventive paint only on insides not seeing daylight, for 2 reasons: it doesn't resist UV light, and no other paint will stick to it, even if it were sanded.

On the doors, I used the green Spies-Hecker stuff to kill remaining rust, followed by PPG DP-40 two-part Epoxy Primer. If there was no rust after blasting, the epoxy alone would be perfect.
Some work left with the doors, too...

A useful tip: many times the rust is so deep in the panel, that you'd had to sand it all the way through to remove it completely. Blasting is better, as it only (okay, mainly) removes the bad stuff. Only you sometimes cannot blast the outer sheetmetal deep enough to remove all rot, as you run the risk of warping the panel. Blasting actually "forges" the surface, stretching it. Round blasting media like glass beads are even worse. Use lower pressure and shoot at an angle. If you blast a flat panel, it will become convex to the direction of blasting. Nothing will shrink it back. If there's not much rust in the first place, remove paint by sanding or chemical stripping. Blasting with soda, plastic media (Cystrip & others) or walnut shells are safe too, but expensive.

I my case, blasting didn't remove all rust, but warped both doors and fenders. I keep telling myself: "if it won't kill you, it'll make you stronger". This the hardest but best way of learning...

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Well, nothing much happened in December. I have been ill, very busy, and very tired. Anyway, more panel beating to come. This is the right front fender. After blasting, I coated the external surfaces with Spies-Hecker "primer", a mix of zinc chromate and phosphoric acid. I used it because there was some rust left in the pores (the blaster told me he didn't have the guts to go deep enough to remove it all. The green stuff is the primer, and it kills the remaining rust, but being a thin coat, should be topcoated with a real primer pretty soon. Zinc chromate is a very nasty chemical, so be careful when dealing with it. I left the areas to be worked and leaded uncoated. As you can see, there's a lot of rotten areas, cut lines already marked. There are some factory-leaded areas, too, shown lighter . I will use a headlight frenching kit from Night Prowlers. Turn signal holes will be filled.
	This is the same fender upside down. In addition to rust, there was a badly dented area, already cut off here. When a made the first cut, BANG, the tensioned metal let some "steam off". I had to fabricate a support (dark flat bars) to get all the different panels stay in position in relation to each other, while under work.
	The right rear fender was an easy one compared to this left rear fender. The black stuff is POR-15 rust preventive paint. I like it, but I don't like the company's Metal Ready metalwash. Treated with Metal Ready right after blasting, the surface became coated with rust again, plus some loose zinc salt (grey stuff). I would recommend Metal ready only for etching new, fresh sheet metal. Also, use POR-15 rust preventive paint only on insides not seeing daylight, for 2 reasons: it doesn't resist UV light, and no other paint will stick to it, even if it were sanded.
	On the doors, I used the green Spies-Hecker stuff to kill remaining rust, followed by PPG DP-40 two-part Epoxy Primer. If there was no rust after blasting, the epoxy alone would be perfect. Some work left with the doors, too...