Thread: My 1955 86" rebuild.

Having some time yesterday in between helping the good wife paint the inside of our house, I removed all the rivets (solid/pop types) and removed all the gal/strips off the tub, all safely set aside waiting for an opportunity to get them grit blasted, most are way too big for my cabinet.
Again this morning in between painting etc, I removed all the bolts holding the tub, my wife helped me lift it off, she said it is a lot lighter than the S2A tubs and I agree
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps42da6ebf.jpg
look at the dust that has accumulated on the chassis!!, well I suppose if you sit around for approx 5-6 years you would get dusty as well.
The next items to be removed were the striker reinforcment plates, well the first screw took almost 1 hour to get off, my right shoulder is sore from holding a long square bladed screwdriver in position and turning the square shaft with a adjustable spanner, and holding in my left hand a right angled 1/2" drive extension fitted with a 3/16"W socket, turn it a little, apply some lubricant, turn it back, repeat over n over n over, LOL the other three came undone with no bother at all
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps0bd84c41.jpg
This was interesting a NSN (Nato Stock Number) on a Series 1 intermediate pipe, well I figured that the pipe was NOS but not for a S1 but a S2 C/R with the 2lt engine and upswept exhaust manifold
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps88acb31d.jpg
The exhaust system is all new NOS from front to rear
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...psd0a2816d.jpg
The tub has been cut around by somebody for whatever reason and it has this hole approx 840mm x 240mm it did have a patch riveted over it but it looked ordinary to me, I'm between trying to weld in a section (I have a Henrob welding torch etc) or have it professionally welded, or remove the panel and make a new one, I'm still to decide
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...pscbde3b88.jpg
if it were a S2/2A I would simply replace the tub, but S1 tubs are a tad thin on the ground, anyway that's been my day, and we have finished painting our hallway it has 11 wall panels and 8 doors, cheers Dennis

I've been busily occupied using the grit blaster this morning, cleaned up all these items that will need to be galvanised
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...psb06dde78.jpg
also straightening out small bends ? damaged sometime in it's past, just need to do the other bits as well, cheers Dennis

Yesterday after work, I had a look at my grit blasting nozzle, it looked a tad ordinary, it is a Ceramic type and damn expensive for what you get, so I decided to make one of my own, using a donor 7/16" UNF Hi-Tensile bolt, about 1 hour later this is what I had, the Ceramic one is in front
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...psf28982dd.jpg
so I put it to good use this morning and some time later I had done all of these
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps957a531d.jpg
It took a while to do as I allowed my compressor to cool down for periods and in between time I was replacing this Diaphgram for one of my other Series vehicles
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps2b632a68.jpg
and helping the good wife with her continuing paint job cheers Dennis

do you sandblast those small parts in a sandblasting cabinet or something else?

I have a free standing cabinet, it's reasonable size but I can't fit a Series door frame in though, I do on occasions use sand outside in the backyard, but I would never use the Garnet mix that's in the cabinet out in the open, way too messy n red in colour LOL, cheers Dennis

Another very busy day still stripping paint of panels etc and still quite a long way to go yet I started with the instrument cluster and the cover panel for the hand throttle etc
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps3a469a09.jpg
with many coats of paint to remove, this is what it looked like for a period
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...pse95fca1e.jpg
and after a clean up looks much smarter and ready to etch prime n undercoat
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps57e7923f.jpg
after lunch I started to strip the tailgate, so I could add the items to the ever growing pile of things to be galvanised
http://i659.photobucket.com/albums/u...ps53d2dc05.jpg
tomorrow I will make an effort to strip the paint off the tailgate, cheers Dennis

Hi Dinty,
What sort of paint stripper have you been using ?
The couple of bits I have done I have used a Motorspray product, and two maybe three applications and then finish it off with a pressure cleaner, its been pretty effective

Bunnnings brand 'Diggers', it is exactly the same composition as automotive paint stripper, but cheaper ( well it is here where I live) some panels only require one application and others a couple of applications, if I had access to a cheap supply of Ilmenite I would have it grit blasted and all finished in under an hour, but sadly for me that's only a dream LOL cheers Dennis