Thread: New Project...

Hi Gav,

There are 3 reasons why I am thinking of painting the inside of the sump...

1) The sump had been painted on the inside originally - so I am just keeping it original.

2) I don't know when I will be putting it on, the weather is getting worse and I would hate to have to remove surface rust again in the future. (I have had the misfortune of sanding back to bare metal, leaving a part - only to watch it rust in front of my own eyes!)

3) It will look so pretty! (not that anybody will ever see it, but hey - not many people will see the vast majority of parts that I have sanded/cleaned/painted)

However as always I take your advice on board - I have emailed the manufacturer to see if the paint is suitable for this application. If it isn't, then I will just paint the outside and coat the inside with fish-oil until I want to install it!

I'll let you know!

Two things spring to mind from your posts;
1. I agree with Bacicat - be very careful what you put inside the sump! The best anti-rust material in this application is engine oil. Fishoilene would be last thing I would put inside an engine!
2. It looks as is if your sump wasn't completely immersed in molasses solution. Completely submerging it, is always the best approach, so as to exclude atmospheric oxygen from the rust equation. If the molasses hasn't eradicated all of the rust after 3 weeks, then either the solution isn't strong enough, or you live in a very cold place. Scrubbing the parts with a wire brush at least once a week, will help speed up the rust removal. Molasses should have left you with no work to do with regard to rust,

Cheers Charlie

Hi Charlie,

Good spotting - unfortunately my molasses solution (bucket) wasn't big enough to immerse the entire sump... So I experimented with swapping the ends over, scrubbing away the molasses solution each week or so.

Due to the cold climate and exposure to air - it didn't exactly work with 100% success! Normally the small parts that I put in the bucket are completely submerged!

I have also contacted the distributor of VHT. Bacicat and yourself are correct. The VHT paint is not recommended for internal parts. So I will simply give it a light coat of fish oil to prevent any surface rust while I wait to put the sump back onto the engine. The distributor did mention that there is a CRC product on the market for this, but I don't think that I will bother going down that path!

Cheers.

Wow! Have just read thru this from start to finish... This is brilliant!!! You have far far more patience cleaning stuff than me!!! I too can't wait to see the end result!!! It's funny reading thru a thread and seeing stuff said then thinking what answer I'd have come up with, only to read the next post where someone has said it for me! 'Phew' is all I can say re painting the inside of the sump!! Glad you didn't!! Just like getting to the suspense bit of a good film!! Keep up the good work!!! Will Roger be at Melrose?? Cheers, Sitec!!

Originally Posted by grey_ghost

unfortunately my molasses solution (bucket) wasn't big enough to immerse the entire sump... So I experimented with swapping the ends over

Not a good idea. Once the metal is out of the solution, it rusts very quickly.
Immerse it all. Remove, clean and paint very quickly.
What do people think of coating the inside of the sump with phosphoric acid? I am told it works well with steel wheels.

Hi All,

Well progress has been basically non existent over the last 2 months. This is mainly due to the weather - it's been either too cold, too wet or both which is quite frustrating. If the weather is any good - it's during the week when I am at work..

I have managed to start a few jobs when time/weather permits.

I spent a good few weeks cleaning/sanding/priming the chassis. Here is a before photo of it:


Here is a photo taken whilst removing the rear cross member (badly rotten):


Here was some bits of the rear cross member:


Here is the new cross member and the chassis in primer (weeks later):


Here is the engine painted - first of two coats:


Here is the radiator - I took it to the local radiator place and they flushed it, tested it and gave it a bit of a tidy up:


I have a few jobs on the go at the moment:

* Painting the chassis in satin black (weather permitting)
* Painting the engine (second coat - weather permitting)
* Painting the sump (weather permitting)
* Cleaning the gearbox (a very slow and messy process)

My trusty electric drill also died (just the brushes) - I have ordered some replacements (this will be my 3rd set of brushes) which is also slowing me down at the moment...

I am getting there - slowly but surely!

Slow but good progress mate - it must be frustrating relying on the weather to be able to move forward. I'm sitting on my bum thinking I should be doing something to mine, so I might go and brave the cold and do a few things for a couple of hours.

Can I ask where you sourced Roger's new rear cross member? Sorry if you've already mentioned this somewhere earlier.
Thanks for keeping us up to date. It is appreciated by many, I'm sure.
cheers,
Garry