Pick up Restoration (Part 2)

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 7:55 pm

Here is my new Pickup project. More metal than I'm used to, reasonable floor, has suffered the ravages of weather awaiting to be purchased and cared for. I've got it now and I'm champing at the bit to get stuck in.
This time, I'm getting more professional help with the chassis.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 8:02 pm

My main area of work is this front chassis leg, its taken a hamering and has cracked. There is slight movement, so the cab will have to come off and the chassis shot blasted and re-welded, not by me, my welding is still a bit young. It might even need a new leg.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:57 pm

I suspect there may have been a mighty lump in here at some point, the forward cross member is AWOL, this may have contributed to the leg crack.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 9:59 pm

The weather got to the new floor panels causing surface rust.

Post by **davidmiles** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:03 pm

Once I wire brushed it off and applied some jenolite, I could see the the pitting in the new floor panels.

Post by **Mick_Anik** » Thu Aug 13, 2009 10:15 pm

Looks like someone started the chassis leg job by cutting off the front crossmember. Take care that everything is lined up in the right place during the welding.
There's a diagram in the Haynes manual (possibly elsewhere?), giving all the dimensions of the various chassis mounting points. Use a plumb bob to help make marks on the floor (flat, obviously), work out a central line with a compass (large, you could make one up) and you can then check the points of intersections are all correct.
Probably a task requiring patience, with the car as high as possible to minimise inaccuracies with the plumb bob.

Not too bad looking overall though. Good luck!

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 3:06 pm

for the time being... Ive started getting rid of some surface rust in the engine bay, having used the last smears of jenolite gel on the cab floor, Ive not been able to get hold of any more jenolite. darn it, it was superb stuff, Does anyone know where its sold off the shelf?
So my local Halfords sold me this rust remover, anyone used it before?

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 3:10 pm

Ive started testing it on an area of the engine bay Ive wire brushed off. The rust had started creeping under the white paint.
Its hard getting into the corners with the wire brush, I had some advice on this site to use a flap disc. I'll put that on my shopping list next.

Post by **Mick_Anik** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:00 pm

Cup brushes are excellent - they fit on a standard angle grinder, and remove only the rubbish, leaving the good metal intact. You should be able to get various sizes.
You would need a face mask, and perhaps a leather jacket, as the metal 'bristles' fly off from time to time and can pierce the skin. The result is worth the occasional discomfort. I suppose you should really pop down to the doctor for a tetanus jab if you're not up to date with it, just in case. I've always survived intact, though.

Also, it's a good idea to open up the points between the spot welds joining two panels together - a large sharp scredwriver and a hammer does it. Then you can rake out the rubbish with improvised tools, and give the areas a good scratch inside. Once they are clean, treat the inside with a rust treatment product, and paint with Hammerite or whatever you prefer, and close them back up using a hammer with a metal block behind, while the paint is still tacky.
This really slows down the rusting process. Regarding the gel, I have never used it. It's probably pricey, so I'd get everything clean as best you can first, then you'll be applying it to the actual metal, and not to the shale. There's no benefit in rustproofing rust

!

Post by **alainmoran** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 4:05 pm

Yes, that kind of rust remover is based on phosphoric acid ... it basically etches off the top layer of metal.

You can also buy a rust converter which is a 'chelating co-polymer' and works on a similar principle to fertan/tannic acid ... basically the chemical bonds with the iron oxide converting it to a polymer (plastic), stabilising the rust and stopping it spreading.

I would tend to use the stuff you already have for stripping back most of the rust, then use a rust-converter to kill off any that remains in the corners.

For serious protection you can buy very high zinc primer (dries to 98% zinc) off eBay, it's about £30 a litre, but it's as close as you can get to galvanizing without dipping it in a vat & strapping electrodes to it

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:02 pm

Thanks, I'll remember that, the Halfords stuff was a bit weak and rather hit and miss, this was what the surface looked like after the first dose, some rust conversion shown by the black areas, but still some rust to wire brush out.

Post by **davidmiles** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 7:03 pm

in big close up it looks like this

Post by **les** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 9:11 pm

Now can we have a view from an electron microscope!!

Post by **Mick_Anik** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 10:00 pm

Do loads and sell them to NASA - they'd save themselves a lot of trouble and money!

Post by **davidmiles** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 12:10 am

Les, nice to hear from you. Did you notice that steering column stub just jutting out of the floor. looks like the previous owner sheared it off in frustration at not being able to remove the column intact. I would guess Ive got to remove the whole steering rack to get that out. I'm glad Wibble puppy gave me a steering wheel complete with column unit to replace that. Thanks Wib.

Post by **Dean** » Sun Aug 16, 2009 9:20 am

David, it depends how far you wish to go.

Do what Mick Anik says above and open up the joints a little. Clean up the inside of the engine bay with a fine flap disc. Get into the gaps with various wire type attachments to your drill and angle grinder.

Scrub the area with cheap thinners to get rid of any grease. Wait until it dries.

I then would use a product called "Metal Ready" from www.frost.co.uk, this etches the metal for painting and stabilises the rust. Spray this on, keeping the area wet for 30 mins.

Wash down with water from a hose and get rid of the white residue Metal Ready leaves behind, wait until it dries and you'll be left with a finish that actually looks like surface rust... but it is etched

. Wipe the area with panel wipe.. then spray with your first coat of normal primer or zinc primer, depending what your personal choice is.

You could do all this in a day

.

Post by **davidmiles** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:27 pm

Cheers Dean, I'll give that a go as well. My spare chassis didn't sell on ebay. I'll wait a few weeks and try again. I wonder if the lack of triangles and engine mounting towers put potential buyers off. I've also got the option of stripping it for parts to repair my new chassis. but I don't like being the one denying it for future use in another restoration of a van or pickup. I'll give it another flash on e bay then decide.

Post by **aupickup** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:34 pm

the triangles are a crucial part of the cab alignment

was they rotten or just not on there

Post by **Kevin** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:30 pm

Hi David to save you having to put up mulit posts when you want to put up more than one picture, when you have put the first one on go to preview and repeat you can preview as many times as you like until they are all on.

Post by **davidmiles** » Wed Aug 19, 2009 12:14 am

Thanks Kevin, Dennis the triangles were missing when I bought it originally, Les kindly made me a template to help me fabricate them. I was selling this spare chassis to pay for work on the new one.