21 Mar 10 ..... POR15 Weekend

It's been a busy few weekends working on the car during March. One of the jobs that I have been longing to do is to clean up the engine bay. The old heat resistant material off the bulkhead had disappeared long before I got the car. However what was left behind on the lower aluminium section that separates the fuel tank from the engine bay and the plastic bulkhead were both covered in the old adhesive which was well and truly baked on. Tried all sorts of liquids to dissolve it without any joy, all I achieved was to push it around a bit!. In the end I just used thinners, getting hi on the fumes in the process. Did the job though and the engine bay is looking good. I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

Next job will be to cut the aluminised cloth I have managed to obtain. This will be a tricky job as I have no template and ideally i want to fit a single piece to cover the whole bulkhead. Job for the week I think! Got the spray adhesive so shouldn't be too much of a job

 So, the plan for the weekend was to clean up and re-paint the suspension wishbones and floor of ther car. The wishbones were in ok condition with some light rusting with a few heavy rust areas. The floor was oxidised in places and generaqlly in poor condition.

Suspension Wishbones

First job was to strip off the old paint (where it still existed rather than rust). I had obtained some of the excellent POR15 products from Frosts i.e. paint remover, marine clean degreaser, metal ready and black (for the wishbones) and silver for the floor. All of the products turned out to be superb. It tool me pretty well all morning on Saturday to strip, rub down to get rid of the loose rust, degrease and metal ready prepare them for painting. After each stage the parts need to be rinsed and dried, all taking time. The metal ready kills the rust and puts a phosphate etch coating on ready for painting. 

By the end of saturday I had managed to get two coats on with a few hours drying time in between. In the end it took almost 12 hours for all 8 wishbones from start to finish.

I have to say that it was all worth it. The finish in a few places where there was really heavy rust was not brilliant but the finish was smooth and very glossy as you can see from the photo belowtaken the following morning in the sunshine. They were going to be left for the rest of the day to fully cure and if there is time I will fit the new oem bushes.

As it turned out i did have time as the last job at the end of the day. A quick look up of the SELOC techwiki to find out which bush goes where and which direction to press them in from was all that was needed. Then it was a case of pressing them in using a bench vice and socket having first wiped the bush outer with copper ease to lubricate and stop them rusting in. They went in a dream without any problems. Last job to do on them in the week will be to fit the new ball joints.

Painting the Floor 

I had been putting off this job for a whole host of reasons not least of which was the lack of space. Over the last week I have been stripping off the oxidation and adhesive remnants from the backing tape used to secure the carpets. In the end I had to resort to using thinners to remove the glue, not much fun with your head stuck in the footwell. Another night spent high as a kite!! 

Then it was a case of scrubbing with scotchbrite and turps to remove the oxidation and key what was left of the original coating ready for painting.

The shot to the left was the floor after removing the adhesive and scouring ready for the POR15 treatment. As with the wishbones, it was a case of degreasing with marine clean which you leave on for about 15 mins, agitating every few minutes. Then  it has to be washed thoroughly and dried. I used a heat gun as the liquyid gets iunto the seams at the edge of the floor and it it's not dry the final finish would be spoilt. After that it was the metal ready stage. It takes about 30 mins after which again it has to be washed off and the floor once more dried off well with the hot air gun. After that the area was masked off ready for painting with the POR15 silver. Painting takes a while because the POR15 has to go on thinly otherwise it 'pulls' quite badly. Started with the edges using a thin brush, then a larger brush in the centre followed by a small foam roller which left a really good finish.

A second coat went on 3 hours later, again using a roller to get a good finish. Again like with the wishbones i was really pleased with the finish and it should be really hard wearing and last a few seasons hopefully. I can definately recommend the POR15 products but you must follow the instructions carefully and take your time... and it will take you a long time!

By the end of the weekend I had finished both footwells. I still have the floor area beneath the seats but should be able to get that done during the weeknights.