This past weekend I bought some paint and thought that I would finally scratch that itch to paint -- not acrylic enamel, but urethane. I decided to paint the door hangers because they were in a zillion pieces and I was fearful of losing some. I settled on a paint called Sequoia Cream, which was an MG color from 1950 (Ditzler code 81271). See http://www.mgcars.org.uk/mgccy/colours.htm Well, the result was awful. First, I left some of the parts at home, which meant an extra 2 hours on the highway to fetch them. Worse, I don't know how to paint and the few pieces I hit looked really crappy. Consequently on Monday I went to U-BLAST on the lunch hours (plural) on Monday and cleaned the metal again. On Tuesday I went to a crappy body shop near my house and asked them to paint them. They agreed and today I picked them up. A couple hours later they were all assembled. They didn't do a good job, but it's good enough. I'm beginning to sense that my pedantic nature will lead me to gradually sour on the project as circumstances cause me except conditions other than perfection. Does anyone else feel that way? When the rest of the van is painted I'll have the errors touched up. That said, the color is friggin' awesome. It matches the original color which was well preserved under the mahogany paneling. It's very creamy and kinda seems correct for the vintage. When I assembled them the paint kinda peeled away where the ball bearings touch the rolling surfaces, but I think that's inevitable.
Also on the past weekend I built these platforms for my front axle and rear differential. The rear differential is number 4339 (see photo above). Later I began painting each black, but ran out off paint. I'll tackle that next month. If anyone has a photo of the metal clamps (see the photo above) that secure the emergency brake cable I would be pleased to see them.
Does anyone know where the Silentbloc bushings can be sourced?
Does anyone if those front "pins" -- the greases ones that anchor the front springs -- ever had a rubber sheathing They didn't when I removed mine. Are they readily available anywhere?
2 comments:
Hi Charlie, Yes my standards have dropped, my first few vehicles were bad, I got better with age, I did a fantastic job on my postal morris minor van. A last nut and bolt job, all bolts replaced with stainless steel versions, I had the chassis galvenised, all parts fitted were new. I spent three time what the vehicle was worth. When it was finished I showed it off, but more and more got worried if it was going to rain, if the roads were being mended and I was going to get stone chips all over it.
It became un-drivable, to good to use. I now as you know do "work a day" restorations, how an every day van would have been treated. Yes a bit rough and ready but your not worried where you park it, will somebody hit it when opening a car door etc.
Make it safe to drive, make it reliable, use and enjoy. Front shackle pins, you will have to get them made up at a machine shop. Also a second package has been posted to you today. Regards magpie
All leaf spring pins are just metal, the rear rubber bushes on the leaf springs are "top hat" shaped and are similar to morris minor ones. The front metal pin on the front leaf springs are just metal in to the metal loop of the spring, These need greasing very very often, the handbook states every 500 miles, I do mine very often, they do "dry" out very quickly. regards mags
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