----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, July 04, 2004 8:22
PM
Subject: Repairing Datsun SSS's
Some of you may be interested in
my preparation for repainting of my 1600SSS. I've wanted to repaint it since I bought it six
years ago. The original alkyd enamel is in excellent
condition, but its that baby's poo brown colour,
not attractive, although very distinctive of its
"era".
I have stripped everything off the car,
except the front and rear suspension. Stripped out all the interior
trim, trim glue off the interior panelling, and removed sound deadening
from the floor areas. I dug out all the seam
sealant around the floor, including the boot. I sand blasted all the heavy guage sheet metal areas inside the
cabin, boot and engine bay. Sand balasting is a good way to ensure all the old colour
is removed from all the crevices, the welded on brackets and
tabs, and to ensure the new paint sticks in those hard to sandpaper
places.
By hanging plastic drop sheets around the car
and standing it on black plastic, I have been able to recover and reuse most
of the blasting medium (garnet), using my trusty garage vacuum
cleaner. My sand blaster is a "Supercheap" $22 model and its
going fine in these cold, dry conditions using a water trap and 90PSI pressure . It was
not good in humid summer climate, as I found out when I tried to
start the job earlier in the year. The expanding air caused water to
form in the gun, blocking the sand suction tube
regularly.
I have found with practice I can blast off
the top coat and leave the undercoat in most flatter areas. I use
a breathing mask to ensure I dont suck in too much of the dust and
garnet.
I have sprayed a first coat of etch
primer and a second coat of primer/filler. If
you sandblast, make sure you suck all the sand out of every
body crevice before painting, otherwise it will blow out when you
spray on the paint, leaving a gritty finish. I will use the sand blasting method on the door jambs and the door
frames, but not the door skins.
I wont sand
blast the outer panels as they are thinner and sandblasting could
distort them. The exterior paint consition is very good and the
panels are perfect, so there is no need to rub back to bare metal
outside.
I
am procrastinating about the new colour, it has to be one of the
original factory colours, to keep the originality of the car. I
dont have to decide the colour yet as its too cold to paint a top coat in my
shed during winter.
In between sand blasting and painting, I
have been cutting out the rust in panels on my other project, a
180BSSS. I am chopping out replacement body sections to weld back
into the rust removed areas.
The 180BSSS doesn't have a
great body like my 1600SSS, but it was free and I like the challenge of
rebuilding it to give me a Datto that I dont mind
flogging in a bit of motor sport! I have just found a good Datrally
engine to add to my collection, so I'm feeling motivated to get them
both going (and get rid off a heap of parts and panels stored in my
shed).
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