1958 MGA Coupe

[MYBAD79]

can't go wrong with red.... anything looks good painted red

I guess that's why they call it resale red.... ooops, did I just paint my VW red ??

lol

 

[Sam Cogley]

[
I'd recommend getting a blasting cabinet big enough to do wheels. Even the cheap Harbor Freight example is pretty nice - my dad and I recently got one of those after getting tired of the little benchtop we'd been using for over a decade. It won't help out with body work, but at least you can do some pretty big items while keeping things a lot cleaner and using far less media.

I dont want to highjack but...
Even cheaper, build one.
Cost me 2 4X8 plywood, two toilet bowl flanges, pair of long sleeve gloves and a cheap sandblast gun.
I build it between the two garage doors, it's 30 by 30 and painted the interior white.
By the way the paint holds on pretty good.

works ok, but got to keep the humidity under control, cheap gun tends to clog up.

http://vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2702&highlight=sandblast


Ok back to thread.
Great job Bob.

Less than $200 when it's on sale at HF, and I had a 20% off coupon handy so I got it for about $150. There are times when it's simply easier to buy something than build it.

 

[1Michel]

There are times when it's simply easier to buy something than build it.

Maybe, but is it 30 by 30 and 36 in high?
I can blast pretty big parts in there and if I take off the bottom grills even bigger parts.. I didnt have any problem blasting the rear crossmember,try that with your HF unit...
+ it custom made to fit between the garage doors, so even at 200$ I like it and it wasnt a big deal to build.

Anyway it was just a suggestion.

Bob, Any sample of red we could look at?
I'm curious.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I have the HF one it was 189 - 20% + 9% tax.... - other than it leaks, and is really hard to see inside - it's great.

I wonder if there's a silver paint I could put on the inside of mine that would help with seeing?

 

[Sam Cogley]

Upgrade the light and make sure you have a supply of the stick-on window protectors.

 

[bobs77vet]

i had a medium size HF sand blast cabinet and i sold it when i moved last, it just wasnt worth the effort to me. the cancer you get from the dust i think its called silicosis that you get from breathing the dust is scary stuff. so i figure with all the shit i have inhaled over the years i would just eliminate that from the equation.

this is the color. this is with out any color sanding or buffing just a rough spray coat with the clear over it. since its a camper and sits out side we figured we would let mother nature do the buffing...

 

[MYBAD79]

Silicosis is no fun - the $50 for the good respirator is well spent money..... people get lung cancer because they're breathing this crap (sand-silica) day in, day out.... with proper protection it's not an issue .... well, this doesn't help those who died fron this crap but hopefully prevents further deaths.....

that red is going to look good, are you going to use the rustoleum again or go for base/clear???? with that work,time,effort invested you really should buy some DP epoxy and some Deltron base..... Ebay has this stuff for 50% off.... SPI is really great clearcoat......

just some ideas....

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

i simply don't use sand in my sand blaster... aluminum oxide works fine however it is a bit spendy

 

[bobs77vet]

that red is going to look good, are you going to use the rustoleum again or go for base/clear???? with that work,time,effort invested you really should buy some DP epoxy and some Deltron base..... Ebay has this stuff for 50% off.... SPI is really great clearcoat......

just some ideas....

i have never used rustoleum (except brush on for frames), but i see that rustoleum has an automotive finish system at the local auto stores, i used on the camper a duplicolor lacquer and it is a base coat with a clear coat as a finish. lacquer is an original material on this car and the car was sprayed apart and then together again before the fender piping is put on and thats how you get the original overspary on the fender bolts. lacquer is really easy to spray "and repair" and i have lots of experience with it. i will look at those other paints you mentioned. i have seen cars primed with the lime green epoxy primer that have sat out side for months at repair shops because bills never got paid and there was no rust through, it was really impressive

 

[Sam Cogley]

That's why you don't use sand with free silica in a "sandblaster" as any instruction manual or vendor with half of a functioning brain will tell you. You're not going to get silicosis from glass bead (silica, but not free silica), crushed garnet, slag, etc. Hell, if you buy a bag of playground sand at Home Depot, it will say in big letters on the bag "don't use for sandblasting."

 

[MYBAD79]

i have never used rustoleum (except brush on for frames), but i see that rustoleum has an automotive finish system at the local auto stores, i used on the camper a duplicolor lacquer and it is a base coat with a clear coat as a finish. lacquer is an original material on this car and the car was sprayed apart and then together again before the fender piping is put on and thats how you get the original overspary on the fender bolts. lacquer is really easy to spray "and repair" and i have lots of experience with it. i will look at those other paints you mentioned. i have seen cars primed with the lime green epoxy primer that have sat out side for months at repair shops because bills never got paid and there was no rust through, it was really impressive

yup, it was Dupli Color.... not Rustoleum...... I remembered that you used something other than the commonly used base/clear or single stage urethane. The camper looks great, actually quiet impressive considering that you used paint thatvthey sell at AutoZone...
that epoxy comes in several colors, PPG DP40 is white but it comes in grey and black too, think it's called DP50 and DP45.... this primer is also a sealer, it is not hygroscopic like regular primer so once sealed you can leave the car outside in the rain....

 

[bobs77vet]

well it turns out i can drag my feet and whine and moan just like efverybody else.....i needed to tackle the radiator valance panel which was badly pin holed but have been talking my self out of it....so yesterday i spent 90 minutes filling pin holes which was a total waste of time, welding wire, welding gas....but it brought me here





admittedly i am a tool junkie but not necessarily a tool snob....my welders are all lincoln or hobart but this little baby was the least expensive plasma cutter you find on ebay...i think it was $170 with a 2 yr warranty



15 minutes later...

the guide for the straight cut, if you look to the right ontop of the saw horse you can see an 8x8 1/4" steel plate wrapped in copper sheeting that i clamped to the bottom in some spots to fill the pin holes









my 90 mins of pissing in the wind



and 15 minutes of light work



oh well the path is clear now.....

 

[Sam Cogley]

$170 plasma cutter?!? Is it 120V or 220V?

 

[bobs77vet]

$170 plasma cutter?!? Is it 120V or 220V?

just like my small lincoln TIG it can be either one i have it wired for 220

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

nice - I've always wondered at the quality of those, granted, I won't be replacing my thermal dynamics one for awhile - however, saving money is awesome when it works out :thumbs:

 

[bobs77vet]

admittedly it was a gamble....i just didnt know if i would ever use it enough (like my small lincoln TIG) to warrant a real unit. so i figured with a 2 yr warranty and high ebay user satisfaction % for the seller it was worth the gamble. i have had it for 1.5 yrs so far with no issues. i think the inverter technology is really solid these days.

 

[SuperBuickGuy]

I flipped the proverbial coin as well - but I was replacing a broken plasma; and at the time thermal dynamics was giving $500 trade in on old, broken machines. A bit of negotiation with my local, well visited welding shop and I was out the door at $700 including tax with a brand new machine.... for me, that was double the chinese ones; so it was kind of a special situation in which I got a name brand..... at that time, I was so irritated at thermal dynamics because the machine was fine, but the board was toast.... and they didn't make replacement boards - so it truly wasn't as clear cut of decision as I'd like (would have to replace either if they broke with a new machine) but my welding store basically said they'd cover me - and while I don't trust TD, I do trust them...

 

[bobs77vet]

you know thats a shame you would think TD would stand behind their stuff.....and the real tool companies wonder why we buy less expensive stuff

one more hour



panel flanger from Jc whitney 20 yrs ago...





tomorrow night I will recruit some help and bead roll the X in the middle, you really need some one to turn the crank while you feed through the machines

 

[bobs77vet]

45 mins tonight, laying out the panel bead and i recruited a daughter to crank the bead roller....final fitting tomorrow night. i should have just done this to begin with it looks really good.

 

[MYBAD79]

You make me want to buy sheetmetal tools. That's great work, that X looks really good ..... Now if I get into sheetmetal work I need to buy some rustbucket that needs many panels replaced