Projects Giant speedster project

Nice shade of red. Perfect.

 

Chassis Paint part 2

As you recall, in our last episode, Jerry and Israel gave up painting after being dulled by overwork and fatigue. The question I faced was can I spray over the new paint after it dries or do I have to scuff it. The tech line lady said I could repaint without scuffing after 16 hours but not after 24 hours. This left a window that fell last night between 11PM and 7 AM. In a way this was good because A, it would be cool and B, I wouldn't blow overspray on anyone's car. The bad news is that I arrived at 11PM and it took me until 3AM to finish the job. Near the end I was a zombie, spray gun in one hand and a spotlight in the other. So it's done. Yeah, I had a few runs but they were on the inside of the frame where no one would see them. The color in the pics is not right. It's actually a very dark red. Next question: The wheels have aluminum wheel covers but what color to paint the back side. Black? Aluminum? Red?

Jerry

 

I know this sounds crazy, but I think a nice cream color on the back of the wheels would look good IMHO!

 

RED! Definitely red.

 

Jerry, it looks great, but next time get that Betty up in the air!!! My vote is for black on the back of the wheels.

 

Jerry,

I like black as a counterpoint to the red. Is that the red you plan to use on the body, or are you planning on using a lighter shade? Was that sealer black? It looked grey on my computer. Chassis looks great by the way, can't wait to see the body in color.

Don

 

I had this crazy idea of a cream colored body.

 

I was going make the body the same red color but I had this flash on a cream body. Maybe with red frame cover/aprons. I'll have to think on it as I prep the body. The sealer was black. I picked black because I wanted the red to look really dark but in hindsight the black was real hard to cover. Grey would have been better probably.

Jerry

 

That's an awful lot of cream (Moby Dick). Maybe two tone cream and red, with a scalloped break on the sides, red fore and cream aft.

 

I agree

 

My color sense stinks. I'd have to see it. Maybe I saw something like that on a Duesie.

Jerry

 

This Duesie has the side scallop I am talking about except I see it turned around the other way to give impression of forward motion, as opposed to this car where it frames the spare.

Red front/cream back. Of course the exact placement of the scallop on your Speedster might be a little different as you would want to accent the lines.

 

Brake fluid

I tore the plastic off the engine to get the overall effect. Pretty cool! Back when I stripped the chassis, I got some brake fluid on the backing plate that I had painted with POR 15. The brake fluid took off the POR 15! I thought that stuff was impervious to everything. Wrong! So today I bead blasted the backing plates and repainted them with epoxy paint. I hope brake fluid won't effect epoxy. I'm switching to silicone fluid anyway. Then I got carried away and beadblasted everything and painted it with epoxy. BTW I'm leaving on vacation Friday so you guys may have to keep up the conversation without me--unless they have internet on the ship and they don't charge for it.

Jerry

 

For a guy who don't know nuthin' about colors, the red, black and light and dark gray sure look good. The brass is icing on the cake.

 

You mean you're not taking it along to fuss with when things get quiet?

It's looking great as always Jerry- have a good vacation!

 

Really looking good. I have to smile every time I open this thread. What am I gonna do while you are gone? I am addicted to the updates. I hope withdrawal isn't too painful.

I used to work with a guy that helped me on big paintjobs. his favorite line was that the unwrapping unmasking was better than Christmas. We always had beer involved in that stage. I could see a celebration when uncovering that engine once the frame was done.

Vacations are not acceptable in the middle of a project.

 

Jerry, here are a few more.






I have had a lot of experience with dot 5 and it is not compatible with dot 3 at all. If you change over, I suggest cleaning the lines thoroughly and replacing the master and slave cylinders, I always had problems if I tried to just flush them.

Looks great, happy vacation, get inspired.

Don

 

Most cruise lines charge for it. atleast thats been my expierence. Have a safe and fun trip and we look forward to more updates when you get back.

 

x2 on the problems that arise if you mix DOT3 and DOT5. Are you dead set on the DOT5?

It is possible to flush out the DOT3 with cleaner but any left behind will clot when the DOT5 hits it.

It is a common error when the motorcycle guys top off a DOT5 system with DOT3. New masters, lines and calipers result as no shop will take the liability of one of the gooey clots is left behind.

 

DOT3, DOT5 Everything is so complicated! I worked with a Cuban mechanic in Miami once. He said in Cuba, because they couldn't get brake fluid, they used soapy water. Weird! Maybe I can wangle a trip to the Carnival engine room.

Jerry

 

back up afew pages yellow brushed over the red base

 

Jerry,
You might research silicone brake fluid a bit. While it does not harm paint & has a higher boiling point it does not absorb nor disperse moisture like glycol fluid does. This sounds good until you find that condensation in the system lays at the bottom of the cylinders & quickly destroys them. All brake fluid needs to be changed once in a while but silicone fluid needs it much more often.

Your paint is looking good!

Jack

 

Good luck on that and hope you can pull it off. The mechanical side of cruise ships is the latest no-no in terms of bad person threats. I suppose they think that someone is going to make a fast getaway. Anyway, those areas tend to be off-limits nowadays, and that is a shame. More CYA bureaucracy. Anyway, have a great trip and I hope you can get in to see those really big motors! (If you can, find out what type of paint they use over rust and what type of surface prep they do when the surface is half rust and half old paint.)

 

Jerry,
Silicone brake fluid also compresses; makes the petal feel spongier.

Personally I'd rather see one of the old reciprocating jobs with scotch boilers, than the new digitized diesels; better save my money for a trip to Lake Geneva, or the River Clyde, where they still run.

Don

 

Pedal arms

I only had a few hours to work since we are getting ready to leave tomorrow morning. I had to rework the pedal arms and the welds weren't all that pretty. Lucky for me Mr. Bondo showed up and prettied everything up. Pics aren't that great. And speaking of pics, maybe I can catch some pics of Brazilian girls at the pool for you guys.

Jerry

 

I've been using silicone brake fluid since 1991 and think it's the cats-ass for cars not driven daily.

 

I agree, silicone fluid does have it's good points, but I still believe whenever changing from 3 to 5 or 5 to 3, replacing or rebuilding all cylinders and either replacing or flushing the lines is essential. The two do not mix, they form a sort of chocolate pudding mess, and any cylinder seems to fail quickly after a change,even when flushed thoroughly . Unless I am rebuilding the entire system, I always just use what was already there.

 

Absolutely!
Silicone fluid won't mix with DOT 3 or 4 brake fluid.

 

Carnival Update

.75/minute!

Lots of bikini'd bodies but all I can think about is the speedster. Must be getting old! This cost me $1.50

Jerry

 

Ahem a post w/o pics is no good