Painting top of outriggers with the body on
Discussion
As the best summer in a long time is now a distant memory, I decided that is was time to take the car off the road for a few weeks and get a couple of bits tidied up. Chassis is rock solid, been over it with a fine tooth comb (a.k.a. my homemade USB endoscope made from a flexible drain cleaner pipe threaded with a USB camera), but both the outriggers were showing some sign of surface corrosion, so time to strip back to bare metal and get everything treated as best as possible.
Using the endoscope, I was able to get a good look around the top of the tubes and pleased to say that while the powder coating was starting to flake the tops are solid. The worst parts are around where the dirt collects and sits in the front corners, but after a good clean out these were found to be not too bad. All in all, still solid, and with some good treatment a few more years shouldn't be a problem.
I have gone down the POR15 route after doing a fair bit or reading through different threads on here. A rust proof clear coating followed by a white flexcote on top. So far I just got the clear rust proof stuff on, but thought I would share a few photos for those that are interested.
The challenging part was top of the tubes, which many will know is next to impossible to get them inspected, cleaned up and painted in any meaningful way. Not to be put off, I came up with a method for doing just that. The first part was cleaning them up, which I used some sand paper to get all the flaky powder coat of and take them back to metal as much as possible.
After a clean up, the painting part involved using a piece of plastic shaped with the contour of the tube with a firm brush material attached and a fiberglass flexible rod zip tied to it. It is possible to get it all the way along the front section (in front of the body mount bolts) and mid section, by going around the side of the tube toward the back of the body, where the gap between the body and the chassis opens up. With a modified coat hanger, you can move it along the top of the tube and apply pressure (POR15 was applied to the "brush" before it was threaded above the outrigger tube) to make sure it gets where it needs to be.
Overall, managed to get a good application all the way along and am quite happy with the results. When it is dry tomorrow I shall inspect with the endoscope and post some more pics. I will then do the same with the flexcote, and hopefully have a nicely treated pair of outriggers by the end of it.
Nearside front of outrigger with the waxoil stripped back:
Nearside front of outrigger stripped back with wire brush drill attachment
Outrigger paint brush that I made
Outrigger paint brush coated with POR15
Outrigger paint brush in action (you can just see the sides of it and the POR15 running down the side of the tube from the top after being applied)
Using the endoscope, I was able to get a good look around the top of the tubes and pleased to say that while the powder coating was starting to flake the tops are solid. The worst parts are around where the dirt collects and sits in the front corners, but after a good clean out these were found to be not too bad. All in all, still solid, and with some good treatment a few more years shouldn't be a problem.
I have gone down the POR15 route after doing a fair bit or reading through different threads on here. A rust proof clear coating followed by a white flexcote on top. So far I just got the clear rust proof stuff on, but thought I would share a few photos for those that are interested.
The challenging part was top of the tubes, which many will know is next to impossible to get them inspected, cleaned up and painted in any meaningful way. Not to be put off, I came up with a method for doing just that. The first part was cleaning them up, which I used some sand paper to get all the flaky powder coat of and take them back to metal as much as possible.
After a clean up, the painting part involved using a piece of plastic shaped with the contour of the tube with a firm brush material attached and a fiberglass flexible rod zip tied to it. It is possible to get it all the way along the front section (in front of the body mount bolts) and mid section, by going around the side of the tube toward the back of the body, where the gap between the body and the chassis opens up. With a modified coat hanger, you can move it along the top of the tube and apply pressure (POR15 was applied to the "brush" before it was threaded above the outrigger tube) to make sure it gets where it needs to be.
Overall, managed to get a good application all the way along and am quite happy with the results. When it is dry tomorrow I shall inspect with the endoscope and post some more pics. I will then do the same with the flexcote, and hopefully have a nicely treated pair of outriggers by the end of it.
Nearside front of outrigger with the waxoil stripped back:
Nearside front of outrigger stripped back with wire brush drill attachment
Outrigger paint brush that I made
Outrigger paint brush coated with POR15
Outrigger paint brush in action (you can just see the sides of it and the POR15 running down the side of the tube from the top after being applied)
Nice Brush!
I think the outriggers can rust from the inside out, so I
drilled a 10mm hole in one end & sent a 8mm pipe along there which was attached to a trusty garden sprayer.
I then reached 35psi & pressed the trigger as i slowly pulled the 8mm hose back along the inside of the outrigger whilst spraying.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
Once all done, a small blob weld to seal & grind weld & paint.
Will do again this year but will try & copy your brush idea,thanks.
I think the outriggers can rust from the inside out, so I
drilled a 10mm hole in one end & sent a 8mm pipe along there which was attached to a trusty garden sprayer.
I then reached 35psi & pressed the trigger as i slowly pulled the 8mm hose back along the inside of the outrigger whilst spraying.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
Once all done, a small blob weld to seal & grind weld & paint.
Will do again this year but will try & copy your brush idea,thanks.
gerradiuk said:
Nice Brush!
I think the outriggers can rust from the inside out, so I
drilled a 10mm hole in one end & sent a 8mm pipe along there which was attached to a trusty garden sprayer.
I then reached 35psi & pressed the trigger as i slowly pulled the 8mm hose back along the inside of the outrigger whilst spraying.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
Once all done, a small blob weld to seal & grind weld & paint.
Will do again this year but will try & copy your brush idea,thanks.
Fortunately the outriggers don't rust from the inside out unless they have already been badly holed in the corners.I think the outriggers can rust from the inside out, so I
drilled a 10mm hole in one end & sent a 8mm pipe along there which was attached to a trusty garden sprayer.
I then reached 35psi & pressed the trigger as i slowly pulled the 8mm hose back along the inside of the outrigger whilst spraying.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&am...
Once all done, a small blob weld to seal & grind weld & paint.
Will do again this year but will try & copy your brush idea,thanks.
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