My new car - 1958 Self-tapper special

[garethj]

Boing for this topic.Since the family came back from their holiday in August I've spent about 5 hours on the whole car in a month. In that time I've discovered the previous owner got the A posts fitted for later door hinges so when I eventually got my (lovingly repaired) original hinges in, the door was about 2 inches too far forwards That's now been corrected and I've got the A post bolted to the spaceframe and 1 layer of GRP tape to the inner wing just so I can make sure it all fits. And it all fits The driver's door is on and closes pretty well although I won't know for sure until the glass etc is on and see how much it drops. They did it from new apparently....Next stop: passenger's door!I've put the revcounter in with its new mechanical cable and that seems to work ok, it's got a lovely bouncy movement when you blip the throttle but I wouldn't say it's particularly accurate.Wiper mechanism is built and wired up although I still need some fiendish method to join the new switch with the old knob. Washer bottle is in but I haven't put the pump in yet.The original bonnet lock was apparently done with panel pins so I found some locking ones and put them on. I'm fairly sure any thieving scrotes wouldn't find anything of any use (no blue LEDs or massive K&Ns) but having no bonnet lock at all seems a bit insane in this day and age.

[garethj]

The kids are all back, might as well get them helping if I can....

 

Yeah, big help there

 

There's the spaceframe, then a big empty hole and the inside of the wing. This gap is filled with the door hinge panel which is 3 parts. And they're all rusty You can also see the fibreglass transmission cover and the overdrive solenoid. I'm fairly sure they should be hidden.

 

Driver's side is on, I need to put some more fibreglass tape on to reinforce the door panel. There's a bracket in there which holds the door release mechanism in place, the hinge bolts go right through it, trapping the door between the 2 steel parts. I've cut the rust out and held it in loosely so I can see how much metal I need to put in there.

 

A pic with a successfully closed driver's door. It took flippin' ages to do so I'm proud of it. Even though the door is a bit scabby and only had one coat of paint on it, compared to the four-ish on the rest of the body. Note scabby (but much cheaper and actually working all the time) Polo sticking its nose in.

[scooters]

garethj - very interested in this ancient thread and to find out how you got on with the rustoleum - some of the guys on the total-LDV forum use it for painting their vans especially campervans - if you want a tidy, glossy finish and you are not interested in concourse it looks like a cost effective and hardy way to preserve a vehicle - because of this I am thinking that painting the Sherpa with it could be a very good idea - it had a shite paint job 2 years ago and there is already quite a bit of rust bubbling through - given that a 'maritime' maintenance schedule is what I am after - to keep the van on the road as long as possible - this could be the best option - to that end - do you have any tips?

 

cheers

 

Rich

[Station]

That is lovely - are you doing it in white, as I think it'd look absolutely ace in white - or is that just gel coat/primer? It looks like a 100,000+ car.

[Rocket88]

That's lovely, how's it coming along?

[dollywobbler]

Sadly I think this was actually sold a while back. It's a bit of a blast from the past!

[garethj]

As DW said, this was punted on due to threatening redundancy and a gradual running down of my vast personal fortune. I’ll sue the kids as soon as they’re old enough.

 

Scoots, the paint was very easy to apply. You need to make sure all the rust has gone first or it’ll just bubble through again, that’s the thing which will take the time. Once you’ve got rid of the rust and a rattle-can coat of primer on there, you can get going with the foam rollers. I diluted mine quite a lot so there was almost no orange peel, however it took a lot of coats to cover it.

 

A hosepipe set to ‘dribble’ and good quality wet & dry paper and it’s very quick to get a good shine on the paint, then you can wipe it with thinners on a rag and put the next coat on.

 

Very little masking, no mess, no smell, it’s 4 WINNAZ!!1!