I painted my rear end (the cars' not my ass) this weekend. The hardest
part was getting all the grease and rust off the sucker. I cleaned the
rear with a putty knife, then used gunk and simple green, and scraped with
a putty knife and scrubbed with a wire brush. It took a couple of hours
but the thing is clean now.
I removed the rust with an angle grinder and some wire brush attachments.
I have one of those $20 Harbor Freight angle grinders. The thing works
pretty well but is really noisy. When it breaks, and it will I will
replace it with a real one, like a Dewalt. If you don't have an angle
grinder get a cheap one, you will love it. Then upgrade when it won't
do the job or breaks. I also bought 2 dewalt wire brush at $14 each.
They are great. One is a cup and the other is twisted wire wheel. Don't
catch the wire wheel in your shirt, it makes a mess.
I then preped the axle with a rust converted and primed with an etching
primer. I then painted it with POR-13 (15?) chassis paint (not the paint
over rust stuff). It looks good and I think that paint will be very tough.
Only time will tell.
I am still looking for a better way of degreasing parts. I think it is time
I spring for either a parts washer or get a 5 gallon lid for all my old
joint compound buckets. Not sure what would be the best way to handle
large parts. Maybe a pressure washer would work, but I think I am to tight
to spring for one. Degreasing old cars and parts is a RPITA. I need
a better way to handle parts off the car, and the car itself. When you get
everything clean, working on the car is much less of a mess.
My thoughts for the day.
Bill Gilroy
77 Midget
90 Shar-Pei
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