Delays and Distractions
Looks like I am in another delay phase. Last Sunday was spent attending a birthday party on the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay, This Sunday is Fathers Day and my family wants to take me to brunch which ought to usurp any work at the shop. I may also loose July 6th due to the holiday.
Here's a thought. How about inviting my sons to go out to the shop after breakfast this Sunday and teach them how to do something basic, like an oil change. I'll think about it.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Monday, June 2, 2008
New Approach to Rear Window Patch
Yesterday ended up a milestone in my approach to repairing the E9's rust damage even though it did not start out that way. I decided to abandon my plan to make a one-piece patch for the area under the rear window. What prompted the change was the seemingly insurmountable problem of getting the piece to curve in both a fore-aft direction and laterally. The new plan is to cut most of the way through the patch, leaving the bottom edge intact, to allow the piece to flex, turning a straight line into a smile.
Before I reached that plan I cut the patch into two pieces to try to achieve the same thing. It was really hard to make that first cut.
Last week was All British Car Day and next Sunday is an outdoor birthday party for one of my wife's friends, so progress has definitly slowed a bit. I did manage to get the Lotus safety checked yesterday, but it needs new rubber pieces for the side marker lights. Dave Bean doesn't have them, so getting that straightened out may take some time.
Yesterday ended up a milestone in my approach to repairing the E9's rust damage even though it did not start out that way. I decided to abandon my plan to make a one-piece patch for the area under the rear window. What prompted the change was the seemingly insurmountable problem of getting the piece to curve in both a fore-aft direction and laterally. The new plan is to cut most of the way through the patch, leaving the bottom edge intact, to allow the piece to flex, turning a straight line into a smile.
Before I reached that plan I cut the patch into two pieces to try to achieve the same thing. It was really hard to make that first cut.
Last week was All British Car Day and next Sunday is an outdoor birthday party for one of my wife's friends, so progress has definitly slowed a bit. I did manage to get the Lotus safety checked yesterday, but it needs new rubber pieces for the side marker lights. Dave Bean doesn't have them, so getting that straightened out may take some time.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Finishing Up the Putty Patches
Sunday was a really beautiful day in Honolulu and I got a lot done on my E9. The volcano on the Big Island is erupting and for several weeks the winds have been coming from the south, blowing clouds of sulpher ladden gas over Oahu that make Honolulu look like Beijing in August. On Sunday the wind, what little there was, came from the East. The sky was blue. No rain. Spectacular.
Next Sunday is the annual All British Car meet. I'll be there with my '74 Lotus Europa, and because the weather was so nice I drove the Lotus to the shop. The problem with that is that people keep coming over to ask about it. I love showing off my Lotus, but I love working on my E9, too.
The first order of business was to grind down the putty I applied last time. My trusty CP 854 4"grinder cuts through the POR-15 Epoxy Putty with ease, but the contours around the tail light are too complex for a grinder, so I switched to a hand sanding block loaded with 40-grit paper. A lot slower than the grinder, but accurate.
Like I said before, I don't want to grind down to the surrounding metal surface for fear the patch will fall out the back. In this case this works well because for unknown reasons there is a thick layer of primer in this area and my putty patches should not be thicker than the surrounding finish. I guess the proper technique in thinner spots will be to dimple in the edges of the holes.
As the hand sanding progressed I could see where I was starting to sand through some of the surrounding POR-15 paint I had appled previously. I decided it was more important to level and feather the putty spots, which meant I would have to repaint the exposed areas. When I was done feathering I roughed up all of the surrounding POR-15 coat with 400-grit and painted everything. Next time I'll apply another coat and start building thickness with some kind of aerosol primer, using the black layer as a check layer.
I spent the rest of the time tweaking the patch for below the rear window. I continued what I started last week, using a pair of vice grip pliers to restore the bends, then carefully shrinking, stretching, and twisting to align the piece with the cut out slot where it will go I got to where the patch fits inside the slot, but it needs more tweaking.
One thing I need to buy is some aerosol sanding primer compatible with my base coat paint system.
I finished the day with a drive out to Hawaii-Kai where I sat outside Starbucks watching Japanese tourists gawking at the Lotus.
Next Sunday is the annual All British Car meet. I'll be there with my '74 Lotus Europa, and because the weather was so nice I drove the Lotus to the shop. The problem with that is that people keep coming over to ask about it. I love showing off my Lotus, but I love working on my E9, too.
The first order of business was to grind down the putty I applied last time. My trusty CP 854 4"grinder cuts through the POR-15 Epoxy Putty with ease, but the contours around the tail light are too complex for a grinder, so I switched to a hand sanding block loaded with 40-grit paper. A lot slower than the grinder, but accurate.
Like I said before, I don't want to grind down to the surrounding metal surface for fear the patch will fall out the back. In this case this works well because for unknown reasons there is a thick layer of primer in this area and my putty patches should not be thicker than the surrounding finish. I guess the proper technique in thinner spots will be to dimple in the edges of the holes.
As the hand sanding progressed I could see where I was starting to sand through some of the surrounding POR-15 paint I had appled previously. I decided it was more important to level and feather the putty spots, which meant I would have to repaint the exposed areas. When I was done feathering I roughed up all of the surrounding POR-15 coat with 400-grit and painted everything. Next time I'll apply another coat and start building thickness with some kind of aerosol primer, using the black layer as a check layer.
I spent the rest of the time tweaking the patch for below the rear window. I continued what I started last week, using a pair of vice grip pliers to restore the bends, then carefully shrinking, stretching, and twisting to align the piece with the cut out slot where it will go I got to where the patch fits inside the slot, but it needs more tweaking.
One thing I need to buy is some aerosol sanding primer compatible with my base coat paint system.
I finished the day with a drive out to Hawaii-Kai where I sat outside Starbucks watching Japanese tourists gawking at the Lotus.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Fun with putty, more shrinking and stretching
This post covers last week and this week. Last week was the Sunday after our gamelan concert on Saturday night, so I got a late start and was very tired even then, with the result that I did not accomplish very much. This Sunday was Mother's Day, but that did not cut into my car time because we had dinner at my mother-in-law's, as usual. Chinese food, from Duk Yee, classic local style Cantonese food. The lesson in all this is that when you undertake a large project, be it a car restoration, a house remodeling, or building a boat in your backyard, you need to allow time for the multitude of activities that life has to offer. It's all about balance.
Note: When I was uploading the pics for this blog to Flicker the response time was ridiculously slow. The uploader even dropped one pic, so that was will appear on Flicker out of sequence. I suspect the reason was people uploading pics from their Mother's Day activities. I upload using Flicker Uploadr for Mac OS X.
The last time I wrote I had ground out some rust-throughs around the right-hand rear tail light to experiment with POR-15 Epoxy Putty as a small hole patching solution. The last step that day was to do the POR-15 wash - prep - paint routine. Last week I mixed up my first batch of putty and filled in the holes.
In anticipation of the putty gushing through the holes I cut a piece of cardboard to function as a backing. The idea was to get the putty to spread out on the back side of the panel. This worked very well, although the cardboard has to be helped by a slender screw driver. As I worked the putty I discovered that even with the cardboard the putty would ooze through the holes rather than build up a solid slug, so I stopped trying to do it in a single step. I let the putty form valleys, or craters, where the holes were, the idea being to use those as a foundation for a second application. This worked really well.
The cardboard did cause the putty to form mushrooms on the back side of the panel, which is a good way to make it stick. I suppose I should consider window screen, too, especially for larger areas that I can reach. This section was difficult because there is an inner panel blocking easy access (thus the cardboard trick).
Today began with grinding down the putty. I am pleased to report that POR-15 Epoxy Putty is perfect for grinding. It feels harder than typical body filler, yet it grinds cleanly and with good control. As easy as cake.
In this next pic you can see where I have ground away most of the high spots, and how this reveals the places where I let the putty push though the holes. Those darker areas are not holes, they are just sunken in a bit. There are three large areas along the top edge of the tail light opening, plus one closer to the trunk opening.
I did not want to grind down to bare metal as this would break the POR-15 seal. It might also weaken the putty patch so much it will fall in. This entire area was ground down to bare metal, and getting there required grinding through a thick layer of primer and paint. So my plan is to create a rivet head effect, and build up the surrounding area back to original thickness using more traditional means.
After grinding I roughed up the recessed areas with 400 grit sandpaper, then mixed up a small batch of putty and filled in the low spots. While it was setting I worked on the rear window patch. At the end of the day I ground down the second layer and discovered that I had not used enough at the upper-left corner of the tail light opening, so I added some more.
The sheet metal work was all about dealing with the height of the piece. I was very close with the curve, but the center was too high. I decided to work on the right-hand side first, and to bring the end up by shrinking the top edge and stretching the bottom. Up until now I always did the same operation on both edges.
After stretching the bottom the work had a lot of twist.
Shrinking the top took out a lot of the twist, and to get ride of the rest I held the work in the vise and twisted it by hand.
As I worked on the fit I noticed that the two lengthwise bends were opening up. I had made these by bending the piece along the edge of a steel table, but now that the piece was curved I could no longer do it that way. First I tried holding the work gently in the vise and bending with a vice-grip plier with a broard clamping jaw. This worked well in some places, but sometimes it was too tight, so I ended up holing the piece on the table with another vice-grip plier. I did't get of photo of that. It worked, but it is slow.
After working the entire right half I ended up focusing my attention on the last foot, and managed to get back the original shape. Next time I will have to continue the process all the way to the other end.
Note: When I was uploading the pics for this blog to Flicker the response time was ridiculously slow. The uploader even dropped one pic, so that was will appear on Flicker out of sequence. I suspect the reason was people uploading pics from their Mother's Day activities. I upload using Flicker Uploadr for Mac OS X.
The last time I wrote I had ground out some rust-throughs around the right-hand rear tail light to experiment with POR-15 Epoxy Putty as a small hole patching solution. The last step that day was to do the POR-15 wash - prep - paint routine. Last week I mixed up my first batch of putty and filled in the holes.
In anticipation of the putty gushing through the holes I cut a piece of cardboard to function as a backing. The idea was to get the putty to spread out on the back side of the panel. This worked very well, although the cardboard has to be helped by a slender screw driver. As I worked the putty I discovered that even with the cardboard the putty would ooze through the holes rather than build up a solid slug, so I stopped trying to do it in a single step. I let the putty form valleys, or craters, where the holes were, the idea being to use those as a foundation for a second application. This worked really well.
The cardboard did cause the putty to form mushrooms on the back side of the panel, which is a good way to make it stick. I suppose I should consider window screen, too, especially for larger areas that I can reach. This section was difficult because there is an inner panel blocking easy access (thus the cardboard trick).
Today began with grinding down the putty. I am pleased to report that POR-15 Epoxy Putty is perfect for grinding. It feels harder than typical body filler, yet it grinds cleanly and with good control. As easy as cake.
In this next pic you can see where I have ground away most of the high spots, and how this reveals the places where I let the putty push though the holes. Those darker areas are not holes, they are just sunken in a bit. There are three large areas along the top edge of the tail light opening, plus one closer to the trunk opening.
I did not want to grind down to bare metal as this would break the POR-15 seal. It might also weaken the putty patch so much it will fall in. This entire area was ground down to bare metal, and getting there required grinding through a thick layer of primer and paint. So my plan is to create a rivet head effect, and build up the surrounding area back to original thickness using more traditional means.
After grinding I roughed up the recessed areas with 400 grit sandpaper, then mixed up a small batch of putty and filled in the low spots. While it was setting I worked on the rear window patch. At the end of the day I ground down the second layer and discovered that I had not used enough at the upper-left corner of the tail light opening, so I added some more.
The sheet metal work was all about dealing with the height of the piece. I was very close with the curve, but the center was too high. I decided to work on the right-hand side first, and to bring the end up by shrinking the top edge and stretching the bottom. Up until now I always did the same operation on both edges.
After stretching the bottom the work had a lot of twist.
Shrinking the top took out a lot of the twist, and to get ride of the rest I held the work in the vise and twisted it by hand.
As I worked on the fit I noticed that the two lengthwise bends were opening up. I had made these by bending the piece along the edge of a steel table, but now that the piece was curved I could no longer do it that way. First I tried holding the work gently in the vise and bending with a vice-grip plier with a broard clamping jaw. This worked well in some places, but sometimes it was too tight, so I ended up holing the piece on the table with another vice-grip plier. I did't get of photo of that. It worked, but it is slow.
After working the entire right half I ended up focusing my attention on the last foot, and managed to get back the original shape. Next time I will have to continue the process all the way to the other end.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Distractions
I am looking at two "lost" Sundays. Lost from the standpoint of working on my E9. Last Sunday I had a bunch of things to do, culminating in a terrific concert by Debashish Bhattacharya at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. This Sunday my wife and I will be riding in the Haleiwa Metric Century Ride.
You can find more information about the ride at the Hawaii Bicycling League web site http://www.hbl.org/
Debashish is actually an old friend of mine, as is his brother Subhasis and his sister Sutapa. They have been on a U.S. tour since the beginning of April and have concerts in California and New York. More at http://www.debashishbhattacharya.com/
I am looking at two "lost" Sundays. Lost from the standpoint of working on my E9. Last Sunday I had a bunch of things to do, culminating in a terrific concert by Debashish Bhattacharya at the Honolulu Academy of Arts. This Sunday my wife and I will be riding in the Haleiwa Metric Century Ride.
You can find more information about the ride at the Hawaii Bicycling League web site http://www.hbl.org/
Debashish is actually an old friend of mine, as is his brother Subhasis and his sister Sutapa. They have been on a U.S. tour since the beginning of April and have concerts in California and New York. More at http://www.debashishbhattacharya.com/
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Got Putty
Last week I was disappointed with POR Patch. I was expecting something like the old lacquer filler that came in a tube. Maybe it still does. The stuff was green, didn't run, dried fast, and sanded easily. POR Patch is a thick liquid, so thin I had a hard time filling even small holes. During the week I discovered that Red Line Automotive carries POR-15 Epoxy Putty, and stopped by after work to by a box. Inside the box are two heavy plastic bags, marked A and B. The instructions say to mix equal amounts. Sounds like what I was looking for.
In the same photo is the tub of micro-balloons I bought to thicken POR Patch, and a bottle of POR-15 solvent. The micro-balloons are used in fiberglass work. Finding the putty may make this solution OBE, but I want to try it. I got the solvent because both times I painted with POR-15 my latex gloves leaked and I had black fingers for a week.
I must admit I was surprised to discover that the patched areas from last week were incredibly strong. I thought I would be able to push the paint right out of the small holes, but no such luck. POR-15, including the patch stuff, cures to something like phenolic. I pressed really hard with my fingernail and did not leave the slightest impression.
I decided that the best way to use the putty would be on top of a POR-15 base coat. Otherwise any rust remaining under the putty would continue to spread, weakening the foundation and eventually breaking through the surface. Maybe, maybe not. So today was about preparing a place to try the putty. I won't be able to try it until next week.
The area I chose is above the RH rear tail light. There are several small rust-throughs I thought might be suitable. To find out I had to grind away the thick layer of filler and primer that seems to be all over this car. Sure enough, what appeared was a perfect place to continue practicing the POR-15 application sequence that would provide a few places to try the putty.
After grinding away the first section of filler just above the tail-light I paused to take a picture, to show how thick the finish is. I don't thing the photo captures how much junk is on top of the sheet metal. I think the rust-throughs are an example of what happens when bondo and filler were used to repair damage. Even the best top coat is not waterproof. Eventually enough moisture can leach through the paint to reach the steel. Left untreated, it slowly starts to rust. Not so much deeper as spreading out. As I ground out the rust-through I would extend the area, exposing a thin layer of rust under the primer. I kept going, and eventually the metal under the primer was clean.
The next set of photos are after I treated the area with Metal Ready. This time I worked extra hard rinsing after using Marine-Clean, the super-detergent degreaser, but again I got bubbles what I applied Metal Ready. I hope it does not interfere with the process. I didn't bother taking a final photo; just imagine the treated area all shiny and black, and you've got it.
This time I used double gloves, and not a drop got through. But, stupid me, after everything was cleaned up I decided to get back to my shrinker tool, which meant moving the paint pot, which had drips running down the outside. So I got to test the solvent, and it works fine.
To recap, I spent about an hour grinding, ten minutes to apply Marine-Clean, fifteen minutes to rinse (a lot of trips to the sink to get clean water), a break to let it dry followed by a heat gun to finish the drying, fifteen minutes to apply Metal Ready, going around and around to keep it wet, then break for lunch. After lunch I hit it again with the dryer to ensure a bone-dry surface (rust soaks up liquids), ten minutes to paint. The trick is to clear the right amount first, and today I got it just right.
With the painting done I used the rest of my time, about an hour, tweaking the rear window patch. I finally trimmed the ends a bit. Not to final size, but enough so that I could lay the piece closer to where it will end up. It was back and forth between the shrinker and stretcher, starting with the stretcher to undo some of last week's effort. In the end I was a lot closer, but there is still a little tweaking to do. The piece still has a twist to it, which I never could control with the new tools. I got out most of it just twisting it -- it is steel, after all. I am more worried about a little arch that may have crept in. In other words, the piece is now almost perfect viewed from above, but viewed from the back the upper edge might be high compared to the ends. More next week. Maybe I'll even weld it in!
In the same photo is the tub of micro-balloons I bought to thicken POR Patch, and a bottle of POR-15 solvent. The micro-balloons are used in fiberglass work. Finding the putty may make this solution OBE, but I want to try it. I got the solvent because both times I painted with POR-15 my latex gloves leaked and I had black fingers for a week.
I must admit I was surprised to discover that the patched areas from last week were incredibly strong. I thought I would be able to push the paint right out of the small holes, but no such luck. POR-15, including the patch stuff, cures to something like phenolic. I pressed really hard with my fingernail and did not leave the slightest impression.
I decided that the best way to use the putty would be on top of a POR-15 base coat. Otherwise any rust remaining under the putty would continue to spread, weakening the foundation and eventually breaking through the surface. Maybe, maybe not. So today was about preparing a place to try the putty. I won't be able to try it until next week.
The area I chose is above the RH rear tail light. There are several small rust-throughs I thought might be suitable. To find out I had to grind away the thick layer of filler and primer that seems to be all over this car. Sure enough, what appeared was a perfect place to continue practicing the POR-15 application sequence that would provide a few places to try the putty.
After grinding away the first section of filler just above the tail-light I paused to take a picture, to show how thick the finish is. I don't thing the photo captures how much junk is on top of the sheet metal. I think the rust-throughs are an example of what happens when bondo and filler were used to repair damage. Even the best top coat is not waterproof. Eventually enough moisture can leach through the paint to reach the steel. Left untreated, it slowly starts to rust. Not so much deeper as spreading out. As I ground out the rust-through I would extend the area, exposing a thin layer of rust under the primer. I kept going, and eventually the metal under the primer was clean.
The next set of photos are after I treated the area with Metal Ready. This time I worked extra hard rinsing after using Marine-Clean, the super-detergent degreaser, but again I got bubbles what I applied Metal Ready. I hope it does not interfere with the process. I didn't bother taking a final photo; just imagine the treated area all shiny and black, and you've got it.
This time I used double gloves, and not a drop got through. But, stupid me, after everything was cleaned up I decided to get back to my shrinker tool, which meant moving the paint pot, which had drips running down the outside. So I got to test the solvent, and it works fine.
To recap, I spent about an hour grinding, ten minutes to apply Marine-Clean, fifteen minutes to rinse (a lot of trips to the sink to get clean water), a break to let it dry followed by a heat gun to finish the drying, fifteen minutes to apply Metal Ready, going around and around to keep it wet, then break for lunch. After lunch I hit it again with the dryer to ensure a bone-dry surface (rust soaks up liquids), ten minutes to paint. The trick is to clear the right amount first, and today I got it just right.
With the painting done I used the rest of my time, about an hour, tweaking the rear window patch. I finally trimmed the ends a bit. Not to final size, but enough so that I could lay the piece closer to where it will end up. It was back and forth between the shrinker and stretcher, starting with the stretcher to undo some of last week's effort. In the end I was a lot closer, but there is still a little tweaking to do. The piece still has a twist to it, which I never could control with the new tools. I got out most of it just twisting it -- it is steel, after all. I am more worried about a little arch that may have crept in. In other words, the piece is now almost perfect viewed from above, but viewed from the back the upper edge might be high compared to the ends. More next week. Maybe I'll even weld it in!
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The Shrinker Finally Arrived
Talk about a slow boat to China. Well, from China to the mainland and then back to Hawaii. It was mid-February when I ordered a metal shrinker and stretcher set from Harbor Freight. To be fair they did quote 4-6 weeks shipping to Hawaii because to hold down the cost it had to go by sea. Sure seems longer than that. Like six months. Time does not always fly.
When the box arrived at home I opened it up and was not pleased by what I found. The inside was full of styrofoam bits. It looked as though mice had moved in. Nuts and washers were rattling around inside because the platic bag of hardware had a big hole in it. I gathered up what I could find and put it in a zip lock. Today at the shop the first thing I did was to take everything out and clean it up.
There was more unhappiness. Lots ot dings and scratches. The paint on the bottom of both tools was worn off as if they had been used. Was this a demo? A return? I was starting to have bad thoughts about Harbor Freight. Then it occured to me that all of the wear could be explained by the condition of the styrofoam packing. These tools are unusually heavy. They traveled thousands of miles rubbing against each other due to inadequate packaging. No wonder they don't look fresh.
There was already a hole in the bench near my car so I bolted down the shrinker and experimented with some scrap. My first attempt was with the same steel I was making patches with. When I pushed down the lever nothing happened. I was worried it was too thick. Great, I'll have to buy thinner stock and start over with the rear window patch. Aluminum was a snap. Then I tried inserting the steel part way, and that worked. I had to push down pretty hard, but it worked.
With that worked out I start to practice on the end of the rear window patch I had previously messed up -- the hammering I had done on the left side resulted in the patch bending the wrong direction. Immediately the end started bending the way I anticipated, but I could not be sure how that would affect the end result. I needed to shrink both edges to get the whole thing to arch the right way, so I flipped the piece around and worked on the opposite side. Sure enough, the piece began to arch, just as I had hoped it would, only way too much.
Now I know why Harbor Freight seemed so intent on selling the shrinker and the stretcher as a set. I mounted the stretcher and experimented undoing some of the shrinking I had done, and it worked perfectly.
Inspired, I went back to the shrinker and went to work on the whole piece. Applying what (little) I had learned, I did not press so hard and I advanced the work a little farther between presses. Even then, when I was done with the second side I had too much curve. I was a also out of time, so I left the stretcher tweaking for next time. Despite overshooting the curve I came away feeling really good about this progress, the first time I had felt that good in a long time.
Last week I expressed my disappointment with POR-15 as a filler for small holes, and with leaky Latex gloves. During the week I checked their web site to see if I needed a different type of glove (nope, they sell Latex) and while looking for the answer I stumbled across this: POR-15 Putty really is a slightly thicker POR-15 paint, in a tube. They also sell a filler, and its description sounds like what I expected putty to be. I don't remember seeing it at Redline Automotive, but I'll check tomorrow.
One thing I did buy during the week was a canister of fiberglass microballons, which are intended to be used in fiberglass construction to build up fairings. I was going to experiment with it as a POR-15 thickening agent today but the arrival of the shrinker kind of took precedence. Besides, it was a wet, rainy day, not the best for paint that sets from moisture in the air.
Last week I tried building up a fill on a larger sized small hole by covering the hole with masking tape and painting from behind. It sort of worked. Well, on the POR-15 web site they describe the same technique, only they suggest putting the tape on the back side. Interesting.
One thing that is killing me is the week-long delay between sessions. So, when the instructions say to wait four hours before applying a second coat, I'm out. Back when I was building radio-controlled sailplanes I used a lot of cyanoacrylate glue. As fast as it was drying, there were times when an extra kick was a real help, and for that I used a spay-on activator. Maybe if I sprayed some water on POR-15 I could create the same effect? I could sure get a lot more done in a day.
Finally, the guy with a nice '76 Corvette was back today in the stall next to mine. His name is Derrick. I took a couple of pictures on his car, just for the heck of it.
When the box arrived at home I opened it up and was not pleased by what I found. The inside was full of styrofoam bits. It looked as though mice had moved in. Nuts and washers were rattling around inside because the platic bag of hardware had a big hole in it. I gathered up what I could find and put it in a zip lock. Today at the shop the first thing I did was to take everything out and clean it up.
There was more unhappiness. Lots ot dings and scratches. The paint on the bottom of both tools was worn off as if they had been used. Was this a demo? A return? I was starting to have bad thoughts about Harbor Freight. Then it occured to me that all of the wear could be explained by the condition of the styrofoam packing. These tools are unusually heavy. They traveled thousands of miles rubbing against each other due to inadequate packaging. No wonder they don't look fresh.
There was already a hole in the bench near my car so I bolted down the shrinker and experimented with some scrap. My first attempt was with the same steel I was making patches with. When I pushed down the lever nothing happened. I was worried it was too thick. Great, I'll have to buy thinner stock and start over with the rear window patch. Aluminum was a snap. Then I tried inserting the steel part way, and that worked. I had to push down pretty hard, but it worked.
With that worked out I start to practice on the end of the rear window patch I had previously messed up -- the hammering I had done on the left side resulted in the patch bending the wrong direction. Immediately the end started bending the way I anticipated, but I could not be sure how that would affect the end result. I needed to shrink both edges to get the whole thing to arch the right way, so I flipped the piece around and worked on the opposite side. Sure enough, the piece began to arch, just as I had hoped it would, only way too much.
Now I know why Harbor Freight seemed so intent on selling the shrinker and the stretcher as a set. I mounted the stretcher and experimented undoing some of the shrinking I had done, and it worked perfectly.
Inspired, I went back to the shrinker and went to work on the whole piece. Applying what (little) I had learned, I did not press so hard and I advanced the work a little farther between presses. Even then, when I was done with the second side I had too much curve. I was a also out of time, so I left the stretcher tweaking for next time. Despite overshooting the curve I came away feeling really good about this progress, the first time I had felt that good in a long time.
Last week I expressed my disappointment with POR-15 as a filler for small holes, and with leaky Latex gloves. During the week I checked their web site to see if I needed a different type of glove (nope, they sell Latex) and while looking for the answer I stumbled across this: POR-15 Putty really is a slightly thicker POR-15 paint, in a tube. They also sell a filler, and its description sounds like what I expected putty to be. I don't remember seeing it at Redline Automotive, but I'll check tomorrow.
One thing I did buy during the week was a canister of fiberglass microballons, which are intended to be used in fiberglass construction to build up fairings. I was going to experiment with it as a POR-15 thickening agent today but the arrival of the shrinker kind of took precedence. Besides, it was a wet, rainy day, not the best for paint that sets from moisture in the air.
Last week I tried building up a fill on a larger sized small hole by covering the hole with masking tape and painting from behind. It sort of worked. Well, on the POR-15 web site they describe the same technique, only they suggest putting the tape on the back side. Interesting.
One thing that is killing me is the week-long delay between sessions. So, when the instructions say to wait four hours before applying a second coat, I'm out. Back when I was building radio-controlled sailplanes I used a lot of cyanoacrylate glue. As fast as it was drying, there were times when an extra kick was a real help, and for that I used a spay-on activator. Maybe if I sprayed some water on POR-15 I could create the same effect? I could sure get a lot more done in a day.
Finally, the guy with a nice '76 Corvette was back today in the stall next to mine. His name is Derrick. I took a couple of pictures on his car, just for the heck of it.
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