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Death or Glory! Nick attempts to work under the car
As well as 6 sided sockets being better than 12, the sockets which use the flats are much better than both 12 or 6 sided! I've got some seriously rounded nuts off with wall-bearing sockets.
I feel your pain regarding working on ya back, I have been there lol, this is under my M3, it wasn't quite as bad as yours but still took a bit of time to do.
Jeff you absolute bastard. Every photo I show now will look crap. I aspire to your level and ability.
YOU INSPIRE ME, THANKS MATE
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Nick,
That was the idea, the car was rebuilt in a single garage at home, ok I sent every thing out for blasting and I painted it all at work, also sent all the bolts and brackets off for plating.
My Tribute is heading the same way, it will have to go on the ramp to be wax oiled soon, I wont be going too mad with it as it will be up for sale soon.
As I said, thanks. I will be trying my best but I start from a point of no experience and learning as I go along. I listen and look at those that know and attempt to copy.
I post my threads so that other first timers don't need to make the same mistakes as me.
I don't mind being honest about my mistakes and learnings but sometimes just watching people who are experts can become daunting.
Having said that, can the experts keep on posting the right way to do things so I can continue to learn.
Bloody typical - Sunday is pisses down the whole day and then Monday when I am back at work the sky is blue and not even a breeze. Fortunately I am working from home today so managed to nip out for a few minutes. I didn't have time to go under the car, getting dirty and trying to remove the remaining three nuts but I did manage to use the dry weather to take the front ARB I removed earlier outside to clean it.
As the ARB is just a solid lump of metal and I was standing outside wather than tucked under the car I felt happy using the angle grinder with a big wire wheel on it. So I started with this: 20180122_104257 by WCA!, on Flickr
And less that 2 minutes later I had this: 20180122_104504 by WCA!, on Flickr
The whole thing done and dusted within 10 minutes, including getting the tools and stuff out of the garage and putting them back. 20180122_110218 by WCA!, on Flickr
I wish I was brave enough to use the angle grinder under the car, it would have been so much quicker. Having said that when using it standing I was getting hit in the legs with the occasional loose wire, if I was lying under the car then they would have been bouncing off my face and head.
looks good. If you need to really make sure all the rust is gone, then I recommend Hammerite Rust Remover, which does exactly that - I used it on the rear brake hubs for my Quantum over 10 years ago -(ok only 9 if those have been outside), but after painting they have stayed good (liquid or for this, the jelly version). I add that it's the only Hammerite product I'd use - I think Hammerite paint is the Devil's product!
The angle grinder is not as aggressive as you may think, try it on an old panel with paint on and you will see that it removes the paint but does not damage the metal at all. Just make sure you are using a metal brush with the gold/brass coloured wires, you can get heavy duty thick wire cups but they are very aggressive.
If working under the car I would suggest a balaclava (the one you go stalking in) and a good tight set of goggles and decent gloves.
I find the wires spin off into my jumper, real pain to pick out.
TFR350 - Metal degreaser dilute 1 :25 cleaner to water so 5L should last me the rest of my life.
POR15 Metal Prep - Creates the perferct surface for the rust treatment
POR15 Sliver - I whole silver so I would get good contrast to the black top coat rather than painting black over black
Gloss Black Top Coat - Covers the POR15 which degrades in UV apparently
Cheapest brushes I could find as POR15 does not clean out of brushed.
Gloves because POR15 does not was off skin, you literally have to wait for the skin to flake off. I got some on my forehead 2 weeks before a friends wedding and despite repeated scrubbing for 12 days I ended up using a razor to shave my forehead and remove it.
Hopefully I will never need to touch the underside again.
Wow - Certainly a thorough job! I like the idea of silver followed by an 'overcoat' of black - If any chips off you'll easily spot it. Re the brushes - have you tried cleaning them with acetone? The benefit of good brushes is being able to get a good even/brush mark - free finish very quickly, but I'd certainly not want to throw away a brush costing £8
Bit pricey those brushes, I buy the 2", 24 brushes for £9.35 inc P+P Ideal for fibreglassing and slapping on some paint underneath. Postage is a bit slow.
I am now wondering about getting a slightly softer wire brush for the angle grinder and doing the whole underneath of the car.
Do I want the hassle and disturb what looks okay on the surface?
Do I want to do this all again in a years time when I realise there was rust under the original paint?
I use a cordless angle grinder, far less power but then far less chance of doing myself any damage.
If you hunt around they are quite cheap as bare units if you can find one which takes the same battery as something else you have.
I have been back under the car again for a short break from work and think I probably will get a soft wire brush for the grinder and give it all the once over. There are enough 'little bubble' on the original grey paint to suggest more rust lurks beneath.
The reason I was back under the car was to try and remove the three remaining nuts holding the rear ARB on.
The first one I had reasonable access to so having decided that it was not coming off using any nice method I resorted to cutting a groove into it with the Dremel and then beating seven shades out of it until it moved. Pipe pliers helped once it had freed a little. Watch out for shattered cutting discs when doing this, goggles perhaps? 20180122_165300 by WCA!, on Flickr
The next two nuts promise to be more challenging because of where they are located. They both do the same thing which is to hold a rubber bush in place between the car and a plate that hooks in at one end and bolted at the other. We are working at the bolted end. 20180122_165613 by WCA!, on Flickr
The challenge is that the ARB blocks access on two sides of the nut, the bracket blocks another side and the final side is blocked by a metal plate that appears to be part of the old exhaust hanger (possibly?).
So basically you have a rusty nut to which you have no real access except with a 13mm socket that just spins. 20180122_165420 by WCA!, on Flickr
The passengers side is slightly better as it doesn't have the exhaust plate but there is a different bit of metal blocking access to close to use a short 13mm spanner. The ratchet ring spanner shows how tight space is as that will not fit over the nut because the ARB blocks it. 20180122_165545 by WCA!, on Flickr
I have quit for tonight and am on a client site tomorrow so you all have 24 hours to solve the problem.
On that one I would use a deep six sided socket, the type that grips the flats. Breaker bar an a piece of pipe on the end of the breaker bar.WD40 overnight. As soon as the nut "cracks", 1/2 turn undo followed by 1/4 turn tighten. Helps to get the crud out of the threads, similar to tapping a thread. Make sure you don't snap the stud, otherwise you're buggered.
As a last resort use a nut splitter.
Very interesting, I'll mix some ATF/acetone and give it a try, I have loads of spray bottles I can put it in.
I have always used WD40, last time I bought WD40 was about 15 years ago from an autojumble, £10 for a 5 litre container and a spray bottle to decant it into. Still must be a third full.
I used WD40 because I picked up 5 litres for about £10 years ago. To be honest having taken that one nut off yesterday I don't think any amount of any penetrating oil would have helped.
The challenge with the remaining two is the fact they are sat in hollows so I cannot get easy access from any side. I agree there are better penetrating fluids that WD40 and will probably get something else anyway.
I would be tempted to tack weld a nut onto the existing nut as that creates a lot of heat and gives a good new nut to try and undo but will try those special sockets first as there is not much room under the car to wave my welding stick about
