Tag: consumables

REPAIRS – Paint Removal Tests

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The roof of Beavis has some deep scratches and surface rust caused by (I think) running the car through the woods under some tree branches. The paint needs to be removed, and I have a couple of methods to test:

1.) Chemical paint stripper, and some elbow grease with a metal scraper.
2.) A ‘flap’ disc attached to an angle grinder
3.) A coating removal disc like the ones from 3M
4.) Palm sander with coarse sand paper

The chemical paint stripper works reasonably well, but there’s a lot of manual work with the scraper, and it’s not a pleasant chemical. The flap disc removes the paint and primer very well, but also scuffs up the metal a bit much and leaves lots of scratches in the surface.

Get the Lead Out

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Received an auto body solder kit today that I purchased off of eBay. It was $89.99 plus shipping. The item is the Eastwood Body Solder Leading Kit Basic with DVD.

I thought this would be a better product than the usual plastic body filler (like the Bondo brand). I’ve read that the plastic fillers are moisture magnets. Plus, I think that sticking some more metal on the car has to be a stronger repair than plastic.

Kit includes two paddles for spreading the lead, a body file and file handle, 1 lb. of tinning butter, 1 lb. tin of tallow (to keep the wood paddles from igniting, I guess), five acid brushes to spread the butter, eight sticks of lead (30/70 solder, actually), and an instructional DVD. Of course, you also need some kind of torch (think I will get an inexpensive propane torch.)

DISASSEMBLY – Part 6

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Started removing the window glass today, beginning with the rear window, and then the side windows. The rubber molding was dry-rotted so it was fairly easy break apart with fingers and careful use of a screwdriver. The glass came out easily; I’m surprised at how thin it is, it seems like my 1970 Beetle rear window was much thicker.
The rear windows and side windows are all marked as made by Sekurit. Don’t know if there’s a way to tell if it’s original glass or not. I’ve been looking for an original front windshield since mine is badly-cracked, but after reading several posts on TheSamba.com about original glass being fragile, I think I need to research it a little more and make sure I choose the safer windshield (if not the rest of the windows glass). Laminated vs. tempered vs. original vs. new.
Once I removed the side windows and rear window, I was glad to see that the rust spots around the windows rims were not bad, or at least they weren’t as bad as I thought they would be. I was afraid I would be welding-in patches or lead-soldering some sections. The windshield damage remains to be seen.

In addition to removing some glass, I also began treating some rusty fasteners with Kroil penetrant to aid in their removal later.

Total time: approximately 40 minutes. Photos follow.