Not too much going on with this thing. I've just been doing the OE replacement stuff lately. Since my last updates I've done -
Distributor
Starter
Alternator
AC belt
Alt belt
Powersteering belt
PCV valve
Front A arms
All new exhaust from cat back
NOS speedometer cable
Cowl screw 'plugs' (mine were brittle and leaking)
Spark plugs
Wires
Front rotors and ceramic pads
As far as the parts I still have but need to install I've got
Energy Suspension shifter bushings
Energy Suspensions shock bushings (rear)
Energy Suspensions LCA bushings (rear)
Trailing arm bushings
New passenger mirror
and a repainted valve cover.
Right now I'm getting quotes for a timing belt service to be done on it so I can knock out some leaks at the same time. It really needs axle seals but I can't get the CV shafts out of the hubs without destroying them. I also need to replace the power steering pressure hose because it's leaking at the crimped end at the pump. Currently 200 miles shy of 218K. Interesting enough the dizzy, alt, and starter were all OE, so either someone replaced them with OE at some point or they were the original ones that went out after 210k+ miles.
The DA is needing axle seals really bad at this point, but that damn seized drivers side axle is making this more of a task than it needs to be. I'm thinking I'll just put lower balljoints in my other spindles and swap them out to beat the axles out of the old ones. I'm hoping I don't have any troubles with them coming out at the trans/halfshaft side.
Good to see the care you are taking. JDM big valve B20 is a fantastic option for the future.
I'm struggling with a stuck axle on the Rat sedan also.. Both times I've attempted removal I've felt I'd crack the transmission case if I exerted any more force or leverage on it.. At a loss really..
I'm thinking it will come to pulling the entire spindle but I really don't want to. If it wasn't such a fucking pain to fill the transmission I'd just keep doing that. LOL
BFH didn't do the job. My buddy and I spent an hour one night after work trying to get one shaft out on a lift with a mini sledge. I have no idea the last time they were replaced, I'm really hoping they aren't stuck in the trans/halfshaft side too.
In other news I just got a new set of Bendix rear rotors and ceramic pads. Next up I think I'm going to find a set of spare rear control arms to do bushings in so I can swap them out at home easier than having the car down while I take the arms somewhere to get the old bushings out.
I just ordered new factory replacement engine mounts and the AC mount for the car. With the heat or AC on the vibration through the steering wheel will make your teeth chatter. Hopefully it quiets down all the little dash noises too!
Yea it really is, and it hides grease/oil well. haha I want this thing to appear as stock as possible so I figured I would go black wrinkle on the valve cover.
Good stuff. Scrape the letters with a razor blade and then hit them with a fine file. It looks so much better than sanding them. Gives it a nice crisp machined look. I see valve covers with sanded letters and they just look so meh in comparison to the nice wrinkle finish. Soft and rounded.
I had planned on using a file, but hadn't thought of using a razor but I'll give that a shot! Sanding is usually a pain in the ass and is easy to fudge up the area around the letters.
if the paint is still wet, you can use a heat gun to help speed up the curing process. it took a while for it to fully wrinkle for me, about a half a day.
What product did you use? In reading your post again you said that was after the first coat? When I've used wrinkle paint it's been in three somewhat thick coats. With only 15 or so minutes between coats if I recall correctly. I didn't see any wrinkle out of it until about 2 hours into dry time and it didn't fully cure for about three days.
At this point I probably have 4+ coats since I have started painting it. I try to not spray it on days when it's going to get cold. I want to say it's VHT wrinkle coating, but I'd have to look at the can at home. Here is a current photo.
Yeah I don't know if it can be re-coated. I have a bit of that problem on this MG cover I'm working on it has a lot of vertical flat spots, which seems to be an area that doesn't wrinkle as well. Let me know if you figure anything out, I'll do the same. I'm gonna try laying it on the side and letting the side that didn't wrinkle face upwards so it doesn't run down at all.
Will do! The can said if it did not wrinkle to apply another coat and see, but no matter how many coats so far and as evenly as I try to spread it will it wrinkle on that side. The other sides appear to be fine. I did notice some areas on the top that didn't wrinkle all that great, but it's not as noticeable as the front side shown.
In thinking about it some more it could also be the direction of the paint hitting those spots. It seems like on the vertical faces you're more likely to spray the paint at it directly. Which can cause a lack of wrinkle since it needs the directional pattern to pull against itself. I flipped my valve cover on its side and hit it with another three coats of paint. Blocking off the already wrinkled stuff with some paper. When I get back home from work I'll check and see if it wrinkled up.
Yep, my suspicions were correct. Do you have a heat gun? If so, that'll help with this. So the vertical faces that got too much paint coming at them dead on, just weren't able to get the tension going to cause any wrinkle. One single coat likely won't do it.
What I did was set it so whatever face didn't get the wrinkle was laying up. That way I can get to it evenly from all directions. You probably get what I mean, but in case anyone doesn't know it's just coming at it from the 6 o'clock position. Then next pass come at it from say 3 and then another one at maybe 10 or 11 so it has very different spray directions hitting it. And if you get your can lower to it's spraying across the surface more than directly down at it, that's a huge help.
The reason I mention a heat gun was because I had to get to work, and I wanted to get this knocked out so I could see the results when I got back home. I hit it with a good coat, then 30 or so seconds going over it evenly with the heat gun at medium heat. That way it dried just enough to get the next coat on. If you don't then you can just wait the 5 minutes between coats. I was in a rush though, and as the pictures will show below, it worked a treat.
So here's how it was before retouching. Which is I assume what you're talking about having. You said it was a bit hard to make out in the pics, but I think this is what you mean.
And on the end as well.
So I basically laid the valve cover down so that this side was now facing up, allowing me to get the good angles around it.
I came home, and this is what that same face looks like now.
I still have to get the end, but I wanted to make sure this worked before hosing the whole thing down again.
But yeah, that's what you need to do. If you have any questions on it hit me up, or shoot me a PM and I'll give you my cell. Do it to it!
Excellent, I look forward to the update. If I were doing more than just one or two of these every couple years I'd honestly think about setting up a jig that held the cover by the inside. That way I could rotate it around without touching it, because really the best result is achieved when you come at it from a low angle and are spraying across the surface instead of dead on at it. A jig would help with that greatly. Maybe I can figure something out that would let me hold multiple things.
Either way, I'll stop rambling. Can't wait for the final result for you.
I wasn't really able to get a much better finish on it than what it had. I don't know if it's just the fact there is too much moisture in the air or too cold when I have the chance to spray it. I'm going to give one more shot using your method and if it doesn't work, so be it. haha
If it's above 50 you should be all right when you spray it. And yeah, there are some spots on this MG cover that aren't 100% but it's good enough for government work as it were. Not sure if the heat gun gave mine an added boost but where I did paint where I also used the heat gun the wrinkles are nice and fat.
Comments
Distributor
Starter
Alternator
AC belt
Alt belt
Powersteering belt
PCV valve
Front A arms
All new exhaust from cat back
NOS speedometer cable
Cowl screw 'plugs' (mine were brittle and leaking)
Spark plugs
Wires
Front rotors and ceramic pads
As far as the parts I still have but need to install I've got
Energy Suspension shifter bushings
Energy Suspensions shock bushings (rear)
Energy Suspensions LCA bushings (rear)
Trailing arm bushings
New passenger mirror
and a repainted valve cover.
Right now I'm getting quotes for a timing belt service to be done on it so I can knock out some leaks at the same time. It really needs axle seals but I can't get the CV shafts out of the hubs without destroying them. I also need to replace the power steering pressure hose because it's leaking at the crimped end at the pump. Currently 200 miles shy of 218K. Interesting enough the dizzy, alt, and starter were all OE, so either someone replaced them with OE at some point or they were the original ones that went out after 210k+ miles.
I'm struggling with a stuck axle on the Rat sedan also.. Both times I've attempted removal I've felt I'd crack the transmission case if I exerted any more force or leverage on it.. At a loss really..
In other news I just got a new set of Bendix rear rotors and ceramic pads. Next up I think I'm going to find a set of spare rear control arms to do bushings in so I can swap them out at home easier than having the car down while I take the arms somewhere to get the old bushings out.
New rear rotors
New rear pads
New short shifter
New Energy Suspension shifter bushings
New O2 sensor
Oil change
Trans flush with Honda MTF
Next up it putting my repainted valve cover on and doing the cam plug.
DIY?
It was kind of hard to get a good picture of.
What I did was set it so whatever face didn't get the wrinkle was laying up. That way I can get to it evenly from all directions. You probably get what I mean, but in case anyone doesn't know it's just coming at it from the 6 o'clock position. Then next pass come at it from say 3 and then another one at maybe 10 or 11 so it has very different spray directions hitting it. And if you get your can lower to it's spraying across the surface more than directly down at it, that's a huge help.
The reason I mention a heat gun was because I had to get to work, and I wanted to get this knocked out so I could see the results when I got back home. I hit it with a good coat, then 30 or so seconds going over it evenly with the heat gun at medium heat. That way it dried just enough to get the next coat on. If you don't then you can just wait the 5 minutes between coats. I was in a rush though, and as the pictures will show below, it worked a treat.
So here's how it was before retouching. Which is I assume what you're talking about having. You said it was a bit hard to make out in the pics, but I think this is what you mean.
And on the end as well.
So I basically laid the valve cover down so that this side was now facing up, allowing me to get the good angles around it.
I came home, and this is what that same face looks like now.
I still have to get the end, but I wanted to make sure this worked before hosing the whole thing down again.
But yeah, that's what you need to do. If you have any questions on it hit me up, or shoot me a PM and I'll give you my cell. Do it to it!
Either way, I'll stop rambling. Can't wait for the final result for you.