kevin s's blog

[rich.]

what type of blaster do you have? ive bought a couple in the past & to say they were rubbish is being polite

[TerryG]

I've got a 12 bore. it's definitely not rubbish.

Making your own guttering is damn impressive. I've got some rot in the gutters of my mog which I am avoiding dealing with as it is such a bugger to get to.

[tractorman]

Rich, without trying to put words into Kevin's mouth (so to speak), I think he has a blasting pot rather than a gun. I only suggest this as one of his photos shows the top of it and it looks like mine! If you go to the link in one of my posts, you will see my pot. I bought it on eBay about three or four years ago and, apart from the mess and using a lot of sand, it is pretty good. It needs a fairly large compressor and, ideally a large tank, but I have done some fairly hefty blasting (including a manhole cover!) with the relatively small tank on my compressor.

I think my main problem is that I am tight - so I try to make the media last too long! Also, as much of my work is old tractor stuff, I tend to run at higher pressure than would be needed for sheet metal - this makes the dust problem a lot worse!

Nice work with the gutters Kevin, I wish I could motivate myself to make a decent folder. I have the metal but don't do enough with sheet metal to justify making a folder, so end up with rough bends made in the vice!

[kstrutt1]

Been in Germany and Belgium for work all week so no progress on cars.

Blaster is just as described above, it does get through the media pretty quickly, to do the two A pillar parts which were quite heavily rusted used virtually a whole 25kg bag, fortunately in the cabinet it can be retreived.

The folder has been very usefull, over the years I have saved a fortune by making my own repair panels, for my landrover which originally had a series 3 dash I managed to make a complete series 2 dash, using the folder and a piece of round bar, the A pillars were also made on it as have been loads of repair panels for the minor.

[kstrutt1]

Finished fitting the gutter and gringing back the welds this weekend, it still need a little tidying but has come out pretty well.

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Next up is welding in a plate for the check arm, then onto front inner wing, firstly though the alternator on the tr is playing up, sometimes it charges others it does not, I suspect the brushes may be worn, also plan to mot landie this week, I have given it a look over and don't expect any major issues though.

Kevin

[kstrutt1]

Landie passed ok, even commented on how solid it is underneath, 2 down 2 to go !

[kstrutt1]

Took the alternator off the TR at the weekend, No obvious faults with the brushes etc but the bearings are very noisy (I had heard this on the car) given the intermittent nature of the fault I will probably buy a replacement, even if I replace the regulator bearing etc it could still be something in the windings and the cost of all those parts is not that far short of a old stock similar alternator off something like an 90s escort on ebay.

Also washed the MX5 and noticed a couple of rust bubbles in the rear corner of the rear wheel arch dreading the start of serious corrosion I gingerly cleaned it off to find it was only surface rust, the rear factory fitted rear mudflaps have rubbed through the paint and corrosion has begun to run underneath it so it will be a pretty simple repair,for now I have just treated the area. I might even look at binning the mudflaps as one is damaged anyway.

[kstrutt1]

Some pictures of the paint damage caused by the mud flaps on the mazda, they were the orignal mazda ones which go over the rear bumper and have a thin edge to close the gap to the body, unfortunatelly this edge also cuts into the paint. This is the side wbhich has rusted.

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This is the other side with just the paint damage.

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I actually prefer it without them anyway, so I will repair the paint damage and leave it without them.

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Also painted the landie rear x member, ready for concours now.

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[kevin]

Took mine off too, improves it no end I reckon.

Kev

[rich.]

are you really trying to make me jelous chaps...