Vlad's rides thread

[vlad01]

Getting there, 4th go at paint stripper.

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Previous repair, very minor dents there. You can see the bare metal has some sort of oxide or coating on it that prevents flash rusting. Only where stone chips and sanding has taken it off has surface rusted. Wonder what process the factory used to get this surface, looks and feels like a kind of mill scale.

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[vlad01]

And done!

Had to wire wheel the inside flange and few spots where the stripper refused to make it come off.

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[Holden202T]

I hope it was worth it, sounds like the hardest ever panel to remove paint from!

[vlad01]

yeah, i hope so. No point painting an old crusty panel that already has 2 layers of paint and rust underneath.

Because these are so thin, mechanical means of removal does more bad than good. only other alternative would be to get them chemically tanked but no one around here who does that. All 3 good facilities are not in VIC, 2 are in NSW and one in SA.

Shit thing is I got the same thing to deal with for the rear doors while still on the car and the rear quarter as well

[v6bucket]

Are you using an automotive paint stripper or hardware store stuff? The automotive strippers have the good gear in it. Scratch the paint with some coarse sand paper, coat the stripper on, then cover the panel with gladwrap so the chemicals don't evaporate too quickly.

[Holden202T]

what about the engine reconditioners hot tank ? youd have to be able to almost fit a guard in there ?

[psyolent]

nice work here vlad.
not heard of the molasses and water trick. seems to work well.
for 'heavy' degreasing of engines and stuff i use oven cleaner. it works really well. spray on, pressure wash off 30 mins later. follow up with normal 'degreaser' and wash that off and you are right to go.

[vlad01]

nice work here vlad.
not heard of the molasses and water trick. seems to work well.
for 'heavy' degreasing of engines and stuff i use oven cleaner. it works really well. spray on, pressure wash off 30 mins later. follow up with normal 'degreaser' and wash that off and you are right to go.

yeah doesn't work on e-coat

I have a heated tank of molasses in the shed for stripping some items.

I have used SEM branded automotive stripper, was worse the the bunnings stuff. I found the digger's brand to be the most aggressive. E-coat is just extremely tough.

Anyway, that sdone. was the only panel I needed to strip to this level as it has more than just the factory paint on it, other panels I wipe off using acetone.

[vlad01]

Anyway, playing with this tune. Holy crap did it make a difference of performance. Did 260Km today for work and its been awesome to drive. Only the VE table is likely out some as its hogging fuel and runs rough as for the first 20 or so sec after starting, probably too rich in the low low areas. After all its a copy over from the VR which had different injectors and more CR and 2.5" cat back. This only has pacemakers and 66mm TB Yes 66mm is correct.

Going to chuck the NVRAM in and set up NB VE learn and drive it for a while, not concerned about getting a perfect tune and logging as the new engine will replace this one anyway but good fun thrashing the crap out of this one and annoying business jerk drivers in Melbourne

So the car used to struggle from mid to high rpm taking forever to get to 100, over 10sec last count.

How its more like low 8s high 7s ? i just timed it from my phone video which came up 7 sec with slow rolling start to save my clutch from loosing its smoke. yep, its slipping so I have to take it easy somewhat.

[HQ355]

Better make sure your seatbelts are up to now with those extra killer wasps !