My M35A2 Project aka Big Betty

[TMNT]

Made a bit more progress on rehab'ing the driver side mirror and mount.





Welcome to my paint shop!

 

[TMNT]

The new paint needs a little age to blend better. I'll touch up the black and then give it a good wash after it cures for a couple of weeks.

 

[SteveKuhn]

"...Finally! I got both door hinge bolts out. Heat, water, PB Blaster, pounding, and repeat until successful..."

I'm facing the same. However, I'm gonna cut 'em off with a disk cutoff tool and I already have the replacements from Fastenal.

Steve

 

[TMNT]

Steve, you will very likely still need to fight the door hinge bolts out. I broke the head off of one and I cut the head off of the other. It still took copious amounts of heat and pounding to get them out.

I'm currently re-thinking the whole process in regard to the passenger side mirror. I might just live with it the way it is!

 

[SteveKuhn]

Thanks for the heads up. The 1st bolt spins freely in the hinge so I've been optimistic. Just the nut is stuck. Nevertheless, I'm gonna make it a point to check the other 3. An acquaintance was able to get his to unthread with a few days soaking w/ PBB. I'm hoping to be as lucky.

Steve

 

[TMNT]

I got the driver side mirror reinstalled this afternoon before getting ready to take my wife to the Maroon5 concert in Atlanta. I'm not satisfied with the door hinge hardware yet. I used 1/4 x 3" grade 8 shoulder bolts and I need to swap them out for 3-1/2" bolts.

 

[frank8003]

That's exactly what it is. It's a very good penetrating oil.

View attachment 417703

Kroil is better

 

[TMNT]

Kroil is better

I agree but for me Kroil has been hard to find and seriously expensive when I do find it. PB is available everywhere at a reasonable price.

 

[TMNT]

I got the 1/4 x 3-1/2 inch grade 8 bolts in and I used some nylon washers along with the grade 8 washers and I used a 1/4" sealing washer on the bottom because it was the perfect diameter to match the rolled hinge. The bolts got a light coat of copper grease and the door opens as smooth as butter.

I wiped the door down with acetone, blew it off with compressed air, and then touched up the paint with Rapco rattle can paint.






I'm pretty happy with the results. The mirror is fully adjustable now as all of the hardware is working. And, the mirror holds its adjustment and it doesn't let the wind push it back as soon as I go above 30 MPH.

Now for the passenger side. (If it ever stops raining.)

 

[TMNT]

I'm getting ready to clean and paint my troop seats, which are a combination of fiberglass and wood. I didn't want to use the RAPCO rattle cans to do all of that, and I wanted something that would provide more protection for the wood. I started looking at all of the threads about using latex house paint and I stumbled across the attached document "USIFI Mil Spec Conference" from 2006. Another member had posted it and I've searched for hours to find it again to give him credit here, but I have not been able to find his post again. Anyway, I saved the document and there is a lot of useful info here.

Page 9 has a lot of the Federal Standard codes for the military camo paint colors. I also verified that these codes are in Home Depot's paint computer. The guy at the paint counter had no idea, but I had him check and when he put in "34094" for 383 Green, it popped right up. I selected the Behr primer paint in exterior flat and he made up a gallon for me. It looked perfect. I compared a small swatch to the CARC already on the truck when I got home, and it is a very close match.

I've seen some debate on the forum about whether or not these codes are actually in the Home Depot computer and whether or not the colors are correct. I can definietly verify that the codes are in their computer (at least they are at my local store). The paint desk people knew nothing about it. The department manager was so excited about this that he made a copy of the document and kept it because people come in looking for camo paint and they struggle with the colors.

I'll be putting some of this paint on this coming weekend and I'll let you know how it looks compared to the original CARC and compared to the RAPCO 383 that I've been using for repairs and touch-up.

I have a Graco HVLP sprayer that I've only used once to shoot some stain on my son's sniper fort that built in the backyard. I'm excited about getting the seats prepped so I can break out the sprayer and make them look like new!

 

[dangeroustyz]

Scott, looks like you have been busy. Truck is lookiong good. I gota start working on my paint as well.

 

[TMNT]

I started cleaning and prepping the headache rack this afternoon when I got home. I washed it with TSP and then got after it with a carbide scraper and a wire brush. It's in the garage to dry and I hope to get it painted tomorrow.

The "before" picture:


After some work with the scraper and brush:


The other side after working it over with the scraper and a wire brush:


Just a bit more prep and primer on the metal parts and then paint.

 

[TMNT]

Wow, more prep work than I realized. What i had in mind was to wash it down with TSP, scrape the flakey paint off and paint. This project "evolved."

I started applying wood filler in some of the weather cracks in the wood and 2 hours later I'm out of filler and I still have more to do. 'nother trip to to Lowe's I guess.

 

[TMNT]

The prep work paid off. Got all of the weather cracks filled and sanded. Blew the dust off with compressed air and wiped the whole thing down with denatured alcohol. I blended about 1 oz of Floetrol with 16 oz of paint and the HVLP sprayer worked like magic. The paint is Behr Premium Plus Ultra Paint & Primer in Federal Standard 34094 (green).

 

[TMNT]

Here's the comparison between Rapco 383 green and Behr in Federal Standard 34094.

The Rapco is on the left and the Behr is on the right.

The Rapco is slightly lighter after only a few minutes of drying. I'll see what they look like after drying overnight. I'm betting the two shades get closer after thoroughly drying.

I have to say that I'm very pleased with the new HVLP sprayer. I think I'm through with rattle cans except for small touch ups. I'm not a skilled painter in anyone's book, but I'm happy as all get out with the paint job on the headache rack.

The Behr paint is drying very quickly. I put down 4 light coats and it dries to "touchable" within 10 minutes. It's not even the slightest bit tacky. I'm very pleased.

 

[TMNT]

Within a couple of hours I was able to handle the part with no issues with the fresh paint. I lifted back into the truck and didn't put a mark on it, not even where the stakes go into the stake pockets.







It's a little but darker than the rest but I can hardly wait to get the rest of the troop seats done. This looks way better than the peeling and cracking that I had.

 

[TMNT]

Also, this is the scrap piece that I did the paint comparison on. Left side Rapco 383 and right side Behr 34094.

Looking pretty close for color. The Rapco seems to have just a bit more sheen that the Behr. I bet more dry time solves that.

 

[clinto]

What is this?



Is that a toolbox?

 

[TMNT]

It's a box of some type. A friend picked it for me as a gift. It's meant to be mounted under something but I don't I don't know what. No good place under the deuce for it so its just been riding around in the bed of my truck. Not sure what to do with it yet.

 

[TMNT]

Any idea as to what it is?