mikeatrpi

Cool. You may have taken your time but you do good work.

Call these guys up: http://www.aaaweldingsupply.com/ A buddy on the Hobart Weld Talk boards purchased a 60 cu ft "refurb" tank for under $60, shipped. He was able to get it filled locally. Personally- I bought mine on ebay from IOC, and exchanged it locally. I wish I had known about AAA before doing that.

I think it looks fantastic- congratulations! What kind of buffer did you get? I want to get one when I paint mine this spring.

Fanstastic work, thank you for sharing!

Thanks X, same to you.

PPG Omni MP-170 with MP-175 catalyst.

You've got your hands full, that's for sure. On my ZX, I went down to factory primer except where there was damage / rust. I body worked each panel, using regular bondo, and then sprayed cheapie aerosol lacquer primer. BIG mistake- the primer was porous, and my bondo underneath got wet in the rain... I ended up having to redo sections of the car where rust returned. BIGGER mistake- in some places I used rustoleum primer... totally incompatible with my PPG primer... more work to re-do. I fixed my mistakes, and I currently have the car entirely in waterproof epoxy primer. In the spring I'll shoot the color. If I were to do it again, I'd: 1) sand down to factory primer except where there was damage 2) use a waterproof / fiberglass filler directly on metal 3) spray each panel with epoxy primer, instead of aerosol 4) do plastic (bondo) filler on top of the epoxy 5) spray more epoxy on top of the bondo to keep it watertight 6) use a high build primer on top of that, for guidecoat sanding. 7) color Re price, I used a budget paint, PPG Omni, and spent $200 or so on materials. You can see my saga here: http://z.modeltrainguide.com I suspect you'll be using POR-15 or those other products you mentioned when you get into repairing the floor and subframe. You probably won't use it on the body restoration though.

Why do you want a MM135? Inifinite voltage control is (in my opinion) an extra hassle for a novice- not an aide. HH140 or Lincoln SP-135T. You can be self-taught. Read the manual and practice practice practice.

Nice job, I really like the color too. PS never seen a ZX with sidepipes, cool.

Or your hootus... http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=18595&pagenumber=1

I used aerosol Duplicolor bedliner on my rocker panels... its not as durable or brittle as I originally hoped. If I do it again I'll spend the extra money and brush on Herculiner, as many people seem happy with it. My 2 cents.

Those 3M widgets are supposed to be great for stripping paint- but I haven't heard of anyone using them for rust. Get a flap disc or knotted cup wheel for your angle grinder (and hold on). For the corners, you might have to treat it chemically.

It looks like you took your time and did it right. Good job. What kind of filler is it? For bending, I use c-clamps and tighten sheet metal down between two strips of angle iron, so you an get a relatively sharp edge. A simple propane torch helps, as does an adequately "big" BFH. This pic shows the idea. The angle is on the edge of the desk, and I used a piece of 10 gauge on top instead of angle. The sheet is already bent in this picture.

Generally primers are porous. Use an epoxy primer or a sealer primer if you want a waterproof seal.

No, sorry. I have a right side fender... doesn't help, sorry. Good luck.

DO NOT use Rustoleum products on the exterior of your car if you plan to topcoat it later with real automotive paint. I used Rustoleum rattle can primer on some parts of my car, and then when I tried to spray PPG Epoxy over it, the epoxy lifted everywhere they was rustoleum. I had to sand the entire car down again. You can either use lacquer, or I've seen expensive rattle cans at paint stores that would probably be compatible. Though, I'm not speaking from experience. What side fender do you need?

Just for the record, I should state that my $70 quote (above) was for a gallon of MP170... not DP90. I bought a gallon of MP170 and two quarts of the catalyst (MP175 I believe). I've used half a gallon (and one quart of catalyst) and I've put three coats on my 82 ZX. MusP, you can get the data sheet for DP90 from the PPGrefinish web site. It will tell you the mixing ratios, and you can compute how much stuff you need to buy.

Looks good. Keep it up, you're making excellent progress. I'm surprised PPG dealers are so hard to find in your area. Where I live, that's all I can find.

Go here and search for a distributor near you. Dupont also has a dealer locator at their site. Good luck with your project.

I did it on my ZX... I cut patches off a donor car, trimmed them, and replaced my rusty piece with the new metal. Yes, it is double-thick at the wheel well. Basically after I cut all the rust out I determined it was too effort much to make a metal patch for the void in that area, so I'll just fiberglass it. I used an offset and punch tool to make the panels level. Then I ground down the spot welds and smoothed it all out with bondo. Here's what it looks like today: Pictures of the work start here: http://z.modeltrainguide.com/gallery/album15?page=4

Just wanted to let you all know I decided not to buy one right now. I'm going to check out costco, but my fallback plan it to use my trusty tarp this winter.

That looks FANTASTIC. I'm following a similar path as you... my car is primered but I won't spray color until the spring. Did you use PPG Omni? Urethane or Acrylic? What kind of primer, and how many coats? Like I said that car looks fantastic. If mine comes out 1/2 as good I'd be pleased. Sit back its Miller Time, you deserve it!

I stumbled across this last night: http://www.dmdaustralia.com.au/block.html Not particularly useful, but interesting.

I could not find anything on the costco web site about it... but I'm very interested! My house has a walk out basement with a tall deck. I hope to fit the garage under the deck, so the deck will bear the weight of the snow.

Thanks for the tips. Here's a link to the model in question: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42211 I'm particularly interested in hearing from someone who owns a portable garage. And if the HF one is sufficient or of poor quality and a waste of money. Edit- seems like the HF web site is being updated. I have a flyer listing it for $159 on sale. Its frequently $179 on their web site, currently showing $279.