The story of "Swamp Thing"

[Fifty150hs]

Originally Posted by c-bass

I first used a combination of a small hammer and large screwdriver. Bang bang chisel chisel will knock most of the loose stuff off.

The secret weapon, which I believe Purplecty mentioned earlier in the thread, is the 3M Rust and Paint removal disc. It is made of this black webbing type material that makes a wire brush look like a wet paper towel

This is it here



I found the purple one lasts considerably longer than the black material.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Pro-G...1-PG/202940537

Those discs are a little bit flexible so you can push them into contours and such.

Also, you don't need to worry about metal wires flying off which is the reason I'm a strong supporter of wearing eye protection.

Whatever I couldn't get with the 3m disc I finished off with wire brushes but that was a small portion.

I like to keep a few of the half way worn down discs since the diameter is smaller I can wedge it in even more spots

I'll have to give those a try. I have another set of calipers I'm going to rebuild and try the G2 paint.

[crystalworks]

I've had good results with VHT ceramic paint. 4+ years on one vehicle (so far) and 3 years on another (so far). The paint holds up well. I wash it every car wash and have touched up one or two chips with a small brush since originally painting them in March '16.

I've heard good things about G2 as well, but no personal experience with it.

[timmyc]

For you fellas that have to deal with rust and want to take it off easily, you can use phosphoric acid. It is used as a metal prep before you paint and takes the hard work out of removing the rust from components. Local hardware stores should carry it.

I'm looking at you, C-bass. Those pulleys in your engine bay look like they would eat belts in a hurry!

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by timmyc

For you fellas that have to deal with rust and want to take it off easily, you can use phosphoric acid. It is used as a metal prep before you paint and takes the hard work out of removing the rust from components. Local hardware stores should carry it.

I'm looking at you, C-bass. Those pulleys in your engine bay look like they would eat belts in a hurry!

I've used phosphoric, oxalic, sulphuric/muriatic and for the most part I find it a pain in the ass to deal with and it takes long.

This isn't a complete restoration project and I'm more so looking to clean things up a little bit. Like I said 10 minutes worth of work to clean them up to more than satisfactory for me.

I'm going for the "patina" finish

Also, I'm not sure what you're seeing with my belt eating pulleys but aside from the usual surface rust on the face (yes the alternator one looks extra coral-y) the actual belt contact area of the pulley is nice and smooth Am I missing something?

[c-bass]

I had a quick pop in to the pic n save yard looking for a couple parts. I needed a window regulator and was trying to hunt down an air box that isn't cracked.

It's VERY rare to see convertibles





Not sure what they were after here...but I'm guessing they go it



Here's our window regulator donor



I found an X5 with the factory subwoofer and was planning on scooping it up but they wanted $40 for it and I didn't feel it was worth that kind of money. That will probably prove to me a mistake later on, but at the time I wasn't that interested.




The BIG score, and totally unexpected..



Full set of factory winter mats!! WOOOT!! WOOOT!!! Just what swampy needs after all that carpet cleaning. SCORE!!!

I ended up with a window regulator (which happened to be recently replaced so it was much newer than 2006) The floor mats, a cam position sensor and a couple pieces of interior trim for $63.









Who would have though that floor mats would make me so happy

[Purplefade]

Originally Posted by c-bass

Full set of factory winter mats!! WOOOT!! WOOOT!!! Just what swampy needs after all that carpet cleaning. SCORE!!!

Who would have though that floor mats would make me so happy

Brother that thing is looking amazing! Super nice job on getting the bits and pieces all back together!

And... it’s always the little, unexpected things that being is the most joy . Nice find on those mats!




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[c-bass]

Originally Posted by Purplefade

Brother that thing is looking amazing! Super nice job on getting the bits and pieces all back together!

And... it’s always the little, unexpected things that being is the most joy . Nice find on those mats!




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Little unexpected things you say??

[c-bass]

Originally Posted by crystalworks

I've had good results with VHT ceramic paint. 4+ years on one vehicle (so far) and 3 years on another (so far). The paint holds up well. I wash it every car wash and have touched up one or two chips with a small brush since originally painting them in March '16.

I've heard good things about G2 as well, but no personal experience with it.

Those came out sweeeet!!

If I was to give painting calipers another try I would probably like to start off with something new if not in MUCH better condition than what I have to work with.

Maybe I can just clear coat them and go for the "rat rod" look?

[Purplefade]

Originally Posted by c-bass

Little unexpected things you say??

Oh man! You had to buy lock grommets too... I broke one of mine, or it was broken, when I did my passenger door carrier. Looked them up on FCP and found those little suckers for $21 a piece!!! What!!!$21 bucks! Ended up finding them for $4 on an old Bav Auto link, FCP didn’t match them... but they did end up coming down to $10 a piece, which still blew my mind for that tiny little piece of plastic


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[c-bass]

I found a guy on Kijiji selling a new fan clutch and fan, and seeing that a used fan clutch (if you can find one) at the pic n pull yard is $23 let's see what $40 gets me.

The fan clutch is a "Topaz" brand which as per usual has reviews ranging from works 100% OEM to this fan clutch burned my car down.







Fan is the ever popular for all the wrong reasons URO brand.





Looks like the fan definitely made some contact with the shroud but the OEM fan blades weren't damaged or were replaced.





I was having a hard time holding the fan shroud and trying to screw the fan clutch of and couldn't quite figure it out for a minute....

Oh....right....





OEM





URO








So I'm hoping this fan is NOT for the 3.0 M54 and maybe the 8s?? Who knows? I did a quick google and couldn't find anything to do with the number on the URO fan and I lost interest since it won't fit anway.


So back to the OEM fan we go





Also since I kept looking at it I decided to give the alternator a quick clean





Better