CC 149 Winter Projects.

[Ambush]

^^^. Yes , that side of the hood support was 1/2” too low and no bumper on the support flange. I’d put an adhesive foam strip on there shortly after getting the tractor, but should find something better.

[garydee]

A "sand" (media) blast cabinet would be a small but wise investment for the type of work you are doing. You can strip finishes or lightly "sand" painted or powder coat finishes that are in good condition before painting.

"Sand" (media) blasting leaves the best surface for a quality paint job to follow. Aluminum oxide works best all around from my experience. Great for cleaning up all kinds of small parts too!

[Ambush]

^^^ Sometimes I think about getting a small sandblasting cabinet, but it’s one more thing in the way and wouldn’t get used much, so I plod along.

It took me a few hours to carefully strip the several layers of paint off the dash. Again the added layers came off quick and I had to work quite a bit harder to get through the factory layer. I was being cautious because there are not many nicks or scratches in it and I don’t want to add any. The whole dash sanded up pretty nice.

I cut a strip of heavy tin and ground the galvanize off for a backer to repair the corner. I buttered a 1/8” layer of long strand fibreglass on the tin and held it in place with light pressure from small clamps. I still have to profile it with a sander. Once that’s done I can paint the dash and set it aside.

When I was cleaning the underside of the dash I found the manufacture date for it. March 8 1973. It’s in pretty fine shape for being fifty years old and likely not always being cared for much.

[Ambush]

Lots to do today so not a lot of tractor time.

I got the Fiberglas contoured off and a thin layer of bondo to fill the little voids. A quick sand with #240 paper and a wipe down with Exylene and it was ready for paint. I put on three coats from a rattle can and in a week or two, it will get a couple coats of clear

[Ambush]

Then I had a couple small weld repairs on the hood. At one point the cross strut at the rear of the hood had broken loose on one side and they just put a big pop rivet through it. I rewelded it and filled in the rivet hole. I also welded in the grooves worn into the cross strut by the hood tension springs. I stripped all the paint off the underside of the hood while I was working on it anyway.

[Ambush]

It seems like what takes fifteen hours to prep takes 1/2 hour to paint. I got a first coat on some body parts today. I’ll give them twenty four hours before a wet sand and 2nd coat. This will be a 10/10 paint job. Should look pretty decent at 10 feet or going 10 mph

I’m sure some of you guys know this trick already but: when pouring paint for mixing, tape off half the opening with masking tape then cut a 1/2” hole in the tape to pour through. Saves a lot of clean up and some paint too.

[Oak]

Looking great Ambush and thanks for the tip! I hope I can remember that the next time I paint.

[Ambush]

Second coat on these parts and one more tomorrow, then I’ll let them harden up good. The drive assembly went back into the frame and I can start putting some linkages back in and set up the brakes. There’s a lot of little things to clean up yet, while paint dries. I’ll probably leave the seat pan and fenders for last and just get everything else on the tractor and out of the way. The engine will be last in because I have a couple things to do to it yet.

[Oak]

That looks great. What paint are you using?

[Ambush]

I'm using Tremclad which is almost the same as Rust-O-Leom. I sprayed the frame because of all the hard to reach corners and contours.

For the rest, I like to roll it because it's inside work here in the winter. For rolling, I like to mix six parts paint, one part Xylene and not quite one part hardener. For the pieces in the pic, I mixed three ounces of paint, one tablespoon of Xylene and almost one tablespoon of Majic catalyst. I may do just a bit more catalyst on the last coat. To be safe, I wait twenty four hours before sanding and recoating, otherwise the Xylene may soften and crinkle the previous coat. I use small foam rollers with the rounded end because they don't leave fuzz and you can get them into fairly tight corners.

If you want to polish and clear coat, you can get a very good paint job. I probably won't bother, since it's a working tractor.