shoulda posted yesterday as I finally got to hear the 1200;s engine run for the 1st time since I acquired this machine about 9 months ago....
today I stripped a 392 LT deck down to the bare shell and started building it back up as a 44c. wire brushed all the loose flakey rust off of it, welded washers on the wallowed front deck roller mounts, and the front hanger bracket that was pirated from a crusty old long departed 44a.
I should have used the front gussets/roller mount from the 44a, as using the existing original ones from the 392 has the hanger bracket off center from the gussets.... but it all fit together and will work... this is not gonna be anything of a show machine, just gotta preserve it and slow the rusting process, as much as possible.
ran out of POR 15 though. had about 1/2 a can and did all the prep steps to save remaining material including duct taping the punched hole in the lid and put it in the garage fridge.... probably lost 1/4-1/3 of a can was a solid glob.... probably lost the active ingredients that were once in the product that I was able to use out of it.....
I JUUUST had enough to stretch so that I could get a coat on the whole underside-barely. usually I do 2-3 coats on the bottom of a deck anyways, so hopefully what I did get use of will at least be a good primer for when I do get more.
I have taken to coating the undersides and also both sides of the reinforcement plate with this stuff, along with the topside area of the shell itself that is covered by the plate, as the area between the shell and plate is a moisture magnet and is the 1st place for them to start rusting.