End of Winter Hibernation
With the cold winter months finally “over” I was able to dust off the parts shelves in the garage over the past weekend and start plugging away again.
Built the wire harness for the brake pressure transducers and plumbed/wired them into the systems. Testing indicated I had the analog connections to the logger off by 1 pin; so fixed that also. After quick testing I verified the 500 PSI transducers are picking up brake line pressure when I hit the stop pedal – nice when things work properly.
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My next project has been grafting a gauge pod to the top of the dash panel. I rough cut the ABS plastic of the pod, used a heat gun to re-profile the edges to better match the curve of the dash and epoxied it in place. If I’m lucky I’ll be able to blend the two parts together well enough with just sanding instead of having to use a filler to blend everything together. Since I’m planning on flocking the dash I only have to get the blend lines ‘close’ (I think).
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Noob Mike’s Guide to Plasti-Dipping a Car
Please note, I was a total ‘dip noob before starting the 818. There are some very good videos on youtube by DipYourCar which I used when I started researching.
Plasti-Dip and similar products are cheap, require minimal prep and are completely removable. For about $250 you have enough materials to cover an 818 Coupe (under $200 for an S/R).
Tools: I have been using a Wagner Control Spray HVLP electric sprayer, which is the original equipment recommended by DipYourCar.com. Now they offer their own professional (and more expensive) set-up, but the Wagner has worked just fine for me. I could also have used a pneumatic HVLP gun, but honestly for me the electric tool is more convenient.
Setup: spend as much or little time as you need to prepare the body panels. I didn’t have many voids to fix, but there were some rough edges and chips to fill. I have been using a GelCoat + Wax to do my repairs, so I have been maintaining the same gel-coat surface across the entire panel with no other fillers to account for.
Panel Prep: dry sand with 180 to make sure of a flat surface, especially over any repairs. Wet sand with 220. I have not needed to go finer since the ‘dip material has some volume to cover light surface scratches. Next, a surface scrub with a green scrub pad and Comet cleaner and warm water further preps the surface, which seems to help the ‘dip adhere better -however I have not removed ‘dip from panels treated this way, so I can’t recommend this procedure yet.
Use Blue painters masking tape to mask off any areas you do not want covered. A word of warning, the Xylene I use to thin the ‘dip attacks the tape adhesive and leaves a sticky residue. This will require an aggressive cleaning to remove; I use acetone. When performing this cleaning you will affect any paint under the tape. My recommendation is to ‘dip first, then clean, mask and paint the remaining areas.
Perform a final clean of the panel with acetone and you are ready to lay the ‘dip.
Material: I have been using the original undiluted Plasti-Dip from Performix, purchased via ebay for about $70 a gallon. Each gallon is thinned 1:1 with an additional gallon of Xylene so it is sprayable with the HVLP equipment. This nets 2 gallons of product for ~ $90.
In total I used between 6 and 7 coats of ‘dip sprayed at 15 minute intervals. The spray pattern should have a ½ overlap between passes. Watch the youtube videos to understand the proper technique. Individual coats are thin, so the coverage will be very spare for the first 2-3 coats. After that the material will build up enough that the color becomes opaque. The goal is to keep spraying the light coats so the material dries in an even matte pattern without splotches or runs. Overall it’s a forgiving product during application, even more so since you can just pull it off a panel you aren’t happy with and respray. Additionally, a second application of ‘dip can be sprayed over a first to repair damage, even using the plasti-dip from a spray can.
Be very careful when applying the ‘dip, any contact will rub off the product and require respraying/patching. Also try to work in a clean environment… but be warned the fumes -especially from the Xylene are not good for you. I wear a cartridge mask and gloves/eye protection and work in an open garage. The problem will be debris & bugs that love to land on your freshly sprayed panels…
Once the last coat is sprayed and has been allowed to set up the masking tape should be pulled -while the ‘dip is still slightly wet. This will provide the sharpest edges, however if the dip has dried more and starts to -pull as the tape is removed use a razor blade to release the tape edge. In the worst case the ‘dip on the tape won’t separate from the ‘dip on the panel and you will get some detachment and pulls. I’ve used a towel and acetone to rub back the ‘dip and clean the edge.
results:
Even after the ‘dip has fully dried it’s a bit fragile -rubbing aggressively can cause peels, but it cleans well with soap & water or cleaning alcohol.
The total weight of ‘dip for a standard size car is under 2 lbs, so it can help keep your 818 818-ier :)
I can’t compare Plasti-Dip to the Eastwood product ElastiWrap as I’ve never used them, nor have I tried other equipment other than the Wagner. Likewise, I have not tried any of the pearlizers or finishes and other crap offered … because race car.
For me the main consideration has been cheap. How to get the best results spending the least amount of money, and for that I’ve been happy with the results so far. I’d be interested in hearing other experiences. I know one other build had a blue dipped car, but I don’t remember a lot of discussion on that thread.
Starting to look like a car now
Glass install: done. In preparation for the glass install I had painted the trim surrounds with gloss black spray paint, instead of plasti-dip. I think the effect came out nice. But having the glass in looks nicer, really lends itself to being almost ‘finished’.
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Just a few more items on the punch-list and we should be ready for registration.
Rear Bulkhead/Firewall from Hell
Ok, it wasn’t that bad, but the instructions in the Manual revision -P leaves a little to be desired, at least with regards to my build which is a C -refit.
I mocked up the aluminum upper firewall a number of times to get it positioned and leveled correctly. Immediately I found that the tabs on the outside edges of the firewall prevented the hard top from actually sitting flush. So those ends were trimmed off.
Next, because I used riv-nuts and bolts to hold the firewall/gas tank covers on instead of riveting there was a spacing issue with the upper firewall. Again the hard top was being pushed up and prevented from sitting flush. Ultimately I pulled the bolts, marked and drilled holes in the upper firewall installed it ‘behind’ the lower firewall and used the hardware to hold it in.
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The manuals instructions on glass installation were pretty good. Use a lot of WD-40 on the gasket/installation tool.
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I’m using a harness bar instead of the 3-point harnesses and my chassis number is 206, before they made changes to the seatbelt attachment point. There was only the 1 hole and small tab on my chassis, (not the most confidence inspiring). After the upper firewall was bolted in I marked the locations and drilled the holes.
I needed to source a pair of M10 x 50mm bolts to go through the harness bar, backing spacers, upper fire wall, second spacers and chassis tabs.
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This was probably one of the most involved installations I’ve done during the build. I must have put-in/taken out the upper firewall 10 times to try to get its alignment and height correct over the past 4 days. Screwing this up would have made getting the hard-top to sit properly more difficult.
