Collision repairs

[glenfiddich]

While inspecting mounts between the subframe and the sidecar frame (which were separated yesterday) I found this 3/4” threaded rod had bent from the force of the impact. I expected something along these lines as the car had shoved us two feet to the left, hence the careful examination. Replacement on order

 

[glenfiddich]

Replacing the bent mounts. Bought a foot of 3/4-16 grade 8 threaded stock, used the lathe to cut it in thirds, then chamfered the ends




Red loctite on the eyelet end, anti-seize on the subframe. Perfect fit! Now to work on setting the toe-in and spacing to accommodate the changes in width.



,

 

[glenfiddich]

Subframe and sidecar frame hooked back up. Tub moved into place for a test fit; everything cleared. The sidecar frame has a slight list to starboard so that will need to be adjusted out. Then the toe-in and lean need to be dialed in




Good clearance all around. The tire clears the fender just fine and there’s sufficient room for the pannier to be mounted or dismounted without scratching the paint



I love the lines of the modified fender!

Lean out tentatively set for a bit over 3%, but will need adjustment to accommodate the weight of cargo and furry navigator.



Damaged sections of fiberglass that were either rebuilt or deleted by my mods

 

[glenfiddich]

The subframe is level, toe-in is set (though must be verified by test rides at various speeds fully loaded). Tub moved back to the table for a final sanding before moving to the paint booth.



The tub and other fiberglass parts are inspected and lightly sanded



I found and filled a few more pinholes



Tub in the paint booth carefully masked



First coat of epoxy primer. I’d tried a new product for filling light scratches and pinholes. Unfortunately it was black, so it was difficult to tell filled from unfilled pinholes. Turns out I missed a few that will need to be dealt with during wet sanding.



The tub after two coats of primer. This is the point where all the work seems to come together, when I can see how beautiful the finished job will look. Watching it morph from a collection of spots to a sleek work of art always brings a huge grin to my face!



It will cure overnight then move back to the shop for wet sanding and repair of missed pinholes. Just a few more days till it goes back into the booth for four coats of Dodge Viper Yellow paint!

 

[Omega Man]

Beautiful work Pete!
When will you be adding the 2-wheel feature?
Gary

 

[glenfiddich]

Today was eight solid hours of wet sanding with no breaks. The lines of the tub are stunning! And I need Motrin and beer

 

[glenfiddich]

Fine tuning the bodywork. Will be ready to paint as soon as the weather warms up a bit. Running the paint booth in sub-freezing temps costs a small fortune in propane.

After sanding I go over the surface with reading glasses and a bright light. Every imperfection that can’t be sanded out with 400 grit wet n dry is flagged for icing





The last piece was the fender. It had a number of divots on the leading side from hits by gravel, and a couple of claw marks on the top. The fender will soon join the tub, trunk lid, and clamshell in queue for the paint booth

 

[glenfiddich]

I wasn’t happy with the shape of the leading edge so began rounding off the sharpness. In the process some bare fiberglass was exposed. A simple task then got a bit more complex



The edge is now pleasingly rounded off, but that exposed fiberglass will not handle paint over time like the primed surface around it.



Glaze applied and sanded down, then the first of three coats of epoxy primer before it’s left to cure overnight



Primer dried and guide coat applied. The nose was then wet sanded with 400 grit till every tiny dot of guide coat is gone



Wet sanding complete, surface roughed up with a gray Scotch pad. Tub scrubbed down with wax and grease remover. Holes for hardware re-drilled. Looks like tomorrow might be warm enough to fire up the paint booth!

 

[glenfiddich]

I spent all morning prepping in the paint booth. First all the wooden platforms and supports were masked to minimize dust being blown around by the paint gun, all the parts were blown, prepped with pre-paint cleaner, then rubbed down with a tack cloth. Parts were securely fastened to their supports, then carefully masked. All parts got a base coat of sealer followed by three coats of Deltron paint, then four coats of clear.

Tomorrow I begin wet sanding to eliminate the orange peel texture, then everything gets polished to restore the luster.



Trunk lid and fender carefully masked and securely mounted



I’m pretty happy with the results, though the PPG Deltron paint and clear coat was shockingly expensive!

 

[pauls1150]

Been following this for a while - WOW, looks great! A lot of dedication there.
Here's a silly question - Do you see a difference between the green painters' tape ("frog" tape?) and the common blue tape?

 

[mikegalbicka]

Been following this for a while - WOW, looks great! A lot of dedication there.

Truth! Your patience and painstaking prep work is a thing of beauty that clearly shows in the results. I had a little experience in this type of work when I was young and worked at Piper aircraft and determined I was not a good fit for it for those two reasons. Kudos to another job well done.

 

[riderr1150gsadv]

Painting is the easy part, the prep work is 95% of the labor and the results show! Nice job!

 

[r0ckrat]

Agreed with above! The prep work done shows in how little orange peel is visible in the reflected lights!

 

[98lee]

It’s truly amazing the lengths a good man will go to for his best friend (his dog). Kudos Pete!

 

[glenfiddich]

Been following this for a while - WOW, looks great! A lot of dedication there.
Here's a silly question - Do you see a difference between the green painters' tape ("frog" tape?) and the common blue tape?

Personally, aside from marketing claims and brand (blue and yellow are 3M and green is Scotch) - in use I’ve never noticed a difference

 

[collingsbob]

Impressive…You’re a very skilled man.

 

[glenfiddich]

My old Skene P3 LED flashing brake lights were failing, so I replaced them with a newer, much brighter set picked up at last year’s rally. Of course nothing is as simple as my memory assures me and being ten years older and not particularly nimble this task had my joints popping and muscles protesting. The racks for the panniers had to come off to access the wiring, then the tail light/license plate assembly dropped.



Shortening the supplied wiring and stripping the ends went well, thanks to magnifying lenses, and posi- connections were easily switched over to the new LEDs. That was the easy part. Then came reassembly. In order to align the screw holes I had to lay on my back, but doing so put the holes just out of reach unless I sat up which, of course, put the screw holes out of my line of sight. Using Braille I eventually succeeded and was pleased to note how much better the new P3s were



Delighted to put that behind me, I walked over to admire the perfection of the recent paint job only to find OMG! a flaw in plain sight!



A defect called a fish eye, typically caused by a tiny trace of an oily contaminant, was glaring at me from a prominent location right on the front of the clamshell lid where everyone was certain to notice it! How did I miss that?!?

My friend was just about to apply clear coat to another paint job, so I dipped a toothpick in his paint gun and carefully applied a micro-drop to my flaw. It filled the pit and mushroomed a bit. Perfect shot! After letting it dry I sanded it flush using 600/1500/3000 grit wet or dry. The defect vanished!

 

[glenfiddich]

A long day! It started with a seized piston in one of my Xterra’s front brake calipers. Spent half the day trying and failing to free it up before just getting a replacement. And of course pads should be replaced in pairs so the other side was freshened as well.



The rest of the day was spend polishing the freshly painted sidecar. First with rubbing compound, then compound lite, then polish, and finally glaze.



Finding an almost completely worn brake pad explained my recent abysmal fuel consumption, the sluggish acceleration, and the shimmy in the steering wheel. Good thing it happened here as this is our ride to Redmond via the Ozarks and Utah backcountry! The suckage factor would have been high had we been stuck on a seldom visited dirt road



Initial pass with rubbing compound. By the end of the day you could count the number of individual LEDs in the shop lights 28 feet above!



The small parts were a two person job. One to polish and one to hang on so the parts weren’t flung across the shop. Tomorrow I begin installing hardware and mount the fender

 

[glenfiddich]

It’s coming together!



Fender mounted (I remembered the never-seize this time), marker lights in place, snaps and twist-locks for the tonneau cover and ragtop fastened to the clamshell (not shown), trunk latch and luggage rack installed (also not shown).



Head on view showing fender with welting in place.



Closeup view of welting. Same paint was used but with a flex agent added so it could conform to the curve after fully cured

 

[Omega Man]

Looks great Pete!
Have you ordered the decals yet? Anything new?
OM