Biscuit Research Archives

My Rebuild

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My Build — Painting 2

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It didn’t take me long this morning to figure out why I was having problems with the clear coat last night.  The clear coat was too thick for the sprayer, even with the reducer. So, I cut it a litter more, reducing it from 4:1 to 3.5:1.  That helped immensely.  So, I sprayed another layer of clear coat, which helped improve some of the areas I was most concerned about.

That said, I spotted a several areas on the fender from last night where the clear coat clogged and then let loose.  Fortunately, the spots are all on areas that go under the hood … whew!

This morning I spent a little more time figuring out the color problem.  After doing some research, I believe that I received Teal Green rather than Aqua Blue.  Putting the pictures I show in this post against the colors convinces me that it is Teal Green.  However, the seller of the paint is adament that I got the color I ordered. He claims the problem is that the internet colors aren’t accurate.  I think he’s full of shit.

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My Build — Painting

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As I expected, painting was an adventure.  I started the day running around to get last minute items:  a cheap paint suit, new mask cartridges, and some other misc items.  Then, I chose the paint guns I wanted to use.  After the paint cup wouldn’t come off one of the guns I selected, I audibled to the paint gun I used to paint my last jeep (I was very happy I had the backup guns).

I wiped down the body and body parts, mixed my primer, and went to work.  At first the painting went well, but after a while, the gun started acting up a little.  And, of course, I managed to spot several spots that i somehow missed during the prepping process that needed either a little filler or a little sanding.

Once the primer was on, I got a little water and some 400 grit sand paper and gently ran over the primer, cleaning up the areas as I went.

Next was the paint.  I mixed the reducer and hardener with the paint and went to work.  I got the first pass done and was relatively happy.  I waited about half an hour dand went to work again.  As I was painting the grille, which was hanging against the wall, some gray primer blew off the plastic and landed right on the grille.  While I cussed the primer, I held the gun too long near the driver side turn light area.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell I’d done this until later (my light was kind of iffy by that point).  After the second coat, I grabbed a light and started walking around the body parts.  That’s when I started seeing a variety of spots I hadn’t gotten.  So, with a spotlight in one hand and a spray gun in the other, I circled all the parts for another round.

After letting the paint dry, I went to the clear coat.  By now, it was dark outside and my light wasn’t good at all.  I did my best to shoot anyway, but after spraying everything, I could see there were a variety of missed spots.  So, I decided to halt and pick back up in the morning when the light would be better.

The paint ended up being darker than I expected it would be.  But, it should look good.  The pictures here don’t really capture the color well.  There are definitely a few areas I sprayed a little too heavily, but it really isn’t worth it to me to sand them down and start over.  Hey, it’s  a jeep and I plan on scratching it and being rough on it.  I expect it will need painting in a few years anyway.

One of the smarter things I did was purchase a cheap fan and purchase a cheap heater filter.  I mounted (see pic to the right) the fan in the plastic to pull air out of the paint booth and then taped the filter in front of the fan to catch the paint.  Wow! The filter got much dirtier than I thought it would.

 
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My Build — The Paint Booth

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I had hoped to complete painting this weekend, however sore ribs from a hit I took playing basketball slowed me down a bit.  Today, I felt a little better, so I spent the day putting together a paint booth and taping off the body.  It’s hardly state of the art or a monument to high quality design, but it will get the job done.

My friend Lary dropped by yesterday with a larger compressor and an assortment of paint guns for me to use.  He was the person who suggested a website from which to buy some paint, but rather than the Urethane he intended for me to get, I ended up with an Acyrlic Enamel.  When he discovered what I had bought, he was very concerned, as he felt it’s a more difficult paint with which to work, especially with the paint being a metallic paint.  So, the two of us hovered over the various cans and he provided me many different tips on working with the paint, suggesting which paint guns to use and more.

My next step is to make a run to home depot to get one more sheet of plastic for the floor.  Then, I’ll grab some degreaser and do one final clean up of the body parts.

Below are some pics of the paint booth:

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My Build — Front Shocks and Shock Mounts

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I stopped by Buck’s 4×4 shop here in Boise yesterday and picked up some BDS Shocks.  My measurements showed I needed a pair of shocks that had a compressed size of approx 15″ and a maximum size of approx 25″.  It only took them a few minutes to find what I needed.  Best of all, the price was right — under $100.

Now that I had shocks, I could finally create the front shock mounts, something I’ve put off for a few months. I knew I wanted something similar to what I used last time for shock mounts.  On my last jeep I took some 1/2″ steel that was 4″ wide and bent it using a 10′ tube pipe and dad’s huge vice (firmly attached to a 1000lb bench).  The result were mounts that attached to the side of the frame, rounding up and out.  I liked the effect, so for this jeep I wanted to do something similar.  Instead of the steel I used last time, I took a piece of 1/4″ x 5.5″ x 6′ piece of steel I salvaged from my sisters’ farm and created my shock mounts from that.

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My Build — Transmission Temp Gauge Adapter

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Brian sent me a great suggestion about my transmission gauge strategy.  As you might remember, the style of gauges I purchased didn’t offer a transmission temperature gauge, so I decided I could use a water temperature gauge.  So, my next question was how to do it?  It was Brian’s suggestion to use a simple ‘T’ system.  I liked the idea, so I hit Home Depot and $17 later I had what I needed.

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My Build — a little more about the wiring harness

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I got a question from a reader about the wiring harness I used.  After doing some research, I came to the conclusion that the harness I bought is probably being closed out, hence the drop in price.  After doing the research, here’s what I learned.

KICKZ Harness (this is what I received in the mail):
http://www.thehoffmangroup.com/autoloc/details.lasso?itemid=KICKZ
is a 15 fuse 38 terminal 22 circuit wiring harness.  This is what I received.  The MSRP is $388.70, you can purchase it from the Hoffman Group for $299 (web special price), you can purchase it through ez2wire (which appears to be nothing more than a pass through marketing group) for $219 regularly, and I got it via auction from ez2wire for $143 (plus shipping).  So, that’s confusing!  The KICKZ is definitely a barebones choice (no extra switches for example).

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My Build — My Gauges

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No, the painting didn’t take place this weekend.  I’m still waiting to receive my paint …

One purchase I did make yesterday was some gauges.  I decided to go with Equus gauges, 8200 performance seriesSchucks had this set of gauges for only $39.99 (not on sale), so that saved me $35 on gauges that were already reasonably priced.  So far, I’ve got a speedometer, oil pressure, voltage meter, water temperature and fuel gauge.  The only downside is that they don’t make a transmission temp gauge.  I decided that if I really want a temp gauge on the transmission fluid, then I think I can cheaply adapt a water temp gauge to measure the temp of the fluid as it flows from the tranny to the tranny cooler.  I simply need to create a box that the fluid flows through into which I can screw the temp sensor (there seems to be no default place to put a temp gauge into a TH350).

 
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My Build — Wiring Harness

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Hurray!  My wiring harness arrived today, taking only 3 days to get here.  I pulled the harness out of the package and checked out the wiring.  It looks like the wiring is heavy duty enough for my needs.  The lengths appear reasonable and everything looks organized.

Painting update:  I just got an email that my paint has finally shipped.  I suspect that, unless it arrives by saturday, I’ll be delaying the painting I hoped to do this weekend.  I’ve got the hood, fenders and grille ready for paint.  The body is about 90% ready.  Everything should be ready by tomorrow.

You can learn more about this harness here

 
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My Build — Oil Pump Changes

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How to structure the Oil Pump in a buick v6 can be a bit of challenge if you read various web pages.  Should you use a high volume oil pump or not (the high volume oil pump is simply larger gears and a spacer to accommodate those gears)?  On the 225 v6 the general answer seems to be ‘no’ unless you drill out the oil holes for the middle two main bearing holes (these are smaller than the outer ones according to what I’ve read).

The 1980 and 1981 3.8L v6 engines that I have both came with the high volume pumps.  After doing research, I couldn’t get a clear answer on how good these pumps were for these later model engines.  So, I turned to TA Performance to see if I could get an answer.  They said using the high volume pump was fine, but recommended I use a variable pressure controller (in the pic above, you can see the old spring and nut sitting in front of the new double-nut & spring that’s already installed) and a hardened steel plate that sits underneath the gears to reduce wear (seen in the pic to the right).

I installed everything, but discovered that the gears are too tight, so they don’t spin properly (you can test this by taking out the distributor, sticking a screwdriver into the oil pump drive gear, and turning).  Therefore, I’m ordering a set of shims from TA Performance to fix the problem.

V6 Links

 
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Wiring Harnesses — EZ2Wire

• CATEGORIES: Biscuit, How To This site contains affiliate links for which I may be compensated.

When I built my last jeep, I removed the wiring from a totaled Chevy Vega.  Using schematics I copied at a library, I was able to sort out the wires and hook everything together.  This time, I don’t have a wrecked Vega in the driveway.  Moreover, I didn’t want to spend the time at the junkyard pulling one out of a wrecked vehicle.  So, I made the decision to purchase a kit.

My first thought was to use a Painless Wiring Kit, but they seemed to be few and far between on Craigslist.  So, I figured that I’d have to buy a new wiring kit.  When I looked at the price of a new Painless Kit, I thought the price was a little high, so I turned to ebay to see what was available.

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