Sirpent

Cheers Kyle............. So far no cigar but hopefully it will get better once the 2 teens get out of bed and if they remember, Loui, cheers Brother, but what I cant figure out is how we are both 45 and mum had us 3 months apart????? Guess she wanted to hold onto the gorgeous one as long as she could...........LOL

Thanks for the wishes and Vulcan logic Jane........... Cheers Bruce.

Damn good observation there Mick, the scissor arms look very close in size and swing, you will have to keep everyone up tp date on this one, mine are also a bit poor. By the way, do you think the power window pack on the VS could fit into the "Z" door shell if it was all to work? Cheers John

Trust my bro Loui getting in first with a welcome....LOL Alexandra, welcome, good luck, and enjoy................. And what ever you do dont disappear, this site needs a bit of gender balance........Did you here that Lurch? Play nice ! Cheers John

Thanks Buddy, I would strongly suggest staying away from the Dioxidine, if you read up on epoxy primers you will not that they love clean bare metal, basically all it is is a form of sprayable body filler, same composition and as with body fillers they dont react well to acid based substrates. I used to use dioxidine back in the 80's when doing acrylic resprays and have never used it under any 2Pac process, if you do use it, as soon as the moisture content of the wash has dried off you will notice that the metal takes on a multi colored hue this is the effect of the acid content having taken effect on the surface, you must not introduce any further moisture to the surface thereafter i.e. touching the surface with a bare hand for instance. The sooner you apply material over it at that point the better. It's your call, but to be honest no one does this treatment any longer in modern shops, if you prep the panels properly, all you need to do it give them a good prepsol clean before the material application in the case of epoxy and it will be fine. Cheers John

Looking VERY SHMICK MICK !

Similar to the prep tutorial I wrote. Only thing I would suggest is that washing panels down with Dioxidine may be a bit risky with Epoxy as it is an acid based prep wash similar to etch primer and Epoxy's dont like acid based primers. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,6306.0.html Cheers John

I agree with Rev 101%, Commonly crows feet is a result of poor previous paint surface preperation leading to the upper surface expanding and contracting and losing adhesion with the sub surface it was laid over. I have seen some beaters years ago basically cut back paint work with machine cutting compound and then paint straigh over the top of it, this always led to cros feet down the track. It isnt that common on OEM factory paint, however I have seen a number of U.S. cars such as the Probes and Mustangs of the late 90's suffer this from the factory. The only way to remedy crows feet as mentioned in the first paragraph is to wet rub the upper paint surface all the way back to the substrate, I have used a soft block and literally taken an entire panel back wet and dry this way to the original finish underneath. If its in the OEM paintwork, it's bare metal time Im sorry to say. Cheers John

Hi all, The simple answer to this thread (Having read all the differing opinions) is as follows. Metalic paints for the better part are a composite of tints which create the color, and actual metalic particals, most of these particals are aluminium based, in some instances other metal types are used. In matching a base metalic color therefore, a number of problems arise, as follows. #1 Paint formula, a production line vehicle, particularly older cars dating back pre 95, have up to 7+ variations out of the factory, ordering paint straight off the formala or color code will in most instances deliver a variance to the original, fords snow white for instance has no less than 6 variations and they are as different as black and white. Solution, you must take a sample of your vehicles actual finish, such as a fuel door to first determine what variance you are looking at against the paint manufacturers color chips and have the color mixed to the closest actual matching chip. #2 Due to the metalic component within the paint, even having a near perfect match to you vehicles color mixed up will not and never will garauntee that the sprayed finish will match an adjacent panel in what is called an "Edge to edge" application. depending on the flow rate of material, how wet i is applied and the applicators actual stroke of the gun ( yes I can see that last line being pasted in replies so have fun) the actual metalic particals will either lay of be suspended in an un-uniform manner to the original finish. Imagine looking at these particals under a microscope, they actually look like rectangular sheets of glass, so depending on how they eventually lay down in the application is the way they will reflect light, sound stupid I know, but this is physics and your eyes at work when looking at the final product, its all about your eyes interpretation of light refractions, simplae as that. If you look at some of the metalic HSV commodores that come out of the HSV skunk works in Clayton, you will sometime notice that the bumper bars look lighter and darker in sunlight from the guards, this is because they are additions to the vehicle and the bars are painted face up on a panel horse rather than face forward as on the vehicle, the result is what I described above, the metalic particles have been layed in an un-natural application process by which the rest of the car had it's paint applied in and therefore the grain of the metalic partlicles runs in an oppossing manner thus causing the light refraction to be different. The only way to actually obtain a uniform color finish if (A) You have obtained the correct color variance and (B) are painting under the correct environmental conditions with regard to humidity and temputure is to do a blend out of the base color. Painting the entire side of a car is a total waste of time and materials. For instance, you have a repair at the rear end of a guard which for some reason was damaged but the door wasnt (Sometimes a misaligned guard can be caved in by a door opening as an example) First, Complete the repair, lets say the repair reaches the lip of the wheel arch, now the color to the bonnet is perfect, the color to the light bucket is perfect, does this mean the entire guard needs to be painted?, of course not, the entire guard needs to be knocked back with 800 grit wet and dry, this should only knock back the clear coat and not mean rubbing through to the base metalic coat, the same should be done to the door from edge to edge. Thereafter application of color should be slow but progressive only over the primed repaired area, this should be done with low pressure mist coats to the point that the primer is no longer visible. After this, the application of paint should be done from an approximate distance of twice the normal distance usually used to paint panels, by holding a posion that is directly diagonal to the repair area, your should be able to pan from left to right with your wrist and allow a mist coat to blend paint across the original finish and the repair area, you DO NOT NEED TO COVER THE ENTIRE GUARD IN COLOR, this process is known as a flick application. Once you have achieved this, then the door and guard have a complete recoat of clear coat applied, this is known as locking up the color. Once unmasked, even a metalic a few shades off the original should leave an almost undetectable finish. If anyone in Metro Melbourne is having problems with something like this and would like a demo and be willing to post pics I would be happy to come around and show the process. Cheers John

Hi It depends on what type of primer it is. Both modern 2Pak Hi-Fill and even acrylic primers are designed to be wet rubbed and do not usually allow moisture to penetrate throgh, however if it is a epoxy based primer then yes moisture penitration is always a posibility. Wet rubbed primers give off a particular scent, a trained nose would quicly identify what you have on your panels. Regardless of that however, this is a trick or treat situation, you just dont know how the panels have been prepped and whether the primer has actually had the correct base material laid down prior to its application, i.e. Etch primer for instance. It would be safer to take the panels back to metal rather than risk fowling up a paint job. On the point of the factory finish panels, these are a low baked proposition, as long as there isnt any sign of crows feet (radiating cracks) humidity blisters (which look like minute uniform bubles) or silcon contamination which look life minute depressions or craters) then wet rubbibg these panels back with 800 grit wet and dry and re-applying a finish directly over them is ok, however if you are using acrylic over these enamel finishes, you must be carefull not top lay down extremely wet layers first as you will end up with solvent burn and a nasty reaction between the 2 paint types. Cheers John

Hey Tim, Well Part 2 would have well and truley been up and posted by now if my boy hadnt gotten so sick and I ended up taking the time off work for my annual leave like I'd planned, unfortunately the last almost 2 months has been like winter in Siberia as far as my build is concerned and any progress on it. But seriously, cant you find a better bonnet than that ????? Maybe it looks worse in pics than it is, Im kind of the same, not very photogenic. What are you planning?

Happy birthday "OLDER" brother, at least we know who the younger and better looking one is in the family...LOL

Maybe a search and sieze warrant issued in Lansfield may yield a result? Sorry to all who may not be able to connect the dots on this subliminal post.

Hey Johnny, Sush and NZ'r, alls good and thanks for the words, all appreciated, but this is a build thread so I think we should leave it at that from here on in, to everyone that posted a big thanks from "the boy and me" as Homer Simpson would say. Cheers John

Thanks guys, and it's Marcus Lurch, we are Aussies now and left the Bulkan names back over there when we swam to Australia.............LOL No seriously, thanks to everyone, things are a lot better now than the first 3 days when I sat there looking at a motionless kid on a resperator and 8 IV's pumping stuff into him. At least he is awake now and lucent and I can see the great kid and mate is still there although in some discomfort.

Thanks brother, You were one of the few that knew at the time and talking to you meant a lot. lets just hope we can both get back to our builds in time for next year otherwise we will have to buy 120Y's to drive there LOL

Thanks Rev, If anyones prayers will help it will definately be the Good rev. Daves I actually thought of you when I was by his bed praying also, sometimes our faith takes a backseat until we are in need, and you think about the people who are more actively out there at those times, I know it sound strange but it's true. Thanks Dave..........

Hi All, Well I never made it to NZ, unfortunately my youngest son ended up in the Royal Childrens Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on the 16th of this month in a critical condition, is faring better now but was extremely ill, I havnt slept in my own bed for over 2 weeks now and the closest I have been to one is a recliner in his room, havnt even gone near the car as a result either apart from checking that it was still there on the 18th after our house was broken into while we were all in hospital. Anyhow, looking forward to brighter days ahead and my best friend coming home from hospital hopefully soon. In the meanwhile, though I would store all the pics of the build away on a single site incase anyone wanted to access them http://www.facebook.com/sirpentz Hope to get back into the thick of it soon and get to Goulburn 2011. Cheers John

Hat off to you Rev, that is one very seriously good looking ride. Congratulations!

A Greek couple visiting family in Australia arrive at Mascot airport and jump into a cab. The cab driver asks them where they want to go, and the husband gives the cabbie an address in Burwood. The cabbie starts driving, and asks the couple where they are from, the husband responds Greece, the wife dosnt understand English at all and asks the husband what the cab driver asked, the husband replies to her in greek he asked where we are from and I replied Greece. A fem minutes later the cabbie asks the husband what part of Greece. The husband replies Athens, the wife asks the husband again what the cab driver asked, the husband replies to her in greek, he asked what part of greece we are from and I replied Athens. About 5 minutes later, realising the wife didnt understand English, the cabbie says to the husband, you know I visted Greece 20 years ago, and spent time in Athens, I met this bird there, she was spectacular until I got her into bed that night and she ended up being the worst F*cK I ever had, stank to high heaven and left me feeling ill for a month. The husband laughed, the wife immediately asks the husband again what the cab driver said, the husband replies to her in greek, he said he visited Athens once years ago and says you look very familiar to him.

So Loui, Bro.............. Let me get this right, and excuse me for lack of a better term, but you being a half breed mogrel wog and being half greek half Maco must mean that every time you wake up in the morning, go to shave, and look in the mirro, you must want to kill the guy in the reflection? LOL, hope this keeps Lurch entertained, and I must say the sun tan, plucked eyebrows from your usual mono brow, and the slicked back hair are vast improvements.

Hey Loui, I have a story to tell along the lines of what you are getting at............. If anyone on here follows the world game of FOOTBALL, then you would know Andy Pascalidis from on the ball on SBS. Andy and I are long time friends, and he told me this story once. He has 3 sisters, each is married, one to a Croat, One to a Macedonian, and one to a Serbian. Anyhow, back in the early ninties, the Serbs and Croats where at each other, as were the Greeks and Macedonians over the naming rights of Macedonia, the Serb sided with the Greek and visa versa on the issue, (Andy and his family are Greek) while the Croat and the Macedonian sided with each other due to the hostilities at the time between the Serbs and Croats. As Andy put it, it was easter time and all of the sisters and their husbands turned up at Andy's parents place for lunch, I dont think I need to say much more, the balkans conflict momentarally that afternoon spilled 20,000 km's across the globe into a dining room in South West Sydney. So Loui, all we need now is a Maco on the forum to show up and we may be able to run some war games at the nats next year, what do you think? Unfortunately Bro, I will have to side with him, and you with Johnny to keep the staus quo. LMFAO

Good morning, Looked up all the details in my files, screwed up a couple of points but am attaching the following table to this post to explain the coralation between the Hilux / Surf calliper and the Z and Pug rotors, hope this explains what needs to be done. Also, I purched my Pug and R31 rotors from Richmond Brake and Clutch 408-410 Swan street Richmond VIC 3121 PH: (03) 9429 3155 I think it was either Tony or Trent who helped me out. Cheers John

OK, Have all the details in a file at work, but what I can tell you is this The ones I got were RDA Directionally Slotted Brake Rotors, and from memory the diameter was around 272-273 mm and 20mm thickness. The stud pattern was spot on to the Z PCD of 114.3mm, but the centre hub seat had to be machined to the Z hub size. Otherwise perfect fit. Lurch will know the technical details better than I can recall, but I will post all the details of the applicable RDA part number, price, retailer and actual dimensions in the morning. Cheers John

I agree with NZder, I went the vented Peugoet vented rotors when Lurch did the mod, they were rediculously cheap, I think $140.00 each. Picked them up in Richmond, I can look up the details if you want. Cheers John