Diamond T 980 Restoration Part 5 by Adrian

Written by Adrian

Friday, 19 June 2009 07:34

Winch

Work has progressed on the chassis, with the winch being lifted off for blasting and painting. The retaining bolts were extremely problematic and required prolonged heating to get them loose. I did learn a lesson from this exercise which was my ½” breaker bar is just not sufficient for the Diamond T, so an upgrade is on the way. Many thanks to the Farmer Jim Puddephat for lifting it off, aren’t tractors damn useful!

Winch just after blasting

Chassis

With the improved access it was decided to get the entire chassis steam cleaned. I had put this off until now to concentrate on the items which have been removed. However, presented with a largely unobstructed drive train the opportunity had arrived to remove forty years of residue. Thankfully very little oil was present but road film was a plenty. To allow the steamer to get down to the paintwork (and hopefully remove it where loose) I spent four days scraping and brushing. This not only succeeded in making the final job more effective, but removing the upper layers substantially reduced the mess created. With the film removed more evidence of North Africa was uncovered as desert sand can be traced back to the forward differential.

I have spent many hours flatting the chassis back to the orange primer. This has keyed well to the chassis, in sharp contrast to the green which is flaking badly but at least it is easy to remove. Those of you with long memories will recall the original plan of shot blasting the chassis when the vehicle was once again mobile but on reflection this is not such a good plan, especially as it is taking less time to flat the chassis than originally envisaged, so the chassis will be painted in situ. I have booked some long awaited time off work next month, so if the weather is kind you might see a quantum leap in progress.

Gauges

Replacement gauges have been sourced and are now painted ready for installation. Most are original units, the exceptions being the fuel pressure gauge, obtained as NOS from R&R, a NOS water temperature gauge (I had a replacement but it did not have the full scale in common with the originals) and the Viscosmeter, supplied courtesy of Contractorman. I must confess I do enjoy these ‘detail’ jobs, and it was most satisfying to get a good finish on the bezels.

Gauges prepared

Gauges primed. The Water temp gauge was new so I just keyed the exsisting paintwork.

Gauges completed

Winch control levers

Stripped, prepared and painted. Another satisfying result.

Lever assembly ready for installation

Cab

The majority of the welding has been completed. The exception being the door skins and the finishing strips along the base of the doorframe. These will not be fitted until the doors are correctly hung, to ensure the line of the door follows the cab.

The following pictures show the recent work to the cab and scuttle.

Corrosion to the overlap at the rear was worse than originally thought, a result of multiple layer of paint hinding the nasties.

New section being tacked into place

The outer skin at the grab handle after cutting out the rot. Again, removal of the paint revealed little strength in the metal. Notice the inner skin is starting to seriously corrode.

Problems around the screen surround

Replacement sections for the scuttle upper outer edge

Repaired scuttle face

Coroded section removed

Scuttle post blasting

Rear of scuttle after blasting. Just prior to priming

Offside panels

Finally, and after all it has only taken five months, the battery box, running board, fuel tank cover and associated panels are in the light stone. It was good to see large sections in the final colour. I had made numerous swatches but the true effect is only seen when large areas are painted and dragged into the daylight.

Trying to replicate the paint scheme in the desert, the inside of the battery box is green, as is the underside of the running board. Whether green or light stone, I have applied zinc phosphate grey primer over the red (also zinc phosphate and applied by the local blaster) with two coats of the final colour. I know the grey was not strictly required but I was concerned that the red would bleed through the light stone.

The green was mixed with 10% thinners and in cold conditions the gun pot was warmed slightly to help the paint flow, however the light stone requires a minimum of 15% or it spatters. The suppliers did stipulate 20% but a little experimentation showed this could be reduced.

On the subject of spraying I am using an Earlex HVLP system. Even for someone like me who’s past examples of spraying have been between mediocre and god damn awful it does provide a good quality finish, and the adjustment allows for fine detail work (the gauges being a good example) or large areas, and this was using the 1.5mm needle. For extra fine work a 1mm needle is available, and if you wish to dump a load of paint on the side of your house a 2mm needle should do the trick. The system is pressurised only a fraction over atmospheric and comes with its own integral air turbine so you don’t need a compressor.

On reflection I am very happy with the finish although I did manage to overdo it with the second coat on the running board. However this will be covered by the fuel tank. Careful examination has also revealed a very small run on the fuel tank protector plate but I guess when these were painted in the desert they were far from perfect!

Fuel tank has had one coat, and the second will hopefully be done this weekend, upon which rubber strips will be applied to the underside in place of the original fabric items and the assembly is complete.