Ben's MT350 Rebuild

[neoxerox]

Tonight I began to check the valve clearances



But in doing so I found two slightly broken (after a little forum help identifying the condition) components on the intake side:



Part of the lip has broken off, meaning they don't stay fixed to the ball of the valve adjustment screw.

Hopefully Apophis can sort me out with a couple of new ones.

[neoxerox]

After waiting ages on a supplier for an synthetic oil based slow drying self leveling paint I got fed up and bought a litre of cellulose with "how different can it be" in my mind.

Well, very different. It doesn't brush well at all, and i'm not happy with the finish i've got on the parts I've done so far so back to wait for the supplier on the oil based stuff.

If anyone that sprays wants a litre of RAL 6020 in full matt finish, give me a shout! If you pick it up you can have it for nothing - I wouldn't be confident posting this given its container...

[neoxerox]

Well I have another paint sorted and that's on it's way - Rustoleum Combi-Color RAL 6020 in a satin finish. I've used the same paint before to great effect when I painted my MK3 Hilux pickup a couple of years ago Anyway in the meantime I re-covered the seat tonight.

A heavy duty staple gun is essential, the better quality the better - I borrowed one from a school! Have some pics:

Before


The three bits after ripping out the rusty staples



I used araldite precision to glue the foam back to the plastic base, and then the vinyl to the foam. It's definately overkill but it's what I had around at the time



I started with stretching the vinyl over the front/back and placing a couple of staples in at the ends. I then worked the sides stretching as I went. I did have to take the couple of staples at the rear end out to re-stretch as I went along.

Halfway through and it's coming together





I included two pleats at the rear of the seat, it seemed easier than loads of stretching or cutting slits in the material/sowing. I think they've turned out rather neat, and I don't have any seams to worry about. They're oriented to shed rain/water rather than trap it too!



The finished seat after trimming the inside and bunging a whole load more staples in all the gaps! There's some little overlaps on the front section, but I reckon they'll be hidden by the tank. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out

[Barrie]

Nice one mate, your doing very well here
Barrie

[Derrick]

Excellent thread, do keep the photos and descriptions coming.

Picking one up in a 10 days time, with the aim of doing the same thing, so good to see what someone else is doing

[green_machine]

Coming along nicely. Having done nothing on my 604 project for what seems like months you've embarassed me into to serious workshop time tomorrow.

Stuart

[neoxerox]

Coming along nicely. Having done nothing on my 604 project for what seems like months you've embarassed me into to serious workshop time tomorrow.

Stuart

You say that, but my original aim of having it done for the end of September is not looking so great anymore! Since the paint sourcing problem I've really slowed down...

The paint's here now though so hopefully have that done in the evenings this week.

Good luck with the 604 project - are you taking pics?

[ellrider]

Well, very different. It doesn't brush well at all, and i'm not happy with the finish i've got on the parts I've done so far so back to wait for the supplier on the oil based stuff.

Add some thinners to make it more manageable, I use about 10% then roller it.

[neoxerox]

Well, very different. It doesn't brush well at all, and i'm not happy with the finish i've got on the parts I've done so far so back to wait for the supplier on the oil based stuff.

Add some thinners to make it more manageable, I use about 10% then roller it.

I did experimented with various bits I had in the garage to thin it but didn't get anything acceptable really. Online I read about "brushing thinners" that are deliberately less volatile and dry quicker buy couldn't find any. Settled on a paint I've used before now, I only want to do it once

Thanks for the suggestion though, I take it it worked well for you?

[neoxerox]

Time for some updates, quite a few actually

A while back I started prepping the tank for paint but held off on the write up till I'd progressed with it a bit more:

Here's the before




After filler




After sanding and shaping



Final sand/shape after another layer of filler to get the low spots and clean before paint




After the first coat, Rustoleum satin rolled on. Unfortunately I've left one of the dents a bit low and flat as you can see in the first one...




And after the second



I shall probably do one more coat before I put it on - any recommendations for petrol proofing without making it any more shiny than the satin already is?

More to come...