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New proud member, will need your help with my 72 commando

Discussion in 'Jeepster Commando and Commando Tech' started by KeyserSoSay, Sep 3, 2017.

  1. Apr 30, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
    Joined:
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    128
    before I get into the door/window stuff- First a little updating for the build thread.

    I mounted the back seat in the jeep... pretty happy with how it turned out, but I won't bother showing you plan-A which did not work out :whistle:- I misunderstood how the folding bracket for this flip-seat worked and miscalculated, and subsequently made a set of custom lower floor brackets that (while genius :sneak:) did not work out :n:. :shrug:

    I wanted welded-in brackets that, once completed, will allow me to simply bolt in the seats after all my steel work and raptor lining is done.

    [​IMG]

    I built 1/8" plates that weld in to the floor with the (schedule 8 crimped flange) nuts weld into the floor.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I welded these in via drilled holes, Should function similar to a spot weld, I assume there is the possibility that these welds might break out on me down the road, but I'll cross that bridge when it comes.

    [​IMG]

    these are not nearly as ugly as they look once cleaned up a little with a grinder.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    My kid is about 5'6" right now, I'm about 5'9", and anyone taller than me will never be too comfortable in the back seat- but it is what it is and I'm thrilled with versatility of this flip-forward rear seat that cost me $75. I've got a solid plan to pad the roof of the jeep that will not take up any additional clearance, and the seat sits in a good spot that won't be interfered with by the roll cage we'll be building.

    [​IMG]
     
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  2. Apr 30, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2017
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    128
    OK, so about the door repairs....

    First off is the driver's door is missing the linkage actuator from the door handle to the locking latch. Notice the gnarl of wire that once served as the previous owners fix. I have not repaired this yet- will probably wait until I go to reinstall everything to create a new linkage here.

    [​IMG]

    the rear window channel is folded into shape and mine was split down one end. I just welded up the split seam, I honestly don't think it will cause me any more troubles in my lifetime.

    [​IMG]

    The front window channel was more problematic. These channels have riveted-on mounting brackets, and both the top and bottom mounting tabs were loose or free. The bottom mounting bracket was also broken.

    [​IMG]

    I drilled out the old rivets, and drilled out the rivet holes to accommodate some larger steel pins. I welded the steel pins to both the channels and the mounting tabs (but did not weld the channels to the brackets). I also boxed in the lower bracket after repairing it so I should not have to worry about it ever breaking again.

    [​IMG]

    My primary concern with these window channels is that they were riveted (instead of welded) for a reason. These channels had flocking in them in their original state (as pictured below). These channels are pretty heave duty and designed to fit the Commando Windows that have a steel frame built around them, so just replaceing them with an aftermarket channel is not really an option.

    [​IMG]

    What is a good option (in my opinion), is just re-flocking the channels with mohair liner.



    [​IMG]

    This vendor (linked below- Rubbertherightway.com)) is my favorite for this stuff right now, lots of good stuff here including things I have not found anywhere else on the internet..

    Mohair Liner - For Use On Window Guides & Channels - 1-1/2" Wide

    Next up is the window actuator. Pictured below is the passenger side door, which shows what this should look like intact.

    [​IMG]

    this is my driver's door version. notice the window stop which I had to build (out of aluminum angle- should be fine for the chore it does and won't rust).

    The channel that the window actuator rides in is not an easy part to replicate, and the function of the window depends on it. I came up with a plan that I hope will work well and outlive us all.

    [​IMG]

    I built a new channel box using round steel rod, which I ground down to the profile of the original (front and back).

    [​IMG]

    The old channel was pressed steel spot-welded to the window carrier. I left the welded on plate on the carrier, and just welded my new channel to it. This kept me from having to weld directly to the window carrier and allowed me to create a good, solid mount that should last forever.

    [​IMG]

    one of a handful of cracks I found in various parts that I welded up. For the most part, these parts should not receive forces that create cracks, I credit the cracks and breaks to the fact that bolts came loose over time and were not repaired, causing stresses in places that would not receive them under normal operation.

    [​IMG]

    Nice and pretty!! I sandblasted all the parts and put them in virgin condition. I'll probably powder coat all these internal parts since I'll be doing the exposed window carrier and vent window frame anyway-

    [​IMG]

    Speaking of sandblasting.. My Snooty DIY attitude finally caught up with me.. I have the parts to build a sandblasting cabinet that I've been sitting on for several years. This weekend I broke down and went to Harbor Freight and bought one of their cheepo 40Lb blasting cabinet. Not thrilled with it but I'm tired of spending $20 on blasting media every time I need to do a little part and I got tired of waiting on me to ever build the cabinet :oops: I also got a soda blaster and a 50lb sack of soda.

    [​IMG]

    ALSO- In reference to the previous discussion on how to fix or replace the seals between the window glass and the "sash"

    [​IMG]

    I think I've found the fix!

    they have two types, one rubber, and one is rubber/cork. I remember thinking the stuff in this Commando seemed like cork, so I'm pretty sure the rubber cork is they type that will most emulate this, but the straight rubber might be an upgrade.

    Window Sash Channel Filler - Rubber-Cork 1/16" Thick

    "Filler strip, sash channel - 1/16" thick. For all applications fitting glass to sash channel. Check your old filler strip to find thickness needed. This is the highest quality linen back, rubber cork composition for a professional job on swingout windshields, door vent windows & convertible side windows having metal frames as well as many side or door windows on closed bodies. Free samples are available. Sold by the foot."
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2018
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  3. Apr 30, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    thanks for the link to the obscure rubber stuff.
     
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  4. May 2, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
    Joined:
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    I think I'm going to start an independent thread somewhere here on the ECJ5 relative to restoring these old doors (to include the semantics and potential vendors of the trims, rubber, moldings, sashes, flocking, etc). I'll also include links to other helpful threads I've found relative to the subject.

    Most of you guys here have already been through this stuff, but I just look at it through the eyes of the next newbie who buys an old jeep and has to start at the bottom of the Google-fu hill.

    In the meantime, I've got a couple more pics to update the thread.

    I powder coated the cleaned-up driver's door internals. (left is bare-metal, right is silver powder-coat)

    [​IMG]

    My oven is a little small for some of these parts but I made it work. had one big flaw in the powder that I couldn't avoid (had to squeeze it in between the door and the wall), but it's hidden inside the door and I was able to get a pretty, clean coat on all the exposed surfaces, that should last the next 45 years much better then it did the last 45 years.

    [​IMG]


    :flag:Are there any venture capitalists on this forum????:flag:

    Someone, somewhere, somehow, should recognize the obvious market for an airless powder-coating gun in the $100 price range that doesn't fall apart the moment a human being sets fingers to it...

    This Craftsman Powder Coater is THE. MOST. BEAUTIFUL. HORRIFIC. MAGNIFICANT. TRAINWRECK. ESSENTIAL. DEMON. ANGEL.... of a tool that I've ever had.

    I hate her. I really, really, hate her. :cry: (But I love her just a little more.:()

    To date, after having used this thing for two sessions, I've made 6 distinct repairs to this tool. It has 10 self-tapping screws that hold it together, each having 17 threads. Assuming a 1/3 turn of the screwdriver- that's 51 turns per screw to remove it, that's 510 turns to remove all 10. I estimate that puts me at 3060 screwdriver twists before I got smart and just started taping the housing together with electricians tape:banghead:.

    I also managed to read the entire user's manual for my voltage meter, which I still don't really understand how to use but was able to use it to locate my series of problems. The good news is, none of the components in the gun have had an actual failure, mostly it's all faulty plastic and broken solder joints.

    I can't recommend this gun to anyone who doesn't have the capacity or fortitude to keep it alive, but for those who do- I can't recommend it enough.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Next, I'll be moving onto the sheet-metal work on the door its 'self. I'm dreading it as there are some difficult dents at seems, several cracks, will be erasing several bolt and screw holes and adding mirror mounts and custom interior panels.

    Now that the summer weather is here, my side projects are actually cutting into my main projects time and budget, but since the doors are started (and need to be done), I'm going to roll with this task and put a bow on it. Once I get my next paycheck I'll be buying the rubber and trim for both doors, pull off the passenger's side door and taking it through the same process. Will concider the job complete with all window hardware powder coated, glass remounted in new rubbers, sheet-metal repaired and in primer, and all of new rubber and trim in a box ready for re-install after paint day (which will be many months down the road).







    Ohh! Almost forgot.. I'll also be diverting a little bit to get these new YJ flip-forward seat brackets cleaned up and mounted so that I can break down the seats and set my wife to sewing seat covers.:madwife:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: May 2, 2018
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  5. May 3, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    I apologize to those who probably feel like I over-post with too much minutia, but this thread is for me and my family as much as anyone else, so I like to capture my work here as much as possible ( :blah:"iiiiit's my build thread and I'll post if I want to... post if I want tooooo":blah: )

    Plus it's posts just like this one that have actually been a help to me as I've been teaching myself how to build this Jeep, so maybe someone will stumble onto this some day and be helped.

    So I got much of the metal work done yesterday and am pretty happy it was less of a chore than I imagined.

    the door stop failed and crumpled this up pretty good, It's still a little ugly but with a little body filler will be barely noticeable. The main concern is the body line in the front of the door, which is repaired. My biggest worry is preventing this from happening again.

    [​IMG]

    I can't imagine how this wound would even happen, to me it honestly looks like a bullet impact or like someone stabbed down through the door panel with a steel bar. Regardless, it's fixed now and will just need a skim of body filler.

    [​IMG]

    this crack worried me a lot as the repair would be visibly exposed inside the drivers door. All told, it'll look pretty decent with a few finger swipes of body filler, but my plan is to have a door panel that will cover this all up anyway.

    the metal rim that holds the inner door panel was bent all to heck. I made sure and bent it all back flat and in-plain before welding this up to minimize stresses. I'm not sure why this cracked here, I assume it was due to the door handle and window roller assemblies being loose as some point which stressed the door here over a period of years.

    [​IMG]

    On to the larger issues.... These cracks make more sense and are in an area of larger day-to-day stresses. the key to this repair is reinforced gusseting inside the door panel to better distribute those stresses going forward. You can see I did this in two planes. a little body filler and you'll never know, even where the crack ran down the dimple ridge.

    [​IMG]

    These pics illustrate my last point well. You can see that this crack has been welded before and it cracked again right beside it. It also shows that the previous "fixer" welded this door panel out of plane (the blue lines). I grinded out the crack enough that I could hold the two sides in-plane, and reinforced the two sides with interior gussets. It may crack again some day, but it won't be here.

    not shown in the pics is the fact that there had been a mirror or something mounted just below this crack and there are 3 holes in the metal covered in body filler. The screw holes were dimpled in, but never welded shut (body filler just squished through them. I fixed that too and you can see it in the next pic.

    This is one of the reasons why I had to remove all the paint from this door (jeep). For one, the red paint just flakes off, I think it might be enamel, it is not bonded to the underlying paint, and as such everything red on this jeep has to be removed before I can paint over it.

    Secondly, and just as important, I can't trust the body work I'm finding under the paint.

    [​IMG]

    This was my biggest worry but I was able to work it out really easily. The picture in the upper right is a little blurry and does not show just how smushed-in the top corner of the door was. There had been a mirror mounted there which had hit something hard and really smushed in that corner in a critical spot.

    I was able to get a large C-clamp through the window crack, and a steel block set on the inside of the dent. I used my large 2"X4"X8" steel block on the outside that I aligned over the edges of the door in plane as a backing and cranked down the C-clamp. I did this a few times, repositioning the small intern block appropriately to achieve the desired result in forcing the dent back out to plane.

    At the end of the day, this turned out as good as you could ever hope for. I very light skim of body filler will cover this up and the lines and plane of the door are as they should be.

    [​IMG]

    I have one more large repair to this door, and will be installing a welded in-nut plate for mounting my side mirror. I'll finish removing the red paint, body fill all the remaining flaws, and then put it in primer and check it off my list.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2018
  6. May 3, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    One more little part to beg if anyone has an extra..

    (HUGE thanks goes out to jackdog for helping me with my other door parts I was looking for!!! )




    [​IMG]
     
  7. May 7, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
    Joined:
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    Got the driver's side door basically completed and ready for final paint day.

    the last major repair to the door outlined below. Both of my Commando doors have these lower window guide bolt holes ripped out. Luckily I had been reading through the TSM a bit and realized (at the last minute) that these bolt holes are designed to allow the window guides to be adjusted left-to-right (which adjusts the top of the window in or out to create a perfect seal with the rubber window molding)

    this made my repairs a little more complicated but not rocket-surgery. The completed repair is double-walled and should hold up much better than the original.

    [​IMG]

    I moved on to mounting the side mirror. This paper temple will allow me to mount both the driver's side and passenger's side mirror in the same spot.

    Notice I've taken the time to explore what is going on inside the door panel (which I drew on the outside of the template). The leading edge of the door has a large spot-welded flange which could have messed up my plan had I not taken it into account. Also, the door has some kind of bedliner sprayed in it which I had to account for and even removed a small portion of it.

    [​IMG]

    A secondary template for my internal backing plate....

    [​IMG]

    Your mileage may vary, but I tack welded these nuts to the plate while it was bolted to the mirrors- I wanted to make DARN sure these nuts where in line with the bolt holes of the mirrors and that the nuts where held in plane so the counter sunk bolts would fit perfectly and not be off on some weird angle.

    I sandwiched my Kevlar welding blanket between the plate and the mirrors while welding this so as not to ruin the finish on my mirrors. It worked, Thank God....

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Backing plate welded in to the door. I cinched the plate to the door pretty tightly with bolts in the three holes before welding this to the door. If this process is going to distort the sheet metal, better to have that happen now, and with the plate cinched up to achieve it's function.

    [​IMG]

    Test fit.. I think these chromey mirrors are going to look pretty great! I'm sure there are many purists here who might disagree with that, but the world is full of wonderous variety.

    [​IMG]

    Next is a pro-tip you can take or leave (as I don't pretend to be anything other than some middle-aged newbie shmoe in his garage). This stuff is called Parafilm and I discovered it while working in a campus lab as an undergraduate student way back in the day. It's a paraffin film that stretches like wax (but is not wax) and is primarily used to seal containers like Saran Wrap. I often chew on it like gum. Every shop should have a roll- and once you do you'll realize I'm right about that.

    The key to this body filler repair is creating one perfect plane surface from the edge of the door out into the middle of your body panel. This cannot be accomplished by avoiding these bolt holes, so the trick is to fill the bolt holes and bondo over them, then dig the holes out.

    Notice I squished the parafilm down below the surface of the door just a bit. obviously, there was more body work to be done to this corner of the door, but the broad strokes- the overall contoured surface- was created with this first pass of filler.

    [​IMG]

    I'll spare you guys the rest of the minutia resurfacing this door. one extra pic of my door storage. I have WAYYYYY too much stuff crammed in my little shop.

    [​IMG]


    FWIW- the TV screen seen on the pics is from a 72" Mitsubishi 1080 Projection TV and happens to be the Holy Grail of spot-fucus Fresnel lenses (I hope to generate steam with it someday when I run out of projects)



     
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  8. May 7, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    RAPTOR LINER DAY!!

    First off, don't judge me on the state of my back patio. The patio is effectively a concrete box which is -30F in the winter and 160F in the summer. I've got several projects in the works to make it a nice zenful space, but none of them have seen any movement since I bought the Jeep last September :whistle::oops:.

    For starters, I had to put a coat of paint on the fairing, and then rough it up with 120 grit. I went with white because I had lots of it, but in retrospect I wish I'd have bitten-the-bullet and gone to town for some better (black) paint. The fairing is lighter then the rest of the rack because of it.

    [​IMG]

    I rigged up a rope and pully type system that allowed me to move the rack up and down, and tilt it to and fro. This was critical as there are SOOO many nooks and crannies to get painted on this rack that you have to be able to view it from at least 3 different angles to get it covered.

    Straight up... I still did not get all of the nooks and crannies and every time I look at the rack I find a new spot that did not get covered and is showing some grey primer through.... I'd be really bummed about it if I wasn't so generally pleased with how it came out.. If you view the rack as you would when it's mounted on the Jeep, you can't notice a single flaw in the coverage. So screw it. We're rolling with it as is.

    [​IMG]

    Pay no attention to all the junk piled up in the background. We had to create a junk wall to keep the dogs from getting into our paint booth or escaping the yard.

    Notice the hasty change of plans on how we sprayed the fairing..... Not sure what I was thinking originally but it was a stressful transition to hang the half painted fairing after attempting to paint it while propped up on that wire cage.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I have a terrible impatience issue. After several hours the Rator lining is dry and hard-ish, so we went ahead and mounted the fairing. I'm going to let it sit a week before touching it again.

    [​IMG]

    Plenty of small flaws and bald-ish spots, but I'm happy with it as a whole. I'm thrilled with the Raptor liner in general. Last week I wanted to powder coat all the world, now I want to Raptor line all the world.

    I had ordered 8 liters of the tintable Raptor liner, and we ended up using 3 liters. I'm pretty sure the remaining 5 liters will more than cover the cab and bed floor when we get to that part. We may end up doing the bumpers with this stuff too. Another great characteristic of the Raptor liner is that it does not have a shelf life.

    [​IMG]

    I'd say spraying a roof rack is probably one of the most problematic things you can paint with this stuff. I knew we'd have lots of overspray and we accounted for it well and did not end up making any mess outside of the plastic we had laid. My (shop) pants have red knees now, and my shop shoes have Raptor lined soles.

    [​IMG]


    If nothing else, I can check another unfinished pending project off my list!!! When it comes time to mount the rack, all we'll have to do is lift it up and bolt it on.
     
    Last edited: May 7, 2018
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  9. May 8, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Here is the rack up on the Jeep. This helps illustrate a slight problem with the Raptor liner. It’s not even close to the color we had hoped for, actually it sucks. The red gas can in the photo shows how far away the current color is from the desired one.

    [​IMG]

    This is the color we’re going for.... we want a deep dark red.

    [​IMG]

    I thought I’d found a good commercial color code in “Plymouth Scorch Red”.

    [​IMG]

    Not sure if the color we added is just not right, or if the Raptor liner just significantly lightens the color.. either way, I’ll have to explore further how to get the color right and may end up having to add a coat of a darker red raptor liner to the rack.
     
  10. May 8, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    While the raptor is still soft(just flashed) spray it with your color choice using activated urathane single stage paint problem solved. I do this all the time. The liner does change the color
     
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  11. May 9, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Thanks for that, but it’s too late for me to address it in that manner.

    I really wanted to find a standardized and easily replicated color code for this Jeep, but am determined now to get the right color before moving forward with any more coating. The “Scorch red” pigment I bought for the RaptorLiner cost me about $70 (enough to color 8 liters of Raptor) and now I’m looking at having to use another 2 liters of Raptor and another $50 in new pigment to fix it. I’ll not make the same mistakes again.

    I had read that folks recommend using a slightly darker pigment (for RaptorLiner) than your paint in order to color match, but this is a bit ridiculous. I also question now if the Scorch Red is even close enough to my desired color, so I’m going to bite the bullet and test out some sample colors and/or have Sherwin Williams help me create my own color if need be. I’ll also probably have my RaptorLiner pigments made up just a little darker than even that as a darker red would still look good in contrast while a lighter red will just look clownish.

    I do not think it critical that this rack (or the cab floor and bed) match exactly the color of the Jeep, but It seemed such a waste to just make it black like every other roof-rack when the ability to match the Jeep color was so close at hand.

    Now I’ve created myself another restoration chore as the pukey red color of the rack will not do and would look super goofy once the Jeep is painted in the correct color.

    I figure it’s a $100 mistake and a full day’s labor lost, and part of the inherent danger of messing with auxiliary components before the Jeep itself is even built. It’s almost certainly not the last such mistake I’ll make before this is over but I really meant this as a test run and I expect it may have saved me from other more consequential mistakes.
     
  12. May 9, 2018
    ojgrsoi

    ojgrsoi Retired 2024 Sponsor 2023 Sponsor 2022 Sponsor

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    Hang in there. You're doing a nice job of fixing things better than new. I think we've all had things that don't go well. Gives you an old man story to share someday...
     
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  13. May 9, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    Use the urethane single stage paint to tint the liner with and you can wipe the rack with prep sol and topcoat it too. Then the finish and the liner are the same to start. I always topcoat raptor when color matching. as long as the liner hasn’t cured too long the finish chemically bonds to the liner. They are the same product just way different viscosity.
     
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  14. May 9, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    I think I understand you better now. You mean to say that you add the pigment to the Raptor, and also top coat with a full urethane-SS paint (pigments and binders) of the same color to create a more paintlike surface that is color-matched, and even if the top coat get's chipped or scratched the bedliner substrate is the same color anyway?

    Be aware that my understanding of paint is pretty limited and I admit to struggling a little bit as I work to improve my vocabulary on the subject and understand the differences in the wide variety of paints and coatings available. When you say "urethane single stage paint" I understand that single stage paint is different than the basecoat/clearcoat system typically used for painting vehicles. To be honest, I do not know even what type of paint it is I used to tint my Raptor. I did know that I needed to get the pigment only (and not the paint binders that make the paint- "paint") so I went in to Sherwin Williams and told them what I was doing and they seemed to clearly understand what I needed as a Raptor tint. I had to pay for the full quart of paint that amounted to about half of that without the paint binders, and then I had to purchase another (basically half) quart in order to achieve the 800 ML I needed to tint 8 liters of Raptor.

    What you describe is exactly why I wanted to use a standardized color code. was hoping that in doing so it would be easier to create Raptor Liner, Urethane SS, base/clear paints that all had the same color (heck I can even get rattle can paint in the Plymouth Scorch Red which I thought would be nice for making small repairs going forward). I guess the color code is not all that important to creating different paint types as long as the company I work with to get my paints has a clear understanding of the codes and pigment ratios of my chosen color.

    When it comes to the roof-rack, I already mentioned that I had some spots that did not get great coverage-- so a color change will actually help me rectify that. The red Raptor coat that I have now should mean that it will take much less Raptor liner to achieve the proper color when I respray it with the new/correct/ darker color. I'm not sure to what extent I'll need to sand/clean/solvent/rough-up the existing surface before adding a second coat of Raptor, but I do know it's possible to do without removing the current liner and expect good adhesion.

    guess we'll figure it all out. My first order of business relative to any further painting or coating is to find the color we're going for and get some code, mix, or ratio that will allow us to replicate it consistently going forward. I'll want to test it out and confirm that it will look as we want it to. From there I plan to get pigment for the Raptor that is specifically and intentionally darker even if it means the rack is a noticeably darker color than the truck when we're done.
     
  15. May 9, 2018
    timgr

    timgr We stand on the shoulders of giants. 2022 Sponsor

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    Yes, single stage is just that - color and top coat in one product. It's still catalyzed like clear coat.
     
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  16. May 9, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    I skip the tint in the liner I buy single stage paint in the color needed and use that to tint the liner. The binder only thins the raptor a little no difference in the end result. By using the same product to tint and finish a good match is assured. As far as the rack just spray it your color choice after a good solvent bath. No sanding needed yet. if you wait a few weeks scuff it first.
     
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  17. May 9, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Ahh, I get you, I've seen where other have made the same suggestion- noting that the binders in the paint do not really harm the process of hardening the Raptor liner, but I'm a bit of a Scaredy-Cat and was willing to pay about double for the same amount of pure pigments.

    Did you use the single stage paint to paint your entire Jeep as well? I've looked at doing that but am currently leaning towards just doing a base/clear as I have enough experience dealing with this method (years ago) and am confident I can spray a decent paint job this way. It seems the paint professionals who discuss this type of stuff on the web forums feel the base/clear makes for a better paint job, but maybe I should look at a single stage paint for the entire Jeep. I keep having to remind myself that I'm not trying to build a show truck, but I just don't have enough experience with this stuff to know which is my best tactic to take. Single stage paint would surely solve a lot of problems for me and simplify my life. But I'd hate to have taken the time and effort I'm taking in the body and prep work and not take full advantage of it by getting the best out of my paint job either....

    As for the rack, it will be at least a few weeks before I can make my stars align again for a do-over, so I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll likely have to scuff the larger surfaces of the rack with at least a wire wheel or some rough block sanding, and also hit it with a thorough solvent bath... I'm hoping that will be enough for good adhesion, and it seems intuitive that I should not have too much issue as long as the surface of the old Raptor liner is clean and rough..

    I get paid again this Friday- Maybe I can make a push to find a better color and go at the rack again by this weekend, do you think I'd get away with just a good solvent cleaning if I went this route (after a week of curing)?
     
  18. May 9, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

    exploring the...
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    correct the binders don't hurt the finish,the activator for the raptor will harden the paint.
    first question first, for a jeep that gets used i would do single stage reason being minor scratches will still be body color,whereas base clear scratches white. you can buff single stage till you hit primer with no difference in appearance till you see primer.
    base clear is done once you buff the clear off. as for the rack even cured all you need is a red scotch pad and a good wipe,its new,its clean scuff it wipe it spray it.
     
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  19. May 9, 2018
    KeyserSoSay

    KeyserSoSay Collector of Hobbies and Vestigial Skills

    Edgewood New Mexico
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    Ok great points, I’ll take a serious look at changing my tact to a single stage.. actually kind of excited about it now that I think of it- it seems like a single stage would make it much easier to get a good match if I were to paint different parts (doors/ hood / tailgate/ seat brackets) days/weeks/months apart. If I used the same batch of paint they should be a perfect match, right? Solves Raptor liner color issues as well- If I just get a large (excessive) batch of the paint, I can do everything with it...

    Is there a restrictive shelf-life with single stage paint, or if I bought two gallons of it would it still be good-to-go 12-24 months from now?

    Also- if you look at the car-show Commando pictured above you can see the plaque that says who built it. (Hefner’s Classics, Nampa Idaho). I called the guy (Jeremy Hefner) and he was very cool and helpful. He said the color code on that Jeep is “VW Salsa Red”... I love the look of that red color, but I expect it might also appear lighter than I want outside in the sunlight. I suspect the darker red we go the more it will look Maroon which we want to avoid.

    Probably going to just go with it (VW Salsa Red) and quit acting like a girl about it.. I hope the single stage paint can be pretty and shiny but I realize our version is never going to look like that show Jeep anyway so I’m trying to curb my expectations (but secretly still expect we can get pretty close )

    Thanks so much to all you guys who have taken the time to follow and participate in this thread and conversation with me.
     
    Last edited: May 9, 2018
  20. May 9, 2018
    sterlclan

    sterlclan Member 2022 Sponsor

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    the paint itself will last 20 plus years if sealed well. the activator not so much it reacts to moisture so temperature fluctuations cause it get condensation inside and cause it to go bad. and yes get a few gallons, if its mixed by the paint shop and not a factory package, mix it all together(paint only) and put it back into separate cans. seal them and then the multiple gallons are all exactly the same color,color match is no problem then.
     
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