David Chapman

   

>simple semi gloss? Question number two: Does anyone have any experience
with Gordons old replacement shocks which >were Koni's.

Simple semi gloss and wax is the way to go been on mine 15 years no rust
problems and so easy to spot any damage.

The Konis work well, I had a few sets on various cars, only problem is the
rubber in the bush can disintegrate, especially on the rears. I had some
polyurathene replacements made by a company in Australia to fix mine, and,
as is the way with these things, I had to have a batch of (I think) 50 made.
Hugh has the rest so call him if they look like they need replacing.

David Chapman in the UK.

Bill Connelly

   

Can anyone give me their experience with painting the underside of the hull
as well as the wheel housing areas. What did you use. Por-15, rustoleum,
simple semi gloss? [snip!...]

=-=-=-=-=-

My underside was actually in pretty fair shape when I got it, so I just
cleaned the painted surface really well with soap and water using steel wool
and those 3M plastic scrubbing cloths that are basically a heavy-duty
version of the little green pan scrubbing things one buys for the kitchen.
I only scrubbed down to bare metal where I saw rust spots beginning---these
were typically spots no bigger than a dime and probably caused by the impact
of stones or other road debris. Once rinsed, I headed off to the marine
goods store where I found that their house brand of flat black marine
"copper type" marine paint was on sale. It said on the can that it was good
for steel, so that's what I got. I just slopped it on with a brush. I
didn't even worry about primer. It must be pretty decent and durable stuff,
because that was 6 or 7 years ago and it seems to be holding up remarkably
well (and I probably put on more road miles than most). I crawled under
there at the beginning of the season last year to see about touching it up,
but it really didn't need it anywhere so I went for a swim instead.

The above experience might apply to folks with similarly sound bottoms in
need of a touch up (ooo baby baby!), but those going down to bare metal
overall might obviously want to consider a more sophisticated cocktail of a
matching primer and coating.

~Bilgemaster~