Building the perfect 90
- Thread starter erover82
- Start date
erover82
0
I have enjoyed this thread tremendously. The attention to detail is almost unnerving!
Good color choice… I waffled between colors for about 2 months and finally settled on Keswick green myself. After 18 months or so of picking and getting smarter people than me to help with engine and build, what was 2 months?
It was a tough choice between Keswick and the various blues. Maybe I’ll have to build an RAF 130 next to have both.
If you’re measuring time in months, that’s a good sign. Been five years now and I’ve relented on some of the perfectionist tendencies more recently just to get it done.
Those some good looking trucks there. Is that the Klamath river? Have spent some memorable time in those parts.
Skidmarks
New member
No, Clear creek in Colorado. Nice little trout stream near Golden. That and the South Platte are happy places….
I had lots of help on mine… paid for it, but worth it to me. Truck runs great and is exactly what I wanted and 20 months from arrival of truck in port to finish was hard. It was mostly done in a year but getting the drive train through California Air Resources was a year of work on the engine and waiting for referee blessing.
Arles Blue…. One of the tough ones to eliminate.
Z.G
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Let me know when you do the RAF130 so I can send over my 110 for you to repaint. My paintwork only looks good from 20+ feet
erover82
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I was just considering recently where painting ranks for difficulty on the list of tasks in a full build. It’s #1.
Painting with the goal of factory or better results requires professional skills, infrastructure, and tools - all of which are out of reach for most DIY people.
Humidity, temperature, pressure, dust, spray pattern, mixing ratios, activator and reducer speeds, gun configuration, ambient air flow, surface accessibility, surface prep, sand scratch depth, coating layer ordering, time between coats to avoids runs and dieback, etc etc etc - all of these have to be perfect to achieve good results. It’s extremely stressful, expensive, laborious, and time consuming.
Even the pros who have everything dialed in screw up sometimes, and there’s a whole additional set of skills and equipment for fixing those mistakes.
I’ve painted very few pieces that came out good to go straight after painting and curing. Even some pieces that looked good an hour after the last coat, look like shit the next day when all the solvent has evaporated out because I pushed the recoat windows too short. I’ve relied on the “cut and buff” significantly to compensate for the lack of perfect conditions. I’ve invested hundreds just in top tier sand paper and blocks to get the best results possible, but the whole process add another layer of time consuming work and risks.
Painting is one of the best but most expensive tasks to outsource. Mad respect to the guys that do it professionally.
erover82
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Also, respect to the mad lads who take a swing at painting at home - orange peel, dirt, and bugs be damned.
Z.G
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Mine has all of that, plus runs, nibs, water, wrong air pressure, too much hardener, not enough hardener, etc
RN's founder has painted multiple vehicles in the parking lot. Trucks still look good from 15' away
erover82
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Revisiting the oil pressure sensor
I decided version 1 of the oil pressure sensor arrangement was overcomplicated. A sprung leak here could be catastrophic if it goes unnoticed for too long.
Five sealing washers and five components
VDO 240850 to the rescue - now only three washers and components.
Fitting requires temporarily removing the oil thermostat, but I'm much more confident in this solution.
I decided version 1 of the oil pressure sensor arrangement was overcomplicated. A sprung leak here could be catastrophic if it goes unnoticed for too long.
Five sealing washers and five components
VDO 240850 to the rescue - now only three washers and components.
Fitting requires temporarily removing the oil thermostat, but I'm much more confident in this solution.
pacopancho
New member
Wow, serious fetish engine p🤤rn!!
erover82
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Oil cooler lines - just hook them up and go, right?
No, it can't be that easy. The replacement lines were built with hydraulic hose, massive overkill (2320 PSI rated), too stiff, too long, and crimped in a slightly incorrect orientation. All together, they couldn't be fitted properly.
I searched for compatible fittings to build by own lines, but could only find them for a few of the ends. Instead, I opted to modify the pair on hand.
No going back now.
With some trial and error, I figure out how to cut and split a few of the ends.
For the pipe connections, this gave me an opportunity to use one of my favorite tools, the ATS pipe beading tool, originally design in the USA during WWII for aircraft applications.
Ends completed
Reassemble with stepless ear clamps and proper oil cooler hose
Much better fit now
No, it can't be that easy. The replacement lines were built with hydraulic hose, massive overkill (2320 PSI rated), too stiff, too long, and crimped in a slightly incorrect orientation. All together, they couldn't be fitted properly.
I searched for compatible fittings to build by own lines, but could only find them for a few of the ends. Instead, I opted to modify the pair on hand.
No going back now.
With some trial and error, I figure out how to cut and split a few of the ends.
For the pipe connections, this gave me an opportunity to use one of my favorite tools, the ATS pipe beading tool, originally design in the USA during WWII for aircraft applications.
Ends completed
Reassemble with stepless ear clamps and proper oil cooler hose
Much better fit now
erover82
0
Wheel wells - some rust, a lot of difficult to etch zinc carbonate, and a ton of work to prep. Aircraft remover, then wire wheel, then blasted them.
Epoxy
Four coats of 3M Dyna-Pro undercoating
Refit rivet nuts
Those shock towers that I spent too much time refinishing - the covers don't fit over them.
Now way I'm leaving those holes open, so swapped to an OEM pair.
Epoxy
Four coats of 3M Dyna-Pro undercoating
Refit rivet nuts
Those shock towers that I spent too much time refinishing - the covers don't fit over them.
Now way I'm leaving those holes open, so swapped to an OEM pair.
erover82
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The Dyna Pro isn’t cheap, buts it’s probably the best in terms of durability. I used a cheap 2.5mm tip HVLP gun. Wouldn’t go any smaller. Undercoating is thick so it needs a good size orifice to flow. Be prepared for at least 4 coats. A Schutz gun works well too, and puts the mils down faster. The bigger the tip, the rougher the texture, but that doesn’t matter much with undercoating. Also, I found lacquer thinner to be a poor thinner and cleaning solvent for it. Urethane reducer was tremendously more effective. That’s not surprising though as I’ve found it to be the most pure and useful of all the solvents in the shop by far. The slow reducer even has a nice pina-colada aroma that probably kills brain cells quite well.