hhmm....

Since the glass beads do such a nice job on the plastic, I should be able to blast the wiring harness plugs and make them look nice again. 

G'Day, The glass bead is an excellent choice. I too am a huge fan of the bead blaster. I have used it many parts including cast magnesium. Your project is coming up a treat. If thats your idea of a half arse effort, I'm  hanging  to see  you go the whole hog.  Top work!

Thanks Matti....but this is a "down and dirty" version of what I'd really like to do to it.  I had plans of powdercoating a ton of stuff....I already have all the PC waiting....but due to time constraints, I'm simply rattle canning everything   Oh well....it should look okay for a year or two

I realized that I've forgotten to update this one.  I'm cutting/pasting from the thread on Ratsun, so some of you have seen these already.  You're getting the stripped down version, which is actually better.  The original thread had as much talk about air compressors as it did the NL.  I did that thread cause most of those guys are local to me.  But, this is the 320 capital of the world, so a copy needs to be on this forum too!!

oooo....aahhh..... Even nicer with a bit of black on the frame!



I managed to save the rubber around the column. It has holes, but you can't see them. Hopefully, I can find some other grommets for the other holes in the firewall. This stuff takes too much time!! I should have stuck with the plan to simply get it running and limp it down to Canby!!

I was planning on simply sticking in an extra fuse block from a 510 or 521, but I hit it with the glass beads for about 3-4 min.......have I mentioned how much I love the glass beads?!!!!







If you look at the rust in the bottome of the fuse clips, you'll see some really heavy rust. The under side looked like that! What I find so impressive with the glass beads is that it blasted off the really heavy rust, yet you can still read the lettering on the brass pieces!!

Here's a couple more of the headlight bucket. I know I didn't get rid of the rust entirely, but close enough for what I'm doing now. A second set will get blasted and powdercoated when I do this rig for real.







Check out how nicely it cleans up the wiring and connector!!





I'm sure some of you guys have seen this before, but if not.......using aluminum foil for masking odd shaped items is a lot easier/faster than trying to tape/untape it.



Okay...a few more demo'ing the awesomeness of the GB's.





Yes, I did go back and get the speckles out of the center area. I shoved a paper towel into the horn to keep from filling it with beads.

Are we having fun with Photobucket yet??!!

This is kinda like having the horse behind the cart, but here's a few of the NL itself. I suppose I should dig up the "how/where I found it" pics too









It's looks tiny.....even compared to the Pulsar!!



Okay...this is about it for the night.

These are pics from when I picked the NL up.















......and it liked me so much, it followed me home!!

I've put up some more info about rust removal on nwde....

http://www.nwde.org/extras/forum/for...s.asp?TID=5152

G'Day, I was wondering if you're using water and air or just air with your bead blaster? It looks like you are using water in the photos. We used an additive in the water to prevent the iron oxide film forming once it hits the air. Also found if you're trying to shine parts up with the beads it actually comes up better again if you turn the air off for the final blast using only the water to propel the beads. Any way, looking good!

I could have sworn I made a reply on here.  I just use air.  I've never seen it done with water....especially not in a home shop setup.  If that's how you do it, I'd love to see a thread on it.

hhmm...as long as I'm here

it's this kind of overkill that's going to have me towing a very ugly NL with a very pretty engine bay to Canby!! Dang details!!!   

The screws look new because they are I pack rat so much crap....I had these cool little chrome screws left over from a job I had years ago! Sure beat having to try to clean up the old ones!!!

I say it's overkill because once it's in place with the head light and surround...you won't be able to see any of it!!!! Maybe I'd have the engine in now if I had just bolted these back in!!



Speaking of pack ratted crap.....the heat shield for the fuel pump had a broken ear. So I had this stainless steel piece laying around....now I have a SS heat shield

This is getting ridiculous!!! .......but nothing else was orange!!

Okay...I find myself with some time to get caught up.  I'll add the better parts of the ratsun thread onto here.

This is how it turned out looking for the Canby show.  Still no brakes, but I got the clutch working and had an E brake, so I towed it to the fairgrounds and drove it in from there.   Man, did it get a huge, positive reaction!!! 







I got the lower half painted with SEM trim black...which is ready to spray and fairly cheap.   I'm in love with the look so far.  I might have to get a different NL to play with and leave this one like this!

















I think I'm going to take another guys suggestion and tape off the "T" on the plate so it says Cultural Rust!   The rust on the filler plate is what bounced out on the way home from the show.  Maybe it will work as seeds to get the patina going on the bottom half of the rig?!

Looks Great Mike, I had mine for over two years and haven't done even an oil change on it yet! You are an inspiration. Will you be at Long Beach this year? And
Congratulations on the 1st  place!

 

Thanks guys.
Sorry...no way to make that it that far for the show.  I'm close to Portland, OR.

Great job Mike.  Love to see how the quickie resto turned out:D

Dave

Thanks.  I had to put the wheels back on and move it to the side of the house so I can work on the buick.  Funny....if found it's way to the end of the block and back   It's tagged and insured, so it was legal!!

Dang...you have to wait for this entire page to load for it to let you reply!  Even with high speed that takes some time!

it does take a few seconds w/8mb service...


just need another post or two to roll onto the next page!



Keep up the good work there Mike!:D

Well, Canby is coming up again and I still haven't gotten this thing on the road.  I have been working on parts for it.  I think I'll put up a couple of pics in separate posts to try and get page 2 up

Here's a couple of the laser cut disc bracket that will be going up front.

The 3 small holes actually got drilled by a cnc instead of laser cut.

Here's some of the "Z'd" lower control arms I'm working on.  The NL was sitting hard on cut bumpstops.  I wanted to get some suspension travel back and I couldn't find any shocks short enough.  So, I had to get a bit creative.  I plan to keep the same ride height so my rough measurements show that I'm pretty much in the middle of the shock's travel.  Sometime down the road I'll probably upgrade to ball joints, but for now....I just want to be able to drive it!!!!



I may do a more involved thread on how I made them later.  This thread is getting so pic heavy it isn't funny!!

This is just test fitting it to find the shock placement, but you can see that it has a good 2" of drop to it now

I think I've got more pics of how it went together.  I'm pretty sure I built it with some "overkill".  The arm itself is stamped 1/8" steel.  Everything I put on it was 3/16" and 1/4".

It's 7/16" thick where the shock bolt goes through.  I'll put more up later

darnit...still no page 2!

I better see some picts with the new front turnsignal lenses!!!!!!!! OK this should start page two if not I'll just keep posting innane stuff:shock:

Mike-

Did you get the late 320 front turn signal lenses copied?  If so, how did they turn out?  I would be interested in a couple sets if you did.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

Dave I sent them to Mike. My molder said one of my NL tail light customers had them made. Problem is I never sold any to anyone in that state the guy lives in. I intend to take the new ones and have a mold made so if you'll be patient we'll get new front signals. Ken

I was simply waiting for the green light to post the pics

Before......

Upclose.....

After...... BAM!!!

They really came out nice.  What looks like flaws in the upclose pic are reflections.