My first restoration: ST/300/D

[LarryW]

Wow!!!!!!!!!! Nice work!!!!!!!!!!!

[Duck89]

Thanks guys! Still a long way to go, but it will look good as new for sure! Although I do see why people spray bomb stuff- doing body work the right way is tedious and takes patience, which many people don't have!

[jpswift1]

That machine is going to look like new when you're done! Very, very nice results with the bodywork!

[amphibious drew]

Looking great. Way better than a spray bomb job, and much more satisfying as well.

[Duck89]

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[Duck89]

Thanks JP!

Here are some more pictures. Did most of the front and part of the right side. I still have to go over a lot of spots again (and remove the headlights/do that area), but it's gettin there!

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[jpswift1]

Very nice work, Martin! You're taking your time and doing everything right.......all of the details are being gone over and it'll really reflect that when you're done. Keep up the great work and thanks for the updates. I look forward to seeing it in person.

[Duck89]

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[Duck89]

I have started prepping the frame for paint, which is a long process for those of us without a sandblaster/pressure washer to get the grease off...nothing but good old fashioned purple power and scruff pads! I also washed down the body again today and took scruff pads to it in order to get the rest of the dirt/grease off of it that was still there. After that, I tried a little bit of acetone on the front and was amazed to see that beautiful yellow finally start to poke through! I hope to do the rest of the body on the 4th and will post more pictures then.

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[Duck89]

More questions...

Project update: I have not built up the courage to attempt to fix the cracks in the body, but I have been doing a lot of work on the frame/axles. I have the frame stripped down and just about ready to paint. I still need to find replacement inner bearing, which I will probably end up having to call/stop over at Buffalo Bearing for. I did, however, find new outer bearings (#205FF) which I can get for $2.40 my cost a piece at work. These are a dual sealed bearing but have plastic seals instead of stainless steel like the originals. I have most of the outer bearing assemblies almost completely disassembled and have thus discovered how much I hate snap rings! Like the inner bearings, I am having trouble finding the outer seals that press into the outside of the bearing housing. I crossed the original number (Victor #60392) and came up with a good National/Timken number of 471787. Unfortunately, I cannot get my hands on them at all through work.

Does anybody know of a different number that is perhaps more common or readily available? I am going to take an axle, bearing housing and seal to work tomorrow and try to take some measurements with our micrometer and see if I can’t find one in our Timken book that is close to this original. I figured I could go either a little thinner or thicker but that’s about all the leeway that I would have.

Any help that I can get I would appreciate!

[Duck89]

Thanks for the tips Mike and Larry. I didn't get a chance at all to even roll the attex out of the garage this weekend, but will hopefully get a chance later this week or maybe the weekend. Ill post my results with some pictures, or, if I screw something up, ill be asking for more advice!

[hydromike]

Larry's right. Just throw some heat at it. You'll find that a heat gun is far more forgiving, but a hand held propane torch at a 6-12" distance will work, too. The yellow will start to burn quickly if you hold it in one spot for too long, but it'll just brown, really. Get it warm, and do a "poke test" with the back side of a screw driver or a blunt piece of wood to test to see how it flexes when it's warm. You'll want to heat up a large area and push with something large and rounded, like a metal bowl, or something with a shape similar to the contour of the eventual desired body shape. Just hold it in place, and cool it off by dumping a cup of cold water on it.

You'll get the hang of it....

[LarryW]

Looking good!
For the crack I would weld it back together with a soldering iron and then goop it up. Not sure about the dent. I have heated abs up but you have to be careful with not getting it to hot or it burns. Maybe try heating it up a little with a heat gun and pushing on it carefully. Thats sounds like my best idea but like I said Im not 100% sure. Please post what you try with results. Im curious. Thanks and good luck!

[Duck89]

I am still working on the cleaning stage of my project, but I am beginning to plan ahead to some of the issues that I am going to have to address. The first issue is the crack/dent in the right front corner of my lower tub. I have not done anything to this area aside from clean the inside and outside of it. What would be the best way to go about fixing this? I would eventually like this machine to be water-tight, although I doubt I will do much floating with it. Would making some abs goo hold up on this bad of crack instead of welding it? Also, there are no cracks around the actual dent, but there is one spot that looks pretty thin. Am I better off not messing with it so that I don't attempt to pop it back out and create more cracks or can this be popped back out with heat/force??? Any info would help. Thanks!

This picture is before cleaning

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[Duck89]

...more pictures

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