my new old 1988 ss20v

[ab59]

Not so happy with my overall results but it's in place and I can finally move on to the windshield and then the side panels and cushions.
I got this feeling that the windshield will be just a big of a pain as the dash was but no matter I'll get er done one way or another.



here is a picture of the mother fox and two of her three pups that were born under my front steps the other day. Hope they don't eat my wifes cat !!!

 

[classiccat]

Where would one find this said paint ? The vinyl paint that I used cost me 19.00 bucks a can plus hazzard fee + tax. Was hoping to find a cheaper alternative for future projects.

good old Amazon.com.

Give the plastic a good/deep cleaning...scrub it with a nylon brush. You'll probably lose the raised, white lettering. You can put the lettering back on using a white acrylic paint pen.

here's an example of the process / results..

 

[ab59]

That's rite purdy I'd say , I have a membership in one of the vintage mower sites guess I should visit it more often . I bought a 1974 SS 16 Twin sears garden tractor with the Onan 16 hp. before I saw the wheel horse , simplicity or Bolens tractors. Good thing I don't have alot of extra cash around I would be acres deep in garden tractors , cars and boats around here . lol

 

[ab59]

looks like its windshield time and I forgot about painting the frames so before I grab the first black paint can I find in the shop and start shooting , what paint have you guys used and got good results from for aluminum windshield frames
??

 

[Watermann]

The frames are anodized and will have to be sanded or have the anodizing stripped off first. Then of course SE primer has to be on any bare AL. I left my SS WS alone but I would get my trusty VanSickle tractor paint in a rattle can. Rusto paint runs and sags like crazy out of a spray can, hate it but I found that Krylon Max works pretty good.

 

[ab59]

Hey boss , are you saying that the frames that are already painted black are anodized or were you thinking that I just had the plain aluminum with no paint but anodized ? I'm going to scuff them up good anyway since the old paint is pretty well shot .
We have a Tractor Supply that is handy here so I'll go have a look at what brands of paint they got for me . Maybe I'll get lucky and find some VanSickle tractor paint down there.

 

[Watermann]

Like the rub rails, looks like plain AL but is anodized, no painted WS frames on my SS I think they started that later on but it could be anodized black too.

 

[ab59]

I drug the windshield out of the 201 v today and went down to tractor supply and wound up with a quart of Majic Tractor paint. Didn't buy the reducer but now considering going back to get a little. Wasn't much choice down there , managed to find the one can of self etching Primer that they had left. Been washing and wiping down with acetone today , should be able to shoot primer and maybe some paint tomorrow if I get in a good day.
Had a sudden death in the wife's family yesterday and needless to say I had to have a little time off to help her and her family get through this period of mourning and that , of course , will be my first concern so may be slow getting things done for a few days .
Will see what happens.

 

[Watermann]

Priorities of life and in this case loosing a family member sure takes front and center. God speed to you and yours.

 

[Decker83]

My condolences for your family. The Admiral and I will keep you and your family in our prayers.

 

[BWR1953]

I drug the windshield out of the 201 v today and went down to tractor supply and wound up with a quart of Majic Tractor paint. Didn't buy the reducer but now considering going back to get a little. Wasn't much choice down there , managed to find the one can of self etching Primer that they had left. Been washing and wiping down with acetone today , should be able to shoot primer and maybe some paint tomorrow if I get in a good day.
Had a sudden death in the wife's family yesterday and needless to say I had to have a little time off to help her and her family get through this period of mourning and that , of course , will be my first concern so may be slow getting things done for a few days .
Will see what happens.

Looking forward to seeing how the Majic paint works for you. It's been a learning experience for me for sure.

Condolences to your wife and I hope that the time off will help in the healing process.

 

[ab59]

Thanks guys, he had been sick for a while and refused to give up his bad habits so I guess he made his choice. 56 is still just too young to go though , bad habits or not.

 

[ab59]

Things are pretty calm today and gettin better so I got a little done today on the window frames , out of self etching primer though so back to the store I go.
Sure put some serious runs in the primer when it got to the last of the can. Should have just bought a quart of primer instead of the spray can I guess.

 

[Watermann]

I hate rattle cans, convenient but tough to use them and have something come out nice.

 

[ab59]

Funny thing but I went and looked for some self etching primer in quarts and no one in town carries any , or at least no one had any on the shelf and their employees said they did not have any. Back to the spray cans , at least I have a quart of flat black for the top coats.
103* and 105* here this week doesn't help matter much . Rather have the heat then the wind at least you get the first half of the day in before you have to quit.
Hard to believe that when I was young , when I bought a car ( or pickup ) the first thing I would do is cut the air conditioning belt in half so I could get better gas mileage and not drag the engine down.

 

[Decker83]

I had the same problem with self etch trying to buy off the shelf. You can get it on line in the quart size..

 

[ab59]

thanks Decker83 I will try to remember that down the line. If i could figure out whether or not my little 150 amp. 115 volt wire feed welder will weld Aluminum I may be needing more said primer. Could sure make some good stuff if I could weld .

 

[ab59]

Decker and waterman I see on another's post that you do not recommend 3/4" marine ply for the deck and go on to say that the 1/2 " is all you need and it is in fact what Starcraft uses exclusively . You guys are the first ones that I ever heard of using 1/2 and not regretting it in a couple of years. I am curious as to how you braced it up to not have it sag under your feet or begin to break down under use .
I put back what I found in my Starcraft which was the 3/4 " mainly because after 27 years of abuse it still had about a little over half of good ply and the top two layers were rotted from exposure.
I did look at the 1/2" but decided to stay with what was in there from the factory but would have much rather kept the weight down with the thinner ply it I thought it would have held up.
I guess we are not bracing up the deck rite out here . Is there a structural diagram for bracing the deck anywhere ?

 

[DLNorth]

Ab,

When I redid mine many years ago, I replaced the 1/2 ply with 3/4, no regrets. I'm a big guy and I didn't want a soft floor.
The only real issue in doing it is the consoles are raised by 1/4" and that has to be dealt with.

If I do another I'll either use 3/4 again or try to find a non wood material. I recently saw a pontoon that had an all aluminum deck, I try for that.

Dan

 

[BWR1953]

You could always split the difference and go with 5/8.