Springs for Rat-L-Trap

"CalzoneGolem" (calzonegolem)
10/22/2013 at 08:44 • Filed to: Rat-L-Trap

I've recently come into a little bit of money. My wife told me I should do something fun with it. So I'm going to buy what I need to finish up Rat-L-Trap's rear end. I just to grind, grind, grind and sand, sand, sand. Then Por-15 the frame and I can rebuild it. I will need new hangers, lower mounts, u-bolts, leafs and shocks. After shopping around a little bit for leafs I see this pop up on CL

http://maine.craigslist.org/pts/4112718285…

That's about what one stock replacement leaf would run me!

DISCUSSION (15)

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:07

Go for it. As to the POR-15, be sure to POR Prep'n'Ready your stuff first if you can. That stuff is impressive.

Be sure any brackets you want welded on the frame are in place before, though. POR-15 burns kinda funny.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/22/2013 at 09:10

I don't think I'm going to weld anything to the frame. Not having a welder makes it hard to do, but now that there's an HF in town ....

Never heard of POR prep and ready. There ought to be a pretty good pattern for it to anchor to after all this wire brushing, sanding and grinding, no?

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:16

Nice find!

The things people sell on CL...Who would have even thought?

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:19

Well, sort of. See, wirebrushing tends to leave powdered grit, smeared paint, and any oils or foreign material that was on the wheel worked into the surface. It may look shiny, but half the time it's filthy from a painter's perspective.

So, what you do is either wipe down with something that'll lift pretty much all of that (lacquer thinner on a clean rag), or you use an etch, or both.

POR -Prep'n'Ready should be available anywhere the POR-15 is, and it's essentially a mildly buffered phosphoric acid etch with surfactant and suspended phosphate. You spray it on, let it go to work, and wash it off, and voila, etched steel surface with a light zinc phosphate coating on most of it. Has kind of a dull gray look with some spots of pre-rust yellowing when you're done. There are actually similar products you can get at Advance, O'Reilly (I think), and even Tractor Supply, but I think the POR is the only one that phospates the surface directly after the clean and etch.

CalzoneGolem > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/22/2013 at 09:22

He must be lifting his extreme or something. I see s-10 bits on cl all the time. I've been tempted to buy a couple trucks and just swap my body onto them haha

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:25

Haha, I wish i still had my old 88 s10 blazer you would have loved to take that frame/drivetrain/suspension set up!

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/22/2013 at 09:26

Good to know. You're always a wellspring of interesting information.

CalzoneGolem > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/22/2013 at 09:28

The blazers are actually quite a bit taller than that trucks. The 2wd single cabs were the lowest of all the models.

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:34

Yep.

I was just talking about the engine and transmission really. I mean everything on it worked but you would have needed a lot of lowering.

The engine was a very highly hopped up 4.3L TBI. Was a blast.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:34

I only know about the P&R because I was trying to shoot for optimum results on some Land-Rover firewalls and did a lot of research. Previously, I would just default to wire brush+lacquer thinner, the latter adopted after some very unsatisfactory results with wire brush alone - even some allegedly anti-rust paint. Started off with carb cleaner (Xylene lol) which is mostly the sort of thing they clean stainless with industrially, but that's more expensive.

CalzoneGolem > MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner
10/22/2013 at 09:37

I just need a crashed Typhoon

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:40

The answer is always Typhoon.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/22/2013 at 09:40

My dad used to know a guy who worked in an industrial bread kitchen. I guess they had some chemical dip to clean up pots and pans without scrubbing. He used to bring engine blocks and stuff for him to dip. Seems like it may have had similar effects.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > CalzoneGolem
10/22/2013 at 09:46

The place I'm working at right now does their own fab - almost exclusively out of 430 and 304/316L stainless. We've got an acid tank to clean up welder burn and otherwise prep things, but I haven't actually asked if it's muriatic (hydrochloric) or phosphoric.

CalzoneGolem > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht
10/22/2013 at 09:55

Now you won't be able to rest until you do.