ZMotorsports Shop Projects 2.0

[mfg0772]

So I have a silly question.

Why did you not cover up the area where that plastic escutcheon goes?

as always looking like another great job.

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[zmotorsports]

So I have a silly question.

Why did you not cover up the area where that plastic escutcheon goes?

as always looking like another great job.

I was wondering the same thing.

Because I'm not 100% sure I will never utilize the OEM license plate mount. I really don't care for the license plate on my spare tire but lack options right now. I have the Mopar plastic plug that covers up the rectangular hole and didn't want to permanently cover it with a welded piece.

 

[casmurbax]

Thanks Mike, I figured you would have a perfectly good reasonable explanation.

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks Mike, I figured you would have a perfectly good reasonable explanation.

No problem. Thanks for the question. You're not the first person to ask why I didn't plug up the license plate mounting hole.

 

[zmotorsports]

Like riding a bike.......

Felt kinda good to have my old Iwata gun in my hand again.


Three coats of PPG DBC base down.


First coat of SPI Universal Clear.




After third and last coat of clear.








And I’ve got my shop back in order.


For the first time spraying this clear I am impressed. It laid down beautifully. I don’t even think I’ll have to color sand it. The very slight, and I mean very slight, bit of orange peel matches the OEM finish perfectly. I’m afraid if I cut & buff it the two panels won’t match.

When I would spray the PPG DC2021 clear I would always over-reduce the final coat of clear by 10% with DT895, which is their extremely slow reducer. This would help the final coat lay down very flat.

I was prepared to do that with the SPI clear but found out I didn’t have to as it laid down so flat mixed 1:1 as instructed.

Time will tell but so far I’m impressed with this clear.

 

[38Chevy454]

Looks nice Mike. I have the same plastic plug for the license hole on my Jeep. Also same location for the relocated plate in the center of the spare.
I understand your answer about leaving the hole unfilled, but think I would have welded it smooth metal. No real chance of going back to stock license bracket.

Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone

 

[Graham08]

Looking good! Which Iwata gun is that? I bought an LPH-400 last fall for a project. I had never used a nice spray gun before...turns out I'm not as awful at painting as I thought.

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Mike, good results. As I was looking at the picture, "factory finish" came to mind.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looks nice Mike. I have the same plastic plug for the license hole on my Jeep. Also same location for the relocated plate in the center of the spare.
I understand your answer about leaving the hole unfilled, but think I would have welded it smooth metal. No real chance of going back to stock license bracket.

Sent from dumb operator on a smart phone

Thanks Terry.

Oh, nice new avatar by the way.

 

[zmotorsports]

Looking good! Which Iwata gun is that? I bought an LPH-400 last fall for a project. I had never used a nice spray gun before...turns out I'm not as awful at painting as I thought.

Thanks Graham. Mine isn't an HVLP gun, it is the W-400 model. I've had it about 15 or so years now. Great gun. Prior to my Iwata I used a conventional Sharpe which was my "go to" gun, but this Iwata is fantastic. So well balanced and easy to grab it in an over hand position for low spraying and easy to keep perpendicular such as reaching out over a roof or hood without worry of dripping such as with a conventional siphon gun. Even my Sharpe which had a great vent system I would tie an old tack cloth around it to avoid the incidental drip.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike, good results. As I was looking at the picture, "factory finish" came to mind.

Thanks Marc. Yeah, I don't think I'll color sand this at all as it matches the OEM perfectly. I just had two small dust nibs I need to knock down and then run the polisher over it.

While I have the polisher out I do have a couple of scratches in the passenger side doors that I am going to address.

 

[zmotorsports]

I found some pictures that were lost from last week’s forum glitch.

This was a project that came to me from North Carolina, fellow forum member akaLarry. A little engine turning.

It was difficult to clamp and engine turn due to lack of material and voids created when it was cut. Any friction created from the dowel tried to pull at the material which necessitated having to clamp close and move them often to keep a very small area open.







One down, one to go.


Both done.


Carefully packaged back up and sent back to Vincent.




Thanks for looking.

 

[Nlped]

I live about 40 miles from Barber’s Motorsport Park. I’ve done a bunch of events there. It’s a phenomenal track.


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[shortykorte]

But the motorcycle museum is phenomenal.


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[Nlped]

But the motorcycle museum is phenomenal.


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Yes it is! George has the largest privately owned classic motorcycle collection. The track & museum help too. [emoji51]


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[Boosted1]

Barber is a beautiful track.
I have ran there twice. Never been in the museum though. Would like to do that too.

 

[zmotorsports]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I had never heard of if until Vincent sent me the sign to work on. I had to Google it.

 

[Finallygotit]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I had never heard of if until Vincent sent me the sign to work on. I had to Google it.

Oh Mike.........

 

[zmotorsports]

Oh Mike.........

Sorry to disappoint ya Dan.

 

[aka Larry]

Mike always does great work, even when he's never done it before! I asked if he had done engine turning before I sent it, and he said no, but he'd give it a whirl. He also went the extra mile with packaging to be sure it wasn't damaged in transit.

I'm giving one of these to a friend of mine for X-mas, and I'm keeping the other for my shop. My wife said it looked awesome, but not *that* awesome because she won't allow me to hang in on the living room wall...LOL.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike always does great work, even when he's never done it before! I asked if he had done engine turning before I sent it, and he said no, but he'd give it a whirl. He also went the extra mile with packaging to be sure it wasn't damaged in transit.

I'm giving one of these to a friend of mine for X-mas, and I'm keeping the other for my shop. My wife said it looked awesome, but not *that* awesome because she won't allow me to hang in on the living room wall...LOL.

Thanks for the comments Vincent and I'm happy to hear that you are pleased with them.

 

[C91x]

Like riding a bike.......


And I’ve got my shop back in order.


.

Mike,

What Model PM mill is that and how do you like it? I've been looking for a reasonably priced Bridgeport for what seems like forever. Tired of waiting but wondering if i'll regret not getting a knee mill if i purchase something similar to yours.

 

[zmotorsports]

Mike,

What Model PM mill is that and how do you like it? I've been looking for a reasonably priced Bridgeport for what seems like forever. Tired of waiting but wondering if i'll regret not getting a knee mill if i purchase something similar to yours.

The one in the picture you copied is my son's PM932 that he CNC'd right after we built the shop in 2017. It works well and he used it quite a lot early on but hasn't used it much in the past couple of years since getting married, buying a house and working on his yard. I think he will get back to using it over the winter as he has some projects he wants to complete.

Mine mill is a PM935TV knee mill, BP clone. If you follow along on my thread you can see my PM935TV getting used quite a lot. I also have a full review of it on my YouTube channel as it was one of my first videos and when I was in my old shop.

I would suggest going with a knee mill compared to a benchtop but that's going to be dictated by your preference, budget and intended use.

 

[shortykorte]

I have to ask, why the knee mill versus a bench from a function stand point?
A friend has both Taiwan bench and a BP. Now that he has the BP, he uses it for most, if not all projects. I assume the benefits are a longer Z and better tooling handling.



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[Finallygotit]

Sorry to disappoint ya Dan.

It's all good Mike, just yanking your chain a bit. Great work all around, as usual.

 

[zmotorsports]

I have to ask, why the knee mill versus a bench from a function stand point?
A friend has both Taiwan bench and a BP. Now that he has the BP, he uses it for most, if not all projects. I assume the benefits are a longer Z and better tooling handling.



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In my opinion, the Z is much more controllable on a knee mill than a benchtop. I'm sure I'll catch some slack here but like I've mentioned before, I'm a mechanic and not a machinist. The Z on my knee mill is very easy to dial in to the .001" whereas on a benchtop the head going up and down is not as smooth and therefore not as precise or predictable, if that makes sense. Yes you can use the spindle downfeed but again I don't think they are as precise as the table moving up or down in .001" increments.

Actually Shorty, your friend using his knee mill more than the tabletop is a perfect example. For manual milling what do you see most often? If the benchtop was more sought after for manual milling I'm sure it would be the mill of choice. Now for CNC milling that's a different animal.

 

[zmotorsports]

It's all good Mike, just yanking your chain a bit. Great work all around, as usual.

I was pickin' up what you were layin' down Dan. It's all in good fun.

 

[Finallygotit]

Always!

 

[Finallygotit]

In my opinion, the Z is much more controllable on a knee mill than a benchtop. I'm sure I'll catch some slack here but like I've mentioned before, I'm a mechanic and not a machinist. The Z on my knee mill is very easy to dial in to the .001" whereas on a benchtop the head going up and down is not as smooth and therefore not as precise or predictable, if that makes sense. Yes you can use the spindle downfeed but again I don't think they are as precise as the table moving up or down in .001" increments.

Actually Shorty, your friend using his knee mill more than the tabletop is a perfect example. For manual milling what do you see most often? If the benchtop was more sought after for manual milling I'm sure it would be the mill of choice. Now for CNC milling that's a different animal.

Also, a knee mill is much more solid. I can bury a 5" carbide inserted fly cutter in a plate of steel and the machine will not move. A benchtop mill.....not so much. It all depends on what you plan to do with the machine.


HTH

 

[zmotorsports]

Also, a knee mill is much more solid. I can bury a 5" carbide inserted fly cutter in a plate of steel and the machine will not move. A benchtop mill.....not so much. It all depends on what you plan to do with the machine.


HTH

Thanks Dan. I missed probably the most important aspect, rigidity.

 

[Monza Harry]

Mike always does great work, even when he's never done it before! I asked if he had done engine turning before I sent it, and he said no, but he'd give it a whirl. He also went the extra mile with packaging to be sure it wasn't damaged in transit.

I'm giving one of these to a friend of mine for X-mas, and I'm keeping the other for my shop. My wife said it looked awesome, but not *that* awesome because she won't allow me to hang in on the living room wall...LOL.

Ok Larry Pun intended or not? And NO they never do after that new girl smell wears off! LOL!
Mike that seems like an ambitious undertaking with all of that incremental clamp ballet going on, turned out Nice!
Harry

 

[shortykorte]

Thanks. I forgot about the head moving on the bench top. Always learning. [emoji106]


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[Seagoon]

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I had never heard of if until Vincent sent me the sign to work on. I had to Google it.

Well you should be ashamed. I've never even been to the USA and I've heard of Barber Motorsports Park

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks for the comments guys. I’m not gonna lie I was s bit anxious when I saw how thin and especially how delicate the letters were.


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[zmotorsports]

Finished the Jeep tonight.

Got my cutting and buffing tools and supplies out and ready to go. It’s been a little while since I’ve used them but it’s amazing how easily everything comes back.


License plate frame installed. I used some nylon washers until I can machine a couple of stainless steel ones.


Tape marks where I have some scratches to polish out while I’m at it.




Tailgate needed a little attention as well.


Polished.












Measuring for the new decal.


New decal installed.








She looks as good as new. At a glance one would never guess it is ten years old with 115k miles and actually sees off-road.

Thanks for looking.

 

[lilscorpion]

Daym Mike, that makes me feel like mine is a ************* and mine’s white. You’ve got skills!

 

[Boosted1]

Paint and Jeep look great.
Now need to replace that red rubber handle cover on the tire swing out lock down clamp.
I'm guessing it's not UV resistant.
This is the only thing I can see to pick on. lol

 

[OutlawDrifter]

Fine job Mike, its amazing what a buff job can do to paint!

 

[zmotorsports]

Thanks guys.

Sure feels good to get that little project completed. It has bugged the ever living **** out of me since November when I removed the license plast mount. Plus it is nice to have that old CB mount gone.

Also feels good to have those few scratches on the wife's side gone as well. I put them in the paint last October in Moab and haven't had time to correct them.

 

[4 FN 27]

Looks great Mike!!!