Good afternoon folks,
Another winter project is restoring my mud shields.
I have a few questions:
These look to be made of shiny sheet steel - any recommendations on prep for painting. I was thinking about bead-blasting, but not sure if that will distort the panel.
The replacement rubber lip seal, any recommendations on P/N from the usuals? Looks like SNG has SBS7276 - I think it covers both sides - anyone use this with good experience?
There seems to be a relay mounted to the driver side panel (not sure what it’s for) but I would also like to replace - recommendations?
Those are sheet steel. I sandblasted mine to bare metal, wiped them down with a wax, grease and silicone remover, then primed and painted them. Rightly or wrongly I used a satin black paint.
Not to discourage you in any way, but if you tire of restoring the shields, be aware that Chuck at Monocoque Metalworks makes a very nice set for a reasonable price. Mine were nasty enough that I went that route.
So, to be clear, the mud guard material should be 1/8 inches thick? I am asking because previous discussions have stated that the material from the usual suppliers is too thick and is difficult to fit. Was the original rubber material 1/8?
Nick
The shield on the left looks a little ruff, blasting at a you blast type of operation is about a $1 / min so it doesn’t take long to become a loosing battle. Of course it depends on your available resources and skills. I like to use a 3m stripe and clean wheel on an angle grinder for sheet metal, you might want to try one and thank me latter. It’s hard to tell from a pic but I think the left panel is easily repairable(welding)maybe not cost or time effective. Good for you to gain some experience on. The relay is for the horns, if it test ok clean it and use it or store it, same with the mud guards
Cheers. Jim
You can definitely blast them. They’re pretty substantial. However it looks like you’ll need to replace some metal at the corner where it mounts to the sill extension. The corrosion seems more than superficial.
That relay is for the horn. SNG jas a lot of new reproduction electric parts. They’ll certainly have a replacement but not sure how close it will be in appearance. They’re quite easy to pop apart, and clean out, and you can have the can zinc plated to look new again.
I bought my seal years ago so not sure how good the current ones are. I found it to be a tad thick and hard to work with, but with some little slices (hid under the clamping strips) they went on very nicely.
I sandblasted my mudshields, primed and (like John) sprayed matt black.
The horn relay is totally restorable. Open it up, run a points file through the points, clean all debris out of the inside, test with 12V, reseal with the old bad gasket and silicone!
I did not do anything to the exterior metal other than clean it with brake clean. Yes it looks weathered but it is original.
There are new relays you can buy that look identical but have a small lucas sealed relay inside the relay case!
Mine has held up just fine in the 5 years since I painted them, and I’ve driven maybe 10K miles in that time. Would have driven more but events of the past two years have reduced road trips to practically zero.
Thanks folks… looks like bead blasting is my next step. The left panel actually has a piece of Sill attached which was rotted, the shield flange looks in good shape… So PB blaster on that bolt. (The Sills were replaced). I had a blaster and think the panels will fit in the cabinet. I’ll keep you posted… Since it’s in the 20s here, won’t likely blast for a few days/weeks. Thanks Nick
Use a strip and clean wheel on the flats then your blaster on the nooks and cranny’s it will go a lot faster trust me I’ve worked on a lot of crap . The sand will flow better if it’s really dry low humidity
Cheers. Jim
I got an in-line desiccant unit from Eastwood and it keeps things dry. I also add desiccant bags into the unit when I don’t use for a while. Seems to work quite well.
