How To: C15a Wire-3 restoration

[Jordan Baker]

Today I got the seat pan assemblies all painted. Taking advantage of the lovely high heat and humidity, the seats were painted in POR15. After about 1.5 hours the POR15 was slightly tacky and I painted on the top coat of the final colour. I find if I can time it right the top colour gets chemically bonded to the POR15 and once everything sets up you’ve got a very tough layering of paint. I also painted up the seat base mounting hardware. More on this below.

[Jordan Baker]

I also made up a stamping die to make the front seat retaining strip. I only had one original and it was quite heavily pitted. The piece needed an offset bend in 1/8” plate. The 10ton press was maxed out but thankfully I was able to do the pressing in stages working along the length.

[Jordan Baker]

And one can’t forget the 9 rings and 24 springs per seat. Once the springs were mounted I gave them all a quick spray with the paint. The cab seats were also mount to the bases.

[David Dunlop]

Looking really good, Jordan.

David

[Jordan Baker]

Full day of sewing and the five seat back covers are all done.

[Jordan Baker]

Forgot to post these pictures up the other day.

The quick release knobs used in the Wire3 had large washers and chain to act as keepers. I ended up using a handheld punch setup in the shop press to punch the small hole into the washers. The chain wire was then passed through the small hole and then the wire was welded up. I decided to do a number of practice welds first and I am glad I did. I had the Mig welder down to the lowest heat and speed settings to get them welded up. If I lingered the wire heated up too much and would evaporate.

[Jordan Baker]

Lastly, I noticed after painting that one of the seat trays was missing the rear Lift the Dot stud. So I riveted in a new one after setting up a backing plate for the stud die.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Jordan Baker

Forgot to post these pictures up the other day.

The quick release knobs used in the Wire3 had large washers and chain to act as keepers. I ended up using a handheld punch setup in the shop press to punch the small hole into the washers. The chain wire was then passed through the small hole and then the wire was welded up. I decided to do a number of practice welds first and I am glad I did. I had the Mig welder down to the lowest heat and speed settings to get them welded up. If I lingered the wire heated up too much and would evaporate.

The HUW uses the same chain for a bunch of locking pins and screw keepers. The chain is brazed on rather than welded which would have been easier than welding for the heat reason you say.

[Chris Suslowicz]

You're making a beautiful job of this restoration.



Chris.

[Mike K]

Originally Posted by Chris Suslowicz

You're making a beautiful job of this restoration.



Chris.

I agree. I have been following this restoration from its beginning.