Otter LRC CM4647296 comes home

[Jordan Baker]

Fuel tank straps, interior bins and some brackets all painted up today. I ended up having to replace five of the six square u bolts for the tank straps. The originals were badly rusted and most of the had nuts that snapped the threaded portion off when trying to remove. Some replacements were found online at 0030hrs and arrived the same day via Amazon around 1100hrs. A simple job to hear up one bend and straighten them out then place into the strap and reheat and bend back down.

The interior bins were in decent shape with only a few spot welds needing to be redone. From left to right they will hold, drivers view port glass block, bandolier of rifle ammunition and the WS19 spare tubes box. A web strap will still be required for this bin, but I’m still working out which buckle was used.

Lastly are the under the fender wire covers for the side/tail/stop and headlight.

[Jordan Baker]

The fuel tank box was needle gunned the other night to remove all the heavy rusting. Both it and the cover panel will still need to be cleaned up with final rust removal and painting. Interestingly it doesn’t appear to have ever been painted on the inside. There were also a few shop markings found on the one side plate. Lastly the two front shocks were removed as they will need a full rebuild as well.

[Jordan Baker]

The shocks were given a quick power wash to remove most of the exterior gunk. It was really nice to see the original khaki green #3 come up. I then removed the two shock links. They took a bit of work to get the tapered shaft to release from the shock arm. I found that using a steel block and then hitting it with a ball peen hammer got them to release. After that was done the shocks were given a quick sandblast in the cabinet. I find this makes them much nicer to work on. It also revealed a number of cast and stamped markings. I intend to make up a mounting bracket as found in the maintenance manual to work on them. But that will be another day.

[Jordan Baker]

I also made some progress on some larger parts. I’ve been mulling on what to do as I’ve enjoyed doing most of the work myself and experimenting with some chemistry. The critic acid bath and also the lye solution bath. However my set up although great for most parts was not able to take on the larger stuff. I did consider buying and IBC 1000L tote. However I wasn’t keen on having that much acid solution around with younger kids. Although my son at 4 yrs old doesn’t go in the shop without me, I’m also not oblivious that one day he may just make it in there without me. I guess this was rather long winded to say……I sent the parts out to a sandblasting place yesterday afternoon. This morning I got a text msg that everything was done. I was quite pleased with the quality of their work and will be using them again. Their blasting room can handle stuff 25’x12x12.

Anyway once back home with the parts and the kids got their lunches, I was able to spend the afternoon painting everything. Everything was sprayed with my usual POR15 and then once almost dry but still tacky I started doing the final colour coat of KG#3 and gloss white.

[Jordan Baker]

Last of the pictures showing the painted fuel tank box. It didn’t appear Hamilton Bridge painted the inside of this box when new. However I decided that in the interest of long term preservation it would be best to paint it. The box was a huge pain to remove with around 60 bolts holding it in place. It’s not something I wanted to have to redo again at some point

[Jordan Baker]

Had a helper with me this morning.

[Jordan Baker]

I finally got around to getting the fuel tank put back together, sealed inside and outside and painted. The end panels were welded in place. This took about 5 hours spread over two work periods. I had to use a copper flat bar as a backer due to the sheet metal being thin. In the end I’m quite happy with how the seams turned out. The outside was given a spray down with Purple Zep. I have been using it as a parts degreaser. The inside and outside of the tank was given an acid etch and then left to dry over night. I used a small blow dryer to circulate hot air. This worked great and ensured everything was dry. I then used 90% rubbing alcohol and gave one final washout. The hair dryer was setup again and the inside was quite clean, dry and rust free. The inside was then given a coat of ethanol safe fuel tank liner from the Hirsch product line. The added benefit is that it will seal up any and all seams and pinholes inside the tank.