Floyd Brothers 70 Challenger

[Stu]

Yes, all out.

Just need some decent pry bars, I think.

[Blue]

A decent pry bar at the back by the dizzy will normally see it off.

[Stu]

Just got back from a trip to Machine Mart, got a set of pry bars, so will sort it in the week. Not had problems before on others, must have been lucky. This one is just being stubborn.

[Blue]

I’d be sticking a power washer up the core plug holes to get shot of all that gunk while I was at it.

[Stu]

I was wondering how best to go about that. I figured I should Bananarama!, but wasn’t sure whether to drop the pump or not, or just give it a blast with a hosepipe!

[Stu]

I figured I should Bananarama!,

flush… it…

[Stu]

I’d be sticking a power washer up the core plug holes to get shot of all that gunk while I was at it.

Almost certainly being thick, or paranoid (or both ) but are you suggesting just as is, blasting through the rear plug hole? Should I be removing the pump or anything else?

I was going to take the stat out and run a hose through that way, so it drained out the rear, without taking any of the other plugs out yet. Seemed to make sense in my brain.

[ScottyDave]

If you're changing the other plugs I'd take them all out first, then run the hose/power washer around the lot. Did this to my block, surprising how much comes out.

[Stu]

Fair comment, cheers Dave. Looks like another wet weekend soaking the floor again, then. At least it’ll be water this time!

[Stu]

Scrapy, scrapy!

[Pete]

Just think of all those nice sharp edges.

I would be interested in how much time you take to strip, prep, and paint that lot......

[Pete]

While you are in there with easy access, is it worth checking if the UCA Cam bolts are free or seized up?

If you do, mark the Cam positions first - just in case!!!!

Soldier on!

[Stu]

Just think of all those nice sharp edges.

I would be interested in how much time you take to strip, prep, and paint that lot......

Me too!

Well, at the weekend I flushed the coolant channels, which was 100% the right move, as it was ‘orrible. Full of sludge and lumpy gunk. Did the core plugs and at some good advice, I used a grinder with a wire brush attachment to get the loose paint off, degreased and prepped it and cracked on with painting.

Not happy. The paint (POR engine enamel) didn’t go on well and as the previous paint job was lumpy as hell, it was just turning into a lumpy blue mess instead of the lumpy red mess I had. By this point, a good friend who does paint and bodywork arrived with sausage rolls and we had a tea break to assess. He rightly persuaded me that I wouldn’t be happy if I continued, so strip it and do it right. So while he cracked into checking out the engine bay, I got busy with the Nitromors on the motor.

What a mess. I’ve now doused it with stripper 3 times and it’s not stripping well at all…

Anyway, while I did that , he started off on removing the paint inside the bay. Ended the day with a start on both, which was good and gave me the confidence I need that it will come together.

Reevaluated timelines at home and realised I need to put my foot down, so have committed to an hour before work every morning and an hour after to try and get through the prep as quickly as possible. What I posted above was this mornings 6am hour, extending what had been done on Saturday, whilst I was waiting for the stripper to take more effect on the motor, which I then attacked again and got very little further…

So lunchtime, I shall be ordering some more industrial grade stripper and trying to melt the engine later in the week.

[Pete]

Living the Dream, ehhh?

If you find a good industrial strength paint stripper that is available over the counter then please let me know... i have not found any...

Nitromors is Dog's P 15s, and only useful on shows like "Find it, Fix it, Flog it", or as we know it at home, "Find it, Bananarama! it up, and attempt to Flog it"....

[Stu]

Well, I’ve been looking at Frosts, claiming their gel is aircraft grade, but we’ll see…