Kevin's Bolens 850 Project Photos (Page 2):




July 2, 2012 Photo Update:

Well, after using the paint stripper and a 5-in-1 to scrape off as much of the old paint as possible, I went after it with a cupped wire wheel and this interesting drill attachment that I found that is supposed to be like a sandpaper wheel that is equivalent to 80 grit sandpaper. It looked better than it worked (I think) and the wire wheel did 98.9% of the work. But here is what I was left with on the hood:











Not bad, eh? I'd say it came out almost as well as it would have if it was sandblasted. It just took a bit more work on my part (and numb hands from drill vibrations...).

The only problems I see now are:
  1. Try to clean up wire wheel swirl marks as best I can before painting it. Maybe use the sandpaper wheel for that?
  2. There is still some minor underlying rust issues, especially on the end of the hood, that won't came clean with the wire wheel.
  3. I have noticed some metal damage after I cleaned the paint off - some dents and dings, nothing major (see below):


See the dents in the left front corner of the hood? Should I try to have these repaired or just say the heck with it and paint it? I'm not making a museum piece and if I'm going to be using it to mow lawns, it might get dented and dinged up under normal use. If I did want to fix it though, what is the best way? Can this be hammered out or do I need to Bondo over it and smooth it out? I don't like Bondo really myself (I tried it on my first vehicle - a 1977 Jeep, and it turned out horrible and I vowed never to attempt Bondo body work again... lol). Here are some more close-up shots of the hood:









Here is a good example of some rust showing through the cleaned up metal:





And here's the top of the hood towards the back, also showing some rust. No wonder this part suffered the worst paint cracking and orange peeling...



I do have to say though that after cleaning all the paint off and seeing the hood in bare metal, it looks pretty cool! I contemplated leaving it like this, although I know it won't last a day as bare metal before it will turn into instant rust. I could clear coat it though to preserve the shiny metal. Should I leave it like this or go ahead with painting it white? I mean, I do already have the paint that matches the deck...



July 8, 2012 Photo Update:

I have had a very busy weekend, so I didn't have much time to actually work on the Bolens. However, I did manage to get the fender stripped down to match the hood at least:





Yes, the bare metal is very shiny in the sun!! Hard to get a good photo of it. There are still some bad wire wheel marks on the metal as well as some pesky areas of rust, especially on the top side of the fender. Still, it seems to have cleaned up very well and no rust holes either! Here is the underside:



I know it is probably hard to tell from these pictures, but does the fender look completely straight? I can't tell for sure, but the bottom part in the last picture looks like the metal is bent near those holes where the rear reflector/light mounts. I'm not sure if it is supposed to be this way or if someone backed into something and it bent the fender. I wasn't sure if I should try to bang it out or just leave it as is.

I also did some minor bodywork to the hood with a small ball-peen hammer I bought at Harbor Freight for $5. I wanted to try and get those bad dents out. It's better now, but not perfect. It definitely will be less noticeable once there is paint on it, but I can still tell that they are there. I was also surprised at how hard I had to wail on it with the hammer to get the dents to push out. Somebody must have hit something really hard with the tractor to put a dent in the hood where it was because it didn't want to push back out!

Now, my next step tomorrow is to get some Rust Converter on the bare metal and rust to encapsulate it and hopefully prevent it from rusting any further after it is painted:






Will post more photos soon after I make some more progress!



July 9, 2012 Photo Update:

Today I managed to get two coats of Rust Converter on the hood and fenders. I have to say, it's not looking too bad so far:









Here are some close-ups of the dented areas that I hammered out after I put the Rust Converter on them:







Not too shabby, eh? You can still see some dings on the flat part that runs down near the left headlight. However the rounded part of the hood looks almost perfectly straight now! I don't think you will see it at all once the paint is finished.

I know there's not much else to report. It has been kind of slow progress so far on the tractor. I'm still waiting for parts to come to finish putting it back together. In the meantime, all I can do is wait for paint to dry... Such FUN!!!






More to come soon!   Thanks for looking!



If you would like to contact the author of this micro-blog, please send an E-mail to: Kevin Pittinaro



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