here we go again... 1057's turn now.

[AMC RULES 36,945]

Good eye Martin...those little details make all the difference.

Wondering if maybe a plastic polish would return the factory lift handle to it's original luster? :eusa-think:

[Martin 2,130]

i have 2 that i cleaned up and they shine up real nice. cant do anything about gouges and scuff marks on them though......

[bowtiebutler956 649]

Picky picky picky.

Matt :flags-texas:

[Mykol610 2]

I just finally read through all this & I was wondering, what grade bolts did you use for the lug bolts in the back? I'm planning on converting my 1057 to lug nuts/bolts in the rear but am questioning if I should use Grade 8 or 5. Mine will be a little longer to reverse a wheel and set duallys on it. So I'm thinking grade 8 but it'll be about 2X's as much. And, do you have any problems when you tighten the lug nuts down on it with the studs backing through? Or use a bit of loctite to hold them in place?

[Martin 2,130]

i just used grade 5. they were tightened into the hubs first. i havent noticed them moving at all when tightening the lug nuts, cant see that it would be a problem if the bolts are tight in the hub, but you could loctite them if you felt the need for it.

[Martin 2,130]

update.......

hoods done, not very well, but its done. and its going to stay that way for a while.......

until i get motivated enough to redo it, maybe.......

well, i guess i should explain. the pics below are attempt number 2 and while the hood looks great in the pics up close you can see the defects in the paint. the bondo gassed out and put pinholes through the paint. first time its happened. just goes to show that anything can bite you when you least expect it. im no veteran at this, usually powdercoating goes direct to metal, but when you have stretched metal and rust damaged pitted metal, something has to smooth the substrate before paint. it didnt do it everywhere the filler was, just in some places, enough to make it look like crap. ive done a few things with the filler now and this is the first time it reacted like this. first go around on the hood i screwed it up myself by getting wax and grease remover on the filler. it soaked into the filler and when it heated up in the oven the filler lifted off the metal. talk about aggravation........

on the deck i did last week that turned out awesome, maybe i should mount the deck shell where the hood goes......

anyway enough complaining heres what youre all waiting for.........

[bowtiebutler956 649]

:text-imsorry: Martin. I now that kind of frustration very, very well. I don't have any experience with powder coating, but it seems like every time I think I've done a nice paint job, some little piece of trash or a bug, or I didn't get something quite clean enough and it reacts with the paint. I can really feel your pain. I don,t know anything about powder. How long do you have to wait before you can sand it down, and hit it again. I know your aggravated right now, but take a day or two of to cool down, and try it again.

Matt :flags-texas:

[Martin 2,130]

if i do tackle it soon it will be filling the pitting with filler, rubbing down with 320 and reshooting. the reshooting is the hard part. not impossible, but just got to get the right amount of paint on a recoat, too much and it starts to run, too little and you get that rough overspray look. the kv setting has to be just right too otherwise the powder will develop electrical starbursting patterns and then youre done, time to strip and start again........

[Martin 2,130]

every now and again i get reminded by people around me that it is, after all, a garden tractor...............................

to answer your question about the time between repainting, theres really not too soon a time. i could in theory have let it cool down and reshoot straight away. its the filler thats the unknown. and if i do redo it, is it going to turn out better or worse? its really on the fence and the smallest problem and it could go either way. which is why i havent done anything yet. i have real nice gloss on the underside and the side of the hood where the decals go and im reluctant to mess with it as its really difficult to get it that smooth on a recoat. the part has to be 100-150 degrees for the paint to adhere well enough to transport into the oven, the powder starts to gel in particles and you end up with orange peel. normally on a first coat the painted part will go into the oven with a good coat of powder and the instant introduction to 400 degrees helps flow the powder as soon as possible reducing orange peel......

[bowtiebutler956 649]

True Martin, but its your garden tractor, and A Wheel Horse Of Coarse!

Matt :flags-texas:

[Martin 2,130]

True Martin, but its your garden tractor, and A Wheel Horse Of Coarse!

Matt

and its going to get some use too. i guess thats why the hoods not stripped already. if i wanted to have perfect paint i wouldnt have done it in powder in the first place. then it wouldnt be free paint either.....

i know this stuff can look awesome if the metal is in good condition. just look at the underside of the hood where its just paint on metal.

[bowtiebutler956 649]

Looks like a big red Mirror!! Gorgeous!

Matt :flags-texas:

[Anglo Traction 759]

every now and again i get reminded by people around me that it is, after all, a garden tractor...............................

Hmmm, your Tractor is also a thing of beauty . It will be around a lot longer than some of us and still look good.

When/if you redo it, just wish you success next time round. I didn't know you could redo Powder!. Would you have to do it soon because of the pin-holing?, i.e, rust occuring, or can you leave it for a while?.

I had the main panels Grit Blasted n Powdered Black Satin on my Raider as a protective base and had to blend out the blemishes with Bondo/Hi Build before finishing with Car Spray Paint/Lacquer (Rattlers). It gave me the chance to obtain my desired result within my restricted facilities.

I'll be using the same process again on my current job, but I doubt it will be as resilient as your finish.

Superb work as ever.

Regards

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,125]

Don't let the paint get you down Martin, It's one of the best restores I've ever seen!! Look forward to seeing more...

[kpinnc 10,703]

I agree Martin, don't let it get you down.

This year I had two restores going at once. All that was left was painting the hoods, fenders, and drive belt guards. We had a 65 degree day in late January, and I was determined to paint all those parts. I had just enough paint left, so I mixed it up and sprayed everything. It was one of those times where everything seemed perfect. The paint laid down wonderfully, and completely trash-free. I went inside and fixed a little lunch, and when I came back out I had more fish eyes in the paint than I had ever seen before. Somehow, for the first time ever, moisture got into my system and ruined the finish. I still haven't repainted them, but will eventually. They look so nice and shiny that part of me just thinks I should leave them as is. Just a matter of using the tractor over taking it to a show I guess.

At least that first scratch didn't hurt so much... :roll:

[Hodge71 662]

Martin the paint under your hood is nicer than the paint on the top of my 18 auto that I am redoing. You should be very proud of your painting abilty....

[Martin 2,130]

well heres another update. got the hood all sorted out with a 'blackhood'decal from terry (vinylguy). i made up a template and got terry to cut me out a decal to fit on the hood to cover the problem areas. we kicked around a carbon fiber pattern and matt black. i decided the matt black was more in tune for this tractor. also got the rest of the awesome decals applied. heres some pics of my hood adventure.......

then terry gave me a sample of the template in white vinyl to test fit. was good to have a test run for installing the final piece.

and this afternoon i installed the matt black decal......

then it was onto applying the rest of the tractors decals. terry has the 1057 decals in both red/white and red/beige. i decided the red/beige decals suited the red/beige of the tractor and wheels more.

heres a few of the 1057 out in the sun, not much more than the seat and steering wheel to finish now!!! .......

[smoreau 658]

I like it Martin! The seat will really set this one off just wright The horse blanket thing just not going to work with this one :ychain:

[Terry M-(Moderator) 2,125]

that matt black hood decal looks awesome Martin! :handgestures-thumbup:

[WheelHorse50 10]

I know this goes back to page two but I was just looking through because I love this restoration and I was curious about the what appears to be head studs? I find it very interesting. Is that a custom fabrication of your own or did you buy those?

[Martin 2,130]

the head studs were purchased with a bunch of fasteners from mcmaster-carr. they are a self locking stud. here is the link...... http://www.mcmaster.com/#92386A636

studs just work better, you get a better bite on the threads in the block as the stud is screwed down all the way home before any tension is put on the fastener at all from clamping the head. i just like knowing that the 'bite' is spread through the whole length of the thread in the block. as the bolt lengths are slightly different on this motor, when using bolts ive noticed some have a tendency to 'pull' the threads more than others. cheap insurance for an old block........

Studs are threaded for a nut on one end and threaded (with self-locking friction-fit threads) for insertion into a threaded hole on the other. Also known as milled and tap-end studs, they have a Class 5 thread fit on the tap end (metric have Class SK6) and a Class 2A thread fit on the nut end (metric have Class 6g). Matching hex nuts are also available.

18-8 stainless steel studs provide excellent corrosion resistance and may be mildly magnetic. They have a tensile strength of 85,000 psi but are not rated for hardness.

[Trouty56 565]

Martin....really nice....beautiful....I really like this hood style. It's the grill....you have done an awesome job. I kind of like the black decal also...at first...maybe not....but the more I look at it the more I like it. :)

[Martin 2,130]

alright, had to go back over this thread a bit to see where i was at.....

the black decals are going on the seat pan as well. ive tried out a template for the right side of the pan and will cut one mirror image for the left. i already know that the pan isnt symmetrical, so the left side one will need a bit of finessing. more on this here.....

heres how the right side turned out.

got my new seat today. michigan seat model# v-3500. not the original style seat, but it will do. this tractor had one on it before so i thought i would just get a new one. its one of the only new seats around $50 that looks ok for me. i think some later models used this seat, but with a logo on them.

one thing i noticed is that i need to space the mounting at least 1/2" so the seat contacts the seat pan at the bolt location. at the moment the sides of the seat are touching the 'fenders' of the pan and there is at least a 3/8" gap where the mounting points should be touching and taking all the load from the seat. so i will make up a spacer and powdercoat it before installation.

also have been working on rebuilding the pto. new bearings, seals etc and just got a call from the local toro dealer that my lining and rivets have come in, so tomorrow ill get them and will get it all assembled. bearings/seals were around $30. outer sealed bearing is timken P204RR6 and the inner needle roller is torrington J-2420. the seal is a national 343099, crosses to skf 14810

also been working on a steering wheel. i picked up an ariens wheel as its almost the same wheel as a 1057 wheel but a bunch easier to find, and cheap too. it needs some small mods to make it work, as ariens wheels are attached to a splined shaft, whereas the 1057 wheel was keyed. i will probably just ream the splines out and pin it to the steering shaft, as many models were. (thanks to tt for this tip on the ariens wheels).

heres the wheel as i got it. needs a bunch of cleaning up, wet sanding and polishing but not bad for $15......

the bottom was butchered by a butcherer..... the damage will need to be fixed as well.

[Jake Kuhn 1,547]

It's looking good,always enjoy reading your updates Martin! Jake

[bowtiebutler956 649]

If that wheel goes like the rest of this biuld, you'll have it looking like new in short order Martin.

Matt :flags-texas: