EScanlon

Now you've primered the car. Wait at least a couple hours before going in there and removing any masking you may have done. The next steps will determine how good your final paint job will look, so be meticulous in doing them well. After waiting at LEAST 24 hours, and LONGER if the temperature is low, humidity high, or you've shot a THICK coat of primer. 11) Scuff the whole car with a Grey Scuff Pad or very lightly with a Maroon one. The intent of this is to remove any overspray "dust" and to very VERY lightly cut the skin on the primer. You're not looking to sand with this, just to knock off any surface crud that may have stuck to the primer. 12) Using 360 or 400 grit paper, a sanding block, and a rag that's dripping wet with water, start sanding the roof of the car. Work your sanding so that you are using SHORT diagonal strokes in a lengthwise orderly manner. Using keyboard symbols what you want is this: \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ / \ ==>> Hopefully you can see what I mean. If you use strictly linear strokes there is a HIGH probability that you will end up "grooving" the primer. That is, due to the unevenness of the pressure you will be applying to the sanding pad, AND the tendency of humans to do linear movements by moving their hand from close to their body to extending their arm all the way, rather than side to side (if you do that you'll have an ARC). What will happen is that the sanding paper and block will cut deeper grooves under the areas of high pressure. By using short diagonal strokes, you use the SIDE of your hand AND you are cross hatching the stroke with the return stroke. 13) As you sand each panel, use copious amounts of water to flow away the cut primer. Every so often, use the edge of your sanding block, or get a rubber squeege and squeegee the panel "dry". Look at the reflection of the water as you squeegee. If the panel has been sanded smooth and even, you should be able to see an EVEN satin moistness. If you see SHINE, more than likely that is a SHALLOW area in the primer. You can continue to sand the panel down to meet that shallow OR you can apply Top Cap Primer to fill it. This is where experience is your best bet. What some guys would Top Cap, others would sand smooth and the reverse. You just have to develop a feel for how thick your primer is, and how much more sanding you can do before you cut through the primer to the metal. Remember, if you cut through to the metal, or the base coat, then you must repaint that area so that you can once again blend it in. 14) Continue sanding the whole car until you are finished. If you find that you have some areas that need Top Cap, you can either apply it to just that panel and keep on going, or wait till you finish sanding the whole car. Note, since Top cap is basically thickened primer, you will want the panel to be bone dry, AND you will have also given it a good wipe down with Wax and Grease Remover. Just like you did to primer the car originally. Apply the Top Cap with a rubber squeege or one of the smaller bondo spreaders. Squeeze it tight into the scratch or shallow and smooth it off as best as possible while still building it up so that you can sand it smooth. Remember, it's purpose is to provide material to be sanded smooth. If you skimp, you'll more than likely have to re-apply. If you go overboard, you'll be sanding that much longer. Personally, to sand the Top Cap, I use 320 grit for Red, and 360 for Blue / Green and I haven't used Yellow in so long I don't know if they still sell it, but 400 there. Test the panel for smoothness every so often until you can readily see that it's smooth. Some people will shoot a very light mist coat of offsetting color paint on top of the primer as a GUIDE COAT. This is an excellent idea if you shot extra thick primer, or HIGH fill primer or even if you're not quite expreienced enough to make sure you sand the whole panel evenly and smoothly. It's no shame to use it as it is a helping tool. It's also excellent at pointing out shallow area's in your panel. Well, there you have it. I've tried to be concise, and although that may get a chuckle or two out of everyone, go ahead and check out any book that deals with painting and tell me how well I did. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

Before you primer, you should have an Organic Vapor Breather. This is the type that has those 2 charcoal canisters and / pre-filters on each side of the mask. They're there to block the overspray that WILL be floating around that you do NOT want in your lungs or nose. Please, DO NOT ASSUME THAT A SIMPLE PAPER FACE MASK IS ADEQUATE! But then again, they're your lungs, if you feel you will be a good candidate for a Lung Transplant in the future, ignore this warning. 7) Fill your paint gun with primer. I tend to only fill it to about 3/4 of the cup. This way you won't be dripping on the car as you do the roof, hood. Even then, I will usually tie a rag around the cup top to catch any drips out the vent hole. 8) Check your spray pattern and volume on a scrap piece of cardboard, metal, etc. Your paint gun should allow you to adjust the width and the amount of paint you will be spraying. The adjustment down to a SPOT is for shooting into tight and deep recessed areas. The width is so that you can adjust how much overspray to the top and bottom of your pattern gets thrown out. The volume needle determines how much paint you will be spraying at one time. Personally, I like to set my pattern at a straight up and down fan, measuring about 9-12" tall when about 12" away from the metal. A single steady pass should leave enough color that you can tell you've misted it completely, but you don't have complete total coverage. This is commonly referred to as a Single Pass Mist Coat. A Double Wet coat is TWO passes, but this time on each pass you've thoroughly wetted the surface. The volume needle will regulate how much paint you're shooting, the next variable is your coating speed. Obviously the FASTER you move your hand accross the panel, the LESS paint you will get on it. Conversely, the SLOWER your pass, the MORE paint you will get on it. You need to be careful as you don't want to put the paint so lightly that you will be putting it on "DRY" and not so heavy that you cause it to "SAG" or RUN. 9) Make your first coat a thorough LIGHT Double Wet. The main intent here is to get a good even coat AND to get the sequence of panels down pat. What's a sequence of panels? Ahh, here's where technique is very important. While you are primering, you are practicing your technique in painting AND how to "flow" around the car. If you do this just right, you will NOT have a Dry Line left. Do this out of step or in a haphazard manner and you will have a Foggy look afterwards, where the newly applied paint didn't flow into and blend with the prior paint pass. (That's what a dry line is.) Thankfully, primer is very forgiving about dry - lining. PAINT however is NOT. I would start midline on the roof, go from the windshield all the way to the hatch window, then back and forth all the way to one side. As you approach the side edge, shoot it from the top down and on the back stroke, from the bottom up (under the gutter). Carry this stroke down the back window edge. Quickly, step over to the other side and do the other half of the roof, duplicating your pattern. Remember, shoot the rail AND the pillar, but don't get crazy about getting too far down the pillar. Go back to the first side and pick up on the pillar and paint down the pillar to the back of the hatch and down the top of the rear fender. You get the idea? The idea is to shoot a complete area or half an area, carry the paint line (the leading edge of where you are applying paint) forward and before it has a chance to dry, you go back and pick it up on the other edge and paint the next area or the other half. The intent is to NEVER let the paint line dry and carry it forward until you finally meet it to itself at the opposite end of the car from where you started. Imagine that you are pouring the paint from the top and you want the paint to flow from panel to panel all the way from the point where you start pouring to the final and furthest edge of the car. Just like an animated cartoon. The paint ideally will never have stopped at any edge, and will have flowed evenly. Ok, this gets you through the first coat. 10) Depending on how much primer filler you need to apply, shoot another 2-3 coats over the whole car, waiting 15-30 minutes between coats depending on temperature, humidity and thickness of your previous coat. Got all this? Next post.....

Once you're done with the body work and ready for primer: 1) Using a quality Wax and Grease Remover, wipe off the WHOLE car. Procedure for this is to get one rag cloth that's been moistened with the W&G and another to wipe dry. Wipe with the moistened cloth a section about 2' x 2', then before it has a chance to evaporate, wipe dry with the dry cloth. Get to all edges, underneath areas, ANYWHERE that you can access. 2) Inspect the car completely. If any of the original finish is still showing, make sure that you've sanded it so that there is no SHINE left on it. If there's shine, paint / primer won't stick. You could wet sand if there's any doubt as to how smooth this area is (320 grit is ok) or you could use a 3M Scotch SCUFF PAD. This is something that looks a lot like one of those green pads you would use in the kitchen but it's designed for body work. You can get it in Brown (coarse), Green (Medium), Maroon (Fine) or Grey (Extra Fine). At this stage a Maroon should be fine. 2a) If you've wet sanded or scuffed any areas, make sure you W&G those areas again. 3) Mask any areas that will NOT get primered. 4) W&G car again. Make sure you use fresh clean rags, change your dry rag often, and also your moistened one. Ratio should be about 2 dry to 1 wet. This may seem like overkill, but you would be surprised how many times I've seen paint jobs ruined because this was done only once or twice. Your body exudes oil, if you touch the car barehanded you'll leave residue behind. As you've been working on it, scuffing, masking, etc, you will have left behind little dabs of skin oil. These can cause fish eye, crazing, lifting, to name a few. 5) Allow the car to "breathe" about 30 mins or so in the paint booth. This is to allow whatever W&G residue you didn't wipe off evaporate. 6) Mix your primer according to directions. Now let me digress. Primer Filler: This is the primer to use to lay down a coat of material that you will be Wet Sanding smooth. This is the one that will make your final paint look like glass. There is High Fill and Regular Fill. If you are experienced doing bondo / panel repairs, then you can get away with Regular Fill. If you have any doubts whatsoever as to how smooth the PANEL is overall, I would use High Fill. Yes it's more work to sand a High Fill primer panel down, but the results SHOW. Believe me when I tell you that you will SEE any imperfection in the panel once you finish painting. A dark paint will literally HIGHLIGHT any sub surface irregularity. A light color paint will not show it as readily but to the trained eye they're still visible. The intent of FILL primer is to provide a sandable surface that you will then sand smooth so that when the paint is applied it will reflect just like if it were a mirror. And like a mirror, it doesn't take much of a distortion to show up. Sealer Primer: Sealer does exactly what the name implies. It seals the base materials from the topcoat. This type usually has SOME fill material, so yoiu can sand it smooth also. However, you must NOT cut through it to the base or you will have to shoot another coat. It's purpose is to SEAL. Depending on what type of repairs you've done will dictate whether you should or MUST use sealer. Bondo, if mixed properly and worked properly and most importantly NOT FRESH (within 48 hours), should be ok without Sealer. Red Cap, if applied thickly, MAY require sealer. Fibreglass work, almost without exceptions, SHOULD be sealed. Fibreglass resin tends to leech for MONTHS and it will cause paint both Lacquer and Acrylic Enamel to craze, lift, fish-eye, haze to name a few. I personally will not primer and paint over fibreglass work without Sealing it. Plain Sealer: This has NO fill in it. You can use this just prior to painting if you have any doubts as to the base. Usually this stuff is also called "non-sanding". That is, you don't have to scuff off the top skin. Note however, that this is usually only for a limited amount of time (24-48 hours usually). Red Cap or Top Cap: This is thickened primer. You can obtain this in various colors and sanding consistencies. There's Red, Lite Blue, Lite Green, Yellow. The difference in the color usually denotes how "sandable" it is. The more sandable the Top Cap is, the easier it is to remove it and hence harder to gauge when you've FILLED the imperfection you're looking to get rid off. (Remember, that's HALF the purpose of primer / filler and the ONLY purpose for Top Cap) Ok, got all that? I'm going to parse this out into two postings so that the server can "page" if necessary. Enrique

Victor: The main problem with NOT using an etching primer below the bondo is that if there is ANY way for moisture to creep in between the bondo and the metal you can be assured that it WILL eventually rust and cause the bondo to pop off. The kinds of problems that would indicate that are: holes in the metal for "fingers" of bondo to hold tighter. If the bondo is on a seam or crack in the metal that hasn't been thoroughly welded / brazed closed. If the bondo comes close to the edge of the metal (such as panel edges) where the paint can get real thin and therefore chip. And lastly, Flex Points on the car body. These tend to crack both the bondo and the paint and therefore allow moisture to creep in. Now, even if you were to etch primer or epoxy primer, or even zinc plate the metal there are NO guarantees regarding rust-proofing metal. At best you will be given promises with conditions. Heck, even POR which many of us have used and like has these provitions in their warranty paperwork. So having said all that. If your choice were to use a rattle can of primer before you put on the bondo, I wouldn't grind off the bondo to primer. Reason for this is that you can't really get a good even coat with a rattle can. Yes there are guys out there that are very good, but I'll still take any one of them on with my primer gun. Secondly, I can't think of a single brand of epoxy primer in a rattle can, and the same goes for etching primer. What I would do, is make sure you smooth off all your bondo so that you can lay a good coat of Fill Primer. Wet sand that down so that it finishes the panel smooth. Then using a Primer SEALER give it one last coat. You might also be able to get NON-sanding sealer and then top off with your paint. Can I guarantee that you'll never get rust in that panel? Nope. But then again, I couldn't even if you had used Etch Primer. Years ago, (Mid 80's) we didn't use etching primer as a matter of course. We used good old Ditzler Red Oxide or Gray Oxide and made sure we had a good clean surface to apply it to. Bondo was applied to bare metal with deep scratches left in it by 16 or 24 grit grind pads, and the stuff would last for YEARS on vehicles used continuously in winter weather and even with road salt. Did some of them eventually rust? Yes. But I'll be honest that the rust could be from regular use and not because of prior repairs. So, hope this helps. Enrique

Try good old Mineral Spirits. Also known as plain Paint Thinner (for oil based paints). You'd be surprised at the amount of goop you can get off with that stuff and rarely will it hurt a paint job. If it does, then the paint was shot to begin with. Also works as a good basic Wax and Grease remover. 2¢

Your best bet is to carefully remove whatever overspray is on the decal. However, don't hold your breath as the silverized decal had the lettering and color code silk-screened on with .... more paint. More than likely it will have been smudged off when you finish cleaning off the overspray or paint on top of it. However, you CAN peel back that sticker or look behind the Engine Plate on the Strut Wall, or look under some other piece of hardware that might / should not have been removed since the factory. Then you can get a good idea of what color it was originally. MPerdue has a web site with color pictures of the original colors. Granted you have to take your color monitor's performance into consideration, but you should be able to pick out yours. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

I hope that the loss of your pet is slightly less heavy when you consider that he may very well have thanked you for sparing him the misery of a painful death. I'm sure he's waiting for you, or will be back in another life to share your home. Enrique Scanlon

I'm a body man not a mechanic, so I'll admit to knowing only enough to be dangerous. However, don't forget that the SU carbs have little pockets of 20W oil for the plunger in each of the carbs. Could it be that the owner has just recently "oiled" his carbs and overfilled them? As I understand the excess just gets aspirated into the cylinders and then gets combusted and exhausted. Just my 2¢ Enrique

Rick: I agree with you regarding information that is being disseminated / broadcast to the public as a whole. Your comment: Is entirely appropriate when referring to PUBLIC dissemination. Television, Radio, Newspapers, Magazines, are all public. I won't go out and try to buy every copy of a newspaper or magazine trying to stop a bit of erroneous information, nor will I attempt to jam the broadcast of TV or Radio. When it comes to e-mail however, it becomes a one on one dissemination. The message, although maybe part of a blanket mailing, was still addressed to my e-mail address. At that point, if I choose to propagate that e-mail I become a part of the dissemination process, and an unwitting supporter. I'm not going to try to hack into computer systems to eliminate that message. I MIGHT forward it with my own opposing thoughts prefacing it, but that would be an active attack upon it. That's why I chose to not forward it, and not try to "correct" anyone's viewpoint on it, except for here in this forum. And by posting about that list on this forum, is why I spoke up. Again, we now have an OPEN forum where many people have access to the information and to a discussion of it. That's why I spoke up and expressed my opinion. If you had instead just forwarded it to everyone on the mail list, I would have just ignored it. Hopefully I've made my point clear. Enrique

Tanny: Re-reading my original reply to your post about communism, I can see where it may have seemed to be a direct attack at your viewpoint. I apologize, as my intent in using the term pseudo intellectual referred to the many discussions I've had in social circles whereupon some individual who, in trying to appear knowledgeable or worldly, will spout just that type of rhetoric. And I agree with your reply: and in the same vein I responded to your comment regarding true communism. Anyhow, hopefully no offense was taken as none was meant. Enrique

DO NOT USE SILICONE TO SEAL THE SENDER IN! Silicone is not impervious to gasoline and will eventually leak. The Rubber O-Ring that the sender presses down on when the Locking Flange is turned is what has gone bad. You should be able to get a replacement o-ring at your local Full Service Auto Parts Store. Take the old one in, bring the sender too as that way they can get you the best match. Mike's already posted how to remove it, installation is just the reverse. Personally, I wouldn't go buying a new sending unit unless the other one is bad. HTH

Rick: You pose a good question. But the answer to your question is not what I would have done, but rather another question. Let me explain a couple things first. I HAVE received that list. In fact, due to the copious amount of e-mails I receive, I've received it at least 3 times. My response to those e-mails was to simply ignore them. The reason I ignored them was that the provenance of each of those e-mails were people who tend to forward any and all kinds of "silly" e-mail, and I just didn't care to expend the effort trying to get them to understand my point of view. Simply put, those individuals REACT to situations and don't think them through. I would not be surprised to find out that they had purchased inordinate amounts of duct tape and plastic sheeting in response to the Bio / Chemical Attack warning given some weeks back. Whereas here, amongst a group of people whose opinion I respect and intelligence level at a level that serious discussions can be effected, I felt it necessary to "rant" as I did. Why would I not forward that e-mail, nor make it available on this forum? Simply put, I felt it was an asinine idea then and still do. To propagate it, would have given it validity that I did not feel it merited. I'm not in the business of News Reporting nor Gossip Propagation, and if I were, undoubtedly someone would complain that I wasn't being totally fair because of my "editing" of information. Unfortunately, whenever you pass on that type of "news", you inadvertently become a supporter of it. Whether you may agree with it or not, you've propagated it. By propagating it, you've extended it's exposure and therefore it's viability. In my opinion the BEST thing that can happen to a bad idea, is to squelch it. If the individual that proposes that bad idea wishes to continue exerting efforts in order to spread his idea, then I would expect others to squelch it as well. If they don't, then they've contributed to it. So, don't take offense at what I'm saying. I just feel very strongly that bad ideas should be stopped. So, in answer to your question, here's my question to you: WHY, should you make that list available to more people? 2¢

Mike: This is SO TRUE!!! However, I must append the following: USES FOR TOOLS HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive car parts not far from the object we are trying to hit. MECHANIC’S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing convertible tops or tonneau covers. ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling rollbar mounting holes in the floor of a sports sedan just above the brake line that goes to the rear wheel cylinders. PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board principle. It transforms human energy into a crooked unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes. VICE-GRIPS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand. OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting those stale garage cigarettes you keep hidden in the back of the socket drawer (what wife would think to look in there?) because you can never remember to buy lighter fluid for the Zippo lighter you got from the PX at Fort Campbell. ZIPPO LIGHTER: See oxyacetylene torch. DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against the Rolling Stones poster over the bench grinder. WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprints and hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say, “&%(*)?/#@!”. HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering a Z to the ground after you have installed a set of Mulholland lowered road springs, trapping the jack handle firmly under the front air dam. EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering a car upward off a hydraulic jack. TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters. PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor Chris to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack. SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot. E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in boltholes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit. TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup on crankshaft pulleys. CRAFTSMAN ½ x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without the handle. BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought. AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw. TROUBLE LIGHT: The mechanic’s own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin”, which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading. PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style paper-and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt: can also be used, as the name implies, to round out Phillips screw heads. AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a Chicago Pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty suspension bolts last tightened 24 years ago by someone in Yokohama, and snaps them off.

If you really, REALLY want something unique, see if you can find a Kyosho Mini-Z Radio Control Racer. These little puppies really Zip along and are a total blast to drive. Although they don't offer a Z, they do offer various body choices. Porsche, VW (new), Audi, Honda etc. So why is this such a big deal, and why mention it here? Because, if you get one of these models, and with a very little bit of modification, you can get it to fit right onto the Mini-Z chassis. Now you'll have a Radio Control Mini Z 240Z. Then, do it up like your car and you'll have your big baby and a Mini Me Z! 2¢

Ok, I went to your gallery. If the interior in "Fully Loaded" is the interior to YOUR car.... Since you have a lot of instruments, no discernable amount of wood, and the predominant color of the instruments and switches and stereo etc are the dark pewter look, I'm changing my selection to either Fighter or Champion. Race is a bit too bright. My previous choices wouldn't complement your dash. Again, IF the interior in Fully Loaded is yours. If it isn't, then you can see why I flip-flopped. Enrique

Geez, this question is reminiscent of "Honey, do you think this dress makes me look fat?" OR "Do you think these shoes or those shoes go better with what I'm thinking of wearing?" George; You should at least post pictures of the rest of the car. I have a strictly stock interior, so I went with the stock wheel. But if I had any modifications to the interior, or I wanted a strictly updated look then I would choose a non-stock wheel as I find the stock wheel kind of skinny. So, although I like the Club 4 for it's basic design, I like the wood and leather look of Fighter, and Fashion is also sharp. Does that help? (sorry didn't vote.)

The idea of the Hair Dryer is a good one, however, you will be there for EONS trying to warm up that undercoating with it. Even if you were to get the most powerful Hair Dryer, at best you'd be talking 1500 Watts. Get a HEAT GUN. Although "similar" to a hair dryer, trust me, a Heat Gun will totally scorch ALL your hair in the time a hair dryer would dry one brushful. You can get these in the Paint section of most hardware stores. Tell the clerk that you want a Heat Gun to remove old paint finishes. You don't need to get the Butane or the Propane one, just the simple Electric one. The one I have gets the surface hot enough that I can SOLDER with it, and will also SOFTEN BRAZE! Then heat the undercoating, scrape, repeat.....

In the for what it's worth department: Yes you have some ugly and nasty work that's been done there before. Yes it is all repairable. Yes it will be expensive. Now, for something completely different. The ugly and nasty work wasn't done to cheat you. It was probably done by someone in the same situation as you, needing to make repairs and not having the funds to effect the repairs as thoroughly and comprehensively as needed. The repairs were done on the "absolutely only what MUST be done" basis. They did it cheaply. But they did effect repairs. That they aren't of the type and extent that you feel should have been done is a moot point as far as what WAS done, and only relevant on what you will do in the future. What you need to do now, is decide how much money, time and effort you are going to invest into this. If you can afford BOTH Frame Rails and BOTH Floor Pans (although from what I could see the only questionable part of the floor were those two bolt/fender washers, as in what the heck are those for?) then do so. However, you can get away with simply welding the Right Hand Frame Rail back in place after going to a Frame Shop to have them straighten the tweak out of the frame. SHOULD it be done to a higher level? Absolutely. Can you afford it? That's yours to answer. But in my opinion, you don't have a MAJOR bunch of nasty stuff that spells death for that car. If you needed to do the absolute minimum, like I said, just re-weld the Frame Rail that's come off and straighten out or replace the tie-rod. 2¢

Since I was the first one to use the term "communist", I presume it is me you refer to when you say: Unfortunately Tanny, the argument that "True" communism has never existed and therefore you can't use the term "communism" in any kind of discussion is the kind of pseudo intellectual crap that gets regurgitated to squelch any discussion that might possibly discuss it in a meaningful way. Also, in my experience, this argument gets used whenever the person bringing it up cannot contribute to the original discussion and feels the need to change the subject. You're right that "true" communism hasn't and will never exist, simply due to the inherent erroneous assumptions of the human psyche, which you've stated, yield it unattainable. When I referred to "communism", I was speaking to whatever form of government the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Cuba have. Call it what you will, Free Speech there is not, how shall we say, FREELY practiced? Or maybe I should say that only if your Free Speech agrees with the government's view is it Free to be Spoken. So if I've taken offense where none was meant, I apologize for my retort. I'm neither a staunch conservative nor a bleeding liberal, I tend to look at individual issues and either support or ignore as the mood fits me. 1¢

The only thing I remember Slick Willie doing for the military is speeding up Base Closings, Reductions in Force (RIF) and overall reductions in Military Spending. Since I know of at least 10 servicemen who were RIF'ed involuntarily, and of at least 4 Air Force bases that were closed after major new construction had been effected, while at the same time hearing how the minimum time in service for Base Retirement (i.e. when you were first eligible) was raised, I would say that Willie did to the military as he did to Monica Lewinsky and Paula Jones. Except the military didn't get nice makeovers afterward.

No argument here Mike. Heck, we're (the U.S.) not innocent either. When Iraq was warring with Iran, guess who we backed up? And if you'll recall the political nonsense leading up to Gulf War I, didn't we kind of tacitly agree to ignore Hussein's invasion of Kuwait? Only to then turn around and condemn him for it. The details behind all this are sketchy and I've not been able to find a credible descriptive timeline of it. Then AFTER the first Gulf War, when the Kurds were actively revolting against Saddam, something we encouraged, we turned our backs on them and let them suffer the consequences, which Saddam readily applied. But all this discussion does is change the original discussion to whether or not you support the war. Whether you are for it or against it, is not what I am angry about. My "rant" is against those people who would take action against others because they exercised their rights. Rights as defined in the American Constitution. Rights that we Americans feel everyone, not just Americans are entitled to. That we're speaking of other countries is not a valid counter point either. The Declaration of Independence states that "We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal...." When it has become apparent to the U.S. that someone is trampling upon someone's "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness..." we step in and take them to task. This is what's going on in Iraq today. 2¢

Chris Russell wrote: Now in the NEXT paragraph: 'codiscoverer of radium 1898 with her husband Pierre a French physicist, with whom she shared the Nobel prize for physics 1903, and alone for chemistry 1911. So her laboratory and where she worked was in France. That work is how the radio-isotopes were discovered. Sadly due to her work in a very close environment with radioactive isotopes, Marie Curie eventually died from exposure to them. Interestingly enough the Curie, which is a measure of radioactivity is named in honor of her husband. Werner Von Braun was born in Germany 1912, and although he had involvement with the V-1 project, his claim to fame is more for his involvement with the NSA later known as NASA....an American project. Would you claim that the landing on the moon was due to GERMAN technology? So Chris, thank you for the minor biography lesson. Would you do us a favor? Read the COMPLETE article and not just the one fact that you think debunks another's argument.

Or better yet, let's all get REAL stupid and do some idiotic "boycott" which will not hurt anyone but ourselves. This boycott which purports to "penalize" the French for not having backed the U.S. move in the U.N. is so absolutely UN-AMERICAN as to be, literally, what Saddam Hussein would advocate. Why? Simply this, the French President and their people expressed THEIR opinion, and they stuck by it. THAT IS EXACTLY THE KIND OF THING THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN DOES NOT ALLOW!!! Heck, in the United States we advocate Freedom of Speech. Then some idiot decides to boycott the French for having a different opinion than theirs. When 9-11 happened, at first there was a massive back-lash against Arabic people, both immigrants and U.S. BORN Arabic Descent people, until someone spoke out that THOSE PEOPLE WERE NOT THE ONES TO BLAME. And rightly so. But we're going to void some of the basic precepts in our Constitution, by supporting this boycott. Well, to anyone who feels that this boycott is justified and should be enforced: GET THE HELL OUT OF MY UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!! And if you live outside the U.S. of A.; REMEMBER YOU SUPPORT COMMUNISM AND DICTATORSHIPS! DON'T COME CRYING TO THE U.S.A. TO RESCUE YOU WHEN YOU SUDDENLY FIND YOURSELF IN THE SAME SITUATION!!! I served in the U.S. Air Force, and one of our basic credos was: I will support, to the death, your right to an opinion and the right to voice it, EVEN if it differs from mine. So now we have some idiots who would select those products that would HURT the French. Have they stopped to consider that many of those companies have holdings in many parts of the U.S. as well as the rest of the world? So are we really going to hurt the French? Probably not. In fact, we'll probably do some more harm to our OWN people than French people. So let's address some other items of French provenance that you may want to consider boycotting: CHEMOTHERAPY. After all wasn't it Madam Curie that pioneered RadioActive Isotope research. So if you have a loved one who is dying of Cancer and undergoing Chemotherapy........STOP!!! You're going to make a political statement with their life. You're going to point out to the French just how serious you are about their voicing their opinion. You are so adamant, that you will let your significant other, son, daughter, mother, or father DIE for a political belief. Next, let's consider how many Americans, Australians, Europeans, Oriental and Latin American's we can hurt WORLDWIDE by having French companies boycotted. Now isn't that interesting, we're supporting the lay-offs of thousands of individuals because the French expressed their opinion. Sorry, but this has to be one of the STUPIDEST ideas proposed yet. 2¢

Regular POR will "haze" or get cloudy when exposed to UV light. Won't affect it, but it does look like if the paint has hazed and become bad. You can recoat the base POR before it sets with a rattle can paint and it will then protect it and give you the gloss / shine you want while being on top of a POR base. They also have HIGH TEMP POR, which is specifically made for those areas. Ask your vendor. If you order it from MSA you will be limited to what they stock / sell, but if you contact a POR dealer / distributor he'll have access to the complete line. If you need the name for a distributor, I'll give you the name for mine. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

If you prep the metal correctly you'll be removing the bulk of the loose scale and dusty rust. Then with the Marine Clean and Metal Ready you'll degrease and etch (zinc phosphate) then top it off with POR and you'll have an excellent almost perfectly rust-free coating (note, NOTHING is rust free if it involves steel). The nice advantage of POR is that it will flex, and it will protect that steel better than anything else I've tried. When you're finished, you will already have "some" soundproofing, but to do it better, why not get Q-Pads. They're replacement Tar Panels that will go a LONG L O N G way to soundproofing the floor. That's what I did, and you can hear the engine, but you don't hear idle vibrations or noise. Trust me on this one. I then put my complete carpet and mats and the results are EXCELLENT. One BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you use an Organic Vapor Respirator when you apply the POR. The can says WELL VENTILATED and they are NOT joking in the very least. The fumes have CYANIDE in it, and it will MESS you up BAD! Even with the respirator I used it strictly out doors and sometimes with a fan in the hatch sucking air out. 2¢