Some shots of a few tasks.
I wasn't happy with some rust in the drivers floor caused by windscreen seal leaks over the years as it's an easy problem-thing for buyers to look for when browsing vehicles. (Remember this is a prototype test build vehicle, it's not a 20yr long term keeper) Figured I'd do the entire van floor since I had to rip the seats out anyhow, and the storage floor had large volumes of polished exposed metal from infinite sliding cargo.
None of the paint shown in these photos will be visible later with minor exceptions like the wheel arches in the back when accessing the "shed" of the van. It's all covered by flooring and various inserts. This is purely a rust control exercise.
I don't have any photos to show the paint job on the wind-deflector/angle above the windscreen. That was peppered with rust so I gave that a roll-on coat as well. Came up great.
Doesn't really look too bad here, but I ground off a fair bit of surface rust on the drivers side. Nothing was seriously pitted and I didn't have to fill anything fortunately.
I ran some test-splotches of paint the night before. Brush vs foam roller. No thinning vs. 1:10 turps. I chose the 1:10 thinning with roller as it appeared to gloss better with a single coat.
Fresh paint always looks pretty good.
The passenger steps both had rust that needed to be dealt with. These came up great.
I fooled around with some 1:5 turps dilution, and some variants in between, but ultimately 1:10 was the winner so I'll stick to that in future.
The whole thing would need another coat if it were visible, but that ain't happenin'. Like I said, not going to be visible; rust control exercise.
I really thought brand-name Rustoleum sold this kind of product but I couldn't find it on the .com.au site. I've seen many colors done by guys overseas for exterior auto paint jobs, but I guess this is just another 'Straya 3-choices-only thing. White Knight Rust Guard Enamel is kinda the only other choice. They had a whole four or five colors!!!
I also re-upholstered the drivers armrest with some material suede finish. It came out OK. Just needed some spray adhesive, scissors, and my worst enemy...patience...
It was pretty worn and ugly before. It's a one piece foam molded part with some sort of rubberised coating. I was going to purchase some plasti-dip spray but ended up at Spotlight and bought some material instead.
I almost bought some pleather (really thin rubbery faux leather stuff for upholstery) as it would have dealt with the curves without folded edges and seams, but couldn't find the color match I wanted.
