Shade Tree with Gramps

Today's post is about some efforts on cars that are not mine, around the cycles of applying Bondo, sanding it down, applying a guide coat of sand-able primer and repeating. This is all so I can get the panels as smooth and flat as I can before I get into the paint. Recall, I am still waiting for the body kit, so I am in a holding pattern anyway.

Shade Tree

I have mentioned in passing a few times that one of more of the kids we know will drop by to work on their cars in our driveway. They are new to car ownership, have few tools and a little experience. Boo and I call it our "Shade Tree" where they or their friends can come to get after some work on a car in a safe place with the tools they need, WiFi and an extra pair of hands. We bought a couple of car port canopies last year, and those serve as the base for this Shade Tree concept. Nearby, we have parked Hapy, and set up like DriveWay Fest: lot couch pulled out, seats strewn about, camping table set up. So, when you need to take a break, there's shade, a comfy seat and a cold beverage.

For me, this is an opportunity to hang out, wrench on some cars and help a friend or two out. If I could, I would do this every day. Fortunately, as the kids get more into their respective cars, this is happening more often.  I have not posted about these moments, but with my time dedicated to the Bondo cycles, I am not generating material... just lots of dust. So, today's post is about a weekend afternoon spent with a couple of kids and their cars.

K2 - Gramps

stock image, not Gramps

K2 got my parent's old Jetta3 when they decided that they should not drive anymore. That was a great decision, and for a base grocery-getter Jetta, Gramps was a pretty good little car. It does not have air conditioning, and it suffers the 2-dot-slow engine (non-turbo), but that should make it easier to work on, since there are fewer parts. Still, those parts which remain can be a PITA. Case-in-point, K2 wanted to do a simple tune-up, replacing the spark plugs. Well, to do that, you need to remove the intake plenum because the sadist engineers at VW located the sparkplugs on the fire-wall side of the engine, underneath the big air intake. To remove the plenum requires considerable flexibility, so this basic maintenance has not been done.

With that backdrop, we learned a couple of weeks ago that Gramps was not running. It turned out that Gramps was running, but he would go from everything-is-fine to suddenly overheating within a few minutes after achieving normal operating temperature (NOT). So, K2 drove Gramps over and pulled him into the front spot in the driveway nearest Hapy. He explained that he was sitting in a drive-thru and steam started billowing out from under the hood. After popping the hood and noticing a new hose clamp near the outlet flange, we learned that shortly before the overheating, he had removed and replaced that clamp. Why that was done was not explained, however, we concluded that maybe it was related.

The symptoms were interesting. Like I said above, the engine would run fine for a while and then water would start bubbling out of the overflow bottle as the engine temp climbed above normal. I felt the hoses. The top hose heading into the radiator was hot. The radiator was not, nor was the lower hose. That indicated water not moving, so I figured that there's either a blockage or the pump isn't working. Once the engine cooled down a little bit, we added water, but the issue repeated. I thought maybe there was an air pocket stemming from the prior hose clamp removal, so we remove the upper hose from the radiator. No water came out. I was able to run 1/2 a gallon of water into the top of the radiator before it was full, so I felt like we were approaching the solution. With the upper hose removed, and the open end held below the top of the radiator, we continued to put water into the over flow bottle, squeezing the hoses by hand to force water through. Eventually, water started to drip out of the upper hose, so we re-connected it. Then, we performed a repeating process of adding water, running the engine to get the bubbles out, turning off the engine, adding water, etc. We discovered very early that the radiator was now getting warm, so the circulation had solved. The fans, however, were still not firing. Still, the car was able to not overheat enough for him to drive it home and on short trips until he had time for another visit and diagnose of why the fans were not coming on.

G - unnamed

sort of what G wants
it to look like

K2's best friend, G, recently bought a late-model Jetta. I don't know the exact year, but it's possibly the newest car among those we have clowned on. A few months ago, I helped him remove his old stock muffler to install a fart-can. He knew then that he would need a cat-back exhaust system to get the sound he wanted. Since that time in the driveway, he got and installed a cat-back system. It has a sporty rumble to it now. On this visit, G wanted to replace his coolant, and do a little customization of the front grille. G had found a step-by-step online where you could cut and fab lower grilles from wire mesh as a replacement for the little slotted-looking vent things. He had built and installed them, but they looked kind of weak. To improve the look, he first removed the front bumper cover. G taped around the little grilles and then shot the grilles and the bumper covers inside the grilles with black spraypaint. We talked about cutting the fog-light supports out, but decided that just shooting black was enough to hide the body color and now he had the option of installing fog lights later. The coolant was fairly straightforward. He loosened the lower hose from the radiator, and drained into a pan. He re-connected the hose and filled the overflow bottle. So simple. These take about 1.5US gallons of 50/50 G12 (or G40) when completely emptied. Since he had not opened up his heater, that coolant did not get drained. So, his refill only used about a gallon. After driving it around, the level didn't drop, so we're confident that he filled it.

Zed

Of course, I continue to perfect Zed's body. I had a mishap with the Bondo where I believe I mis-mixed the hardener in. The symptom: it never fully hardened, and when I sanded on it, the Bondo came off in rubbery strings. I ultimately had to remove all of that layer of Bondo, and start over. Fortunately, I have been mixing smaller and smaller batches, since the areas which need attention are also shrinking. So, much of the areas I fixed that day were quite good. I mentioned at the start that I used a guide-coat. It was after this cycle of Bondo that I did that. I shot a light coat of sand-able automotive primer on top of the areas I had just sanded and then scuffed with 220 grit paper. I found 4 spot that I had not sanded sufficiently and about a dozen small imperfections (dips or gaps) that needed another round of filler. Around helping K2 and G, I sanded down the handful of high spots, vacuumed and re-shot with primer. I will scuff that guide-coat and fill the tiny spots next.

I am starting to wonder if that body kit will arrive after I am past ready for it. I expect I will focus on the hinges and other stuff, as well as shooting primer on the parts that will not be impacted by the kit (like the hood, doors, tailgate).

If you're in the area and need a place to tweak your car, come on by. We'll help as best we can. All we ask is that you lead on your work, the car leaves (but my tools don't) when you do and you check your politics at the curb. So, that's it for this week. Thanks, as always, for following along.