The following are before-and-after photos of the heater box after sandblasting. The POR-15 rust preventative paint adheres best to bare metal so instead of wasting weekends sandpapering the old paint by hand, I paid a shop in town $30 bucks to sandblast the heater box and the air intake duct. That grey finish on the heater box after sandblasting isn't any kind of coating - it's what the bare metal looks like.
Heater Box Before Sandblasting:
| Heater Box After Sandblasting:
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The night before, I had to "MacGyver-up" some home-made daubers to paint the insides of both the hinges for the defrost and floor heater vents. Cannibalizing the foam from a regular foam brush, I glued the smaller strips of foam to a bunch of wooden coffee stirrers from Starbucks, clamped the ends with clothes pegs and allowed them to cure overnight. Worked like a charm! The photos below show one of the vent hinges, the donor foam brush, a dauber being cured, and a finished bunch of daubers.
Home-Made Daubers:
| Home-Made Dauber in Action:
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During the sandblasting process, I left the nylon bushings for the heater vents on the heater box, and these ... I found out the hard way, disintegrated in the process! I'll have to fashion up some sort of replacement to get the vents to work properly as the original parts are no longer available ... and have been for a long while! I was only able to paint the insides of the heater box this weekend as I have to wait for them to dry before I do the outsides. Besides, I'm running out of POR-15 and have to order a fresh batch. The good thing is they sell the stuff in a "starter kit" that has a 4 oz. can of POR-15, 2 small bottles of marine clean and metal-ready, a couple of brushes and a pair of latex gloves - just enough product to do the entire 3-step rust-stopping process for the small jobs that I've been tackling.
Nylon Bushing for Heater Vent:
| POR-15 Curing in the Backyard:
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