NEW! Updated photos of summer 2007 repairs at the bottom of the page.

1970 Scorpion Stinger 340SS, photos from 2005 restoration.

September 4, 2005 update;

The Stinger finally nears completion. What should have been a fun and easy restoration turned into a painting nightmare. I wanted to do all of the chassis painting myself. After all the metal work and filler was complete I sprayed it with Eastwood Rust Encapsulator primer and topcoated with Eastwood Chassis Black. The paint job turned out quite well, but did not harden. After ten days of waiting I stripped it all off. Even after 20 days, some small parts I had painted at the same time still had not hardened. I could easily strip the finish off with a fingernail.

I then used POR Blackcote. I was familiar with this stuff and knew it would dry rock hard. Two coats both resulted in areas with orange peel and runs, and large areas of dull overspray. My technique and/or equipment obviously were not up to the challenge. I wet sanded the POR smooth and finished with spray can enamel. Nowhere near the finish I was after, but acceptable. This is a rider first, and a show sled second.

The entire chassis is now complete and together. Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a couple of shots. Next week I'll assemble the engine and install that, and then it's off to Eagle River.

	Before the start of tear-down. For the most part, this is the condition as purchased.
.	The tear-down revealed few surprises. Two bogey shafts are slightly bent, one broken motor mount. The front axle bearings were not locked down, so the shaft could freely move side-to-side. Fortunately this caused no damage, and the bearings are in excellent condition.
	Sporting a 1972 Power Thrust clutch, as the original needed work.
	The seat needs some repair.
	Tank looks like it's had a hole cut in the top, right of the filler tube, and has a patch welded in.
	Chassis with the paint stripped and most of the sanding and grinding done to remove rust.
	Top of the tunnel had some pitting, but nothing close to rusting through. Very solid chassis overall.
	Here's the tank patch after some grinding.
	The drain hole had been welded over on the right side and this is the result. Standing water in the footrest area caused some serious pitting from front to back.
	Here's an example of the rust on top of the tunnel. The worst spots were just under the edges of the seat.
	After several weeks of work, stripping, grinding, filling and sanding, this is the result. Chassis is cleaned and ready for paint.
	I'm going to try Eastwood paints on this one. Rust Encapsulator which goes directly onto the bare metal and any remaining rust. Topcoat will be Chassis Black.
	There was a shallow dent in the belly pan here that was filled.
	Some rust pitting on the right side of the body was ground and filled. I used JB Weld for filler everywhere. I've had very good luck with it on my '72 Stinger. I also used skim coats of Bondo in places to fix minor surface imperfections in the JB Weld. The JB sticks well and sands smooth, but is a pain for minor fixes because it takes 6-8 hours to set up enough to sand, and is much harder to sand than Bondo.
	I ground and covered over the weld at the front of the tank. Why I'm not quite sure. Probably because it was easy and I was working in that area anyway with the tank patch.
	This is the tank patch filled and smoothed. It will still be obvious, but I think it will blend in pretty well. The casual observer may not notice it.
	This was the most difficult area to deal with, the right side forward of the foot rest. Lots of rust pits, dents from the back of the ski hitting, a sturdy but lumpy repair weld, and real tight quarters to work in. Fortunately these machines were built with pretty thick sheet metal and everything is still real solid. If anyplace is going to give me trouble though with the filler popping off, this could be the place.
	Here is the finished paint job. The primer coat is Eastwood Rust Encapsulator. This is a very thick paint! It was the consistency of pudding when I opened the can. After a few minutes of stirring, it was of pourable consistency, but still very thick. I thinned it the maximum recommended 20% for spraying. It was so thick and dried so quickly that several areas had the surface texture of felt due to overspray. After 24 hours I wet-sanded it smooth and sprayed the top coat.
	The top coat is Eastwood Chassis Black gloss. This paint was of sprayable consistency right from the can. For the most part it worked well. I got some orange-peel along one side of the tunnel, but that's due to my skills, or lack thereof. The gloss is a bit shinier than I'd like. The thing that really has me ticked off about this product is that after one week it still has not set up. I'm able to easily strip it off with a thumbnail. This has already resulted in some damage just from normal moving around. I'm going to have to start assembly soon, but can't in it's current condition.
	So much for my intention of keeping up a restoration photo log. The paint job ate up far too much of my time. Here are a few quick photos of the completed sled, minus the engine, emblems and decals.
	The hood, front and rear bumpers are from Stingerman Dean Peterson. Several small parts were obtained from Dennis Kutz and Ernie at Winterhaven. The NOS skis and snow flap were purchased years ago from Tired Iron.
	The original seat was re-done by Diane Miller at A-1 Upholstery. Underneath is a mint NOS track from Dennis Kutz. I liked the look of the low windshield on the sled when I bought it, so used that as a pattern to make a new one from smoke uvex. I will get photos in better light at, and after the Eagle River show. Including details of the various bits and pieces.
	Piston shows some scoring and blow-by.
	On the left edge of the piston you can see where it's eroded right down to the top of the L-ring. This is the exhaust side. The rest of the engine looks to be in fine shape. I'll clean it up, put in new crank seals and a new piston, and she should be good to go.
	Repairs performed during the summer, 2007. Over the 2006-2007 riding season some new cracking developed in the chassis, and the muffler mount broke off. I went through the chassis and identified a number of cracks and broken welds. I had Ron Poppe at Fast Lane Motorsports of Ashland do the welding and he did a great job.
	One of two cracks at the motor mounts. I just filled them during the 2005 restoration, but the filler did not hold. Now they're properly repaired.
	My "paint booth". Mine is definitely a low buck operation! I did all my painting in my garage up until now. There was more room, but the lighting was terrible. With the skylight and brighter lights in my sled shed the lighting is still not perfect, but a lot better.
	After grinding the welds I wet sanded the entire chassis and did a few spot repairs in the old finish, then repainted. One of my better paint jobs so far. I used Restoration Shop Acrylic Enamel with hardener and urethane reducer. I sprayed it with my small detail gun for better control.