1995 Marin Team project

[alimack04]

Rust and paint nightmare

So, decided to tackle the rust on the interior of the seat tube and the bottom bracket shell. Initially a bit of wire wool cleaned up the BB shell. Then I dropped a string (on a metal loop screw) down through the seat tube and attached a ball of wire wool. I then pulled this back and forth in the tube to clean off the rust. Once i felt the rust had been removed I did the same trick with a rag sprayed with WD40 to wipe the inside of the seat tube. Everything came up looking pretty clean.
Next i decided to sand the bar ends which were heavily scratched. I bought a rust and paint remover wheel from Halfords but it was not even as effective as cheapo sandpaper from the 99p shop! Once i had sanded them with a couple of grades of paper i washed them to remove grease, dried them and then spayed them with grey primer.
I was hoping to be able to match the exact colour the bar ends were before (and bars stil are). But my first attempt is not the best. I'm really struggling to find the exact shade of pale(r) metallic slate as i suspect it was originally anodised.
I also bought aluminum silver spray and gloss lacquer to spray the stem but I'm now having second thoughts.
The alternative is to keep it raw and polish it a lot or lacquer it bare (which I've heard is a no no).
Project continues when this rain stops. Not much else i can do until i can match this paint and then sort out the frame rust.
Getting there tho!

 

[JonTom]

Seeing your photo of the broken spoke reminded me of my 95 Eldridge Grade - when I found it it had maybe 6 or 7 broken spokes, and a couple more popped after I got it home. Might be worth replacing the nipples on your wheels.

 

[alimack04]

Re:

Hi, thanks for the info. Yes, all new spokes and brass nipples. Think the original ones were built for lightness not to withstand the test of time. The Eldridge is a really nice bike too. Already on the lookout for an earlier 90's Marin with the zolatone and neon paint. Then prob a new girlfriend as mine will leave.

 

[alimack04]

Unexpected update

I wasn't expecting to get much done today but got a sudden burst of energy at 7.30pm. After a lot of stressing over the paint match of the bar ends and bottle cage i have decided to go off-original. I thought it would be easier to match the baby blue from the Marin down tube logo so bought some Valspar satin paint.
Bar ends were already primed so gave them a base coat and top coat of blue.
Sanded the bottle cage including the fiddly task of picking the paint out of the Marin logo with a pin! Washed it, dried it and sprayed it with a coat of primer.
Next i had a look at the brake levers, removed the cut off cable ends and cleaned the gunk out from inside the levers.
I polished up the stem with metal polish (stupid stem cap didn't fit!) And put it back on the bars. I put on the new Raceface grips that I'd bought and left a gap for the bar ends.
Lastly i took the back canti brakes apart, sanded off the rust, Kurusted them and gave them a spritz with WD40 before putting them back together. Not a bad evening. I know that the choice of colour for the bar ends and bottle cage may irk the purists but i thought the alternative would be to have a badly matched colour that had cost me £50 and 10 cans of paint. I'll give them a go and if I'm not a fan then i will continue the hunt for 1995 anodised slate blueish-grey. Zolatone fanatics will feel my pain.

 

[eldridge]

Re:

Looking great!

 

[shawnb]

Loving the work and effort your putting into the bike !

 

[marc two tone]

Re:

It all seems to be going well. The rust seems negligible, most marins suffered those 'paint worms' from 1992->..one of them things! the '95 bear valley especially.

Seems like forever since i was out on mine. Tore a hamstring whilst on a road ride (only 22 miles) and havn't been able to do much since, well, virtually nowt!

Here was my last outing.

Hated the tyres, too 'skippy'. note the rider number

Some nice views on that ride.

 

[alimack04]

Re:

Ha! You should hang the rider number upside down!
Nice bike btw. Yeah in the end i decided that the rust was going to bother me so decided to strip it and repaint (update soon).
Sorry to hear about your injury, hope it sorts itself soon.

 

[alimack04]

Strip and prime

After attempting to sand off some of the frame rust and then mask off and prime specific areas i decided that it was never going to yield the finish i was after. So i took the plunge and decided to strip the frame and repaint it.
This was the hardest thing I've done so far, mainly because nothing really worked.
Nito Mors- Useless unless you buy a 4 litre can and somehow get it to stay in at least a 5mm thickness on the frame. Persevered and scraped most of the paint off (i suspect through brute force rather than the NM)
Rust remover disc+drill- Also pretty crap but useful for getting the rust worms out of the frame. Ultimately not much use on fiddly bits.
Wilko rust+carb bits- Most useful thing as great at removing rust from inside cable clips and awkward tube welds.
Sandpaper- I think a decent low grade of sandpaper + the above drill bits would have been the ideal combo. Still need to do forks so may go with that method. Many will say i should have got it sand blasted and powder coated but that felt a little like cheating.
When the frame was completely clear of paint and primer i decreased it and gave it a wash then left it to dry on the radiator.
I sprayed it with grey primer and left it to dry. I'd caused a few minor runs in places so when dry i sanded those back with 1200 grit wet and dry.
I also finished painting the bottle cage blue and sanded the corrosion off of the front derailleur.
I had a nightmare with the paint as i followed the advice on here and had some Lexus gold made up. Problem was i asked for 585 (Cibola gold) instead of 587 (Dorada gold) so it is the wrong colour, a little too blingy. I think some of the Kona bikes were Cibola gold so if anyone wants it i can let the have it cheap.
Next step, prime, prime, paint, paint, paint. I'll also be doing the forks.
I also managed to get hold of an original part for the bike so will post photos when it arrives.

 

[cybernck]

I've tried to find a good home for the bike and it looks like I couldn't have done better!

Keep up the good work, it's turning into a really interesting project and I will keep an eye on it.