I always 'joke' that working on this car is my therapy. Bashing metal around as a sort of release from pushing corporate pixels all day, but it seems I'd forgotten all about that for the longest time. I've been about ready to throw in the towel on this a couple of times now - but lately, with all that's been going on in the world, I've turned to the garage as a means of escape. And after only a couple of days of making progress, I'm in a much better headspace with it all! So - to move this along, I've bought a couple of bits and pieces - namely a new battery, and some brake parts so I can drive it in and out of the garage. Man, the brakes on this car... Let's just say I'm well clued up on the differences between metric/Imperial and Whitworth spanners as well as BSF and UNF threads. Because my car was built in October 1960 (the month Rootes Group switched from Lockheed Brakes to Girling) I've got a mix of all of the above! I've also been working on getting the bodywork as straight as I can for the time being. Starting to take shape! Still a little more filler than I'd like in places, but there's a lot less than I pulled out, so I'm calling that progress! The last thing I did this weekend was roll some 1k grey filler primer on it just to see the shape. I'm quite pleased with how it's coming on. A little more tweaking and then I'm going to spray some epoxy primer on to protect it - get it MOT'd and back on the road to catch the tail end of the UK show season with a bit of luck. Then the V8!
Just spent the evening going through you posts. Very cool. You’ve done a great job restoring this car.
Thanks again for the kind words fellas! I'm always surprised that people that side of the pond take the time to look in on this project... Ever aware that I'm on the fringes of this being an OT build, I'm aiming to bring it back into kustom territory shortly, rather than just a restoration project! Although my mind has changed on this almost weekly, I stumbled across this again the other day and I still think it captures what I'm after... If only I knew then what I know now eh?!...
Do you have the side trims for it still? Will you refit them? Not a massive fan of that green that it was, though the two tone on the roof and scallops really helps a lot.
Hey James! I do still have the trims... all taped up in the order I took them off... Somewhere around here... I am planning on putting them back on, but I thought I'd use double-sided tape or similar to stick them this time around. I'm not against trying out different trims either - but I haven't got that far yet - I figured if I weld up the existing holes and make it easier to get a smooth shape, I could deal with the trims at a later date. I'm not the biggest fan of the green either - but it was always two-tone. I've not decided on a final colour yet, currently thinking along the lines of a period teal/petrol-blue - but I'm pretty keen on it staying two-tone, with a lighter roof colour. I'll dig out the photoshop pencils soon and start having a play.
Matt, I hope you don't mind, but after your last post, I solicited some new ideas for your paint scheme (and some new shoes). Here's what I got. I hope you enjoy them!
Hey Matt, nice progress, and it's looking good, but.....um....er....uh.... I think you put the steering wheel on the wrong side. Not sure, but I think so! That green would look OK as part of a two-tone, and would make a paint job easier (under hood, trunk, jams, etc.). I've seen some amazing faux molding that was airbrushed on, and you wouldn't know it until you got within a few feet. That might be a way to give it a custom trim look. I'm liking it!
Always thought they were a neat looking car. Kind of like a shrunken 54 Chevy. But I just can’t get past the 4 doors combined with the steering wheel on the wrong side and tyres instead of tires and i don’t know about dizzy but I do know about distributors. Lol! I like greens, have you thought about metallics!
Peanut - that's awesome, thank you! I'm amazed that you'd take the time to do that! This one gets my vote... today at least! I've been toying with satin on the body and lace on the roof too - but we'll see! Thanks again man!
Thank you sir! I'll be honest - I didn't think of under the hood! LOL! The previous painter sprayed absolutely everything it seems, so all the mechanisms inside the doors is that green. Going to be fun to cover. I've seen a couple of cars this side of the pond with airbrushed trim too... Pretty convincing and it would make some of Peanuts' photoshops easier to achieve.
Thank you man! The steering wheel stays! But I may get rid of those rear doors in the future sometime - but don't get me started on my use of 'The Queen's English' - as a Canadian living in the UK, I get stuck on tyres, rockers and fenders all the time! LOL! Metallics aren't outta the question. Looking at some of the pics of Watson's cars in the 'Bellflowers on a 55' thread got me thinking about metallics...
I like the black and gold two-tone version, but I would change the side trim to 1955 chevy Bel Air trim. Even if it is just air brushed on.
Managed a couple more hours in the garage this evening… The gaps between the boot lid (trunk) and rear fenders was driving me a little nuts. Both sides were waaaaay too wide - so with a bit of adjustment on the hinges and the latch I managed to pull one side close enough to fill. The other side, I decided was too wide for filler, so I broke out the welder and built it up with metal.
So I’ve been working on the wheels recently… I probably could have thrown some money at them and got them media blasted and powder coated, but that’s not how I roll… maybe I’m a cheapskate, maybe I just enjoy the process. You know the drill: paint stripper… wire wheel and flap disc back to bare steel… Unbelievably, they turned out pretty good… Threw some epoxy primer on them, and a little filler… so far, so good! Some high-build primer AND THEN IT ALL WENT WRONG! Now it could be a number of things, but most likely all those fish eyes are staring back at me because I made the schoolboy error of using standard thinners to thin my 2k base coat. What an idiot! Now I’ve got 2 choices - do I pay to get them blasted back to steel again (I don’t think I have the heart to paint strip them and wire brush them again) and start from scratch? or… Do I scuff em’ up, re-epoxy and fill in the craters? I’m genuinely gutted as they looked so straight and level just before the colour coat… Any advice gratefully received at this point! M
I've painted heaps of times with general purpose thinner in 2K and in spraying enamel. The only problem I've found was you don't get quite as much gloss. That to me looks like the metal was too cold or there's a shit load of oil in your spray system. One other thing, did you neutralize the paint stripper BEFORE wire wheeling?
Heartbreaker! Especially since they looked so nice and clean after that stripper job. Had somewhat similar issues painting a frame once when it was too cold out, but that was more paint lifting and not fish-eyes. Not sure what to say about this one.
Hi Matt, the fish eyes could be wax in the stripper. Did you thoroughly wash them down with anti silicone before you painted them? I'm a furniture restorer and we've come across this problem many times when re-finishing old tables with, especially cellulose-based finishes; like pre-cat lacquer. Obviously, first you wash it down as much as possible with something that'll kill wax - like meths and then anti silicone wash, but.... ...thinners pulls the wax out of the substrate and if you really thin the paint/lacquer it makes it worse. So, one way we get over it is by sealing it in first; using a dust coat - mist the paint over it so you end up with an almost sandpaper-like finish. And you can do that a couple of times and let it dry. Then gradually build up the wet-ness of the paint - kinda seals it in - but you'll have to judge it - and you can always mist over the fish eyes again and repeat.... What I've done with my Riley's wheels (the fronts; I'm going to use Vintiques on the back) is have them powder coated first - it's shot blasted and then coated. But if' you've pitting in the steel to begin with, powder coat won't hide it - in fact it highlights it. So I've flatted that before and used the powder coat as a kind of primer filler. In other words, paint and gloss over it! Hope that helps? See you at the Supernats? Jon
Actually, going back and looking at it again - could be cheap crap thinners - not using gun wash are you? Jon
I spoke to the paint guy this morning, and he said pretty much the same thing - he has a client who's been running a bodyshop for the last 60 years and he always uses standard thinners in everything... without issue. I'm starting to feel a little less like an idiot now, at least. So now I'm thinking there was some assembly oil left in the gun, maybe? (it was a new gun - but I did flush it through with thinners before adding the paint - maybe just not enough?!) When you say neutralise the stripper - what would I use? I followed the instructions on the can and then I pressure washed the hell outta them and there was no issue with the Epoxy primer, or the hi-build - Would silicone/wax work its way through the epoxy?
Hey Jon, I spent an age pressure washing them and panel wiping them before spraying the epoxy primer on (I used Rustbuster Custom 421, as I had some left-over from another job). I'm clearly new to this, but my thinking was that if the Epoxy went on alright, and didn't react to anything, I'd be okay to proceed? The paint guy this morning said he would just wet-sand until the eyes were gone, and go again with the 2k base coat - dust-coating as you've mentioned above, until it's covered - then a nice wet coat. What do you think?
Oil in the gun - maybe or, you don't have an oil feed for your other air tools (guessing you don't!) An oil separator pre-water seperator might help? There's lots of ways contaminates can get in though.... What thinners were you using? It does look like it's incompatible with the paint?
An anecdote - a bloke I knew painted his Meastro over the weekend in green metallic - fish eyes all over it! Horrendous - looked like slime! I said did you de-grease that before you painted it? Yep, course I did.... What de-greaser did you use? This one.... Jizer!