What did you do today?

[R_D_Olivaw]

I'm looking for some advice, and it's not on what trainers I should buy.

As my attempts at painting my car have slowly improved I've come to realise that my next big hurdle is the ensuring the preparation of the body work is perfect before I paint, and I'm struggling to see the imperfections before I paint.

A good example is where I sanded part of the car so that is only had, let's say 10 layers of paint instead of the area next to it that still had 12 layers of paint. Although the transition between the two plains was good it showed up as soon as I painted it. Does anyone have any tips they could share to help me, that doesn't involve removing all of the paint?

And just to prove I am slowly getting better and I really am still working on the car, here are some test sprays from the weekend, and they really are test sprays. It will all be sanded down again.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5z9cpttd3zjd1hf/IMG_5236.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qt178cyfndvivo1/IMG_5238.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p3r79j6qscxmxpl/IMG_5239.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3vn06c6mkp39pt4/IMG_5244.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yxafipej18whrzf/IMG_5248.JPG?dl=0

I will probably sand the lacquer with 2500 grit wet and dry before polishing it, just to see how it looks. Then I'll remove it all and start again.

[Gavin McArdle]

Hi Ian, I am unable to open your pics. It is some years since I did proper spraying but at that time it was possible to use a sealer after all preparation was done so that the new paint did nor react with the previous paint. It was usually used with cellulose top coat, and must not be rubbed down so that the protection was not rubbed through.
No idea if this would help but it would require you to go back a few stages!
Gavin
Sorry about the shoe adds, our monitor is not monitoring!

[R_D_Olivaw]

Hi Gavin,

If you click right mouse button on the link and select the 'open in a new tab' option the photos will open.

They won't show the problems as it was difficult to capture on camera.

Getting the surface perfectly flat is my issue.

[6sabre]

Hi, looking at your pictures its difficult to see the issue.
Are these just sections you have tried painting for trial and error purposes?

What I do know is irrespective of the base material (metal/grp) the more layers of paint you have, the more the shrinkage issues occur. The problem is each layer will evaporate the contained solvents at different speeds. So as one shrinks you get a mark , as the next shrinks another mark etc. AND of course when you put the next layer on, each of the previous layer absorbs solvents from the latest coat of paint, so a never ending circle.

There is no real cure apart from going to the base material and not sanding through any coats of paint during each stage. The longer you leave the final coat before final flat and polish the better, as time helps more of solvents evaporate.

The modern epoxy primers give you the best chance of stability, but again the longer its left before flatting and painting the better. The epoxy primers dont have the same issue absorbing moisture as previous types, so can be left.

By the way, I do like that colour
Steve

[R_D_Olivaw]

Hi Steve,

I may have been lucky so far when it comes to shrinkage, but I'm sure I won't escape it forever and just when I think it's good enough and re-assembled it will probably turn up. You were correct they were test sprays in preparation for some work I had planned to do during my holiday.

Whilst things didn't quite go to plan due to the temperatures hitting 32 degrees which is just too hot to spray in, I did make some progress.
1. I worked out that the gun I use to spray lacquer had both a blocked valve and the valve the wrong way around, so the paint pot was never under pressure. It behaved quite differently after this issue was resolved I'm pleased to say.
2. I do appear to have got good enough at spraying lacquer, so all being well this car will be finished this summer if the weather is good.
3. Sanding the lacquer with 2500 grit wet and dry followed by a DA polisher works nicely.

Where things didn't go well, was it was too hot to paint and when I applied the base coat it didn't go on well. The paint was evaporating very quickly so I ended up with lines on the roof. These weren't apparent until I'd finished everything and stood on a small step ladder to look. I'll continue with the rest of the car and come back to it later.

Still more sanding to do to get it as perfect as I can. I'm sure if I'd gone for something lighter and without the metallic a lot of this just wouldn't have been an issue.

[Sleigh]

I've started

[JayeM]

Good man! **thumbs up**

John

[R_D_Olivaw]

I've started

Let me start off by saying you have a great taste in cars, and secondly how jealous I am about your garage. I'm sure you could turn that into a great spray booth if you painted all the walls white and added a bucket load of bright lights.

Your car lift is also quite impressive.

If you use an app like Dropbox (it's free) you can paste in links to the photos and we can see them full size.

I was busy at the weekend doing a spot of painting, but I won't post anything until I've had time to flat off the lacquer and put a DA polisher over it.

[R_D_Olivaw]

The weather has been kind lately and in my mind I am making solid progress.

The front part of the car was lacquered and flatted off in readiness for polishing; however when I did the same on the roof I didn't think it had much depth to the shine, so I'm going to give it a couple of extra coats of lacquer.

At the weekend I did the doors and bonnet, and whilst I thought the bonnet was a disaster it seems to have dried nicely, so they will also be flatted off and given two more coats of lacquer.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdic8qi43qu6wls/IMG_5379.JPG?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/p5w0ycx4dtsdqr9/IMG_5378.JPG?dl=0

If you are wondering why my doors have an additional hole, all will be revealed later.

[6sabre]

Looking good.
If you're finish looks a bit dry, when you do it, add a bit of extra thinners.

Cheers

[R_D_Olivaw]

Hi 6sabre,

Thanks for the advice, I will bear it in mind.

At the weekend I flatted off the doors and painted large white circles on them. Unfortunately I ran out of paint, and will finish it off this coming weekend.

I'll lacquer over the circles to give it a more professional finish, and then the doors should be finished, bar me re-assembling them.

With good weather forecast I hope to make some more progress this coming weekend.

[Dan]

Great work Ian, looks like you have really progressed.

I havent had much time to work on gilbern recently but finally had a day off work this week and managed to crack on with a few jobs: changed the master brake cylinder (thanks Brian Gent for the part), fitted my rebuilt and repaired heater fan box and heater matrix, and changed most the coolant pipes as most of mine had about 5 joins in them per pipe.

Dan

[R_D_Olivaw]

Thanks Dan.

When I have a moment I'll share some more photos.

I've been taking the odd day off too when the weather has been good to help me get on with the painting and this weekend was one of those long weekends that saw me make some major progress; however I won't share any photos until I'm sure I'm happy with the results. Generally speaking it all went well except for the roof, which for reason I can't explain I have problems with. Maybe with longer legs and arms it wouldn't be a problem.

My leg still has a scar where I walked into my heater matrix. I found out the hard way that they they have very sharp edges. I gave mine an overhaul, but made one major blunder when I reassembled it. I managed to drill a hole in the matrix. I fixed it will a small screw that I cemented in place; however it's never had a proper test since I refitted it. At some point I will add a cutoff to stop the water entering the system as in the summer the box gets very hot and that can be very unwelcome. I have the stop-off valve, but need to fit it.

[Tony Hayward]

Ian

Check your water pipes-on some cars (mine) the heater is the bypass circuit, so you cannot shut the water off. If you still have the old arrangement with a feed from the inlet manifold as well as the feed from the thermostat housing, you should be OK.

Regards

Tony
PS with better trainers you might have avoided the heater matrix!!!

[R_D_Olivaw]

Hi Tony,

Maybe I should have gone to SpecSavers.

When the hot water goes through the heater matrix, the heater box warms up and transfers the heat into the cabin which isn't always desirable.

My idea is to install something like this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/16mm-5-8-Heater-Control-Valve-Pull-to-Bypass-Kit-Car-Classic-Car-Taxi-TX2/192279138616?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649

This should stop the water going into the heater matrix, but still allow it to circulate around the engine.