mk1-forum.net

Thanks everyone

I just wish the colour would show correct in these photos, but the light in my garage is crap and the fluorescents do not help at all. I'm slowly replacing them with LED strip lights for cutting down on the electricity used and hopefully will be a bit better lighting in general.

The FE number is the original one off the rotten inner wing, carefully removed and fitted to the NOS full inner wing purchased from our Spanish friend.

Now thinking about the mechanicals. Spoke to Aerocoat, my local blaster and coating specialist. They are inundated with work (sounds familiar) and have a 4-5 week lead time on blasting and powder coating. Better get the subframes in PDQ !!

This car is a credit to you Andrew

Thanks Nev

Painted the boot out yesterday and tool the subframes in to the powder coaters .

Plan to get some Surf on the outer panels this week and also take some of the running gear into work to blast, ready for reconditioning and painting.

Keep it up Andrew . Even spraying inside the boot is a pig isn't it - especially with a suction gun. I know mine was - and I didn't have a 'king scaffolding pole in the middle of everything
Great to see everything turning to Surf Blue again!

The only advantage of the shell being in the spit was I could turn it on its side to spray the underside of the parcel shelf, and also it made spraying behind the rear panel to screen and rear panel to boot floor areas more easier.

Other than that the scaffold pole was a PITA to be honest Richard

Got some Surf on the outside yesterday - very happy with this but will be flatting back after week to give two or three thinner coats to get an even smoother shinier finish, before a light cut and polish.

Also need to fit the seam trim, before anyone comments

Stunning job ! Well done

Looking fantastic - especially if you flick back to page 1 of this thread!

JR

Looks the business, can't beat surf blue!

Unbelievable, what a transformation!

What a transformation! Hard to believe it's the same car.

Further great progress Andrew. What is all the more remarkable is that you've achieved all this within the confines of a small garage!
You must be really pleased with this

Looking fantastic Andrew...a real credit to you. Looking forwards to seeing the finished car, and enjoying the regular updates.

Thanks for the replies
I am very happy with the paint at the moment - this is the first car I have fully painted myself and considering the confines of the garage and the less than ideal spraying conditions, its going well.

The key with cellulose is to use an expensive top gloss thinner (we use HMG and pay about £30 gallon) that isn't quick drying and allows the paint to flow. Also getting the mix right. So far, I have done about a 60/40 (60 thinners) mix but its not exact and is more a look to see how the paint runs off the stirring stick. This is something Dad has done for years and something I am learning. Remember a good chef never measures anything

The next, final coats will be about 70/30 and therein lies a real challenge, it can run quicker than Usain Bolt if you are not really careful.

I have to say that using the 2k primer is definitely the way to go when spraying cellulose top coat.

Well, the top coats went on pretty well today. Two thinnish coats and two piss thin coats with the top gloss thinners has allowed the paint flow nicely.

I'm very pleased with the results considering its my first solo spray job and also for the confines of the garage.

I've a few small areas to look at but no runs or curtains. Mostly its to try to get a good edge between the blue and white on the gutter edge. Will have to wait for the paint to fully harden before looking at that.

A few more ..

Looks superb, it’s a bit late now but I bought 3m fine line tape for around the gutter inc drain points and seemed to hold line better than normal tape, sometimes I wish I had used cellulose rather than 2k, it’s just the smell of thinners due to extra amount used caused a stronger smell at a distance, I found using 2k with 10% thinner was easier I used filtered extraction as well to make sure.

Even with a good quality Gerson mask, the cellulose thinners smell is pretty awful and I ended up feeling a bit light headed by the end of it (and still feel a little bit like it 5 hrs later ). Having a beard doesn't help matters, but I'm not shaving it off just to paint the car

The gutter lines aren't too bad, just not as good as I want. That's the good thing with cellulose, can easily flat, blow in and polish out. Will look into some fine line tape

Great progress Andrew, looking good.

Looks great Andrew I don't know how you did it in the confines of the garage, have you been holding back on the pies in preparation ?