[Paul L]

British Racing Green
Even though it hasn’t been that long since my last update, my project has taken a big step forward.

In fact, to mark the occasion, I am even prepared to spell the word incorrectly.

Yes, I have color!

The Body Shell

Once the sunshine was covering the whole of my driveway, it looked fantastic.

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The Hood

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The Issues
Unfortunately, the photos are quite flattering as I’ve been having numerous problems with the paint.

I’ve since discovered this came down to two factors:
- The temperature outdoors, as we’ve just had our hottest June day in over 40 years!
- Brush operator error, as I kept putting on the paint too thickly.

This resulted in both small scale ripples…

And major scaling, which was pretty soul destroying to see happen.

Still, the good news is that all the problems can be sanded back and repainted.

You can see some of my patchwork repairs on this photo of the hood.
( Plus the reflection in the hood bulge made me smile too. )

Eventually both the body shell and hood will get a fresh top coat of BRG to unify the finish.

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The Trunk Lid:
In fact, this is the first piece where I have now completed all the repair and repaint work.

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So until next time, take care, Paul.

 

[MPTech]

Sorry to hear about your paint challenges. I understand how soul crushing it can be after all of your hard work, but as you said, sand it back to primer and give it a couple more coats.
I didn't catch it earlier, you are applying with a brush?! Wow! some of those panels look fantastic. I'm impressed.

That is going to be an Iconic British Sports Car! TOO COOL! :grin2:

 

[Paul L]

MPTech – Thanks.

The idea of painting the car with a brush started when someone give me a link to this YouTube video.

Initially, I started watching this and thought what on earth is this old bloke doing?

But within seconds of seeing him start to put the ‘dry’ brush into use my jaw dropped.

Since then, I watched a number of clips and these included people using a “two brush” technique:
- One wet to apply the paint.
- One dry to ‘lay off’/smooth out the paint before it started to dry.

Obviously, trying to replicate the skills of a master craftsman is a bit harder than it looks.

But my real problem was the heat, which peaked at 34 C / 93 F, as there was no time to ‘work’ the paint at all.
( So the second, dry, brush didn’t get used as it just made a mess. )

Still, it was definitely a good idea in theory, as the smoothness of the finish on the hood bulge almost defied belief.

Other areas, such as the aero humps, just required a very gentle flatting back with 400 grit to achieve a smooth finish.
( Which was my basic plan for the whole car, flat/cut/polish. )

Unfortunately, other areas were clearly a lot rougher.

To make matters worse, as I tried to achieve a flat surface on the areas with too much paint…

I rubbed straight through the areas that didn’t have enough paint applied.
( Although this photo also included areas I had to repair after the paint reacted. )

Despite the painting frustrations, I am looking forward to getting the car back on the road.

I have certainly resigned myself to living with whatever standard of paint finish I manage to achieve.

Given the Frankenstein nature of my build and the fact it is meant to be an old race car, a few paint scars seem appropriate.

And there are plenty of ‘real’ racing cars that look pretty good despite their lack of a shiny paint job.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[Paul L]

Trials & Tribulations - Part 1
Regular readers of this build will know that things have not always gone smoothly over the years.

So it should come as no surprise that my attempts to paint the car have suffered a few problems too.

We had booked a tree surgeon & his team to tidy up and prune various trees in our back garden.

Plan A was that I would have finished painting everything in the tent before they were due to arrive.

But with all of the adverse paint reaction problems I had, I needed to switch to Plan B to get the tent out of the way in time.

This involved getting my wife’s permission to temporarily leave the hood in the dining room.

Once I was able to get the tent back up in the garden & move the hood, I discovered this…

Yes, the foam mat I had under the hood to protect it, had disintegrated and stuck to the paint.

Still, at least I was able to sand all this off ready for a final coat of British Racing Green.

Before I got a chance to paint the hood, I was able to paint the underside of the trunk lid.

Then my luck really ran out as a freak gust of wind lifted the tent off the ground before slamming it back down.

Obviously, seeing the trunk lid on the outside of the tent was not a good sign.

But it was much worse on the inside.

The hood was knocked off his stand and picked up a few scars along the way.

The framework of the tent was badly damaged, but I was able to tape it together long enough to paint the hood.

I also managed to get another coat of BRG on the body shell sitting on my driveway.

A few hours after this my run of bad luck continued…

This time, it unexpectedly started raining heavily while I had just popped out for a short period.

Thankfully, my wife managed to get the cover on shortly after the rain started.

But, unfortunately, this still left a lot of rain all over the car. :sad:

Which has left water marks everywhere after I wiped the surface dry.

To make matters worse, the damage to the tent’s framework left the roof sagging.

Which, in turn, allowed water to pool on the roof, before leaking over the hood.

End of Part 1…

 

[Paul L]

Trials & Tribulations - Part 2
Thankfully, it is not all bad news, as there are a few areas the brushed on paint looks great.

Although, I have to admit the hood bulge is not a fair representation of my brush work.

So with all the water marks to deal with too, I will give everything a light flatting back.

Then I just need a run of dry weather to get what I really hope will be the final coat of BRG on.

Unfortunately, I can’t trust the tent to survive much longer, so I’ve moved all the parts out.

The trunk lid ended up in the Summerhouse.

My wife helped me carry the hood thru the house and reattach it to the hinges.

Painting the inside of the hood was a bit of unplanned extra work at this stage, but well worth it.

Now the lighting and camera angles in this next photo really flatter the paint finish.

But I still love the way it looks.

With lots of other ‘stuff’ going on at the moment, I guess it will be August by the time I get back on the road.

However, at least I know the car will look miles better in green compared to the old grey primer look.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
One other piece of good news is that another builder in the UK sent me these as a gift in the post.

Even though I was in the middle of flatting back the paint at the time, I had to test them out.

Thankfully, they are the same diameter as my previous lights, so they fit the plinths nicely and look great.

 

[Paul L]

More Painting Challenges – Part 1
Apologies, it has been a while since my last update.

The bad news is my car is still not back on the road, but the good news is that it is slowly getting there…

Previously, I had described how the rain damaged the paint before I could get the covers on.

Well, then the covers themselves managed to damage the paint when the rain really came down hard.

It wasn’t easy to get any decent photos, but I had literally thousands of small scratches everywhere.

There were also some bigger chips in the paint, including on my lovely shiny hood bulge. :sad:

This was particularly hard to take, as the reflections from this bulge were my favour part of the whole car.

So I gently rubbed the car down to take care of the both the water damage and the tarpaulin scratches.

Thankfully, it looked a bit better after being wiped down.

Then I recycled some of my children’s old bedding to help protect the paint from the tarpaulin.

I then had to pruned the ‘wall’ of my al fresco paint booth to give me a bit more space.

Before adding another coat of British Racing Green.

Whilst the photos might look OK, the reality was this coat of paint went on very badly.

By now I was pretty fed up with the whole process, especially as I didn’t have enough paint left for another coat.

But, eventually, I decided there was no point in trying to take a short cut at this late stage of the build.

So I ordered some more paint and tried to motivate myself for one final push…

End of Part 1…

 

[Paul L]

More Painting Challenges – Part 2
So there was yet another round of flatting back all the painted surfaces and wiping them down.

After all the previous false dawns I’ve had with the ‘final’ coat of BRG, I really hoped this would be it.

I started with the inside surface of the hood, which does look so much better painted.

I then worked my way around the rest of the car on the driveway.

Before heading to the garden to take care of the trunk lid and smaller pieces.

These last two photos were a great boost to morale after all the hassle I’ve had to reach this stage.

In fact, even just starting to remove the plastic from the trunk opening seemed to lift my spirits.

Although, deep down, I knew there would still be a LOT of sanding required to achieve a smooth (ish) surface.

End of Part 2…

 

[Paul L]

More Painting Challenges – Part 3

[Mr Miyagi] ”Paint on… Sand off…” [/Mr Miyagi]

Whilst ‘Orange Peel’ is the traditional description of lumpy paint, I think ‘Lime Peel’ is more appropriate in this case.

Either way, after leaving the paint to harden for over a week, it was time to start flatting it back.

This was the passenger side of the body shell and you can see how rough the finish actually is.

After the first few passes with my long board, the high spots were much easier to spot.

But further rounds of careful sanding really did start to make a big difference.

Eventually I was left with a surface that some ‘cutting & polishing’ should work wonders on.

So the really good news is that the idea of using a brush to paint the car and then sanding it back actually works.

The bad news is that there is a lot of sanding to do and it does take a lot of time and effort to do it.

Therefore this is still a ‘work in progress’ and I will continue to work my way around the car.

To avoid the risk of spending too long sanding one spot, I have been moving around the car.

I like the fact that you can see which areas are getting closer and which still need more work.

End of Part 3…

 

[Paul L]

More Painting Challenges – Part 4
Even though I haven’t finished flatting back the whole car at this point, I did need to do some more painting.

As the finishing touch to my hood is going to be a band of yellow paint around the grille opening.

But I need to do some test painting first and experimented on the inside of the trunk lid.

This allowed me to see if painting the yellow directly on top of the BRG would work.

I just used a single coat of yellow here, but will use at least two coats on the hood.

Either way, I was pleased with how this test worked out.

So back on the car, I spent some time making sure the area around the hood opening was smooth.

This was then wiped down and masked off.

Before the first coat of ‘Signal Yellow’ could be applied.

Even though this will need a second coat, I can't believe what a big difference it makes.

Unfortunately, I hadn't even finished painting all the way around before the first unwelcome visitor arrived.

Unfortunately I couldn't get the whole car in the photo and the yellow masking tape is still in place…

But there are definitely signs that my car should look pretty good by the time I'm finished.

Especially when you consider the standard another builder suggested I should be aiming for was…

"like a 50 year-old race car that has been into the hay bales a few times in its life"

Which seems like a great place to end this round of updates.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

 

[WIS89]

Paul-

WOW, she looks great. Frankly, I think Tigger and Pooh made the difference in getting the paint right...

I really, really like the signal yellow accent! It really is going to help the BRG look great, and help the car look awesome!

I hope you are able to get all the paint work done before the weather turns on you. Keep up the great work.

Thanks for showing us your hard work and incredible patience you have shown on this build!

Regards,

Steve

 

[Paul L]

WIS89 – Cheers Steve.

The good news is that I am definitely on the home stretch now, but the bad news is that Autumn/Fall has arrived.

So I now have leaves starting to appear on my ‘garage’ floor.

And my garage ‘roof’ looks like this.

So I am just chipping away at the car when I can line up my spare time with dry weather.

When flatting back, the first coat of yellow on the nose was too thick in some places and too thin in others.

Plus, I ended up with yellow specs of dust all over the place.

I’ve also made some progress on the rear corner of the driver's side.

So whilst progress is slow, at least it is sure.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

 

[Paul L]

Getting There – Part 1
Progress has been very slow since my last update due to a combination of ‘real’ work & weather.

So one day I just had to take a chance:
- I got up before dawn.
- Added an extra coat of yellow to the nose at first light.
- Then left the front end of the car uncovered all day while I went to work.

Thankfully, it didn’t rain and although it was dark when I got home, I could just pull the covers back on.

On other days, I’ve been going around trying to fix various problems with the BRG.
( Mainly areas where the sanding down had exposed the primer underneath. )

Here are just a few examples to get the general idea.

Which, obviously, lead to yet more rounds of flatting back.

I then reached the point where ‘enough was enough’, as I was way past diminishing returns now.

The harsh fact is that painting outside is not easy in the Autumn/Fall.

But, more importantly, I don’t need a perfect finish anyway and faults in the paint are OK.

As I’ve never wanted to build to a ‘Concours d'elegance’ standard and the ‘lived in’ ex-racer look works for me.

With the difficult decision to stop fixing problems made, I could start the final cycle of work…

Peeling off all the tape from the bonnet nose started well enough.

But I was left some sticky residue and paint ‘bleeds’ to deal with in some areas.

It took quite a bit of effort to clean everything up, but it was well worth the effort.

End of Part 1…

 

[Paul L]

Getting There – Part 2
Then I started the final rounds of flatting back.

It got harder to spot the sanding work as the grit level got higher/finer.

Then I used some cutting compound and a polishing machine.

I should point out that after each of the stages above, the car was cleaned.

I should also point out that by this stage of the day, the clouds over head were making me feel a little nervous.

But I just had to keep pushing forward and hope for the best.

So the polish went on next…

Which left me with a finish that doesn’t look out of place on an ‘old’ car.

Note: The daylight was fading by this point, so I will try to get some better photos at the weekend.

I still need to follow all these steps for the trunk and headlight rims at some point.

But that is all for now, so until next time, take care, Paul.

 

[MPTech]

Looking GREAT Paul! :wink2:

I think the finish looks very race-car appropriate for your build. BRG & Yellow = British Classic!

 

[Paul L]

MPTech – Thanks.

I am actually quite surprized at what a difference the yellow band around the grille makes.

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One Step Back, But More Steps Forward
It was already getting dark by the time I had finished the polishing the car in my last update.

So I was really looking forward to seeing the paint in daylight.

Unfortunately, when I removed the covers I found a 'tiger stripe' effect all over the place.

This was so hard to take, that I spent some time just wandering around the car in a bit of a daze, absolutely gutted. :sad:

This was early on Saturday morning.

But it was late Sunday afternoon before I found a pool of water in one corner of the passenger floor.
( From a leak in the car cover. )

Absolutely no idea how long that has been there, as it was hidden by the dust sheets covering the seats.

But the combination of rain outside and standing water inside has caused ‘damp’ under the covers messing up the paint/polish.

Despite this HUGE set back, I decided to dust myself down and push forward to get the car back on the road.
( I will come back to fixing the paint/polish problem another day. )

There were lots of little jobs to do, including treating the leather hood straps.

Fitting the gas cap.

All the holes in the bodywork needed to be drilled/cleaned where they had been part filled with paint.

Funny now little things like finally removing the newspaper from the dash lifted my spirits.

Hood straps and Union Jack badges.

Hood locks.

Rear number plate light, number plate & fog light/reflectors.

End of Part 1…

 

[Paul L]

One Step Back, But More Steps Forward – Part 2
I cleaned up the holes to mount the headlights.

And fitted the headlight bowls on both sides.

Then did the same thing for the front indicators / turn signals.

Then lots of shiny bits went on.

I’ve made a start flatting back the bracket for the screen that sits in front of the rear view mirror screen.

So once that is done I can finish off that section of the car.

As well as working on the ‘sunny side’ of the car, I was also crawling around underneath it.

Where some of the damage caused to the trunk floor (when the car fell of the stands) was etch primed.

So it just needed a fresh protective layer.

It was hard to get a decent photo, but the trunk floor looks a lot better now.

I also topped up the yellow paint around the front edge of the hood opening.
( This is how I had to leave the car for the paint to dry while I went off to work. )

Until next time, take care, Paul.

 

[Paul L]

Still Chipping Away
My car time continues to be limited, but I am slowly ticking off the jobs on my “To Do” list.

The trunk lid and headlight rims got the same final flatting back, cutting & polishing treatment that the body shell had.

Before I could clean out the fixing holes and re-fit the 'furniture'.

In related work, I had finished sealing the damaged areas on the underside and inside of the trunk floor.

I also gave my dented silencers a quick polish.

Before fitting them.

The back end of the car was slowly coming together and fitting the trunk lid made a big difference.

Unfortunately, the fading daylight generated some funny shades of green in this photo.

If I was being brutally honest, the panel gaps around the trunk lid have got worse since I started painting. :sad:

But I can live with trivial things like that, as the most amazing thing is that this area has turned out so well.

As looking at it now, it is hard to believe all the work involved:
- Second aero hump added
- Trunk lid cut out
- Countless hours spent making the trunk lid actually work
- The rear body shell was cut and widened in two places
- Both wheel arches were reshaped
- Cut outs for tail pipes made and added
- Plinths for number plate and rear lights
- Etc.

End of Part 1…

 

[Paul L]

Still Chipping Away – Part 2
By this stage, I’d also fitted the aero screen for the rear view mirror.

Whilst painting the 'big washer' for this screen was a real pain, it has worked out very well.

Then it was time to see if I could restart the engine after the much longer than expected break.

With the car still on blocks, I need some steps to climb in the driver's side.

I took the fact the ignition lights came on as a good omen that the battery cut off switch was doing its job.

But there was absolutely no sign of the engine even attempting to fire up when I first started turning the key.

However, I tried to be patient, as I knew the fuel line would be empty and it would take a little while.

But there was still no sign of life and I was beginning to wonder if I would end up draining the battery.

In fact, I was just about to stop when there was the first glimmer of hope from the engine.

So I waited a few seconds and tried again, sure enough the engine burst into life and a HUGE grin appeared on my face.

I stayed in the car until it was idling nicely with no choke, before I got out to take this photo.

Unfortunately, the blur of the fan blade is the only sign of life.
( And yes the whole engine bay car needs a good clean too. )

This really was a moment of deep joy and I could instantly feel my personal motivation being recharged.

The temperature gauge showed signs of life, but I'm either low on fuel, or the angle of the driveway is messing up the reading.

Either way, I will get some fresh gas in a can and top the tank up before I drive to the MOT.

Other small jobs included masking off the body shell extension area.

Before adding some Tetroseal.

Removing the tape left me with a nice join between the BRG and the Black.

By the time this was dry enough to get the covers on, it was already dark outside.
( So apologies for the fact the photo is so poor. )

End of Part 2…

 

[Paul L]

Still Chipping Away – Part 3
The last little job to cover in this round of updates was fitting the headlights.

It took me ages to get the headlight rim into the correct position, but it was worth the effort.

Note: I was happy for the paint to be rubbed off the small 'lump' at the top of the headlight rim.

Unfortunately, when I got to the passenger side I discovered I had lost one fixing screw from here.

So that side will have to wait until I can find a suitable replacement.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with this hint of what the finished front end will look like.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

PS
I know I am a few days late, but here was out family efforts for Halloween.

 

[Paul L]

CDXXVII – Cheers.

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Getting Closer – Part 1
Despite the weather and daylight turning against me, I am still making steady progress, so lots of small jobs to report.

After a LOT of searching I managed to find two screws that matched the thread of the missing headlight rim one.
( Even though the ‘new’ screw was slightly longer, there was enough clearance to use it. )

Which allowed the headlight on the passenger side to be fitted.

I taped up the inside of the hood opening so I could touch up the yellow paint on the inside edge.

Unfortunately, the car is still on blocks and the hedge (/garage wall ) prevents me getting a head on photo.

So this is the best photo I can get to show the front end of the car coming together nicely.

Regular readers of this build will know that I have experienced the odd set back along the way.

Well, the latest ‘challenge’ came when I tried to fixed the grille into place...

I had two problems:
- In some areas the fixing screws were loose as they wouldn’t ‘grip’ the bodywork.
- In other areas the grille was very secure, but this created a new problem…

Yes, the pressure of the individual ‘bars’ of the grille pressing against the edge of the opening chipped off the paint. :sad:

Then, to rub salt into the wounds, I spotted where the tarpaulin had messed up the fresh paint at the bottom edge.
( Clearly the colder weather outside meant the fresh paint hadn’t fully cured by nightfall. )

Thankfully, I discovered this when my car time had run out for the day.

So I could simply pull the covers back on and walk away rather than get upset or frustrated.

It was a while before I came back to this and started again by removing the grille.
( Which I will now bond into place to ensure there is no direct pressure on the edges of the hood opening. )

Then it was back to sanding back the yellow mess.

Unfortunately, the photo is blurred, but the tarpaulin damaged areas are now a lot smoother.

And the chipped areas are ready to get a touch up this with some more yellow at some point.

End of Part 1…