This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.
I am going for a 9.6cfm compressor matched to a spray gun that requires 6cfm with the hope that the match should let me spray a reasonable job.
Mine is going on my latest project which is a 1953 piece of shit that I am using to learn the techniques with the hope of doing a decent restore in the future.
Nicely done and very brave to try a metallic first time round.
The first car I sprayed (outside) was my Lotus Seven S1. The compressor was powered by a washing machine motor, still in its Hoover chassis and the collector was a fire extinguisher body. I used an electric gun for the hi-build primer.
I put enough top coat on to be able to polish it down to a rather good finish and was very pleased with it.
My Z300S was sprayed professionally about 9 months ago and I've done nothing to it except wash it v-e-r-y carefully. No runs and no drips. My mistake was not inspecting the primer coat before the top finish and sorting the few imperfections which were down to my prep of the grp body but only I know where they are!!!
Thanks Ian. Didn't even consider metallic would be more difficult. Suppose its obvious thinking about. See ... lots to learn!
I am struggling to envisage a washing machine, connected up to a fire extinguisher, whilst powering a compressor. The mind boggles.
I did my apprenticeship in a dusty, old classic car garage in the late 80's. Just me, a senior mechanic and the boss. The latter being a mechanic in WW2. He used to tell me how he (and the rest of them) used to hand paint cars with 7 layers of cellulose, then rub them down. The finish was remarkable. Whilst there I prepped a few classics; austin healey, frogeye sprite, morris oxford and hillman minx. He would never let me spray mind. Probably just as well!
Cheers Lucky. I will keep trying, especially now I have the kit and quite a bit left of unused paint.
When you say spaced in the arch, are you referring to wheel spacers or something else?
You need to offer the wheels up with the splined adaptors to see how they fit. The front wheels will fit upto the edge of the arch, the rears might need an extra spacer to achieve the same position. Its only a subtle change it can make a big impact on the final look of the car.
With metallic, the undercoat colour affects the top coat shade. Then providing the metallic finish is satisfactory, as many coats of clear (or tinted) lacquer as you want will provide the final finish.
That "Hoover" rig was a very compact device mounted on the top loader chassis. I used cellulose for that job.
I borrowed a "proper" compressor for my 2nd spray job- Starsky & Hutch red/white on an HB Viva. The previous user had done a blue/purple flip/flop metallic job on his Capri. We ended up with a few of those flakes on the Viva. But again, plenty of top coat (acrylic) allowed us to flat down and polish to an acceptable finish.
"...tell me how he (and the rest of them) used to hand paint cars with 7 layers of cellulose, then rub them down..."-
You mean to say they didn't use the 12-coat Valspar method that was popular at the time? I think that was an alkyd paint similar to household gloss.
[QUOTE=clinkadink;100754]Ian - how ever many coats he used, I think we can safely say it was sponsored by GlobalWarming.com ... full of lead and other nasty stuff no doubt. /QUOTE]
Agreed- lots of lead in household paints of the era.
Cellulose paint- developed from gun cotton used in WW1 munitions.
Acrylic paint- developed from WW2 aircraft canopy materials.
Chris,
Thanks for taking the trouble putting your thread up. I am really interested in seeing the look of the Kobra on the MWS wheels. Also like the overriders too.
I sprayed my build very badly with black rattle cans (matt) which made it a 100 yard paint job. Spending on a pro job has its rewards in quality but not on the wallet
Thanks for the binge read. Looking forward to the updates.
There are a few tributes about this area (I’m in Reading and know of two in Bristol) we’ll have to get a photo shoot one day
Thanks again
Dave
I wasn't 100% sure to update the interior. I have seen loads of folk leave it as-is. It is certainly tempting. But, with the car still in the spray shop (6 days to go!), I thought I'd have a go.
I went down to the spray shop, took some interior dimensions and removed my door cards. He doesn't need them.
I made a new door card out of some 4mm hardboard, using the old door card to draw round. I purposely didn't factor in the 'speaker humper', close to the front door pillar (bottom left of the existing door card below) ...
If I did decide to update the interior (which it looks like I am now), I know i'd be tempted to do something with the dash. Something similar to what you see in a AC Cobra and/or replica. Granted, its a lot of work though. And more spondoolies.
Taking the dash out is relatively easy, have done quite a few (not on a Z3 mind). I am not bad at hacking into instrument clusters to tap into after market gauges and dials. I don't know at this stage what I can achieve with the stock instrument cluster.
I bought one for £20 today off ebay (as I don't have mine at present), and took a closer look ...
With the front plastic removed, there is a possibility it could sit flush behind a custom dash (ply with vinyl for example), and the rings get fixed in place from the front (with perspex/glass inserted).
The fuel gauge and temp gauge can be hidden. I can attempt to connect Lucas 2" gauges to their connector at the back. Something like these ...
I cannot see why the same cannot be done for the warning indicator strip that runs across the bottom of the Z3 cluster. Connect to each respective lamp, and run it to one of those Lucas instrument clusters.
I found a photo of the internet of a Z3 with its dash removed, to see whats what.
I can see the where the instrument cluster sits. That big horizontal bar curves up and around it. Does anyone know if this bar is structural? As far as I can tell it bolts onto the bulkhead or A pillar. Or is its sole pupose to hold the dash in place? Just wondering if it can be replaced with similar bar, but 6" closer to the windscreen.
Using the same photo, and some dimensions I grabbed from my car, I mocked up this. It uses the original instrument cluster, heating controls, electric window switches, plus new gauges (and a retro radio!)
Just about finished a door card today. To be fair, 5 hours was spent learning how to sew with the new sewing machine.
The door card is made of 2 layers of 3mm hardboard, so the heads of the BMW fixings are hidden between the two layers.
The door opener will have a chrome surround. It sits smack back in between the inset, between the 2 stitched lines. I bought some Austin Healey 3000 handles of ebay which should look the part when fitted.
Visited the spray shop today. He's only just started. Him and his apprentice. I asked whether he still plans to have it done by Friday and he said yes. I told him ... 'please don't rush'.
Not a lot done after work this evening. Fully finished the driver's door card.
And also wanted to see if the BMW Z3 instrument cluster could fit behind ply, with the fuel and temp gauge hidden. Below is just a mock up with a but of scrap wood.
The chrome bezels / rings are 91mm in diameter and shamferred at the bottom. I bought some replacement rings of ebay without the shamferred bottom. I'll see what that looks like.
