Respray On The Classic Mini
And so, things have been hectic on the Mini front for the last three weeks or so.
At the end of July I had a week’s leave booked where I was supposed to be going on the Silver Ring Rally with Mini Directory. Due to an unforeseen turn of events I didn’t make it to Germany. We ended up clearing out my garage and trailering a friend’s Mini over for re-spray after front panels replacement following an incident with a teenager on a mobile phone, a kerb and some metal railings last year.
That really did turn out well after a couple of mis-starts. What we learnt during the 5 days that we were prepping and spraying the car:
1. Clean the overspray off the coke can before you drink from it.
2. You can spray Hammerite.
3. You can’t use Hammerite as the primer for top coat. It reacts with the cellulose in the top coat. See:
4. High build etch primer is the best stuff in the world. I won’t use anything else when it comes to the Clubby!
5. If you have time (and the right environment) remove ANY old paint and rust back to bare metal. It makes the job so much better.
6. Dependent on the size of the area to be sprayed it is better to remove a panel at a time to bare metal, treat any rust and then put the etch primer on. This will stop areas being exposed for too long to the elements. Taking the whole car to bare metal takes time. If there’s moisture in the air this will cause unprotected panels to rust (flash-rust) scarily fast.
7. Learning how to play a guitar is a good time filler when you’re waiting for the paint to dry!
8. Photograph the WHOLE process!
9. Keep your work area clean. Not just tools, but crap and dust too. It gets in the paint and is a bugger to remove, as are flies and wasps…
The new paint was a completely different shade of white to the original, although the paint match was taken straight off one of the old panels. This is probably because the original paint is old, faded and has in-ground dirt. I suspect that the owner will want the whole car re-done before the year is out…
A few pictures:
The bonnet stripped back to bare metal ready for primer and then full-on paint.
The Front end of the car in Etch Primer.
Scott Spraying the final white paint on the car. I love the sun shining through the headlmap bowls in this shot.
Collin is A former chairman of Portsmouth and Southampton Mini Owners' Club, certified Mini Loon, and not all that knowledgeable. He writes these articles purely for enjoyment and currently gets no recompense for all his sterling work. Maybe one day his efforts will be rewarded either financially or sexually. If you see anything wrong in any post, please leave a comment on the post or use the contact form link below.
See all posts by Collin
Loading ...
August 14th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
[…] off, as in my last post, I didn’t get to go to the Nurburgring. While the guy that went in my place was there we got […]
August 15th, 2007 at 11:33 am
The paint has actually toned down a bit and the match seems to be a lot better now, perhaps it just needed to go off properly.
anyhow a big thanks goes to you and Scott for doing this.
August 15th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
That looks great! Post up pics of the whole car once it’s done…maybe it will convince me it’s time to finally bite the bullet and respray the bimmer.
Love your car, by the way.
Cheers.
August 15th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Mark - It was a pleasure!
Joe - I don’t know if the owner is intending to do the whole car, but we will get some more pics up when it’s back on the road. If they go for the whole respray then I’ll get it on here!
August 28th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Who doesn’t love classic cars? Seems everybody does and hollywood has jumped on the bandwagon too. You see them in just about every movie and TV show now.