That didn't quite work out as planned...

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#1 Post by **kevinw** » Sat May 03, 2014 2:44 pm

I'm a bit disappointed with the quality of the paint that was applied to my car 42 years ago when it was first built. In a few places, especially those vulnerable places behind the rear wheels and below the wrap around bits of the bumper, it has started to fall off in places.

So, removed all the paint in the area back to bare metal, scrubbed out the small little pock marks of r*st and painted with phosphoric acid before gently abrading and applying several light coats of zinc primer of the self etch variety. Left this to dry over 2 days, rubbed down with ever finer wet n dry, mixed up some paint to get a close match using pattern French Blue from a professional paint supplier with a little white tint to match the aged and weather bleached original paint and put on 3 light coats. Two more sets of 3 coats over the course of 20 minutes or so, waiting for the underlying paint to just go off before applying more and feeling rather pleased with myself that the colour match is almost perfect and the finish as good as Canley number 1 paint shop, even down to matching the slight orange peel effect.

Cleaned everything up (takes longer than the actual painting) stinking out the neighbourhood with the fumes of gunwash. Then I noticed two sags in the paint

So I'm going to have to let it harden for a week or two and attack it in the approved way to remove the sag.

Kevin

overtontriumph · #2 Post by **overtontriumph** » Sun May 04, 2014 10:56 am

Someone once told me of a method using a soft bar of soap while the paint was still semi-fluid.............
Not sure how it works but maybe someone else does..........

#3 Post by **jimd** » Mon May 05, 2014 4:18 pm

..regarding the poor paint job, have you checked the warranty, or contacted the manufacturer, it could be bad publicity for Triumph !!

#4 Post by **kevinw** » Mon May 05, 2014 5:11 pm

jimd wrote:..regarding the poor paint job, have you checked the warranty, or contacted the manufacturer, it could be bad publicity for Triumph !!

I suppose if you buy a car made just before a shift end on a Friday in December you kind of have to expect bits to start dropping off after 42 years

Checked the paint again this morning - I should be able to rework it later this week, hopefully. A bit of wet n dry wrapped around a small file followed by a couple of hours with 1800 grit paper should get it back ready to polish

#5 Post by **Alan Chatterton** » Mon May 05, 2014 6:27 pm

Polisher!

Polly · #6 Post by **Polly** » Mon May 05, 2014 10:30 pm

Oh Alan, you've got a friend.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

#7 Post by **Alan Chatterton** » Tue May 06, 2014 7:14 am

It's about time!!

#8 Post by **Mike Stevens** » Thu May 08, 2014 12:07 pm

While the paint is still soft, it is possible to use a razor blade in a special adjustable holder to take off the top of the run. This does reduce the amount of cutting required later. If the paint gets too hard though, it has a habit of chipping off rather than cutting. And of course, them chips off far too much!

Good luck.

Cheers,
Mike.

#9 Post by **kevinw** » Thu May 08, 2014 1:21 pm

I've got one of those tools, but have never found it to be much good for long sags in the paint but just about OK for getting out insects when they land on wet paint intent on suicide.

In the end, I decided to do it properly and attacked it with some 180 grit this morning and will repaint the top coat. Car is going for MOT tomorrow and the forecast is wet, so it will need to wait until next week to get done.

#10 Post by **kevinw** » Sat May 10, 2014 3:10 pm

Someone is out to get me!

I decided the only way to do this was to remove the bumper. Stuck my head in the boot, couldn't find the securing bolts, Ann suggests I email Sharon (racyredcar) knowing both her cars are bumperless. Removed the 2 rear bolts and nearside, seem to have broken the retaining nut on the offside as it is just rotating and not coming loose. So I thought I'd just carefully rotate and lower the bumper to clear the area I wanted to work on. I dropped the bumper, scratching the paint that was formerly OK on both wings

Spent the rest of the morning getting a reasonable surface to repaint, got the little spray gun ready and sprayed. The area is now a bit too big to do with the little gun and so the "row" above is dry before I spray the next "row" and I think it is going to show.

So I then intended to put on one or two coats with the big pukka (Sealey Gold S701G, highly recommended) spray gun. Tightened the paint cup as there is a little ooze of French Blue paint and discovered that there is a split in the paint cup, right on the joint where it goes onto the gun. Paint everywhere, mostly over me...

Clean up twp spray guns, pour a litre of gunwash into an ice cream container, disassemble everything and start cleaning. Trip over the 5 litre can of gun wash, sending the container for the used stuff flying as well. Luckily, both have their tops on, so none spilt. Finally get everything cleaned up and put my elbow into the ice cream pot with a litre of now dirty gunwash, spilling it all over the bench. Garage and attached house now smell like a pear drops factory, I look like I am covered in woad and certain people are not impressed.

Kevin

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