I haven't been around for a bit but have been busy on my project. I painted my 340 yesterday in the garage. Got some dirt to block and buff out but for the conditions I'm pretty well satisfied.

 

Looks great! Get them nice bumpers on. The slim bumpers really modernise the car by a number of years. They look very good.

 

I like the paint job, it is very nice and also like the background of the shed with so many items stored and/or displayed. Quite a bit of history there.

 

Ace work!

The downside: not only makes my car look like a wreck, but my workshop resembles a scrapyard after a bomb dropped on it. 😀

 

Your baby brother ~ 240.

 

Great Job ! you did that yourself ? At home ? no way.... it looks fantastic.
Schmitty

 

Yes by myself in the garage. That's why I have some dirt in a few places to block and buff out.

 

Did you do the whole car at once or in sections, and if you did the whole car, how did you handle the over spray from getting on other sections of the car ?

 

if the owner plans to block sand and cut with rubbing compound and polisher after painting, a bit of overspray should not be a problem.

 

I think overspray is the wrong term.
If you spray the top first, and work your way down to one side of the car, and then do the other side, the spray from the gun that doesn't land on the car becomes air born and lands on the freshly sprayed car without a down draft spray booth.
This effects large areas of the car requiring huge amounts of work to block and polish all that out.

That's why I thought he would do it in sections _ running low pressure in the gun would be very helpful.

 

I worked for a car restorer and he painted all of his cars without a proper booth and never once was this a problem. I've also painted a few in my home garage and again no issues.

 

Work your way down. Finish at the bottom. No big deal. Like I said i do have some dirt on the horizontal surfaces that will be blocked and hopefully buffed out. Urethane paint is pretty easy to deal with.

 

I used to respray my Alfa's top town with no spray booth. The Jaguar was resprayed in a proper extraction booth with wet floors & correct lighting.

 

I recently re lacquered my sons red BMW Mini on the driveway. Hard work was getting all the old lacquer off then I had to wait for a dry sunny day with no wind and used rattle cans. Once I had put three coats on the hard part was flatting it all off and polishing. Came up a treat but a lot of work. The idea of the booth and extractors with a decent gun is to put on a great top coat that does not need flatting off. Yet to see a new car that would not benefit from a couple of hours of flatting off and polish.

 

Me too on the new cars, I think "WOW", that black Mercedes looks pretty good in black, but then I always see some orange peel in the paint.

Glyn, was your car blocked and sanded ?
There was this car DYI show on years ago, and they finished with like 7 coats of clear and went at it.

I think it was called "Shade Tree Mechanic" there were others too.

 

Yes Jeff & much finish polishing. This car has much paint & clearcoat on it including engine compartment & interior including trunk.. Missed parts with double skinning sorted as well. Then Tectyl added to all cavities, Many Kg's of paint added to the overall weight. Everything spayed including behind door cards etc. & complete underside & interior.





From the gun.



Final Polish underway..

 

It's one of the most satisfying things getting it to the point of a finished body, and assembling the whole thing in a spotless engine-bay, interior etc..
Carefully cleaning and detailing things as it moves along.

 

Absolutely Jeff ~ spot on! And remember this was my second re-spay after my restorer that I fired let the project languish after I was sent on long-term expat assignment. See my thread below. in my signature.

 

The paint finish on this car is spectacular & the first thing commented on by most including the Crank Handle Club & it's team of judges. They rated it best in country & 100 points plus for insurance purposes. The car started life as "Old English White with Red Upholstery & Solid Wheels." Now 1976, XJ6 ~ BRG & Biscuit on Chrome Wires.

Anyway it's not a trailer queen. Just wanted it rated once for the piece of paper. Now I can drive & enjoy it and in the process it won't remain spectacular but will be looked after well. If I can't drive it and enjoy it I don't want it.

 

First respray shown below in Spies Hecker. I started in Spies Hecker so I stayed in Spies Hecker for the second respray after firing my first restorer. Not a single bubble or delamination on lead wiping.

If I was to do the job today I would use the BASF/Glasurit water based base-coat with their low VOC nano ceramic clear-coat. It is a wonderful system to work with. Dead easy, Utterly colour stable (lifetime warranty). Easy to spot repair ~ no more spraying whole panels. When spot repaired you will see zero sign of the repair ~ colour & all. Even with difficult colours like Metallic Green. Considered by the paint manufacturers to be the most difficult to match.

BTW ~ Pic shown above is after floor in booth had dried. It is centre drained with side water "drippers". ~ "From the gun" pic pre clear-coat.