Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi just a couple of questions on resprays, how much paint is needed for a minor van, and what should i be looking to pay, and if i had it done for me how much would i expect to pay


I`am looking at 2 options buying the spray gear and paint and do it myself

or geting it done by someone else


any opinons as to the best way to go

budget on nearing the £2000 for a proper,long lasting respray job that has no faults or compromises,this is with all the pre work.do some of the sanding and filling yourself and you will lower it.

Hmmmmmmmmm how much do you think it would cost if i did it myself

You'll be darn lucky to get much of a job fo £2000, either. At least double that, I've heard.

Buy paint + thinners etc -~ £200/300, and a compressor with spray gun ~ £100 (Machine Mart etc) and then DIY. DO NOT attempt 2 Pack spraying - it will kill you. Just use good old cellulose - and spray in a well ventilated place, I do mine outdoors on good dry/still day.
Have you checked with Badobsession who must be v near you ?

my next door neighbour runs his own volkswagen franchised bodyshop,and £2k was the price he gave me if i wanted to respray my old Reliant Regal,which is more than a metal bodied car due to the extra work needed for a grp body.
I think vans look great handpainted green myself,but thats just me lol!

I have to say tho £4000 would have to be a concours job,and i cant see the point in that,indeed,i nearly threw up seeing the concours minors at a rally,with mirrors underneath,i mean what is the point in that?snobbery?oneupmanship?greed?They are Minors for gods sake,use them!anyway to do your self,maybe £5 to £600 of course i know people who have brush painted cars with superb results,as this was how it was done before spray gear was used,but it takes a lot more skill and time.

I tend to agree over the brush painting, but have a search for Jonathon's views on the costs - he does 'em for a living

Brush painting was done with special high quality brushes and coach enamel- lots of thin layers, sanding between each one. Then you have to leave the top layer for years before final polishing. Very time consuming.

Minors were spray painted- most in celly - so thats the best way to do it.

Well i'm going to have a stab at brush painting scabby this winter.
Nice part is no matter what the final finish it will still be a very drastic improvement.
Researching the paints available seems the best one for the purpose might be narrow boat enamel ! Same stuff as used on show engines etc.
Will share the progress on here as it goes, nothing to lose and if its a good finish then all the better

You can get a good finish by brush painting- but you'd need lots of layers, lots of time to dry, then careful very fine sanding and polishing to get the finish.

I have heard of a dodgy re-spray method on the cheap (although definitely not recommended by me)- you can get Minor colours mixed up in household gloss paint. Then thin this with unleaded petrol and the mixture is sprayable.

Not a good idea though as petrol is much more hazardous (contains carcinogens) than celly thinners.

Have a feeling thats how 50% of it may have been painted before - there are a LOT of brushmarks.
My thinking was with the right prep & paint to apply using 4" foam gloss radiator roller, have had some surprisingly good results with these on various non car things in the past.

You can get excellent results with Japlac Enamel either by brush or roller.
It can also be mixed with white spirit for spraying. The only down side, is you can never spray celly over it, as it will react and blister.

Even slapped on Japlac flows out very well. Use a proper quality paintbrush such as Harris, the results are great.

I brush painted my moggy.

I used Black Japlac. The shine was very good - only trouble was I didn't flat back the previous hand-painted job so it actually looks pretty rubbish.

Being a daily driver I dont have the luxury of locking it in a shed for a week whilst I mess around with it getting it 'nice'. Using it as a 'builders van' whiclst I do up the house doesn't help either.

I used a roller to initially apply the paint then went over with a brush, very lightly.
I don't know whether you can cut and polish 'Japlac' though...

Use a proper quality paintbrush such as Harris

Hamilton perfection is the tool for the job - they even do a better one but its stratosphere price !

Orkney wrote:

Use a proper quality paintbrush such as Harris

Hamilton perfection is the tool for the job - they even do a better one but its stratosphere price !

Tell me about it. My Dad was a commercial artist, and the price of the brushes he used was frightning. He once hand painted two double decker buses TARTAN. I kid you not, and no, not magic paint, just a maul stick and steady hand. I think it took nine months to do them both for Scottish And Newcastle (he worked for the SMT).

I still have some of his brushes, and they get greased after each job and go in a metal case.

Use 2 pack to brush paint, you'll be surprised with the results.
I posted a link from HSE sometime ago which indicated there were no significant risk from 2 pack paint if BRUSH painted

Indeed - it's only if you breathe in the fine spray that there are problems. I would imagine you can only mix up small amounts - or it will start to go 'off' before you get it on the car ?

All this seems like a lot of effort compared to just spraying in cellulose! Really, its the best way to go. If you can't afford a compressor/ spray gun, borrow or hire one.

My old mini had been coach painted and the finish was wonderful - really deep gloss shine that was very robust and never seemed to chip. People used to comment on it. But I was told it's an extremely hard skill to learn to do well and that some people never get the knack - I think they mean't people like me - however much they practise.

G'day All,

I'm in the process of painting mine at the moment. Some of this might be useful. It's my first go at a full ("proper") respray.

http://www.morrisdownunder.com/forum/vi ... sc&start=0