Morris Minor Owners Club

Hi - we bought this nearly a year ago after it failed to sell on Ebay, when it looked like this (close up it had been painted with household gloss paint with a broom!)


It came with a 1.3 Marina engine, homemade (noisy!) stainless exhaust, Ford 5 speed and Marina front discs, after a protracted restoration it has reverted to 1.1, acquired BMW seats and has a rolled rustoleum finish, with a (to us) more pleasing yellow/black transition on the bonnet. Now looks like this:



And Liz returning from her first trip out since driving it back from Maidenhead to Cornwall a year ago:
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Looking VERY good! How did you find working with the rustoleum?

What happened to the 1275 lump?

Rustoleum was a delight, though the black for some reason is much easier than the yellow - I'm just finishing painting the Nova (flat black car in my sig. pic.) as I was so pleased with the process......

1275 is sitting in the shed awaiting a new owner, just haven't got round to doing anything about it yet! (worked fine and started well, I just prefer economy to power )

Reason I ask is that I am on the lookout for one at themoment!

I think we've discussed the nova before. Its a VW based thing isn't it?

Certainly is! I've had it four or five years now, it came with a dodgy respray and has had lots of rattle can additions as I've modified the bodywork. It's amazing how much better it looks all one shiny continuous rustoleum black!

Love the van! I am currently looking for one with the side windows in the rear body, not for sale is it???

Any one know a good supplier of this Rustoleum stuff ?

Quick google search revealed this

http://www.rustoleumdirect.co.uk/

Cheers dan - Local for me too
I might try it out and see how it performs....

Did you thin the paint down and if so,what ratio paint to thinners did you use ? Also,did you use a rusoleum undercoat ?

Amazing choice of colours and coatings. What would be the right combination of primers and topcoats?

Didn't use an undercoat, as when I'd sanded off 4(!) Dysons full of household gloss, the paint underneath was sound. I thinned the black 50/50 following the advice of the various useful webguides out there (search on 'roller painting' or something similar - here's a couple I used: http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/showthread ... 03&page=25 or http://rollyourcar.com/default.aspx or http://carpainting.wetpaint.com/page/Ro ... hod?t=anon or http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/in ... 632&st=315 - you'll find the American sites helpful except their version of Rustoleum is marketed under a different name (and they have a different name for 'white spirit'.)
The yellow was more problematic, giving lovely smooth glossy finish at 50/50, but it didn't have the 'covering power' (some of it was going over the original black, which was giving the yellow a 'greenish' tinge) solved this by using a first coat of a lighter yellow that I'd bought in error. (for some reason the lighter shade covered much better.)

The hardest bit is not being tempted to under-thin it (to get quicker coverage) if you do this you get a thicker skin that doesn't flat down as well (tends to tear off rather than sand down). It seems the most glossy coats (with the right ratio of thinners) go on with lots of tiny bubbles - which encourage you to keep rolling at them: don't - leave them and they settle away on their own!

The Nova has only taken about a week to do, mostly because it's a much simpler shape and I don't have to use access gear to reach the roof!

I've already bought white to do the traveller when I've finished (well actually started!) its restoration, and the Rustoleum red looks just right on Massey Ferguson bonnets - I think you can see I'm well converted to the system!

BTW, the van cost just over £60 in paint and thinners - the Nova has been painted with the dregs of the left-over black.....

Sorry WPR678B - it's Liz's pride and joy and she doesn't want to part with it!

alzax3 wrote:Sorry WPR678B - it's Liz's pride and joy and she doesn't want to part with it!

A wise move as if it was mine i wouldn't want to part with it either!
Doesn't hurt to ask though!

Alzax3

I've been mulling over the paint method for when I've got Molly finished and the cost of Rustolium is very appealing.
I've read a few articles about using the stuff but can I ask you a few questions?
How did you get on rolling all of the compound curves and panel joints on the van?
Which of the rustolium products did you use?
I would be doing the engine bay and inside area as well, does it brush on ok without streaks?
And finally how much paint did you need?

Sorry for all the questions but its so much better to ask someone who's used it succesfully.

Brian

Happy to answer Brian (and I have no conection with the company, so I'm not biased!) I did all the engine bay in yellow and did end up brushing it on for simplicity - also I didn't feel the need for a high gloss finish in there, so there was no need to be rubbing down. It didn't seem to give a streaky finish, and I didn't bother thinning it down in this area. The front grill was brush painted too. The dashboard was really easy to roll for some reason!

Compound curves were no problem, it's more the irritating places like round the door handles that cause problems. (stip off as much hardware as you possibly can - in that way, it's no different to spray-painting: much easier on a bare shell. The Nova is MUCH easier because it hardly has any trim/handles and bright work to get in the way!

I bought 2 2.5litre cans - still got about a third of the yellow left and about half a can of black (maybe nearer 2/3rds).

Good luck

Alex