A productive day's work...
Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 9:46 pm
I've spent part of the day (the part I wasn't walking on the beach at Solva with my missus) painting the grill of BetsyBlue, my Morris Minor. I've been promising myself I would do it since I bought her last year. I've never painted any part of a car before.
The woman I bought her from had resprayed the car herself, and hadn't bothered to mask much, by the look of it.
The grill was sprayed Trafalgar blue, like the car - but so was the chrome strip around the grill, the door handles, and odd overspray patches on chrome headlight surround and bumpers.
I rubbed the slats of the grill with a wet and dry sanding sponge, which got rid of the Trafalgar blue and exposed the old white paint underneath. There was no rot in the grill, but the paintwork was untidy.
I had to spray the grill in situ - because it would have taken too long to take off the front panel and the radiator to get at the grill - so I forced some heavy card between the radiator and the grill, and between the heater air intake and the bodywork on the other side of the grill to protect them from the spray, then masked off the rest of the front of the car. I then sprayed the grill with Snowberry White, which I'm pretty sure was the correct colour for the year.
(Then I went to Solva with the missus for the afternoon!)
This evening, I masked off the new grill and the bodywork around it, and using cellulose thinners and elbow grease, cleaned all the Trafalgar Blue off the chrome grill surround and the door handles, and the overspray off the bonnet handle badge (name?) and the bumpers and headlight surround.
I feel like it has been a job well done! Here are some before and after pictures!
Before
Front View by Ondergard, on Flickr
After
P1010622 by Ondergard, on Flickr
The woman I bought her from had resprayed the car herself, and hadn't bothered to mask much, by the look of it.
The grill was sprayed Trafalgar blue, like the car - but so was the chrome strip around the grill, the door handles, and odd overspray patches on chrome headlight surround and bumpers.
I rubbed the slats of the grill with a wet and dry sanding sponge, which got rid of the Trafalgar blue and exposed the old white paint underneath. There was no rot in the grill, but the paintwork was untidy.
I had to spray the grill in situ - because it would have taken too long to take off the front panel and the radiator to get at the grill - so I forced some heavy card between the radiator and the grill, and between the heater air intake and the bodywork on the other side of the grill to protect them from the spray, then masked off the rest of the front of the car. I then sprayed the grill with Snowberry White, which I'm pretty sure was the correct colour for the year.
(Then I went to Solva with the missus for the afternoon!)
This evening, I masked off the new grill and the bodywork around it, and using cellulose thinners and elbow grease, cleaned all the Trafalgar Blue off the chrome grill surround and the door handles, and the overspray off the bonnet handle badge (name?) and the bumpers and headlight surround.
I feel like it has been a job well done! Here are some before and after pictures!
Before
Front View by Ondergard, on Flickr
After
P1010622 by Ondergard, on Flickr
Looks great 