The Elegant Thirsty Dinosaur

Yes, by having high pressure in the line, you are carrying a higher volume of air, without having to have larger airlines etc.
If you ran the 5-10psi in the lines, you'd need larger bore lines to carry the same volume.
 
Thanks. I`ll give your suggestions a try tonight. I`m also going to try shooting some primer using the new gun and see if that does the same thing. That way I`ll know if it is a gun issue or a paint issue.

On a high note I finished stripping the last two panels on the car over the weekend. The bonnet now has a bare coat of epoxy primer, a quick flat and a shot of the high build primer tonight and it should be ready for topcoat..

Cheers

webmaster said:
You could try reducing the pressure a bit, also narrow the fan slightly so there's less overspray.

Another tip I've seen is not to thin the material too much, HVLP guns are designed to spray heavy materials, so try it with much less thinners, this will help prevent it drying mid-air.

The whole point of HVLP is that there is less overspray, so something isn't quite right.
 
Hi.

I thought I`d post a quick update.

I used the hvlp gun to spray some primer on the bonnet yesterday. I felt I knew this paint and how it behaves . Sure enough, after not much tweaking, I got the best finish yet with primer. So it is not the gun, but the topcoat I`m struggling with. I am going to try slightly less thin topcoat and quite a lot lower pressure than last time.

As a diversion from the relentless 800 grit sanding I decided to have a look a rejuvenating the Rover badge off the bonnet. I was surprised with the result. The badge is pretty cracked but I can`t do much about that so I thought that if I at least repaint it, it will look crisper without looking too new, if you know what I mean..

The hard part was getting the back off without further cracking the resin body of the badge. The gold colour had remained stable but both black and red were peeling badly. Once opened, I scraped the remaining flaky red and black paint off and repainted with Tamiya Enamel paint, after a wipe down with meths. Now all that remains is to repaint the backplate (silver I think) and then prise the thing closed - that may be where I shatter it!!

Cheers

James
 
I repainted a P6 bonnet badge a few years back.
Got it to the black paint stage and the whole thing split into 4 large pieces as soon as I applied the paint .
What the ?
Still cant work out what went wrong.
Some chemical/ nuclear paint reaction?
Ended up buying a brand spanking new one.
Good luck with yours
Gerald
 
Interesting Gerald. I was a bit worried about a reaction with the plastic, that`s why I chose meths to wipe it down, not wax & grease remover.

Out of interest, and just in case mine falls to bits when I try and reassemble it, where did you get the new one from?

Cheers

James
 
The S2 bonnet badge is available as a new repro to very high quality from Ian at Rover-Classics. Pretty well indistinguishable from the real thing!

Chris
 
Hi all

I thought I`d post a quick update, having had some success with the painting finally.

I have now got topcoat on all except two panels, the driver`s door and the driver`s rear wing. I spent some time on the roof this week. Having all but assumed I would need to add a vinyl roof to hide the sins of the painter, I`m actually quite pleased with the results and will keep the roof exposed.

Having seen the results that Damian has had with his garage respray inspired me on. I took the following steps with the topcoat:

1) flat the primer with 800 grit
2) 3 coats of topcoat.
3) Flat with 800 grit
4) 3 coats of topcoat.
5) Flat with 1200 grit
6) Flat with 2000 grit
7) Rubbing compound

The roof now looks like this:





There`s still a little bit of haze. More polishing to follow I think but overall I am really pleased. The roof is the first panel on the car that I have gone through the flatting / polishing process with. The other panels have all been painted the same way and I am a lot more confident now that the finish will be OK..

@Damian, what flatting / polishing steps did you go through? Your car looks amazing..

Now, onto the bonnet..

Cheers

James
 

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Hi

Thought it was time for a quick update. I have made plenty of progress over the last few weeks. All the painting is complete. I still have a few panels to polish, (Farecla G3 is good sh1t!) but its starting to look like a car again.







There are plenty of imperfections but the overall effect is rather pleasing, I think. I`m hoping to be finished in time for the 10th anniversary of me owning the car, October..

Hope she meets with approval - I`ll have to change my sig to reflect the absence of rust colouring now!

Cheers

James
 

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Well done James - it's looking great! No doubt you'll have a broad grin when you think about what you've achieved :D

Looks like another generation is getting interested in P6s too.. :LOL:
 
Thanks Phil. I`m really pleasantly surprised at the power of sanding and polishing to hide painting errors!

Yes, Alfie (no. 2 son) is very excited. We trundled up and down the drive and with both had big grins. He sits on my toolbox in the garage and watches what I am up to very intently.

Cheers


Phil Robson said:
Well done James - it's looking great! No doubt you'll have a broad grin when you think about what you've achieved :D

Looks like another generation is getting interested in P6s too.. :LOL:
 
Looks fabulous! I'm gobsmacked with admiration. I've got to say that my experiences in painting have driven me so crazy (OCD sucks) that I've resorted to paying out large dollops of money to have my P6 dollied up. For me it was the lesser of two great evils.
 
Thanks very much, Warren.

I have had to be realistic about the final quality of the respray. To be honest it has come out better than I thought it would, though there are certainly a few rough areas. I think I could spend an indefinite amount of time on preparation if I didn`t accept a certain level of imperfection. There are one or two areas which I might revisit in the future if they annoy me too much. I have also found it infuriatingly easy to knock / chip panels during reassembly.

Someone else on this forum has said that "as long as it looks better than when I started". I`ve certainly achieved that.

It`s nice to be at the end of the constant prime / fill / sand / paint merry-go-round. I had a happy evening last night rebuilding the number plate lamp and rewiring the rear light clusters. By nature I`m a mechanic, not a panel beater!

Cheers

James
 
That's where I struggle, James. I find it so difficult to call time on a job and say "Enough's enough! It's now good enough." Perhaps classic cars weren't the best hobby for me to get into...
 
rottenlungs said:
Thanks very much, Warren.

I have had to be realistic about the final quality of the respray. To be honest it has come out better than I thought it would, though there are certainly a few rough areas. I think I could spend an indefinite amount of time on preparation if I didn`t accept a certain level of imperfection. There are one or two areas which I might revisit in the future if they annoy me too much. I have also found it infuriatingly easy to knock / chip panels during reassembly.

Someone else on this forum has said that "as long as it looks better than when I started". I`ve certainly achieved that.

It`s nice to be at the end of the constant prime / fill / sand / paint merry-go-round. I had a happy evening last night rebuilding the number plate lamp and rewiring the rear light clusters. By nature I`m a mechanic, not a panel beater!

Cheers

James
James, it looks like you have done a great job. One problem with doing DIY jobs is you know where the odd rough bit is, so your eye is drawn towards the 1% you are not happy with and it's all too easy to forget about the 99% that is perfect. I sometimes also work on theory that something may not be perfect but is now several factors better than it was and this equals, "job done". I know what you mean about knocking and chipping things on reassembly. I recently had some panels off, touched them up a bit and had a bit of bother putting things like wings back on without chipping edges/corners. Two things I decided was (provided your paint has hardened) put masking tape on corners/edges to prevent/limit damage and, if someone is around, get them to help line up things as you lift them into place. Keep up the work and hope you get finished soon.
 
Thanks for your kind words, Steve.

I think the suggestion about putting masking tape along the edges is a great idea. It`s always the corners / edges that get bumped. I took the boot and rear decker panel back off the car tonight to start on refitting the rear screen. No bumps but I had my mate from over the road give me a hand.

Congrats on the MOT on your car as well. Sounds like it was a pretty major weldathon for you.

Cheers.
 
Great work there James, just been reading through your thread. I feel its always nicer if you can turn your hand at achieving a job. It gives you that good feeling of knowing you done it yourself. One of my sayings is "its better than it was" may not be upto the pros standards yet but you can only get better with practice :D. Look forward to seeing it back together and on the road again...
 
Thanks Guy.

I got the rear window back in last night which is a huge relief - I have been so nervous of accidentally breaking it when it was off the car.

All that remains before the WOF (Kiwi MOT) is:

1) One main beam unit has died - not sure if it's connections or a failure.
2) Fit replacement washer pump and replumb
3) tune the carbs
4) reassemble the remaining 3 doors that haven`t been done yet

Additional jobs to complete the resto:
1) Fit Facet fuel pump
2) Fit cant rails / windscreen finishers / side trims
3) Major clean of the interior
4) New carpet set.
5) Flat / polish 2 wings and 1 door.
6) new rubber seals for b post and rear wing to doors.
7) Front and back seals on the engine - this may escalate to a full engine rebuild, just don`t tell the Mrs!

Thanks everyone for your support.

v8guy said:
Great work there James, just been reading through your thread. I feel its always nicer if you can turn your hand at achieving a job. It gives you that good feeling of knowing you done it yourself. One of my sayings is "its better than it was" may not be upto the pros standards yet but you can only get better with practice :D. Look forward to seeing it back together and on the road again...
 
Well done that man!

We wait with baited breath for the driving reports!

Just one note; don't use a facet pump! Start by solving the problem (fuel vaporisation?) as often described on here - which is a cooling problem of the engine failing to bleed properly and or inadequate radiator. Then if it persists buy a rotary pump similar to the Huco type. But come back after the car's roadworthy and we'll talk you through it.

Oh, and you may well find that the crank seals will take up somewhat once you start driving it!

Chris
 
1) One main beam unit has died - not sure if it's connections or a failure.
:idea: Could be that the fuse holder contacts in the fuse box for that beam's fuse are a little loose? There are seperate fuses for left and righthand main beam. I had this on mine and it does seem to be a very common problem as the fuse box warms up and the contacts work loose. Sometimes you find the main beam on doesn't work but the main beam flash does (or vice versa) as one contact on the supply side of the fuseholder suppplies the main beam permanently on switch and the other supplies the "pull to flash" switch?
 
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