Tarting up my body work

[Spitfire1500]

Hey everyone,

It's been mentioned a lot but I thought I better seek some advice from some of you.

At the moment, I have rust on my outer sills, doors, wings, and bonnet.

The idea is, I give Stafford a miss this year and spend my weeks holiday rubbing down/angle grinding my paint work, down to bare metal and then filling, sanding, priming, rubbing and painting.

Is it a bit over-optimistic of me to think I'll have this lot done in a week?

The worst parts are my doors and r/h wing, which I could probably do during the week and leave everything else for another time.

Apart from angle grinder, sanding discs, filler, fairy liquid, water, wire brush, primer and paint is there anything else I need?

Thanks,

David

[heraldcoupe]

Spitfire1500 wrote:

At the moment, I have rust on my outer sills, doors, wings, and bonnet.

The idea is, I give Stafford a miss this year and spend my weeks holiday rubbing down/angle grinding my paint work, down to bare metal and then filling, sanding, priming, rubbing and painting.

If you still need to acquire parts, I think missing Stafford would be a mistake. There are always plenty of unused panels for sale in the autojumble at well below regular retail price.
Cheers,
Bill.

[gt6878e]

hello David, I think you might want to loose the angle grinder....i think that might be a bit overkill for rust and it probably would give you more work. I normally use a wide range of wet and dry, rust eater and filler more wet and dry more filler more wet n dry etc etc etc until it feels right to the touch then put the paint on then use some superfine wet n dry with very soapy water..... Did me well. took my gt6 from a scapper

[Deleted User]

GOGGLES! and some decent rigger's type gloves.

Stafford is only three days at most, you could still get some work done on the car and go there. You might (not guaranteeing anything) find some useful s/h Spitfire bits there too. Putting a lot of filler in your bodywork might be inadvisable in the long run. It's got a 12 month ticket now so why don't you enjoy it and keep the bodywork for the winter, hopefully you will have either found the bits as a bargain or saved up enough money for them by then.

[ferny]

As your car is now, I'd personally go for some sandpaper, rust convertor, fibreglass, filler and paint. Then I'd save and get the wings done properly. Easy to do in a week. But what Bill said is very true as well.

If you're not going to do a job properly then either spend as little time as you can bodging it until you can do it properly or just leave it. But that's just my opinion.

[Deleted User]

yep thats what i would do ferny, no point in doing the whole thing, appart from anything the more you uncover the more problems you will find. Rust inhibiter wire brush in a drill, zinc primer and a can of spray paint.

Maybe its just me but i would never do a full repair job on sills, they are such a structural part of the car and arent that expensive just tart them and get them replaced in the long run.

[Spitfire1500]

Wow GT - what a difference!

Thanks for the help everyone;

Ideally, all I want to do is be rid of the rust and cover the bare metal (so it doesn't go rusty) some of it has already started going rusty.

Is this something I could easily bodge with just rust treatment, a little sanding a little filling and some priming and painting?

I have one replacement rear wing, inner wheel arch and inner wing at home already but I need to get the other side as well. Doors wise, I have two that I really need to pick up that just need new paint on them, and for the chrome and trim to be put on them.

The outer sills I have heard are a right PITA to replace as welding is involved. I have rust pitting in them but thats all.

Thanks again,

David

[Spitfire1500]

I just happened across the following item:

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10151&productId=188249&categoryId=31526

Has anyone had any experience using this, or perhaps I should consider something else?

Thanks,

David

[ferny]

Have you noticed the dark, almost black parts on my bodywork? A large section all down the rain channel on the passenger side is a good example.

http://www.bilthamber.com/hydrate80.html

Been on the car all through winter and not rusted. Under that black stuff is, or was, rust. It's not come back at all and I've left it like that until the respray.

[Spitfire1500]

ferny wrote:

Have you noticed the dark, almost black parts on my bodywork? A large section all down the rain channel on the passenger side is a good example.

http://www.bilthamber.com/hydrate80.html

Been on the car all through winter and not rusted. Under that black stuff is, or was, rust. It's not come back at all and I've left it like that until the respray.

Cheers Pete,

That looks like a good product, can it be applied straight to rust as long as it has been cleaned and degreased? Might be worth purchasing that.

Thanks,

David

[neilnaz]

Kurust works well. That is, along with another product, what I have been using.

The sill covers, as long as there is nothing dodgy underneath can be wire-brushed/sanded back to bare metal, inhibited, primed and painted. I would advise using stone-chip protection to prevent the stone-chips from causing the chips and rust that happens in this area and is inevitably what has caused your surface rust. It did my car's.

I would tart the rear wings up with getting rid of the rust and using filler priming and painting. You won't get it looking A1 necessarily but it doesn't have to look too bad.

1 week will not be long enough to do eveything on your list. I would imagine that each wing will take you 2 days to tart up. Before you start you should decide what you are doing and how long realistically each job will take you.

Your car does have an MOT so you might want to just focus on the things that are really needed to keep the car on the road. I don't think the duct-tape looks particularly eye-catching but it is road-legal.

Starting off with a wire-brush attachment (its what i have used with a rechargeable drill and 2 batteries) means there is no going back. I don't have metal missing meaning there are gaps to bridge. On your car, from the pictures, you have a fair amount of gaps to bridge. This doesn't take that long it is the final finishing that takes ages but you might not be wanting to finish to a high standard as you will be getting new panels sometime.

I think Bill is right that you may miss out on getting some decent panels at Stafford but you might want to delay getting them until you have the money saved up for the panels and the welding. If you plan to weld yourself then the panels and paint and ancillaries are your major costs. There are other events that have good sources of panels at decent prices. Maybe going to Stafford next year will fit your plans but you will probably have sorted the cosmetics to a reasonable extent by then.

It really is up to you David. What is it that you want to do with the car? If you start doing some of the work you are talking about you may have the car off the road for a few weeks. If you need your car to get to work then just concentrate on the rear wings if you have a week. If you get them sorted then maybe have a go at changing the hood.

Best of luck, Neil

[Spitfire1500]

Cheers Neil,

My L/H rear wing has a lot of metal missing - the power curve and a bit more.

I have replacement panels for this side and the black tape does look really awful, so I wouldn't mind getting that bit sorted out first and foremost. I may get that lot welded on, selling any panels I don't use.

I ended up taking the black tape from the other side (R/H) as that still has the power curve on it and apart from rusty bits and tiny bits where there is bare metal it's all there. It only has a few sharps if you end up sticking your hand underneath.

Thinking of what I really want to do, I just want to treat and prime/paint the rust on my doors, wings and outer sills.

I don't want to do anything major, just want it to look in a good enough way before my car gets fully resprayed.

The replacement bonnet is in a very good way - I still have all the curves on it although the outer/inne wings need bridging/replacing. Then there is just surface rust on the top and under side.

So at the moment, I want to prioritise the rear wings and doors.

Thanks,

David

[Clive]

If you are having a real go at the bodywork get some etch primer. It is good stuff. For now I would do a quick tart-up, wire brush/sand/treat/etchprime and a bit of filler, fiberglass type for any holes and finish with polyester stuff (p38).
Prime and paint, but do not spend too long. Get out there and use it! The treatment should last until the winters here, and then have a real go. Anyway at stafford you will get LOADS of inspiration, and some bargains if you beat me to them!

[Clive]

and did I mention BEER

[ferny]

Spitfire1500 wrote:

Cheers Pete,

That looks like a good product, can it be applied straight to rust as long as it has been cleaned and degreased? Might be worth purchasing that.

Thanks,

David

http://www.bilthamber.com/hydrate80howto.html

Says all in the instructions.

[gt6878e]

cliftyhanger wrote:

and did I mention BEER

Damn....that is the biggest ingredient i missed off my list....always handy havin a well stocked fridge and some mates with time and patience....

Darren

[Spitfire1500]

ferny wrote:

http://www.bilthamber.com/hydrate80howto.html

Says all in the instructions.

So it does, silly me!  :B

David

[rotoflex]

Painters!  Only a single caste above Polishers!

[gt6878e]

if you have a good painter you don't even need a polisher

darren

[Deleted User]

true my spray guy doesnt bother flatting down his spraying, the does it that perfectly there is no need to as for polishing i dont think he even has a cloth. You gotta love the good old guys no fancy tools just doing the job well.

[gt6878e]

true...no masks...fags in their gobs and a mirror finish when it's dry.....mine was sprayed outside in the back street where the pics were taken....lovely day so thought why not......

darren

[Spitfire1500]

Well everyone,

I'm going to have a proper go on my rear wings over the weekend. If it's ready quickly enough, I will be going to Stafford on the Sunday.

I'm going to spend tomorrow morning asking various body work people how much it is to replace my rear wings, or at least the L/H one (the R/H one just needs repairing) if it costs more than I can afford, I will just fix my car up with filler and mesh (and ample use of a wire-brush on a drill) and go from there, otherwise, I will get my whole L/H wing replaced and fix up/replace my R/H wing.

Then it will be a case of moving onto my doors and my sills, over the weekend after.

Thanks again everyone,

David