1973 mgb

[Bryan73]

Picked up a 1973 mgb project. Going to make it a driver for awhile then maybe do a nut and bolt resto a few years down the road.

Here's some pics of what I started with back in October. This is my first project.






Rusty Sills

[Bryan73]

Drilled sills and replaced

[Bryan73]

Prep for paint




Ok. I did it

I used the turbine. It's a accuspray 9100 5 stage turbine hvlp siphon fed with 1.3 tip. I have never painted before so please understand. I think it looks like crap... It was not the gun, paint, taping, temperature, airflow, lack of experience (maybe). I think it looks like crap because my prep work sucked. I thought I had sanded down the very thin coat of filler enough to hide the welds, or body work. Now the paints on I can really see the ledges around the filler.. I should have feathered it out more. I should have laid a coat or two of high fill primer and then block-sanded it. I think I have a small run on each panel lol. I know the pot dripped like 5 drops on my hood..

Anyone know how to get rid of runs in SS AE non-metallic?

[Bryan73]

[Bryan73]

[Bryan73]

Well I went ahead and sanded off all the edges and now I'll feather out a little better this time. I'm also going with a heavier primer in hopes of sanding/block sanding those spots again. Well it was a nice paint job at least for a day for a day

[Bryan73]

I used a 6 inch da with 180 around all of the bad spots. I then sprayed two coats of primer Hi-Fill. I blocksanded the two coats with 320 and hit the rest of the car with 320. Now I'm spraying two more primer coats and then going to blocksand the whole car with 500. This will make sure everything is even and flat. While it sucks I'm redoing it all, it has been fun learning. No doubt in my mind I can get a great finish next Tuesday. 70% of the car looked great the last time. The paint I put on flows well, and really highlighted the areas I need to sand and work on. Here's a pic now with still some more work ahead of me I just hope I can adjust the gun right to prevent runs or move faster.

[Len]

It's easy to generate runs using a turbine because they don't atomize as finely as a high pressure gun. Be sure to allow your first coat to dry to the touch before applying you next coats and it will have less tendency to run. Also apply at least three coats of paint so that you can sand and polish out the orange peel and any runs and you can end up with a glass-smooth paint job.

Run Repair Link

[Bryan73]

Thanks for the tip Len. So let the first coat dry completely? How about the 2nd coat? I plan on three coats. Would you recommend spraying enamel with a turbine or a gravity feed conventional gun and AC?

I have access to a 5 stage siphon fed HVLP turbine and also a smallish 6 hp 30gal craftsman ac and a cheap Campbell husfield gravity feed DH5800 gun (1.4 tip). I wonder which way is better? With the Turbine I'm worried about runs and with the AC I'm worried about water in the line and not enough CFM. The gun is rated like 7cfm and its one of the only ones that have that low of a cfm req.


If I could get a better finish with the conventional method then I would try it even if I had to spray one side of the car then wait.

[Len]

You want to let the firs coat dry until it doesn't move when you touch it lightly. The second coat should flash a little but it doesn't need to be as dry as the first before you apply your third coat.

While the amount and quality of the air is important the smoothness of the finish will be mostly determined by the quality of the gun. The turbine can do a good job if you use a "good" gun but I doubt that you could get a good job using that small compressor and the CH gun.

[Bryan73]

Some of the areas below I went all the way to bare metal. I know I have to spray a primer on it, but how much? It was like rockchips that I had to sand down. How do you handle those? The above pictures I just hit with 120 on a da. I plan next 320 with a stiff block and then 600 wet.

thanks

IMG-20120307-00184.jpgIMG-20120307-00185.jpg

[Bryan73]

wow You guys were right x2 :thup:

Check these out, and no runs!!

Any tips on getting slight orange-peel out of Single Stage Acrylic Enamel? Does wetsanding work on a SS like it does on a BC/CC?

[Len]

Yes, you can wet sand then buff but you need to remember that acrylic enamel is soft and it's easy to sand or buff through the paint. If you sanding by hand use some 2500 wet of a soft block and stay away from peaks and edges and polish using a slow rotation on your buffer.

[Bryan73]

Thanks Len

Should I wait a few days to wetsand? The sheet says I can sand after 24 hours and buffing is easier before 72 hours.

[Len]

Thanks Len

Should I wait a few days to wetsand? The sheet says I can sand after 24 hours and buffing is easier before 72 hours.

If it's acrylic enamel I'd give it a couple days of warmth then go for it.