1934 Rover 12 restoration or tomatoes

[digcot65]

Hello I`ve built the "tent" and it may be less trouble to sell the car and grow tomatoes.I`ts come out as I hoped it would and it nice and light inside it Over the years I`ve sprayed loads of cars as my restoration hobby,but however much you clean the garage you still have to spend hours flatting and polishing the dust and bits out of the paintwork.I have a friend who offered to loan me his professional spray booth.But it meant getting the car in a moveable state ( no steering box in at the moment ) then if I could get it delivered there and pay him for the use of the booth.I could only borrow it at weekends ,so I would have to move it out of the way if not finished.This way the time is my own

[digcot65]

Getting there slowly.The U/C shows up even more blemishes but they are being removed bit by bit .I have anew HVLP spray gun and I still haven`t got the setting correct so it will take a little longer than with my old gun.It certainly doesn`t spray paint all over the place ,but is a much more gentle action.It must save paint as well .I`ve arranged for Steering Services to rebuild my steering box,they come recommended from the Forum Len

[Stuart7]

Looking good,

[digcot65]

Morning,I bought a new HVLP spray gun,but I still haven`t got it right.I`ve tried various settings on the gun and I have even bought a Viscosity cup to measure the paint thickness I now need to try various paint /thinner mixes.I would like to get this sorted,before I start the base coats and lacquer.I have my old gun to use if the worse comes to it,but since other people seem to get on OK with the new HVLP guns,it must be me Len

[digcot65]

Morning,I`ve sorted the spray gun out .I have a gauge on the compressor,which I set to 25Lbs as the book says,I found the spray was poor so I bought a gauge that fits onto the gun itself l .I had read the pressure can drop quite a bit if using a 1/2 inch pipe and when I checked the gun gauge,it was hardly reading.I turned the compressor gauge right up,set the gun gauge to 25Lbs and hey presto it fine.I`ve masked the car up as its two tone so next job start spraying ,I `m in the garage a few times washing the floor and wiping the bodywork over,with tack rags .Len

[digcot65]

Gave the car a couple of of base coats,thinking I had removed every blemish,but sadly wrong as always happens a fresh coat of paint shows up everything So a few more hors of filling and sanding.At least it passes the time Len

[TonyG]

Hi, black is the hardest of all colours to paint so ‘hats off’ to you for tackling it.

What sort of paint are you using? I’m assuming cellulose, which is probably the most friendly for home use. This what I used on my cars. Gives a good finish but not as durable as 2 pack, although I’ve never been brave enough to try that. I don’t know what the original paint type was that Rover used. A lot of cars were painted with enamel and recall reading that BMC used this from 1960s and acrylic was widely used in body shops by the 70s due to the excellent gun finish that was achievable. My Tourer had been painted with this in ‘72 and looked pretty good but it was a real pain to get off when I stripped it back to bare metal in 2015 as paint stripper didn’t touch it!

My Tourer looked excellent when I first painted it but it hasn’t remained as good. Partly due to my inexperience (I hadn’t painted a car for nearly 40 years) and partly due to the poor quality of cellulose paint available now that the lead and other toxins have been removed. The problem I had was that the paint takes ages to harden properly and I didn’t leave the filler coats long enough before flatting off and putting on top coat. As a result shrinkage occurred on the base layers, revealing a lot of the marks beneath that had been eradicated. Something to watch out for if you are using cellulose. The car still looks ok but next year I will be attempting to cut back the paint to resolve the problem and re spray the bits that are particularly bad. My worry is that it’s red and, with the hot summers of late, has probably faded. With the Saloon I left the base coats much longer to harden off and I’m hopeful that I won’t get the same problem and that certainly seems to be the case.

As such, I’d be really interested to know what paint you use and any tips you can give on getting it right. Using a pressure regulator at the gun is good to know and I will be doing that in future. With low pressure guns just a few psi can make a big difference so it’s important to get it right. I use a water trap at the gun, which may reduce the pressure too. The paint I used is a 50/50 mix, using good quality thinners. Back in 70s the trick was to apply the top coats with greater amounts of thinner until it was almost neat, thereby getting a glass like gun finish. With modern paint it just made a mess, as you can imagine, so I stuck to 50/50 for all coats and bought a polisher to bring out the shine.

Keep us updated.

Tony.

[digcot65]

Hello Ive restored about 30 cars over the years as a hobby.I used to use Cellulose but went off it ,when they started to add Ethanol to petrol .You find if you spill any petrol when filling up,it strips the paint.I only use basic U/C followed by base coat in the colour I want and then 2 pack lacquer .When I sprayed in my garage I would hang plastic sheets all round the walls and wet the floor but still had a lot of bits settle on the lacquer.It could be cut down with 2000 wet and dry and polished with Faracla .I`m hoping building the "TENT" in my garage the dust will be cut down a lot .We will have to see when the lacquer is applied I`ll keep you posted with photos

[digcot65]

Hello again,this is a car I built some years ago out of a Post Office panel van.It was a kit car ,but after buying a few parts to get started,the owner of the kit company died,so I had to fabricate almost everything body,hood ,screen. interio.It really pulled the crowds in .Finally someone in Nice France bought it.I wish I still had it.The body was made by making a frame of3x2 wood and I founf a couple of hundred lengths of Ash 24" x2"x1/2" and between each bit if fitted on the frame I glued a strip of Mahogany 1/2" x 1/8" Took months but it was rewarding I managed to buy the headlamp covers but had to make the interior from S/S mixing bowls Len

[digcot65]

I went into the garage this morning,to give the bonnet a base coat,and the hammer fairy has been in again during the night. Just saw another ding on the bonnet as the light caught it dam those fairy`s .So a bit more filler and the spraying is delayed .Len