Paint Prep 2

The title of this post is Paint Prep 2, although you already knew that. It sounds like the cheesy sequel to a petrol-head B-Movie staring Alain Delon or Chuck Norris, in which a crazed car enthusiast sprays everything in sight. Anyway, I mention it because there will be more posts with this suffix, such as 3, 4,5...8 etc, so I hope you don't get bored.

So, onto today. Things are coming together nicely as I follow my plan of priming the car. I am doing this for practical reasons, obviously, but also for a psychological boost. It is so nice to see the car starting to acquire one colour.

Ignore the shut line - the door is hanging off its hinges.

The idea is to rub down the old paint, rust etc and prepare what I can see with knifing filler, before spraying on a grey primer coat. Don't worry - I know this will need a lot of final prep before a top coat goes on, but there is a double reason: once all in grey, the areas needing fettling show up even better. Once the car is all in primer, I will go around it with a magnifying glass if need be. It is amazing what little bumps, deings, scratches and sand marks this technique reveals.

So far (since the last post) I have done the nose panel and the offside door, so the car is now in primer all round.

I said "all round", but I didn't say "all over". That's because the following areas still need a lot of sanding and pre-primer prep: the roof, screen pillars, rear deck panel, driver's door and door shut, slam panel and of course the inside. I can't wait to see the inside all painted.

I remember reading a story in Practical Classics by a restorer, who said his project took him so long that he went through something like three angle grinders and two electric drills. I doubted this at the time, but I can report that my trusty Bosch PEX115 DA sander expired today, as did my el-cheapo B&Q branded flat sander. Oh, and the compressor nearly gave up the ghost on account of me forgetting to put oil in it. Actually, I didn't forget - I just didn't know you had to. The old thing seized solid, but filling the sump with 20-35 oil did the job. It must be 20 years old, so hopefully it won't need another oil change until 2035.

Oh, before I forget, I did buy a Black & Decker Mouse, which is an excellent bit of kit and ideal for sanding in tight places, even if it does make me break out into mice-oriented song when the mood takes me. Today it was "Little Mouse" from the BBC series Look Around You.

Right, that's it for now. Maybe it's me that is the crazed car enthusiast who sprays everything in sight, so perhaps I should make that movie and call it "Paint Prep3 - So Many Shades of Grey". Sorry Chuck Norris, "Gray". We'll see.