22 replies to this topic

[edi57]

After seeing some of the excellent refurbs that people have done on alloy wheels (e.g. Stardudes cosmic alloy refurb) I've decided to refurb my JanSpeed rocker cover.





Hopefully I'll end up with the top of the ribs and "JanSpeed" logo as shiny alloy and the rest painted. The colour is going to be pretty unusual for a rocker cover...but I know it's going to work well with my mini. It'll be traditional but different!

You'll all have to wait until it's finished to see the colour that I have chosen.

First thing I did was strip the paint with paint stripper. It was painted inside and out. To scrape off the paint I was using a flat scraper until I got close to the alloy (typically three applications of paint stripper) followed by a metal scrubber and then wire wool to finish off. I decided to start with the inside first. Doing it like this meant that the alloy on the outside was protected from scuffs and scrapes with the paint.



Moving on to the outside...

I continued with the same stripping method... but then I thought that it was a bit silly when I have an accessible flat surface. I put the rocker cover in the vice (with wooden sides) and used my strip and clean disc on an electric drill. This really saved a lot of time. A bit of paint stripper was required to finish off, but not much.



On top... I decided to strip the ribs first as I did not was to cause too much abrasion to the JanSpeed logo as it sits a lot lower.



The JanSpeed logo was quite fiddly. It took many applications of stripper to sufficiently soften the paint enough for me to remove with a very fine mini screwdriver. This is it nearly finished...



After I'd stripped as much as I thought I could I covered the whole thing in a thin coat of stripper, left for a few mins then took it to the kitchen sink with a sponge. I thoroughly washed it was water to neutralise the stripper and remove the last little bits of paint.

It took me 4 evenings spending about 2.5hrs each evening to get this paint stripped! It's much easier to pay someone £10 to sandblast it for you but the guy that does my sandblasting lives a good 30miles away and I'm on a budget this month... so hard work was the only option. Starting to look good though!



Polishing...

Just the usual method...wet and dry. I started with 320, then 400 then 800 on a solid block (bit of wood). JanSpeed logo polished first...



Then the ribs...





I then washed off with water, dried off, then sprayed with cellulose thinners which will hopefully help the masking tape stick.

I was up until 11:30pm last night getting it to that stage. I'm now ready with the masking tape and the knife. The JanSpeed logo is going to prove a bit tricky to mask but with patience hopefully I'll get there.

Now.. my questions...

What should I be priming the alloy with?

And how much primer should I coat it with? Should it be just a light misting or should I be aiming for solid but even coverage? Multiple coats of just one?

With the rocker cover masked, I'm not really going to be able to do any rubbing down of the top surface in-between coats of paint/primer so I need a solution which preferably does not involve rubbing down.

One thing to bare in mind is the fact that the Janspeed logo is pretty low profile. I can't go buidling up the paint too high around there or the logo will get flooded.

I'm gonna get a tin of the paint I want mixed up at halfrauds a little later so suggestions of primers that I can buy at halfrauds would be convenient for me. In the garage I've got couple of cans of Simoniz grey primer (from memory those cans spray really smoothly) and a can of halfrauds grey primer. These any good to me?

Edited by edi57, 01 March 2008 - 08:39 PM.

[stardude]

its looking good!

get a can of halfords zinc primer. its a silver aerosole with a silver lid, with all of the other spray can. think its about a fiver.

you probably want 2 or 3 coats of it

EDIT: you can probably get away with the primers you have, but the zinc primer helps resist corrosion of the alloy

Edited by stardude, 01 March 2008 - 10:00 AM.

[stardude]

if you want to get the ribs and the logo REALY shiney/polished, you could get a polishing kit (with mops and polishing compounds) you can get a very good kit that will last you months, and you can polish anything with for about £15

OR

you can get miniature kits for doing jewelery and precious metals for about £5

[edi57]

I've got a dremel type kit from machine mart and lots of little polishing accessories etc. Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?

U think it's ok to use polishing compound after painting?

[stardude]

I've got a dremel type kit from machine mart and lots of little polishing accessories etc. Is that the sort of thing you're talking about?

U think it's ok to use polishing compound after painting?

yeah, little felt thingys?

yeah its fine to use after painting, i have done on my new set of alloys.

[edi57]

Continued...

I spent from 10am to 2pm masking this thing today. I really didn't expect it to take so long...but I've really impressed myself. I think this is probably the limits of masking. I certainly wouldn't want to do anything more detailed. Lets just hope it keeps the paint off the surfaces sufficiently.



I decided that I would paint the underside first so I masked off the rest.



Primed with a can of Simoniz grey primer. It went on a tiny bit thicker than I wanted but it's tricky spraying in confined areas so I was happy enough. No runs though.



I wanted to make sure no rubbish touched the surface after painting so I went down to the pound shop before starting and got a little box to put over the rocker cover. It meant that I could open up the garage door and work on other things while the primer was drying.



After the primer was thoroughly dry it was time for the topcoat! I thinned it quite far and did a few practice sprays on some scrap to get the gun set-up correctly. I really am a complete novice when comes to spraying. So this is where I was worrying about making a complete mess of it all.

It has turned out alright though. I'll spray the top side tomorrow.

[wwinstanley]

lookin good mate, keep up the good work, i personally would have just painted the whole lot then taken the paint of the logo and fins. But im a botcher!

[edi57]

lookin good mate, keep up the good work, i personally would have just painted the whole lot then taken the paint of the logo and fins. But im a botcher!

Cheers mate. After trying the masking, I think your idea is much more sensible!

I'm hoping that the masking will give me a better edge and there will be less risk of damage to the fresh paint.

But who knows... just gotta wait and see how it turns out. Lets hope it's not been one huge wasted effort!

[Racer_Pete]

Ive got one to





Looking good!

[edi57]

Yup, I saw yours Pete! Love it!

Is yours painted on the inside?

I'm trying to work out if the red paint that was on mine was original. It looks the same coluor as yours but I had just presumed that it had been repainted in the passed due to the tops of the fins and logo being painted too.

[Racer_Pete]

Ill have a look tomorrow, I think it is painted on the inside to. but I might be wrong.

[edi57]

Masked




Ready to go




Primed




Top coat




Just got to wait for it to dry now.

Looking closely I've seen a couple of small runs and the paint on the flat surfaces is looking a bit on the thin side. I can still see the texture of the alloy.

Tomorrow I'll rub down the runs with fine wet and dry, then give the whole thing one thin coat.

When that's dry it should be time for me to remove the masking tape to see the end result.

[edi57]

Hmm, need to delete this and I don't know how?

Edited by edi57, 02 March 2008 - 07:44 PM.

[matty135790]

i live near newmarket, Dullingham! Hello

[edi57]

i live near newmarket, Dullingham! Hello

Hi!

I've seen the posts of your project. It looks really good and you've made very quick progress!

Mine's gonna be a couple of yrs until it's finished :S