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[LazyD]

Morning all,

I’ve read many contradicting posts on this and can’t make up my mind what’s the right way to do it so…………

What order should you be preparing and painting a mini shell in? (Bearing in mind mines been shot blasted and several new panels welded in)

Should it be:

1) Clean all surfaces back to bare metal and etch prime entire car.
2) Stonechip the underside of the car, including the inner wings / inner wheels arches.
3) Paint the entire car inside and out, upside and down.
4) Wax oil paint the underside of the car & wax oil gaps between inner & outer sills etc.
5) Realise your living of pasta and water because you’ve spent all your money on your car!

I want the spell prefect and fear if I don’t do it properly it’ll just start to rust in a few years time.

This car will only be on the road in the summer time and be garage stored.

Thanks in advance.

[panelbeaterpeter]

Ok, so long as you have a bare shell, that's been sand blasted and is rust free, there will be several areas needing filler, especially if panels have been replaced. Go over the car methodically checking each panel for imperfections and filling them, straight over the bare metal. Check alignment of doors, bonnet, and boot, making sure everything lines up perfectly and doesn't require any serious work to rectify the fit. When you have a straight dent and rust free shell, make sure the bare metal surfaces are 100% rust free, even the slightest bit of surface rust will cause problems later if not sorted at this stage. Etch prime the shell, with one dusty coat, that's all that's needed. If you apply etch primer thickly it won't work. Apply the stonechip to whatever areas you want, apply thin coats at a time, allowing each to dry or it will crack. Prime the rest of the shell with a high build 2k primer, you don't need to prime over the stonechipped areas, but doesn't do any harm if you do. Apply a guidecoat of either aerosol or guide dust, which will show up any low spots or imperfections. Flat everything with 320 grit abrasive, always use a block on flat areas, and either by hand or with a soft block on curved areas. you must remove all traces of guidecoat, if you have any left then it's not been rubbed down properly. If you need to rub through the primer so as to remove all the guidecoat, then you must re-prime the area, if it's through to the bare metal, always re etch before priming. Follow the 320 with 500 grit, using the same blocking method or with a DA sander with a soft backing pad. If you're painting it in a solid colour, that is enough, but if you're using a metallic, rub it down again with 1000 grit paper. Paint the shell, leave the paint to harden fully before flatting and polishing if needed. That can be about 2 weeks if you're not using a booth, otherwise about 2 days after being baked is usually fine. Build up the shell with the doors etc, and inject waxoyl or whatever version you use, into the sills etc, you can apply a coat of clear waxoyl to the underside over the topcoat if you like, offers a bit of extra protection and doesn't look bodged, like bodyshutz always does.

Edited by panelbeaterpeter, 21 December 2008 - 03:09 PM.