Paint complete!

So, assembly continued on the painted body.  All of the removed panels needed fitting.  The front fenders were the most difficult.  Considering that the front drivers fender was new to the car, many of the installation holes needed to be messaged with a small grinder so the bolts would fit.  It was back and fourth with moving the fender, adjusting the front of the drivers door, aligning the hood, etc.  After a few hours of delicately moving the freshly painted fender around with shims, it was done well enough for me. 

passenger side fender, wet sanded and ready for buffing

I went through miles of tape and clear plastic.

after the initial high-speed buffing

Once the painted panels were installed, the entire car was buffed.  It was a messy job as the buffer flung compound paste all over the garage.  No real problems, just time consuming (what isn't with a paint job I guess??).  I burned through the paint in a couple sharp edges.  I'll touch them up someday when I mix up paint again.

after 1st round of buffing.

after second round of finer buffing.  Only polish remains.

Next step was to glue on the vinyl fabric between the dash and the windshield.  I reused the original piece after looking for a replacement piece of vinyl and not being able to find a piece that looked correct or was the correct thickness for molding to the scuttle it would be glued to.  I just taped off the area, sanded the new paint to give the glue some tooth, and attached the vinyl.

sanded and ready for glue

installed and ready for the windshield.

Next up was the fun part- installing ALL of the rest of the bits- chrome trim, bumpers, mirrors, top fasteners, door components, etc.  Enjoyable tasks, but slow because of working around new paint.  Sure, I may have scratched it a couple times, but who cares?  As each piece is attached, it starts to look more and more like a car.

installing original VIN tag with rivets prior to windshield install

windshield installed

door latch pieces

Coming along.  I covered over the windshield because I still had some buffing to do.

tail lights, gas filler, etc

new stainless trim clips.  I had to make sure these would align correctly as I installed the fender.  This trim goes down the entire length of the car, on three different body panels. 

here are the trim pieces installed- look pretty straight I guess?

front end almost finished

grill added- sorry it's a bit blurry.  So was I by this time, so it's only fair.

Ready for the road!!

The final step for now was to install a dash cap my brother gave me for Christmas 7 months earlier! It covers over the cracked and split original vinyl dash top.  Looks really great.  A before and after:

 

old cracked dash- with some gorilla tape I put on cover the BIG cracks

new cap- sorry I don't have a photo without the towel.  The towel is there to hold it in place while the glue dries.



 

 And finally- on the road!!

It was a ton of work, but certainly worth it, and I had a blast doing it... now that it over.

 Next post in the New Year will be new seat covers.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Bodywork and paint continues

Over the next few months, I completely stripped off all of the panels that were bolted on, removed all of the chrome, rubber, seals, etc in prep for sanding, filler, and paint.

Some of the time, I would work in the basement because of weather and had a little paint booth set up with blue tarps and a fan to clear the dust and smell.  Here are a few photos of the hood, trunk, and front fender work.

back of hood prepped- I knew I would paint the other side in the garage later

back of hood primed

trunk lid prepped

trunk lid primed

trunk lid painted with new "bronze yellow" paint

Work continued in the garage as well when the weather was warm enough.  Basically, just sanding, hammer/dolly the dents, filler, etc.

door prep.  You can see the "crack of doom" above the holes for the door mirror.  This is a common spot for MGB doors to crack because of the stress of pulling the door closed with the vent window, and having the joint between the vent window and windshield frame too tight.  The repair is shown later.

trunk prep.  This area was pretty beat up from an accident in it's past.  I straightened it out the best I could and filled in the rest.

pulling (with a slide hammer) a dent from the area in front of the trunk lid.  There is no way to get to the back of this dent, so pulling was my only option.

using "Cleco" pins to hold a new piece of sheet steel I am epoxying to the inside of the fender, instead of welding in new steel.  There was a hole here from rust, so I ground off all the rust, and glued on the piece hehind the hole to give me something to apply filler to.  This is the same process I, and others, have used the fix the crack of doom- next picture.

"Crack Of Doom" repaired with steel back-up to stiffen up the area.

rear bumper area with more filler than I would like- but the alternative was to weld in a new panel.

I painted the wheel wells with stone-chip while they were open.

After the body work was done, it was time for primer and color.  This step was much faster that the sanding/cleaning/sanding, etc.  Here are a few photos of the progress.

primed the sills and door jambs first for practice with the spray gun.

prep continues

all wrapped with plastic ready to be sprayed the next day.  I had already degreased and tack ragged the entire thing, so I just covered it to keep the dirt off overnight

primer has started

door primed.  The silver paint to the right of the door is a rust sealer caller Por-15.  Some surface rust was just starteing to show here, so I figured it would be best to treat it while it was open.  I looked pretty good for 40 years old, so I figured the Por-15 was enough for anoth 40 at least.

primer products

all primed and ready for wet sanding and color.

Basically, I needed to wet sand all of the primer so the surface was smooth for my finished color.  just some 800 grit wet/dry paper and a few hours was all it took.

fenders and hood all primed and sanded.  The old wrecked fender is there as well- I used it as a test subject.

trunk area all ready for color

drivers side ready

here is what I did for hours and hours.....

 

Now for the color.  After a few test sprays, I was ready for the whole car.
It is actually kind of strange how many hours went into preparring for color, and applying the color took about 90 minutes total.  I did get quite a few drips and orange peel, but most of them sanded out after letting the paint cure for a couple days.  The sanding proceedure is even more time consuming with the final color: first 800, then 1500, then finally 2000 grit wet/dry.  The professional painters would not need to do this as much as I do because their finish out of the gun would be much smoother.  Oh well- that why I decided this would be a perfect car to learn on.

door painted

hood painted

the whole thing, including front right fender

clasic orange peel

more orange peel

my attire for the "paint booth" as you can see by the filters under the overhead door.

And, here is where she stands right now- fully painted, wet sanded, and partially compounded with a high-speed rotary buffer.  After the compound, she will still need high-speed polish, and then some wax once she cures for a month or two.

fender looks pretty good.

close up of shop light reflection- lots of wwet sanding and compounding can fix ALMOST anything.

coming along

pardon the dust on the lens

front end starting to get put back together.  You can see where I stopped with the new paint- right at the radiator.  It would have been ompossible to paint the engine bay with the engine instaled.  That will just have to wait for later.....

 

Next up, I'l lwrap up the body for now and start driving again.... I hope.