project 1980 Austin Princess

[plasticvandan]

If your hand painting I would roller it with rustoleum or similar,a mate of mine painted his reliant purple,and with the right prep and sanding between coats,it was a multi trophy winner. Costs very little,and will also get much more paint on it than some wanky arseoles.

Think it would look better all purple myself,or it could be that I hate champagne beige,plus 2 tone on a car like that just says to me the bottom half is rotten so I've painted the bottom half a different colour so I don't have to match the rest,sort of an upmarket tidemark.

[vulgalour]

That silver one is a Club 100 (or 100 Club, I always seem to get it the wrong way around), they didn't make 100.  If you were really good at selling horrible BL cars you were awarded with one.  All the whistles and bells the Princess came with including a black vinyl and pink velour interior and unique silver and purple paint on the outside.

 

As for mine, I'm sticking to the opinion dividing colour scheme.  I'm happy with it, that's all that matters.

 

Normally I would use brush on stuff and I might later on.  For now because I'm still digging out filler and repairing as I go it's best to just do it with aerosols as needed per panel.  I can get a reasonable finish and make the car look tidier and spread the total cost out over a longer period of time.  Panel a weekend is about the pace I expect to work at on this job.  Aerosols are less hassle and fuss for that and I do have the space to do that indoors.

 

I'd like to strip back and respray the whole car but I haven't access to the space needed for that length of time to be able to do it, I haven't even got space I could put up a suitable outdoor plastic garage or whatever as a temporary measure.  If I were still living in the Bolsover house I'd definitely look at doing something like borrowing that HVLP kit from PBK and sheeting up the inside of the garage I had there to get the job done.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The Halfords custom mixed ones are very good. I had to repaint a door and a wing in a BMW metallic blue (Montreal blue) and the finish was remarkable. It went on evenly and I left it a few days to harden. I then blocked it with 1000 grit and lacquered on top (big can of Halfords aerosol) although I experimented with 3000 grit and T Cut and achieved a good shine without it.

 

The rule of thumb with metallics is this: the lighter the colour, the less chance you have of a good finish. Trying to aerosol silver or light gold is like trying to shove pasta up a dogs bum with a wooden fork. It's not going to end well.

However, dark metallics can turn out well. Good prep, plenty of laters and elbows grease to flat and polish and it works okay. Make sure the paint is at least a week old before T Cutting as the ammonia in the stuff makes the paint cloudy.

 

Don't go straight onto beige with metallic purple. Apply a coat of black first otherwise you will have areas where it looks light as the beige is showing through.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The colour scheme is Vulg trying to stick one to his neighbours by convincing them he is one of the best salesmen in the BL Empire ano therefore winning RESKEPT

 

 

That is quite literally a winners colour scheme.

[purplebargeken]

Well the offer is there if needed mate. 

[vulgalour]

If I get somewhere to use it I'll take you up on it for sure.

 

---

 

Right, another day at the unit for me working on the Princess. Didn't quite get all the bodywork done that I wanted to. That said, the bodywork I have completed exceeded my expectation and I'm rightly or wrongly quite proud of what I achieved. First, a picture of my lovely complete manual aerial I mentioned in a previous update.

 

Then the sill I suppose. In an ideal world I'd replace the whole thing, it's been replaced in the past anyway. There's some areas of pitting that I've just cleaned and left alone, there's still enough metal there for it not to be an issue and I can fix it later. At the front there was a section that had holed quite a lot so that got cut out. Liberated a patch from the sills I'd taken from the orange donor car - the sills on that car looked like they hadn't seen any road, or at least not a great deal, and were still in really good condition.

 

First patch I measured twice and still cut wrong. Only just had enough to do a second patch of the right size. Cut back to quite good metal, certainly not that easy to get what was left of the cutting disc through it. Identified a little pinhole near the sill trim fixing hole too which got a little blob of weld. The welding itself went far easier on this too, good access and thicker steel really helped.

 

I'd already spent some time cleaning the whole sill back, removing all the paint and underseal that would come off. Some of the steel has little black stains on it, presumably from rust, that don't want to shift and I didn't really want to go digging just now.

 

Ground it all back with a new flap wheel and was very surprised at just how well I'd done. Identified a couple of spots that I'd not quite caught and put some fresh blobs down.

 

Once that was ground back I was faced with the best bit of welding I've ever achieved. This puts me a bit ahead of where I was with my welding and a lot ahead of where I was with putting repair panels in.

 

 

Gave the whole thing a coat of primer when I was happy with it. You can just see the diagonal repair line towards the back of the sill that needs a second fill. Before I do final fill, stonechip paint and top coat I'll check the bottom rail is nice and secure.

 

I'm delighted with that, it turned out so much better than anticipated. Before I tackled that I took all the horrible respray off the top section of the rear quarter to give it a fresh coat of primer and paint. There wasn't any filler hiding but there was still so much paint on there it was as if someone had skimmed it with filler. I used Halfords aerosol for this and the finish is reasonable. There's no lacquer or flatting or polishing, this is straight out the can.

 

Here's the difference in colours too. On the left is the proper Champagne Beige and on the right whatever the car is repainted in.

 

The front wing didn't get repaired today, I ran out of steam. I'm hoping to get that done next weekend. I'm really close to having this side of the car finished now. The rear door seal I'd lost reappeared when I discovered it hiding in plain sight so that got fitted today too. Got the battery charged but didn't get around to fitting it to the car to attempt a start up again.

[Felly Magic]

Good work once again, so many people would simply give up with this and weigh it it, but no, once this hits the road, I have a feeling you will have a big grin on your face

[Parky]

Top marks, coming together beautifully now

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

You need to spend more time on prep Chap. Before any colour goes on, you must guide coat it - with the primer on, dust black paint over it all and then block it down with 800 grit until every imperfection has gone.

 

99% of good paint is prep but not many professional paint shops seem to do this now.

[vulgalour]

I know the rules. That's why I'm breaking them.

[vulgalour]

But seriously, normally I do loads of prep and spend ages getting the paint just so.  For now I'm concentrating instead on stripping off the bad respray that's causing rust and hiding issue and then just making sure there's a waterproof top coat on to keep things that way.  The untouched bodywork on the car is pretty straight and doesn't seem to suffer from the same amount of ripples and dents that I've found in other cars, filler isn't really necessary outside of the repaired areas.  It's never going to be a show winner either, so that top quality glass smooth finish just isn't important here, desirable though it may be.

[Parky]

I think a dark purple colour might hide more imperfections than a lighter beigey shade

[vulgalour]

Just as well the worst of the imperfections are all in the zone I'm painting dark purple then.  I'm some sort of genius.

[garbaldy]

Nice to see you have regained your enthusiasm for old cars, yours is among one of the few threads on car tinkering that's made me try my own photo based info threads,

what happened to the lovely funky graphics you had painted on the car or did I dream that ?

[Ghosty]

Bootlid

[vulgalour]

^that.

[vulgalour]

Another weekend, another bit of welding on the wedge.  There's very little welding left to do now.  Started by finishing off the leading edge of the sill as I hadn't done the return edge.  Bit of snipping and bending and then I zapped it up after this.

 

Spent an absolute eternity removing the respray (well, resprays, it's been given a rubbish blow-over at least three times on this wing) off the front wing to get to the rust and cut it out.  I didn't have the time or inclination to strip the whole wing back, I'll do that another time when I finish repairing the dents.  Patches required were tiny.

 

Then I just sorted of got into the job and forgot to take any pictures.  The spare sill end section I had was suitable for the lower wing repair but not a perfect fit, still isn't really, but it's very close and saved me a lot of time.  I've still got to clean up, de-rust, stonechip paint and underseal the inner arch.  Another job that can wait a bit longer.

 

I did get the filling on the sill finished well enough and a coat of stonechip paint on there which should hopefully increase the survival rate of the panel.

 

Splashed some purple on the rear arch to cover some bare metal as the car will be going outside again probably tomorrow.

 

Put a quick coat on the front wing too.  No masking tape, just a quick fog in to work out where I want the colour split to sit.  The purple is perfect and an easy off-the-shelf acrylic aerosol to get hold of cheaply so ticks all my boxes.  I didn't have enough time to clean up the rear quarter and get the lower half of that painted, all in good time.

 

Later tonight or tomorrow I'll get the top coat on the sill.  Hopefully have my starter motor back soon too so I can get the car moving under its own power again.  The biggest challenge now is definitely removing the really bad respray, the paint clogs the flap wheel, doesn't seem to be affected by paintstripper and only really comes off when you apply heat enough to soften it and can then peel it off in sheets.  Nasty, nasty stuff to remove.

[captain_70s]

It's going to look fucking excellent with the lower half in purple. I can tell 'cause I have good taste...

[vulgalour]

I'd dare say you may even have excellent taste with your insistence to try and keep two Triumphs going.

[michael1703]

 The biggest challenge now is definitely removing the really bad respray, the paint clogs the flap wheel, doesn't seem to be affected by paintstripper and only really comes off when you apply heat enough to soften it and can then peel it off in sheets.  Nasty, nasty stuff to remove.

[vulgalour]

Clogs up those too!

[phil_lihp]

I never get tired of seeing welding repairs turn crusty, frilly bits into shiny new metal.

 

I've been trying to think what your new colour scheme reminds me of.  

 

I just realised what it was and now I want one and I can't because they don't make them any more.

[Ghosty]

Are you sure your car hasn't been painted with filler?

[vulgalour]

The thought had crossed my mind a few times.

[vulgalour]

Today the Princess went outside again, not because she was evicted from the workshop but because it was safe to put her outside without fear of the bodywork deteriorating.  Technically speaking, all the structural bits that needed doing for the MoT are now done, there's just the occasional little cosmetic patch to put in all over the car that are little more than an hour or two's work a piece.  I'll do each cosmetic bit as and when I've time and materials to do the panel they're a part of at the same time.

 

With several coats of purple on the sills over the stone chip paint I was satisfied that the car could come back down onto its wheels again.  The difference in how the sill looks now compared to the flakey, rusty mess it was before is quite remarkable and almost completely invisible.  I was going to refit the sill trim but have misplaced the rubber seal that goes between it and the bodywork, I'll also have to drill some fresh fixing holes that I accidentally welded up.

 

The other thing I did was tidy up the colour split on the front wing.  This is by no means finished as I've still got a lot of paint to remove on this wing and a fair amount of panel work to complete.  I'm not sure if I like the sharp split of the arch or if I preferred it with a wider fogged band but I am sure I like the sharp division between purple and beige at the waistline.  I'll also be adding a fat-and-thin silver coachstripe to the purple section after mocking up today with a scrap of gold I had in a spares box.

 

After inspecting my spare passenger door I found that not only has it never been repaired it's also in excellent condition.  Once I've repainted it I'll swap the lock and get that fitted in place of the current door which has signs of bodge and wob and welding I'd like to undo and put right.  With the scarcity of parts and my desire to improve my fabrication skills I reckon restoring the spare set of doors is going to be worth the effort.

 

Rummaging through the spares boxes I found three rear axle mounts, two of which are hopefully better than the ones currently on the car.  I also found I still have a spare axle crosstube which I'll get stripped and repainted and two sets of brand new rear brake shoes, though I only remember getting one set from Mr Bollox of this parish.

 

Next is to wait until the starter motor comes back, get that fitted and then crack on with mechanical stuff.  Once the car is reliably running and driving yet again it'll be a lot easier to get it in and out of the unit than it was pushing it out today.

[Pillock]

I like the sharp edge, if you're daft enough to listen to other people's opinions.

Been away for a weekend and it seems like you've cracked on with loads, nice one!

[vulgalour]

Sharp arch curve is easier to do than the fogged one.  Speaking of fogging and other paint shenanigans, I really fancy a mural on the bonnet and the only idea I've had is a mural on the bonnet of the car with a mural on the bonnet of the car with a mural on the bonnet of the car with a mural...

[I_am_Diesel]

When I can afford the parts I will have to do some welding to my Golf. It's threads like this that inspire me to ensure that it will be done. You have done a really good job so far. Top man.

[Felly Magic]

Terry and June mural!

[brickwall]

Your welding has come on leaps and bounds. What setup are you using?