Jump to content

1987 Renault GTA :: Gone to a new home


PhilA

Recommended Posts

It does. It's pretty broad for a spray can (about 3" wide at about 8" distance).

 

I'm going to write to them though and complain. They don't mark which side the paint pickup tube is with a little dot at the top of the neck and as such it's quite easy to get the can to sputter and fart as the paint gets low inside, and guessing which way round it has to be is a bit of a crapshoot.

 

Heck, even the can of spray oil I use in the kitchen for the pan has a mark on it for that.

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just looked on the custom filled can I got last week.what am i looking for?

post-5454-0-98743300-1532898038_thumb.jpg

 

Normally a dot of paint on the neck by the nozzle, like this (oil spray for frying pan) which indicates, at the bottom of the can, where the pick up pipe is, so you can always hold that at the low point and not suck up propellant and no paint.

 

 

In short, you want to keep the dot at the lowest point of the neck where you hold it to spray.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just went back and re-read the first couple pages of this thread and it reminded me of something. I had to replace the capacitors in the windscreen wiper control box because they had expired; the ECU has a few similar ones (and some tantalum beads) that may also similarly be expired or expiring. I should pull the ECU out and fit new ones to see if it makes any difference at all to the car's running.

 

Also, made a note how much the paint has deteriorated in a decade. It did look better* when I first got it.

 

Phil

 

 

*From thirty feet or so, at least.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-5454-0-83337900-1532987400_thumb.jpg

 

Rubbed the primer back with 1000-grit outside with water again. Came up pretty reasonable again, which is good.

 

Decided to lay down silver, despite it being particularly warm and humid (36C, 90%).

 

post-5454-0-72875300-1532987481_thumb.jpg

 

It's a bit stripey and I'm upset, half way through a drip of sweat dropped off my hand holding the spray can and landed smack dab in the middle of the lid.

Sopped as much as possible up with a cloth corner just touched to the surface so it wicks but I've a feeling that's going to mark.

 

That's 2 cans of paint, I think I'll be rubbing those down with 1500 then 2000 and see if the stripes can be persuaded to go away. If not, another couple cans and run back again to get some depth to the silver.

 

Here's hoping. A bit miffed that you can see the structure of the strengthening ribs on the underside. I'm guessing those are slightly raised or dimpled and either the paint sits differently or the rubbing back is affected.

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

post-5454-0-38013200-1533007220_thumb.jpg

 

Silver is dry. It flashed and bloomed a little which should go away with some wet flatting. Tomorrow I'll start on that if it's not too hot.

 

I watched a demo on the Internet about painting silver, and have determined it's almost impossible a) here in summertime to have the right temperature and humidity, and B) get a spray can that doesn't spit and bubble randomly.

 

I wouldn't mind so much, but the cans are tiny and $11 each.

 

More tomorrow. At the very least I'm no worse off than I was to begin with in terms of finish quality so there is that if it all goes wrong.

 

Maybe should have started with something like the wing mirrors though...

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you.

 

We'll see what it looks like after wet flatting, though. Hopefully the inconsistencies are mostly just bloom and overspray. I did manage to get the can too close at one point and the finish mottled, but I think I managed to cover it. I hope.

 

Apparently silver is all about what's underneath the top coat, so they say.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The booth stopped raining for a while, so I decided what the hey and made a go at smoothing the paint out.

 

With a lot of incident light it's got a decent gloss already.

 

post-5454-0-90903200-1533075577_thumb.jpg

 

But, straight-on it's all kinds of patchy.

 

post-5454-0-77975600-1533075610_thumb.jpg

 

Needs more coats of silver, or am I doing it wrong or just plain bad at painting?

 

All of the above are likely.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Silver is an absolute bastard to do with rattlecans.  Here's some tips I've got from experience, I'm not a pro, this is just what I've learned.

 

The first most important thing I've learned about painting silver from rattlecans is don't.  It seems to go right more by chance than design.  Matching the grey of the primer to the tone of the silver will help alleviate striping, you look pretty close in the photographs which is probably part of the reason your striping isn't too bad.  It's slightly counterintuitive, but spray in the shortest sections you can, so on the boot lid you want to be putting more on front to back rather than side to side.  For some reason this seems to load the panel better with paint.  Then finish by running the final coat on the longest run, generally running front to back on the sides of the car and side to side on the top gives the nicest finish.  If possible, break the panel down along bodylines (not that difficult with the GTA's styling) and do each section until it's close to not striping, then do the panel as a whole.  Again, this seems to load the panel more evenly and reduces the striping.  Use about twice the amount of paint you expect to get good coverage.

 

For some reason, silver seems really translucent, it's the worst colour I've ever painted and I avoid it whenever possible.  That said, what you've done so far doesn't look too bad, for silver, and repeated flatting and painting should get a reasonable finish.  It just might take you another half dozen passes with paint to get there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Flat because I don't really have a way to hang out vertical. I believe I would get a better finish vertical, but part of this was to see if I could do a large horizontal panel (think roof) which cannot be rotated to the vertical so wanted to see if there was a modicum of possibility.

 

I might just paint it white after all...

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Actually, after a bit of thinking, perhaps not white.

 

I don't think I'm going to move forward with the silver, these results are too poor for the outlay in paint.

 

I'm thinking a solid color. Blue, teal.. the interior is gray and black so that would work.

 

Or yellow. Not sure yet.

 

Colors that are on the "not really" list:

 

Metallic anything

Bright green

Black

Pink/light red

Purple

Brown/beige (only because it would clash with the interior)

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most forgiving colours I've painted are beige, red, metallic turquoise, bright blue, and grey.  The most troublesome are silver, metallic brown, bright yellow, and metallic dark blue.  The most unpredictable are purple, mid-greens, golds, and whites.

 

This colour is pretty awesome and probably pretty forgiving to paint.  I don't know what it's called.

7.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The most forgiving colours I've painted are beige, red, metallic turquoise, bright blue, and grey.  The most troublesome are silver, metallic brown, bright yellow, and metallic dark blue.  The most unpredictable are purple, mid-greens, golds, and whites.

 

This colour is pretty awesome and probably pretty forgiving to paint.  I don't know what it's called.

7.jpg

I call that one "the color I was thinking of"

 

post-5454-0-95629200-1533175245_thumb.jpg

 

This is the pretty mediocre selection at both the auto parts stores locally.

 

It may end up white after all.

 

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is it possible for you to buy or borrow a spray gun, and compressor if required? If you're thinking of doing the whole car, even a panel at a time doing it with cans is going to be expensive and results may be patchy. It looks like you may have been holding the can too close or the fan was too narrow meaning overlapping each pass was difficult without going over the same bit again. A wider fan or holding it further away to get a wider fan then overlapping by about 50% each time is about right.

 

http://www.collisionblast.com/2012/09/25/diy-car-painting-techniques-spray-gun-overlap-for-applying-paint-coatings/

 

Even a cheap spray gun will give a better fan and control and paint will work out cheaper overall. With metallic, base coat will need lacquer which means more cans. Might be worth looking in to paint and spray gun as you have what most in this country don't have, a large enclosed area to paint in. Chap on the blue forum has just painted his spitfire outside with decent results, so not beyond the realms of possibility. 

 

http://forum.retro-rides.org/thread/201146/1978-triumph-spitfire-1500-road?page=5

 

(scroll down a bit, about two thirds down the paint job starts)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Had a nice 10 gallon compressor but ex brother in law ruined it, sadly. Might end up getting one yes. Useful thing to have but if you don't take care of the things in the humidity here they don't last well.

 

Gotta go to town at the weekend, I'll try stop in at Harbor Freight and see.

 

Phil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...