Project 1975 Ford Granada Coupe - Lots & lots of tinkering

[dollywobbler]

This is the polar opposite of how I do things. Love it!

[TripleRich]

I really enjoyed you're experience of painting the Fox.  I could never bring myself to do it like that but it was great to watch somebody else have a go.  Regardless of method it looks considerably better in blue!

[dollywobbler]

Thanks. I'm well aware of my own limitations - sheer impatience, though I also have the problem that I'm always short of time as well - which isn't ideal when it comes to bodywork!

[danthecapriman]

It’s looking superb Rich, you guys do some brilliant work. I can’t wait to see it in its paint.

 

 

I really really really miss my Granada...

[Spottedlaurel]

Fantastic to see it getting to this stage, it must be very satisfying. I'm sure I'd be rushing to get it finished, your patience is admirable.

[schnappi]

On 6/15/2019 at 9:03 PM, TripleRich said:

if it needs another day of sanding it'll get another day of sanding

I'm lucky if "her indoors" gives me a chance to do an oil change!  Great work BTW!

[adw1977]

Any updates on this? It's been an epic thread so far. 

[TripleRich]

I've been away for a bit but still hard at work on the car.  Since the last update I've spent another 27 hours on it.

Much of the work over the past month or two has been very repetitive so I've held off posting endless pictures of sanding.  So since the last update I finished up the filler work on the rear quarters, fitted all the panels, set and checked all the panel gaps and fully fitted the front wings with sealant and new bolts.  I also did lots of localized bits and bobs all over the car.

Then I set to prepping for the first stage of actual painting.  This involved rubbing down the inside and engine bay with 500 grit paper by hand and it took ages!  I continued doing this and catching anything I wasn't happy with along the way.  Anywhere I rubbed through the primer was touched up later on.

So with that done I could finally get some paint on the car.  I'm painting the inside first and will do the outside later on.  I've never painted a car before so I hoped to learn some valuable lessons while doing the inside.  The inside doesn't really matter in terms of finish as most of it is covered up on the completed car.  

I came in early this morning (while it was still cool outside) and finished up the last few bits of prep.  Then it was time to go into the booth and spend another 45 minutes panel wiping everywhere clean.  I've also run an airline around the car many times to blow away as much dirt as possible from those hard to reach areas.  Happy I could do no more it was time to mix up some Carnival Red (the cars original colour).  This stuff came with the car and has never been opened.  Its 9 years old but was still in fine shape and more importantly it probably contains some decent chemicals unlike the modern stuff.  I've got about 7 litres so enough to paint the whole car twice.  I'm using a proper air fed mask and was very glad of it, this stuff absolutely stinks!

Mixed to the usual 2:1 ratio and added 20% thinners.  Set up the gun to what I thought was about right, dived in and started painting.  I really enjoyed the process and learnt a lot doing this, especially gun control.  The old paint covers very well and has a very deep shine.  Its hard to get it to photograph properly as the orange comes through on camera.  In the flesh its more of a tomato red rather than the orange on the pictures.

|t feels amazing to have reached this stage after over 4 years of work.  The pictures are of course very flattering and make it look brilliant.  There is dirt in a few places and of course being a beginner I got a few runs but its all lessons I can take with me to the outside of the car.  I started inside the passenger compartment and as I became more confident and had a better feel for what I was doing I moved to engine bay.  Very pleased with the results and should only need a cut and polish in a few visual places to finish off.  I did 3 heavy coats of paint everywhere as I have excess.  Inside it probably only needed 2 but 3 felt better. 

Looking forward to finishing the rest of the paint, reassembly its not too far away now.

Oh, I've also been going back through the thread and re-uploading all the pictures so they display properly.  About half way now, should be back to normal soon.  Cheers

[danthecapriman]

Sweet! That looks amazing in colour, even though it’s the inside bits it looks superb. It’s going to look stunning on the main bodywork.

[LightBulbFun]

amazing work

37 minutes ago, TripleRich said:

Oh, I've also been going back through the thread and re-uploading all the pictures so they display properly.  About half way now, should be back to normal soon.  Cheers

on the picture front, you dont have to reupload everything, but if you click on a small image so it opens full size, and the click on it again so it opens in a new window/tab

and then copy the URL of that image into the post your editing it will get embed full size

[MrParody]

Bravo.   Great work.

[Broadsword]

Superb. In an age of instant gratification all over the place it is pleasing to see a gradual, extremely well done job!

[gadgetgricey]

That is just stunning, simply stunning.

You should be very happy with the skill and quality of your work.

[TripleRich]

Another early start this morning.  My painting attempt on Saturday came out quite well and more importantly it has dried properly.  I was a bit concerned given the age of the paint but it's turned out to be brilliant stuff.  I must say it's given me a much needed boost seeing some colour of the car.  I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Moved the shell out of the booth and started prepping the insides of all the various panels.  Again I used 500 grit as most of this is unseen so finish isn't super important.  Also used red scotch brite for those annoying shapes and pressings.

There's a fair bit of over spray on the floor of the booth so I gave it good clean out.  Set the panels out on stands and panel wiped everything clean.  I also wet the floor to keep dust to a minimum as I'd quite like to avoid dirt on the inside of the bonnet and bootlid.

Starting the get the hang of it now.  As before I've applied 3 coats thinned to 20%.  I dialled the paint volume back a bit on the spray gun to avoid runs and I think I've got away with it.   I've also remembered to do all those annoying little parts that are often forgotten during the painting process. 

Next stage is to mask up the shell, guide coat, prep the outside, prep the panels, fit the panels and finish the painting.  Then I've got a fair bit of satin black to do which I'll leave until the end.  About another 3 or 4 days of work I'd say.  Cheers

[sutty2006]

Brilliant work. More satisfying doing it yourself especially with all the correct gear. I am hoping to paint my 76 manta myself but I have a barn and a very dusty atmosphere but painting it myself would be better in respects of personal achievement. Well done sir. 

[dozeydustman]

Looking better by the day. I doff my cap.

[dollywobbler]

Excitement level, 14 out of 10.

[TripleRich]

I spent most of the weekend on the car.  The outside is now painted and swallowed up another 17.5 hours.  It was bloody hard work but I'm very pleased with the results.

Started off on Saturday masking up the car as you don't want any over spray on the fresh paintwork.  I also fitted the doors and boot lid as these are easier to paint on the car.  The bonnet is just too big and I'd struggle to reach it with the spray gun.  I've left that off and will deal with it on a panel stand another time.

Now for the horrible bit.  The outside needs sanding down with 500 grit and then to 800 grit.  800 is sufficient for me as I'm painting a solid colour.  So I sprayed a guide coat on and started sanding.  The process is very important and shouldn't be rushed as you want to remove as many of the scratches from all the previous sanding sessions.

Here you can see after some sanding how the scratches and orange peel in the primer show up.  I continued to sand and remove as much of this as possible.  

All that took about 13 hours as of course I found additional areas that needed a small skim of filler in various places.  Once I was happy I could do no more it was time to go back in the booth.  Again I panel wiped the entire shell and applied some etch primer from a can in any areas where I'd applied filler or rubbed through the primer.  As I'm using a solid colour full of all the banned chemicals so I can get away with rubbing through the primer and dusting it back on later.  I also changed the extraction filters, swept the floor, wet the floor and crossed my fingers.

I applied 4 coats of paint and it went on very nicely.  Basically loaded the thing up with as much paint as possible but stopped short of getting runs.  I'm starting to get the painters 6th sense for anticipating runs so I bottled it at 4 coats and left it to dry.

Pleased with the results.  The car will hold its own at a show and I'm happy that I put so much extra time into the preparation process.  Its not perfect and if you get the light right and look carefully you will find the odd ripple or shallow dent. However you'll find those on just about any classic car thats been painted for less than 12k.  I'm happy with it, its a 44 year old Ford so it was always going to be a challenge!

Next on the list is the bonnet, fuel flap and body plate.  After that I've got quite a bit of satin black to apply as being a mid 70s car it has a black rear panel and black sills.  Theres also areas of black around the rear windows and inside.

[sutty2006]

Looking absolutely fabulous! Well done 

[Skizzer]

Stunning. And what a milestone- you must be feeling pretty good about that.

We need to get this added to the AS logo, wot I drew a few months ago.

[danthecapriman]

That looks absolutely amazing, I bet your well proud of that!

Your just about onto the home straight with it now where you can actually start putting things back onto it rather than stripping and repairing!

[TripleRich]

I can't wait!  The huge pile of bits has been sitting in storage for over 3 years.  To finally be able to open the boxes and start putting bits on feels amazing.  I hope I'm not missing anything!

[Spottedlaurel]

That is great to see, I can only imagine how pleased you must be to reach this stage.

With all the additional skills you're picking up you'll be quite an asset to your employers.

[Tickman]

Looking stunning there.

[MorrisItalSLX]

What a beauty! The excitement is building, I can only imagine how keen you feel.

 

[Tenmil Socket]

Looking forward to seeing this come together...

[Jim Bell]

That looks deep enough to swim in. Well worth the trillion hour tally so far.

 

Reassembly is the opposite of disassembly. 

[TripleRich]

Today I prepped and painted the bonnet.  It's come out quite well which is good as its such a big part of the car.  I've also painted the filler flap and the build plate which lives in the engine bay.

Spent the rest of the day doing lots of masking and spraying satin black.  Started off with the parcel tray area which is black to hide body colour from the vents in the parcel tray trim that covers this area.  I've used soft edge tape to create a faded edge similar to the original paint that was on the car.

Next was the radiator box and lamp panel.  This is black to stop you from seeing body colour through the front grill and headlamp trims.

Also did the seat mounts as these are not covered by the carpet.

Also did the small vents on the quarter panels.  The window frames here also need doing.

Finished up doing the dash support which is colour coded to the interior.

Still have the sills, rear window frames and back panel to do.  Once those are done the paint will have had plenty of time to fully cure ready for a flat & polish.

[beko1987]

Holy painting man! Wow! 

[busmansholiday]

Jesus fucking wept, if this isn't in prime position at the NEC Classic next year then I'd like to seriously know why.

Absolutely superb quality job, your patience and skill has to be admired.