Styled in Italy, built in Britain - The story of the blue Ital Van

[Timewaster]

I wouldn't laquer a solid colour. Even if the garage was heated at the time, the panels would still be cold.

My advice is to be patient. Close the garage up for a couple of days,let the paint harden properly then wet flat and polish by hand.

I only know this because I always ruin a paint job by being bloody impatient.

[junkyarddog]

It can be such a disapointment after all your hard prep work when paint goes on poorly,

 

Heat really is what you need.

 

A hot air gun over the repairs and get some heat into the panel,

 

Heat up the aerosol too,either stand it in hot water or  with the heat gun.

 

Heat the paint again as soon as it's sprayed on,you need it to dry quickly in this cold weather.

 

 

Looking at the pics,it has bloomed,

but a good flatting and polishing session should get it looking good.

If not carefully flat it back,compound the panel to remove the overspray,

then try again.

[cort16]

I’ve had exactly the same problem with my cortina this week. If you flat it back with some 1200 wet and dry and buff it up it’ll be dandy if it’s on thick enough .

[trigger]

Thanks guys, I think the panels may have been too cold and it's bloomed like you've said, I've not had that happen before! I'll leave it a few days and then wet flat and polish it, I'm sure it will look fine.

[Timewaster]

It will be better than factory however it turns out.

[Parky]

And even if it does end up slightly less glossy than desirable, it is still a 2347.6% improvement on the original so that's a bit of a win

[martc]

CAREFULLY Heat up the aerosol too,either stand it in hot water or  with the heat gun.

 

 

[Yoss]

As previously covered, Dolomite sprint wheels would fit Marina cars but not vans.  The same difference was continued with the Maestro ie....

 

Maestro (car) = Marina (car) = Dolomite/Toledo etc = 3.75" PCD

 

Maestro (van) = Marina (van) = MGB, Stag, Allegro, Princess etc = 4.5" PCD

 

My Maestro van (a few pictures of which have popped up on these pages) wears MGB rostyles

 

Sorry wasn't paying attention. I did not know this. Now I do. That's why I come here.

[oldcars]

Never heard the term bloomed before regarding painting. All i know is this thread is blooming brilliant. With this and the Invacar thread this place is spot on.

[cobblers]

That looks a lot like plain basecoat to me Trigger - was it really runny stuff, like skimmed milk? What was it labelled as?

 

A lot of paint places sell basecoat+lacquer paint for even flat colours thesedays. It's how a lot of bodyshops work, they won't generally use direct gloss colours.

[fordperv]

Good progress trig, I'd ring up the paint suppliers and ask them what they think, echoing cobblers it does just look like basecoat

[trigger]

I wondered if it's a base coat too? Something about it isn't quite right, to be fair the lad who sold it to me was Eastern European and I couldn't really understand what he was asking me!

 

Bit more process today, first job was to get it of the axle stands and back out side to wash all the dust off, I took the opportunity to take a couple of photos of the dodgy paint, more about that in a bit.

 

 

 

As it was outside I spent a little time finishing the inside floor, I laid that Flashband tape stuff down by cutting it to size and heating it up with a hot air gun, I've never done it before but I think it should do the job.

 

 

 

Then I spent some time wire bruising the underside, the less said about that the better and got some Kurust on there to dry for now.

 

The temptation to polish the wing and see if the paint would come back got too much so I've had a quick go, I don't know why I was so worried now!

 

 

[SiC]

I need to learn how to use a proper polisher. I guess it's much harder than it looks?

[M'coli]

Re: wheels - Rover 800 wheels will fit, surely?

[jonathan_dyane]

But surely these are illegal to drive on the road now?

 

Sorry wrong thread...

[Noel Tidybeard]

But surely these are illegal to drive on the road now?

 

Sorry wrong thread...

 

no, no you are quite right itals have always been of dubious legallity!

[Isaac Hunt]

Well done on the paint.

 

Assume you have worked with cellulose?

 

I think you have worked it out, bloom from cold, let harden and flat wet with 1200 grit and plenty of soap and water. Then polish with a cutting compound, working through finer grades such as t-cut and even brasso.

 

It is amazing how it can be brought back. And if it doesn't or you are still not happy, wet flat again and dust another coat or two.

 

I think someone has said 'hot pot' can also help.

[greengartside]

Looking really good now Trig! That wing has come up lovely.

 

One thing I have noticed though. Is it my eyesight or does there appear to be a number plate behind the front number plate?

[trigger]

Looking really good now Trig! That wing has come up lovely.

 

One thing I have noticed though. Is it my eyesight or does there appear to be a number plate behind the front number plate?

That's a piece of wood! It has a crack and looking at how it sits I'm guessing it's easy to do too, I'm not sure if it will pass the mot so I might have to replace it as yet.

[Eddie Honda]

I think someone has said 'hot pot' can also help.

That'd be Betty

 

[Joey spud]

Here is a Jasper Carrot / Wiggy clip to help motivate you and push things along.

 

[Skizzer]

Cracking job there Trigster, you have definitely become the master at this stuff.

 

Wheels: how about just painting them grey and putting some shiny trim rings on? The early base model Lotus Eclat had those and they look great:

 

(Don’t think anyone actually bought a base model Eclat, mind. If BorniteIdentity ever has a midlife crisis...)

[oldcars]

I need to learn how to use a proper polisher. I guess it's much harder than it looks?

It's not to bad really. My paintshop pal showed me. I did a bit of practice on an old scrap panel first.

[Guest Hooli]

Here is a Jasper Carrot / Wiggy clip to help motivate you and push things along.

 

 

I'd forgotten how funny he was.

[flat4alfa]

 

[trigger]

That's not actaully too horrendous

[purplebargeken]

That actually looks rather good.

[purplebargeken]

I really want to clean that interior.

[trigger]

I do too! I should be able to deep clean it soon now I've finished the floor.

 

Bit of a boring update today as I took no photos but dad came over and helped me on the brakes, we've fitted new shoes and cylinders on the back, annoyingly one the unions wouldn't come undone and bent the brake pipe that runs along the axle so that will need replacing before I can bleed the brakes, we stripped the handbrake down too and greased that all up.

 

We then moved to the front end and cleaned all the calipers and discs up and fitted the nearside polybushes where the tie bar meets the body, again frustratingly the offside was a pig where the bolt wouldn't come out without heat and ended up damaged so I now need to source a replacement, also fitted new track rod ends both sides.

 

Also the rubber fuel pipe from the carb to the tank was completely perished, I went out and spent £19 on 7ft of 8mm pipe only to find it was too wide to fit inside the hole where it runs though chassis, so thats something I need to buy. There's always something!

[Vin]

Great work Trigster, this looks nice. As it's an old van, welcome to the world of the winner... :-D

 

I don't see what the obsession is with the wheels though. In this thread and on Facebook. It's already got four on it and they look perfectly acceptable to me.