Respray questions

[CanuckIIA]

Most of the panels on my 64 88" IIa are either corroded or bent. Every outside panel has been given a "not good" coat of paint that isn't Land Rover original. I have read the Haynes Land Rover Resotration manual and still have a few questions, sometimes about how things translate into North American English.

I would like to start repairing the corrosion and getting some of the dents out. This is what I had planned and a few questions, please add info where you feel you should;

1. Remove a part, say like a fender.

2. Since it isn't original paint, strip the panel down to the birmabright with a spray or brush on paint stripper that is safe for aluminum. Scrape off the paint and rinse with water.

3. Hammer out the dents as best I can.

4. Spray panel with a self etching primer. (Um, it's April and I live in Canada and will be working outside maybe around mid to late May. That's why I want to do it panel at a time).

5. Bondo the panel with bondo that says it will bond to aluminum. Sand and wipe.

6. Prime again with normal primer.

7. Final sand, (is it really worth it? This will never be a show truck!).

8. Top coat. (How many coats? Should I clearcoat?)

Anyone who has actually done this please offer your advice and I'll pic this post up with progress pics when the time comes. Also can anyone suggest what type of spray gun is best for beginners? Gravity feed or the other kind?

[werldcup]

Your basics are there but do not expect it to be NEAR as easy as you make it sound. Body work is time and patience intensive and the end paint job depends far less on the paint than the prep work involved.

How warm is it there? It needs to be ~60F for the bondo and paint to adhere properly.

Do you have proper body hammers/dollies? What about sanding blocks?

Yes, you will need to final sand, and sand many many times in between that and your stripping of the paint. Do not expect to have finger tips when you are done.

Your color and possibly clear coat is dependent on the type of paint you use and desired finish. There are many many types of paints, those that don't require clears (like lacquers, not recommended, or good enamels, definitely recommended for a beginner), and base coat/clear coats (not recommended for a beginner). The types of paints which do not require a clear are going to be much more forgiving for you as if you f up the paint while painting, you can just sand the imperfection down and start over.

Check out www.eastwood.com for tools/guns/etc. They have an excellent selection and should be able to set you up for success. I recommend buying a couple books or better yet DVDs on how to do body work and paint with a gun before jumping head first into this.

My first car I restored and painted was a '67 Volvo 122s and I decided on a base/pearl/clear paint job (I was ambitious). It was a silver base, blue pearl, and clear coat over that. It took a vast amount of patience (I was only 16) but ended up amazing.

I started the car in the middle of winter and to solve the temperature problem I got a portable heater to warm my garage to a temp where the bondo would adhere properly. You would likely need to do something similar.

Good luck!

[bamarover]

I can't tell you about paint except POR-15 for the non-body stuff. We had a paint shop do our finish work because we did not have a place to do the work. We did do a lot of prep work on bent and dented aluminum before we sent it over there.
We bought a set of body shop hammers and dollies from Harbor freight and stared at them for a long time. A long time. Finally got the nerve to beat on something bent. To our surprise, the aluminum responds quite readily and it is shocking how you can shrink clearly stretched areas back into shape. I cannot explain how it happens. The more we did it, the more agressive we got. The results are extremely satisfying , about as much as completing repairs to the bulkhead. Pick the dollies based on the shape needed. We worked on flat areas and curved areas, picking the best contoured dollie. We did not experience any cracking aluminum, but I read about beating too much makes the aluminum brittle. 6 months out we have had no problems. I would urge you to do this and minimize the use of bondo. In most flat places you can work the aluminum to perfectly flat and need NO bondo None! We had to use a little on the top in curved areas where the dollies could not reach or did not match the contour.

We stripped old paint using the Home Depot orange stuff as someone else suggested. That ia a slow process, but necessary in some places on our body. Mostly, we used an orbital sander and lots of fine grit paper. Good luck!
Greg

[CanuckIIA]

Well, I've done body work on at least a half dozen cars, some good and some bad, but this it the first time I am planning to move on from a spray can to a proper spray gun . I'm a hobbyist armourer and knifemaker so I have about 30 hammers and 8 dollies and I understand work hardening and annealling. I have also done drywall and painting while renovating my house and have taken some of my knifeblades up to 1500 grit finish. So I feel confident that I should try this, even though I am not expecting it to go "perfectly".

Two questions still concerning me are;

1. Should I strip the whole panel to bare aluminum or just work the dent and rust spots then sand the whole panel so the paint can grab it?

2. What kind of primer, and paint is best to use as a beginner? werldcup says enamels so that's a start and I know I need an etching primer.

3. Is there one primer I can buy that will etch for the aluminum but will work on steel and that I can weld through when I work on the bulkhead?

I will be doing most of the work outside as I have no garage. I'll give it a shot and if need be, just prime and blocksand the whole thing and take it to a local spray shop for the top coat. Or do pieces in my shed as I get them off and straighened.

Thanks for the answers so far, and bama, I will try to minimize the bondo, thanks for the encouragement.

[bamarover]

One other thing to consider: When doing body work, you have to decide whether you are going to leave spot welds that show all over the truck. When you bondo areas, these will likely fill in. We chose not to cover any of them to maintain the original look. Having made that decision and now with final paint, we like the original look, so we are glad we did not fill the aluminum spot welds. Just something to decide about.
Greg

[pickuprover]

Bondo is the first thing to go when you take the truck offroad.... If the panels are not too bad, then hammer them out, then paint. Some imperfections make the truck more authentic.... unless of course you are going for the showroom perfect look, well then, order new panels from the UK. One warning about sanding the bondo, the aluminum is softer than the bondo, so when you sand, the aluminum will erode under the paper faster than the bondo (opposite from on steel...) so it can be tricky to get the edges feathered so you do not see them....

[cellulararrest]

Bleh. Bondo doesn't belong within 10 miles of a series truck.

[p76rangie]

I would only strip back the dent you are working on and not the whole panel. Two reasons, firstly it is a lot of work to strip back the whole panel. Second, the original paint has been on there for 30 years and has not let go, so it offers a solid base to paint over.

[CanuckIIA]

Thanks for the input, I agree with it all. The bondo will be kept to a minimum or if possible left out all together. Better to have the exposed bolt, weld and rivet look. After all, I fell in love with my truck at first sight and it has been on it's side.

I guess I'll ask more specific paint/primer questions from my paint shop when I buy the gun, paint and primer. But that might be a month or more. Till then, I will polish my dollies and hammers and start working on that fender in the basement.

[michaeltw]

Just wanted to chime in on this thread, although I used a body shop for all the paint & body work, the original guy I was going to use had suggested bondo'ing the entire vehicle - this was even before we stripped the paint. Then he was going to recreate the spot welds by hand to keep the look. I wound up going with another guy who bondo'd what was necessary but the LR never lost it's original look(to be honest he may have re-created at least one or two spot welds).

How did yours turn out - any pics?

[etischer]

I know of a few rovers in my area that have been completely powder coated. I was surprised to find it's generally cheaper than paint and more durable. I seem to remember fenders were about 300/each to have media blasted and powder coated. Since you have everything apart, might take it into consideration.

[p76rangie]

You will find that spray putty is your friend. Just try and leave it a couple of days between coats. It will hide the marks you will always get around the bondo area. It is soft and easy to sand to get a very smooth surface.

I have not found that bondo falls out or cracks off-road, as long as it is put on properly. I have also found it durable when it gets hit with a rock or other track hazards.