Back in beige

[jamie]

Spent the day making not a lot of progress on refitting stuff, and zero progress on sanding. Managed to chip the scuttle pretty badly whilst refitting the front hood. Not a single f*** was given - I'll just dab some new paint in there and flat it down later on. The car is going to get chipped as soon as I get it on the road anyway.

Front suspension is on. I fitted new bearings to the front hubs. Bearings went in the freezer, hubs in the oven, and after 15 minutes the whole house smelled of burning grease. I just need to get a pair of bearing seals and the hubs and wheels can go on. Porsche list the seals at a tenner each. I mean, they're only seals, so I just ordered some of the same size for two quid each. Hope that goes to plan.

Fitted my heater flapper boxes too, because they had been powdercoated and looked nice.

And so, the first of many questions... can anyone help me with info on wing-to-scuttle-panel seals? Design 911 list two varieties - one at 6.5mm wide, and one at 4.3mm wide. Which ones should my car have?

[johnM]

And so, the first of many questions... can anyone help me with info on wing-to-scuttle-panel seals? Design 911 list two varieties - one at 6.5mm wide, and one at 4.3mm wide. Which ones should my car have?

Hi Jamie they should be the 4.3mm ones.

[jamie]

Thanks John.

[jamie]

Colour looking even weirder after some sanding:





Is it light orange, or dark yellow?



This is the car sanded to 1000 grit. I had started with 800 for the really peely bits, and 1000 for the rest. At this point I mixed a small batch of paint and touched-in the edges I had burned throug. There were quite a few - mostly around the doors, and the roof gutters, right where your eye falls as you enter the car.

I used a small spray gun that I got off eBay for a tenner. It has a 0.8mm tip and lays paint beautifully - I was getting a proper 'gun finish' - no sanding necessary, except that I had to blend with the existing paint, so it was. I wish I could have painted the whole car with this gun.

Shortly after, with the air awash with deadly isocyanates, next door's 6 / 7 / 8 year old daughter arrived home from school and declared the car 'very yellow'. So that was good. She also said the paint smelled terrible. It was at that point I realised I had forgot to wear my mask. I couldn't smell anything at all. Not sure what that means, but I imagine it's not good.

Anyway, this is the roof after sanding to 1500 grit and wiping with a wet cloth. I was really worried about how this was going to turn out, since it was very, very knacked. The reflection is nice. Looks like my graft with the block-sander worked out.



Same with the front hood:



The whole car is now sanded to 2000 grit. Most people go to machine polishing from here, but I read that going to 3000 grit makes the machine polish a lot easier. I also need a third go at touching-up some more edges I've burned through. I'm pretty pleased with my work so far, but I could have got more paint on the edges. Again, most people paint edges first to ensure coverage. I have been watching Kevin Tetz's 'Paintucation' videos on YouTube in order to learn the bodywork and paint process. They're mostly excellent, and I love his style. In one of his videos, he says not to paint edges as the spray gun will cover them anyway and painting edges just leads to buildup of masses of paint. I have had loads of really great tips from this guy, but that wasn't one of them - I should have done my edges.

Nearly there now. This was a nice way to end the day. I think this is called 'fusion cuisine':

[Ferry Man]

Jamie, that is some excellent work your doing there. Hats off to you.
I'm looking forward to seeing the car, you're making great progress.

[jamie]

The other thing I did today was sound-proofing my van. Last September, I bought myself a big-ass Transit for work. It was great, but it was massive, and wouldn't go in multi-storey car parks, and under the pikey-bar at the tip.

So last week I part-exchanged it for a LWB Caddy. I am in love. It's the 140bhp one, so it goes well, and I had it lowered by the dealer so it goes around corners how I like to go around corners.

The only problem is, the bulkhead is open and it's NOISY.

So yesterday, on the way home from a job in Crewe, (via Mike Bainbridge's workshop near Kendal - more on this later), I stopped in at a place called Classic Acoustics in Telford. They sell a commercial-grade acoustic suppressant material, which apparently is the same as Dynamat, only not branded, and much cheaper. I found them on a DIY camper-van build thread I was reading a while back.

They sold me two types of material - one is a heavy, thin rubber-like stuff, like Dynamat, and the other is a 25mm-thick foam. The thin stuff does low-frequency noise, and the thick stuff, high. I picked enough stuff to do the van, and also the 912.

I took the van out this evening, and boy does the stuff work. If anyone here has driven an open-bulkhead van, you'll know how loud it is. All I can hear now is engine and road noise through the firewall - there is almost no noise from the rear section.

The only problem is the weight - the thin stuff really is heavy. I wanted to keep the 912 light, but I do like a quiet car, and I'm impressed by how well this stuff works. It's going in once the colour-sanding is done.

[jamie]

Jamie, that is some excellent work your doing there. Hats off to you.
I'm looking forward to seeing the car, you're making great progress.

Thanks Paul. I'm really happy with it so far. It's nowhere near a professional Darren / Camperco type job, but it's not a typical DIY-in-the-garage job either.

[Darren65]

.......but it's not a typical DIY-in-the-garage job either.

.....indeed!.......in fact I'd say it's more like the former!

A quick mop Jamie and it looks like you're done.....great job

[cubist]

Mmm... Butterscotch angel delight!

[sladey]

I've got to say you're doing an absolutely cracking job on the paint/bodywork - it looks amazing. Makes me realise how much work I should still do on my paint job. It must feel great to be comfortable with the painting process - you'll be able to sort out any future issues without too much hassle - as long as you start wearing your mask

[Bruce M]

Nice work

Ps. Got a link to the small paint gun?

[jamie]

Here it is

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPRAY-GUN-HVL ... 1276341053?

[Bruce M]

Ta !

[jamie]

Back into the garage - couldn't resist a quick go with some polish.

You can see things in it! There are also some things in the paint - little dents where flies once landed, some tiny pinholes. I'm not bothered - it was done in a garage, not a hermetically-sealed lab.

I'd call it a three-foot paint job. Three foot, for two grand.

[911hillclimber]

This is really good.
I did mine in cellulose in '89 in a plastic sheet tent in a single car garage with a cheap gun.
Still on the car, looks a bit patina'd but great. There is a lot to be said for DIY on this stuff and the level of satisfaction you can have!

to that gun, would it give a good cover to (say) a 911 engine lid area?

I'm about to paint my Lambretta sheet metal (in cellulose).