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MG Midget and Sprite General - Midget respray advice

Hi

Bought a 78 Midget last summer and had a lot of mechanical bits done, now moving onto the body work.

Approx half of the car is fine, but the front wing, both sills (One been replaced but not sprayed, the other to be replaced) and the rear of the car all need respraying.

I have taking it to a couple of places and both quoted me around 1500 for a full respray

unfortunately i havent got that sort of money and whilst i love the car, i just cant justify.

So few questions?
1 - is it best to leave it all and carry on is? ie a bit of tatty looker
2 - get the bad bits done professionally?
3 - do it myself?

i am in a right confusion as to what to do!

pics of the car here http://www.flickr.com/photos/38375865@N08/sets/72157624369552444/

Ta
bk dyson

I've sprayed two cars myself and I'd say if you feel confident do it yourself if you have access to a compressor and a GOOD spray nozzel, there's always the option to sand it and polish afterwards if you don't get satisfactory result right away. And remember to do decent prep work
Alexander Sorby Wigstrom

It seems to work for vans.
http://wiki.club8090.co.uk/index.php/Bodywork_and_Glass_Roller_painting
BH Harvey

I brush-painted my MK-II in 1975... and it came out surprisingly smooth and glossy...

A
Anthony Cutler

Option 1 or Option 3. Spend your money on getting the sill replaced. See if you can borrow a spray gun / compressor ( or buy them - you will always find a use for a compressor ). Check around the motor factors to see who still supplies cellulose paint. Have a go yourself - you have nothing to lose. Like Alexander says, make sure you prepare the surfaces well prior to spraying. If you are doing it in your garage, bear in mind everything (and I mean everything) will be covered in a fine mist of paint, so worthwhile saving old newspapers and spend some time covering things up. As you will need to have the garage door at least partially open, take into account any wind factor and the washing that your better half has just put out on the line :o) Do light coats to avoid runs in the paint. Spray at about 50psi. Buy cheap thinners for the main part, and a small tin of good quality thinners for the final coat. Rub down the paintwork between each coat with wet and dry. I'm sure you will be able find an article to give more precise details.
Alternatively, go for option 1. I ran my first Sprite with one green door, one blue door,grey primer, yellow and red bonnet - oh and rust of course. I still drove with a smile on my face.
Geoff Mears

Just for clarification... is that a '78 that someone has converted to chrome bumpers? It looks much like a '71.

Trevor Jessie

I have sprayed cars on my drive, using cellulose, and have also used 2K in a purpose-built spray shop. Actually I find celly is easier, especially for its ability to blend in or handle spraying single panels in less than ideal conditions.

Despite Geof's warning of getting paint over everything I find that with cellulose once it has travelled more than just a couple of feet it dries in the air, and the overspray is just dry dust which cleans up with an air line. Unlike 2K where any oversparay is wet and sticks to everything in sight!
Guy

I did mine last weekend, in the garden, in cellulose. Not ideal temperature wise but a tin of anti-bloom thinners and there's no bloom. Bit of a matte finish but a) it's not been cut back yet, b)don't think I had enough thinners in it and c) i'm not that good at spraying.

I got all my paint for less than a 10th of what you're being quoted for full respray, and haven't used it all yet. I'd buy a compressor anyway, it's genius for tyres and blasting stuff with the air line to clean it.

It was also quite fun doing it. And it feels better having done it yourself. Just don't poison yourself in a shut-up garage. Cellulose is a bit stinky but 2K will do you absolutely no good at all, you really need a closed circuit filtered air fed mask for that.

i found 90% is prep - if it looks wobbly in primer it will look worse in colour. Get some high build primer or clag it on thick to cover little scratches and things. It took me a week or 2's worth of evenings to prep mine, though I should have spent longer. Sprayed it all in a weekend (actually did 2 cars...)

Rob Armstrong

Sorry Guy, you are of course correct - I omitted the important word "dust" when I wrote it. However, getting rid of the dust is still easier if you just have to remove it on sheets of paper methinks..
Geoff Mears

sorry Geoff - I wasn't meaning to cross swords with you -or claim to know better! Just expressing my experience that was all.

In the same mode, when I sprayed my 1500 in bright yellow the colour attracted all the insects in the area! One has to really resist the temptation to try and remove them from the wet paint! Better by far to let the paint dry with the poor bu&&ers trapped by their feet and then dust the remains off with some flour paper before polishing.

Guy
Guy

I agree with Rob, the prep is the important thing.

I would advise you to wait until the weather warms up a bit and then spray it yourself. It's amazing what you can do if you put in a bit of time, and its way cheaper - and good fun.

David

Pic of spraying in garage.



David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)


Finish prior to any flatting/polishing.

David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)

...and after polishing.

David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)

that's quite a lot better than mine....

I've not polished it yet though.



Rob Armstrong

I know this may sound daft, but I once watched a guy spray a mini with rattle cans in the street across from my house. He'd bought a load of panel sized cans and just kept going round and round the car with them until he'd got plenty of paint on. The finish at that point was awful, but when it had cured he set about it with very fine wet and dry and then he polished it by hand panel by panel. It took him about three weeks all told but the finish at the end of it all was pretty good. Granted, a lot of effort, but he didn't use any power tools and he got there in the end. Just goes to show that where there's a will there's a way.
BTW. It was very well prepped before he started painting.

Bernie.
b higginson

I can see that working Bernie - I've skimmed over with rattle cans to get the right colour before. However, with cans now at about 7 quid a shot...

I'm going to coat mine again when it'a warmer, partly for better painting conditions, and partly for the fact that the days are a bit short this time of year, even if the weather is good.

some pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34910348@N08/sets/72157625942856803/

doesn't look quite as pro as daves setup!
Rob Armstrong

When I sprayed the Mini, I primer/undercoated it using rattle cans when each panel was ready - it saved on cleaning spray guns etc. Then when it was all ready I waited until the forcast said 'hot and sunny', sprayed it mid-morning with two heavy coats of Tartan Red, followed by three coats of weaker coats, the last one being only about 10% colour to 90% thinners. About 20 minutes after the last coat went on I was able to push the car out into the direct sunlight and I left it to bake for the rest of the day (it was HOT!) Day two flat off with 1800 grade paper and then T-Cut.

I'm now trying to decide how far to go with the Sprite once I get her back on the road - full spray or patch it up?

David

David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)

so are rattle cans a complete no then?!
bk dyson

I am in a very similar situation to be honest, I have carried out all the panel repair work myself and wondering to do a full respray or patch up. I would love to attempt this myself but not 100% sure as yet. Main reason is that my colour is I believe damansk red but yet the can colour doesn't really match the rest of my panels?
C Carter

CC... One reason why I stayed clear of cans was that past experience of Tartan Red (RD9) from a rattle can was nothing like the original colour - it was almost brown. If you go to a decent paint supplier they will colour match to your car, some will even supply in aerosol cans if you want. Having tried both I must say that a compressor and spray gun gives a vastly better finish!
David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)

Yep, as David says, the compressor is a massively better piece of kit, much more immune to a patchy blotchy finish. I hate to think how many cans you'd need to get enough paint on to be able to polish back...

cans are Ok for small repairs but starts to get very expensive very quickly is my experience.
Rob Armstrong

Think I will be investing in a compressor then and trying my hand at spraying? Can any one guide me to a nice set up that will do a decent job but wont break the bank? How much paint would I need to spary rear 1/4 panel , A post repair and front 1/4?

Thanks Chris
C Carter

Chris,
A whole car takes around 2 to 3 litres (max)

Depends how much you want to spend on a compressor. I have a large old one but last year bought a real cheapie from Aldi for £74.95 2.5Hp, 25 litre tank and including a few tools and a spray gun. The label says it is supposed to be 9.4CFM but I doubt it is really as much as that! The gun is nothing like a DeVibliss, but it does the job of getting paint on pretty well if you are patient and don't mind waiting for the tank to catch up again when spraying. I see that they have them in again at present.

Guy
Guy

So if I bought 500ml of celly this thins to 1 litre of paint which should be enough?
C Carter

I bought 4L of paint, and have used 2L of paint + thinners so far, done 3 coats. That's on the whole car. I need more on as I'm fairly sure I'll end up polishing back to the primer...

I have a cheapy compressor that works well with the gun it came with, although waiting for the motor to catch up is slow it means that you can't put too much paint on :)

1L mixed might be on the slim side, I'd go for 1L paint and 1L thinners to get 2L of coverage for those areas. After all, more is much more useful than less.
Rob Armstrong

Yes, I would buy at least a litre. In fact I would buy 2l which would avoid future mis-matches if you ever want to spray the rest of it. Its cheaper to buy your thinners in a 5 litre can as you will always need more for cleaning out the gun etc. You can also get a "gloss from the gun" finish if you thin the final coat about 3:1, but then do watch for runs!
Guy

Just had a look on the Aldi website thinking I might have to go buy one today. Does it come with any accessories?
C Carter


Don't know about the Aldi kit, but this is the sort of thing I think will do you - and it comes with useful accessories.

http://beta.screwfix.com/p/michelin-mb24-24ltr-230v-compressor-5-piece-accessory-kit/24375

David Wigley (MK2 Sprite)

Just finished spraying mine happy with finish for my first attempt at spraying used 2pack with air feed mask had to use 2 compressors one for gun one for mask.

mark (1977 1500 Midget) Preston Lancs

more pics

mark (1977 1500 Midget) Preston Lancs

Another thing I would advise is really concentrating getting plenty of paint along the underside flanged edges of the sills, wheel arches, door shuts etc. Apply multiple coats to these edges to build up a good paint thickness before starting with spraying of the visible panels. The temptation is to spray the panels first and you then end up with just thin layers on the lower edges that get all the battering from road grit.
Guy

Hey that looks nice Mark :)

Interesting on the final 'glossy' coat, I'm off to put some more on mine, weather dependent, this weekend so will give that a go :)

Rob Armstrong

This thread was discussed between 13/03/2011 and 17/03/2011

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