Introduction - TR6 Restoration

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 01, 2020 8:45 pm
Last summer I acquired a '74 TR6 Project. I have owned a number of British Cars, but have recently tinkered on mostly newer BMWs. I have a track rat E36 and mostly run HPDEs, but previously raced wheel-to-wheel in an older Reynard Formula Ford. I consider myself an above average home mechanic, but a below average driver.

Since I enjoy mechanical work, I started with the TR6 chassis. Blasted frame, replaced every fastener, blasted and painted all the parts, new bushings, hydraulics, etc. Typical full chassis restoration. Unfortunately, the fun part is over, as the chassis is complete and running.

I've got the body tub split into it's 9 bare pieces (the tub, 2 doors, boot, bonnet, and 4 fenders). It's remarkably straight and rust free for a 40 year old British Car which is why I took the project on. Appears to be original Mallard Green paint, but will be getting color changed to one of the original blues (not metallic).

My painting experience is limited to shooting the fiberglass panels on the Reynard. I did these in a DIY garage paint booth with my small compressor and HF disposable gun. I know I need to upgrade both of these. And while I was happy with the result after some cutting / polishing, it was a race car, so I had low expectations.

I'm still at the planning stage for the tub restoration. Right now, I'm scheduled to have the tub components all wet blasted in 3 weeks. So that gives me three weeks to acquire the tools and prep the garage space and come up with a plan.

The goal is to be finished with the tub in 4ish months, but really it isn't time critical.

As far as equipment:

1. I know I need a new compressor. My little 5 hp oil-less (really closer to 2ish) isn't going to cut it, and it's 20 years old at this point anyway. I'm looking at both 60 gallon and 80 gallon units with 5 hp, that produce from 11-15 scfm. I'll DIY a water trap out of some copper pipe, use a desiccant / oil filter, and probably a desiccant hose whip to be safe.

2. I've been watching all the Eastwood Kevin Tetz videos. In a number of videos he uses the Eastwood Concours guns. Their Concours 2 gun kit is currently only sale for only $110 which seems reasonable. Air consumption on these is also a low 5 cfm, which would help if I end up with an 11-12 cfm compressor. Anyone on the forum have any practical experience with one of these?

3. I plan to shoot in my garage. I'll separate off one of the garage bays that has the two windows. I plan to use 20" fans for ventilation in each window. I will remove everything out of that bay so it is empty. Unfortunately, it's an attached garaged, with the master directly over the garage. Paint fumes in the house is a big concern.

While I have lots and lots of questions to still research, my primary concern is making sure I'm ready to prime the parts immediately after they get back from blasting to prevent flash rusting. The blast shop puts in a rust prohibitive that will last a couple of days, but if I blast on a Friday, I need to paint that Saturday / Sunday.

After that I haven't figured out exactly what I plan to do. A very nice TR6 is only about a $20k car, and I'm already into the chassis about $7k in parts, so I don't really want to pay a shop $15k to paint it. My plans range from:
- Taking my time and doing the whole thing
- Shoot the primer after blasting, and cut a really big check
- Priming and prepping it, and letting someone else shoot the base clear (assuming I can find a shop that will shoot over my bodywork)
-Shooting all the non-visible parts of the car (interior which is all covered, trunk which gets a lining kit, inside of fenders, bottom, etc) and letting a shop shoot all the exterior parts of the panels

Lots of options, after I get through the initial blast / primer.

Okay that was very rambling.

But specific questions to get started:

1. Anyone have experience with the Eastwood Concours gun series?
2. With typical sand blasting, there is plenty of tooth for mechanical adhesion. I'm expecting the dustless blasting to have far less tooth. Do I need to DA sand before shoot an Epoxy primer?
3. I know using an HVLP gun will produce less overspray than a traditional gun, but a divorce will be more expensive than a paint job. Other than just ventilation, any tips on keeping the fumes out of the house? May be a dumb question but are certain brands of base / clear more fume intensive than others?

Should be an interesting journey, and either be fruitful, or I'll say that I'll never do auto body work again :-)



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:09 pm
:welcome: your right in wanting to get epoxy on as soon as you can. you need to be a little more specific about your blasting process. i'm not sure what profile you'll end up with. I've water blasted and we always used a specific grit that left a profile almost the same as dry sand blasting. all the water does is keep the dust down. i'm concerned about you using soda or some other media that may require special treatment. if your blaster is competent he should know, and hopefully he is competent as he can ruin your Sheetmetal if he isn't. paint fumes can be a real problem for you or and your neighbors. I would make sure you have plenty of ventilation and let the fans run for 8-10 hours after spraying be warned the fumes going outside can travel several 100 feet away and IRATATE YOUR NEIGHBORS this can cause all kinds of problems. if you over come the above then you should consider doing the top coat also, that's a small car and shouldn't be a problem. practice on some inside panels before you start on the outside. if in doubt ask some questions. almost forgot when you get your epoxy be sure to get the product info sheet, NOT the MSDS. this will give you info on how to use the product. pay attention to the temperature part.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Thu Jan 02, 2020 3:31 pm
Jay,

Thanks for the reply. It's the typical dustless blasting franchise that you see advertised on Velocity (or whatever they call themselves now) channel, 24x7. I believe it's recycled glass media, but will check. This guy has done a number of classic cars, in similar stripped to the tub condition.

Neighbors are about 150 feet across the street, but only about 100 feet side to side. Due to the space limitations of my "paint booth" (used very loosely) I envision setting up to paint only a couple of panels at a time, which should help some. Priming the parts after blasting will probably be the longest continuous painting period.

My thought is practice by painting top coats on the interior and the bottom. That will give me some practice. If that goes well, I'll continue. If it goes poorly, I'll punt and get out the checkbook.

Glenn



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PostPosted: Fri Jan 03, 2020 1:48 am
glass works good. if you think it might be to smooth you could D/A quickly it with some 80 grit it would only take a few minutes per part. if you don't D/A you should hand sand it lightly with something 220 or heavier this gets it clean of any grit that's imbedded in the metal from the blaster. make sure to wipe clean with wax and grease remover wipe on with one rag wipe off with another. very important to be clean. the primer doesn't seem to be a stinky as the base coat and clear but be warned the epoxy can travel some distance and stick on a neighbors car, just depends on how the winds blowing. base and clear are not a problem they flash in the air quickly. I was painting over at a friends house and his neighbors were close and would complain about anything. we waited until about 10:00 and there lights went out, they never knew what happened.
smart idea practice on some interior parts first.
Jay D.
they say my name is Jay



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PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:10 am
Wake - I am extremely interested in your project. I too have a TR-6 project that I am waiting to attack....actually I have several Triumph projects that I am waiting to attack :happy: I have gone through a similar thought process regarding painting. I have one advantage in that I already had an 80 gallon 2 stage, 5 HP compressor piped in my shop. I too looked at the Eastwood gun. In the long run, I justified purchasing a higher-end gun (Tekna Prolite) because I was saving money by doing it myself. I will use this as my clear coat gun. I purchased a couple of "middle of the road" guns for primer and base coat work based on recommendations from this forum. I would love to hear how your project is moving forward.

Just out of curiosity, what part of the country are you in?

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PostPosted: Tue Jan 28, 2020 9:23 am
We love PICTURES!

It would be great if you could photo document your work on this project.

My sister bought a couple of these back in the day but every single one of them was stolen. She gave up.
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31



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PostPosted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 8:12 pm
Apparently, I'm not getting email notifications on new posts.

The project has stalled the last few weeks. I was scheduled to go in for blasting, but I had to cancel for a funeral (husband of one of my wife's sorority sisters from college), and I've had a bit of trouble getting back on his schedule.

The delay has given me a chance to address the couple of small rust spots on the B pillars. I am NOT much of a welder, but fortunately the repairs aren't visible after assembly. It's also given me a chance to get the compressor set-up, water trap installed, an a sound closet around the compressor.

I've got hundreds of pictures, but here are a few of the progress.

The day she came home
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Body / Frame Split Day
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After the frame was blasted. It was in fantastic shape
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Front End Complete
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Chasis complete - Engine start-up day
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Crazy amounts of undercoating. Appeared to be put on by hand, scooping out of bucket or something.
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A very bare tub, after undercoating removal.
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 16, 2020 7:32 pm
I was able to finally able to get into the blast shop today. He dry blasted all the parts (recycled glass bead) with the exception of the bonnet / boot lids. He wet blasted those. He was concerned about getting the wet blasting sludge down in all the cracks of the body tub. Over-all, still very impressed with the quality of the body tub. Found a couple of small spots that will need some work, but for a 45 year old British car, it's shockingly rust free.

Taking the day off tomorrow to get the Epoxy Primer on before anything starts to flash rust.

Image


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PostPosted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 9:02 pm
Today, was start to paint day. There was some good, some bad, and some ugly. But lots of lessons learned. I finished the tub. The panels will seem easy by comparison

Good:
- The HobbyAir respirator works very well
- The fans and temp curtain wall in the garage kept the smell out of the house pretty well. No wife complaints
- The FLG4 was easy to setup, and seemed to spray well, particularly with the second batch of primer.
- The 5 HP IR compressor had absolutely no problem keeping up
- When I ran out of TP Tools primer, I made a mad dash to the local PPG supplier before they closed. They sold me a gallon of Omni MP170 primer. I switched to the 1.5 tip. That seemed to cover and lay down better than the TP tools primer. I also switched to white primer hoping it would contrast with the blasted with frame.

Bad:
- I should have worn a welding cap, or something. Hair will grow out and be cut :-)
- Trying to spray up under the dash and around the trunk is a real challenge. Not sure who you'd ever assure yourself that you got 100% coverage. You won't be able to see any of it on a TR6 after all the interior and trunk lining panels but man, you'd have to be a contortionist to really get it all.
- The TP 2k Primer I bought had horrible coverage, or I was doing something wrong. I blew through the first 2 quarts + 2 quarts of activator in no time. I was using a 1.8 tip.
- Gray primer is very tough to see on a freshly blasted car.
- We'll be replacing one garage window screen when the painting is over

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PostPosted: Tue Feb 18, 2020 10:31 am
Car is in great shape.
Appreciate the updated posts.

I personally prefer to use black epoxy primer on all bare metal. 2 coats will give you a great foundation for filler and build primer.

Engine Compartment Epoxy.JPG


Plus it is very easy to tell when you have sanded through the build primer.
Acceptable Results.JPG
1968 Coronet R/T


ACTS 16:31
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