1967 Ford Corsair V4 - Restoration: Delivered

Quality work

Cracked on this morning with prepping the shell for paint - first job was to just reduce the painted edge to the front panel & wings with a little wet & dry



I need to blend this edge with the paint that will be going on to the external panels of the bodyshell



Then a little extra fine scotch to key the vertical edge up



Like so - I can now mask up but about 10mm inwards the radius of the vertical edge / bulkhead edge swage



Clever stuff like this self adhesive 'Soft Edge' masking allows me to blend paint up to it without forming the hard paint edge that masking tape would create



I utilise a thicker soft edge masking for the radius inner edge of the front panel & wings



There we go ready for paint - all that you have to do is carefully remove the soft edge masking about 10 mins after your final coat of paint - then once its dry a minor rub with some 1500's / 2000's and a bit of careful compounding / polishing and no one will know that I have been there / blended the paint at this point



Boot aperture is far easier has I can just mask / paint up to the boot rubber upstand



Then I masked all the window & door apertures up loosely to make sure that I could get sufficient paint on the upstand edges (if rust is going to start anywhere on the apertures its here - water runs around the seals and then is trapped between the metal skins - before you know it is rusted through) - You don't have to mask the apertures up when painting a bodyshell - its just my preferred method of preventing any loose dust becoming airborne and landing in the paint - along with overspray covering everything that's not being finished in the body colour



Panel wiped around the car twice & then tak ragged again twice - note the water on the floor to hold any dust at bay (I didn't do this for the engine bay / boot area paint has I had to grovel about on the floor to paint these)



You will only ever get good results if you look after your kit - and this I nurse - it gets meticulous attention when cleaning it - and its paid for itself several times over - you don't have to spend a fortune on spraygun to get good results either but you do need to look after it and keep it spotlessly clean - ok you may get away a few times by giving it a quick swill after a job but it will come back to haunt you when you least expect it if its not looked after



Ready for action then





First coat is light - often referred to has a 'Gripper' in the trade - I know it better has a mist coat - don't expect to get any coverage you should still be able to see the primer grinning / showing through in some areas - this coat has it tacks off acts has a key to your next coat



The hinges & odds are also done on this run



Two more moderate / medium density coats are then applied - paint remains the same mix / thinned ratio but the passes with the spraygun are done slower than the mist coat - hence more paint is applied



I'm a short ar8e at 5'7" - and even with the car slammed to the floor on my lift I still need a crate to stand on to get to the centre of the roof - roofs I tend to paint in 4 quarters - one side at time









This offside rear wing was the one that was stuffed - had a lower quarter section and a wheelarch let into it along with a handful of the other repairs - it then took forever and an age to profile it up - however, the result now painted looks promising



The rest of it looks ok too







Front wings have come ok too for a pair of welded originals that were removed / repaired / refitted









That previously stuffed offside rear wing from the front edge







Not bad at all there is the odd dust speck here & there that has to be expected - it will all be flatted back prior to polishing - just off to to take some pics with my colourmatch lamps - then download them - back shortly

That looks lovely!

I’m wondering how you get it back to Pete though? Are you going to fit it to dollies, or just lift it really really carefully?

And I’m guessing you’ll need to leave it a little while before doing anything with it as the paint is still soft, or is that not the case anymore (or even at all)?

So to throw some light on the matter - I have two of these professional colour matching lamps - very powerful







Very pleased with the way that the roof has turned out - this was heavily damaged on the offside rear - I even had let some steel into it







Then again off & on I spent about a week getting it back into shape / profile

John - Rear axle is still fitted so that just requires the wheels refitting and there is a wheeled dolly for the front end that bolts up to the crossmember mountings on the underside of the chassis legs then it will be transported up to Pete's on my car trailer


Paint wise - It will be fine for flatting back & polishing in the morning - 2 packs are very durable and with the range of activators available its both easy & flexible to adapt to the temperature conditions - I have used a medium hardener which will cure the paint fine given the current temps / weather of + 15c - in summer + 20c there is a slower hardener available and in winter a quicker one - basically you don't want the paint to be curing too quickly that it does not flow out has you apply it - in winter you need the reverse of this - you can also add a accelerator (commonly known has 'Rocket' to the paint to speed the whole process up if required) therefore the smart repair boys can get lacquer to cure in sub 15 mins and are flatting & polishing has soon has they have cleaned the spray gun out

Spent the last few hours reading Grumpys Bradford resto and topped it all off with this..Worded perfectly and Magical work ..

So peteh1969 what condition is the running gear in? Have you refurbished bits whilst the shell has been away? Because I’m guessing seeing this you are really excited to get it together, and though you wouldn’t want to rush it, it must be like being an 8 year old the week before Christmas!? (Or is that just me, sat over here and excited to see it finished )

Are you hoping to have it at the NEC this year?

John

I have refurbished all of the front running gear and added some improvements to it at the same time.

I will be starting a build thread soon showing everything I have done up until when Chris had the shell and then continuing the re build after I have it back.

I have no deadlines to get it ready for so I won't be rushing for anything, I intend to do the re build properly, it's the only way to do justice to the work Chris has put in on it as several others on here I'm self employed and have to fit working on cars after my customer orders have been full filed and the only thing that takes priority over that is any family needs.

Be home soon, think I need a few coors to celebrate that paintwork....😂