Yeah, our fridge now has a aftermarket ice maker, don't tell the misso !
Must be a world record for me to post more than 1 in a day, anyway I spent a bit of time on the grill to straighten it up, polish and paint black, I didn't have any satin black so went gloss 2pk ( I can hear the anoraks moan and I don't care ) . While I had the compressor on I thought to use the mini spray
gun I bought a while ago, it actually is ok for these small jobs, best $12 spent ..
So I gloss blacked the grill, the dash steering support plate, the headlight buckets and the rear stone shield




Tomorrow I'll be back on the panels

martymexico
Another shed day sanding and filler, so won't be long on this, I was bouncing between my mk1 and the project rally pack which had a decent wallop on the rear quarter/side. I pushed and hammered most of it out and ran a few skims of filler to level it out. As I got close to saying that's it and primer time, the day was closing fast so enter the Deano roller system. Mixed the primer filler as I would for spray painting and just started to roller it on. I might have had a quiet laugh at Deano but now I'm converted, it's quiet, clean and precise , I used the regular furry rollers but I reckon either foam or short hair ones will be best. 2 maybe 3 coats of 2pk primer filler , it's not super flat but most will be sanded away to get shape. Also did the front guards on my mk1 while there was time to do so.
Need to ask Deano which is the better roller to use, tho I'll not be laying the top coat down this way , I'll spray it on as intended..





I'm still on track to paint the shell in about 2 weeks time so it's getting closer now

Don't see it much at all these days but the old paintbrush was the choice of some. I reckon a 4" would do

I've been watching a few of the oldschool Coachbuilder/painter vids, where they do busses and canal barges all by brush.
 
Its suprising their technique thats used, and how much they actually end up pushing the paint around.
I usually have this nervous mindset that you have to get it on and flattenned as quick as possible, and with as minimal strokes as necessary. These guys really do keep going over the same area, and literally push the paint quite forcefully.
They have a favoured formula of paint, and a brusher addative.
Being about 10 degrees in the UK probably slows it up also.

A product for 'house' water based acrylics called Floetrol I have used for years. It assists in binding and workability of the paint.
I have come across house painters who throw a bit of cornice adhesive (powder) into the paint to aid it going off and thicken up. Not sure on the longevity though?
 
Have you used the KBS Rust Seal, Blacktop, etc. I know a few of us have. I have only applied it by brush and it self levels really well as long as you follow the instructions (not a male trait) and don't over work it. Trying to remember a thread here not too long ago where he sprayed it and a couple of other fancy things.

Yes I remember that, the person put it on their diff housing.
I've never used it simply cause I cut rust away and if there's any flash rust on bare metal I use rust converter .

Not much on my car except flatting the guards back and where there was broken gelcoat at the edges I made a hybrid mix of filler and fiberfill, doing a mix gives better strength and can still be sanded back quite easily, also trimmed back the edge which meets the door.

Flatting back the panels still, I need to do some light mods to the front apron and 1 rear quarter where the style line is a bit undercut but otherwise I'm happy to be painting it some time next week. Then it's start the long reassembly road.
I know it's a long way off to be putting in the pinto + 6sp (RX-8 or BRZ) , the pinto will be mainly stock except some Marty mods then later it'll be EFI'd, now that I've found a new standalone ecu for about $250 , why buy with Webers these days..
Front suspension will be Capri struts with either gaz or similar inserts .
Rear stays normal for now unless I find a cut down Triton diff, tho an LSD for escort is about $900ish so buying something else that'll fit for that price is unrealistic . I might still get a Triton lsd diff with maybe 3.9 gears and chop it up , I've seen axle shaft cutting and it's not that hard. Anyways back to the shed......

if only you knew someone with a plasma cutter them then making the needed crank sensor mounts and associated EFI gubbins for the Pinto would a walk in the park.
 
Are there any tricks that you know for getting the body swage lines straight?
In particular, I'm fearing mine may droop around the bubble arches, where its difficult to sand out a straight line as in bends away into the arch.

Yes mate I hear ya 😉, once things are sorted like electrical in the very near future..

Err, the easiest way I was teached is to line up the swage line with tape and simple run filler over the edge your chasing and pull the tape off straight away but peeling it angled up or down depends on your edge situation to closely replicate the factory lines, this gives a good line to start shaping.
You normally tape the lower edge so you bring the filler up to it.
I seen people build a mold of the shape from filler and simply using that as the shape maker, just find a good line to copy, make a agricultural box and use glad wrap as a parting agent, Dave's Garage did this a while back

So close to painting now, every panel was sanded with 180, then 360, then 600 all dry sanded.
Still with these 3 panels to go as there was a bit more work than I thought they needed slight filler and a couple rolled layers of 2pk primer putty, I've been using BASF for the build and it's been good to use, sand etc. Once both doors and bootlid are flatted I'll be prepping the painting room with a
Hoover while brushing the place down to remove any chance of dust which I'm planning by end of
Tuesday. Wednesday will be a full taping up of panels and the shell followed by another air blowing in the room just to be sure, all panels will be ready and set for final color either Thursday or Friday of which both days are a sunny 20 deg, just about perfect for 2pk spray painting .




I needed to primer the dash top and thought the texture from the roller gives a good resemblance to factory dash tops, so I'll paint that in black this rvo

I like the dash surface, nobdy would know once its got a coat of black.
Are you  going to rig up an air feed to your facemask, Dave style?