Working my WAY To the engine BAY

Great work so far Jonny.
The silver fox is a very classy color and fresh black really sharpens it up.
As to the guard channels and the engine bay the original factory look is the safest bet. On my rebuild I converted the guards to bolt on and did away with the spot welds but this now is not "original" like yours. Im thinking, silver fox engine bay, black engine with sterling silver extracters and orange plug leads. Maybe an orange gt stripe (original of course) down the side. Throw the orange paint over the back fence. All just opinions of course.

The bay has got to be silver...with black rails if black has to feature

Nice car Jonny,

My favorite colour on a Capri is silver. I'd paint the ebay silver with black rails too, stands out more imo.

Those mags look great too! I know the twin of this Capri over here in Perth with a 5ltr V8 in it.

Keep up the good work mate

Hey Jonny I just noticed your comment about adjustable TCAs. Unless these are used in conjunction with adjustable strut tops you wont be able to pull the wheel in to the body because of changing the camber of the wheel. Idealy the wheel should be a little further out at the bottom than the top. (One to one and a half degree negative for road use). Adjustable strut tops used on ther own might pull the top of the wheel in enough and at the same time give you the negative camber that is desired. Also before you do any repaint get the top of the guards rolled.
So what Im saying is The TCAs wont achieve what you want but the adjustable strut tops might.

update ,

Well the underbody hardened up nicely and should last a real longtime ( thats the positve )

The neg - is ... I took the engine bay back to metal , uncovered a large amount of filler ( not much rust ) and welded up a few pinholes around where the moisture sits near towers

So far it WAS going to plan, beautiful bare metal ready ( mostly )

I'll just use this rust converter here ( top of firewall) and blah blah

Painted etch primer seen a chemical reaction from leftover acid ( converter ) got the sh{ts with that and left it so long the etch primer alone so long it breathed in a big huff of moisture [:-(]

So, im back to halfway bare metal ( again )

This time im gonna get rid of that converter properly ( ANY TIPS/Hints??)

And i have a product called Wattyl pr250 epinamel
http://www.wattyl.net.au/marine/documents/TDS/Epinamel%20PR250%20v2.pdf

It reads like the goods , and im confident of sealing up the girl properly this time

will get some piccies up soon

Having just done a spray painting course at night school here's the way they teach.

1. Strip to bare metal and sand with 120 and optionally then with 180.
2. Metal condition with phosphoric based acid, wash off with water and dry it thoroughly with air and clean rags. Dont touch. If you do touch it thinners wont get the oil off. You have to acid wash again or you will get finger print marks in your top coat from where it is rusting again.
3. Prime with expoy primer - do not use etch primer as phosphoric acid does the etching (never etch an etch). Epoxy primer is the only primer that doesnt absorb moisture. All other primers let moisture through.
4. Prime with high build primer (this can be done wet on wet but check your paint system technical data sheets), block back, wash with grease and wax remover, run over with tack rag and top coat. Usually top coats should be applied within 24 hours of sanding - again check data sheets. Dont wipe back and forth too much with tack rag as it will cause static build up that will attract dust.

If you want to use etch primer followed by normal primer (instead of acid wash) then you need to get your top coat on quickly to minimise moisture absorbtion.

Attached is a pic from my MGA project. I bought this from a bloke who left it in primer. The whole thing has rusted and has to go back to bare metal.

Hope that helps.





OK after posting just opened your attachment. You have a 2 pack epoxy primer and they told us you cant use etch primer under epoxy primer and must go the acid wash route. I would suggest you talk to Wattle tech people to make sure you prepar it correctly. The other thing is that you can get epoxy primer as 2 pack or single pack and you must be consistent with the whole paint system. Ie you cant put 2 pack paint over single pack epoxy primer. Also the nasty's in 2 pack are absorbed through the skin and eyes and normal filters dont stop them, so cover up fully and get a positive pressure breathing system when using 2 pac.

The water is needed to neutralise the acid.

The way to use metal conditioner is to have a bucket of water handy. Dip a scotchbrite pad in the water, put the conditioner on the pad (I use a sauce bottle to squeeze it on) then rub the panel. Then wash it off with wet rag - this is to neutralise the acid. Then dry it. Once finsihed the metal will have a yellow or purple tinge to it. A long as you dry it properly it will be fine. Get some good rubber gloves and wear safety spec of course.

Here's another pic from the mg. This was a test to see how much I could clean it up without sanding. This is what it looked like using only metal conditioner. Notice how its yellow now. Took about 1 week to see rust starting again.

You can do it as you strip in stages and then just do the whole bay once more just before painting.




I forgot. Dont let it dry. If it dries go over it again and wash off while still wet.