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After working on the bodywork as best I can, its time to put some colour onto Isobel. I previously mentioned I knew what I wanted and where I would get it from. Most of that stayed true, except for 1 thing, the colour. When preparing the bodywork, it was clear there were two tones of green, so which to go for? one of the existing tones, or something new. I knew it would be green, but looking at Paintman Paints, the people I decided to buy the paint from have 26 different tones of green. On the registration documents it just says Bronze Green, so that makes it easy, yes? actually no, there are 2, Mid Bronze Green and Deep Bronze Green, also called Bronze Green and Ascot Green. I thought this part would be easy!!

I dont know which one you prefer, but I originally decided on Mid Bronze Green, until I started placing the order when I changed my mind to Deep Bronze Green. I will let you know if I think I made the right decision later in this, rather long article.

So what exactly did I order, well, in terms of money, quite a lot.

• 3.5 Litres of Light Grey Coach Enamel Primer
• 3.5 Litres of Green Undercoat
• 3.5 Litres of Land Rover Deep Bronze Green LRC001. I actually ordered another 2.5 Litres afterwards. Better too much than not enough.
• 3.5 Litres of Clear Coat (Kind of like a varnish)
• 2 Litres of Thinners
• 1 Litre of Prep Clean 2800 (to clean the surface before painting)
  That was all the paint, but also needed some other bits also.
• Scotch bright pads
• Various grades of sanding disks for my orbital sander (which I also bought)
• 600 grit wet and dry
• Tack Rags and finally some lint free cloths
• Oh, one last thing a new LVLP (Low Volume, Low Pressure spray gun)
  I got this as I only have a 50Ltr, 14cfm compressor and anything other than a LVLP gun, It will struggle.
• Respirator mask (Not my normal dust mask. The reason will be come clear later)
• White disposable suite, that made me look like I was cooking up some illicit substance.

So, to plan the work, I watched loads of videos on how to spray a car, some of the best were from Paint Society on Youtube. There were many more but these were the best in my view. Now there is one big challenge with these videos, most if not all focus on modern painting techniques, using 2K paints, which as far as I can tell need some serious safety equipment. I didn’t buy 2K paint, I bought Coach Enamel, and most of the videos covering this type of paint are about painting by hand, which is the traditional way to paint Coach Enamel. I’m not going to paint by hand, I’m seriously not that good with a roller and brush just ask the wife! and certainly not good enough to paint a car, without any brush marks in the paint, which did actually prove to be true!

So armed with a little knowledge, lots of paint and equipment I booked 2 weeks off from work, and started praying to the weather gods for, wait for it, 2 weeks of not too hot, not too cold, not wet, not windy and not too humid weather. What are the chances? Well as it turned out apart from 1 day at the beginning being way too hot and a couple of the days at the end that were wet the weather gods were kind.

1st thing was to get all the panels sorted, lots and lots of sanding, a little bit of filler here and there and more sanding. These panels are never going to be perfectly straight, without more skills than I am never likely to have, so got them the best I could. Started by Etch Priming some of the panels where they had gone back to bare aluminium, put the door skins back on the frames with the help of a little PU sealer and adhesive and put the floor back into the tub with some adhesive and some new rivets.

Just quickly on the rivets front, much to the amusement of some of my newly found Land Rover friends, I bought pretty much a complete set of original rivets! Much more on those in later articles.

Onto the painting. The last car I painted, more than 40 Years ago, on my own was a mk1 ford escort in light blue and it has to be said, it was a disaster. The two previous cars, a Morris Minor and Ford Cortina Mk3 were much better, but then I had my Dad doing it.

So whats the routine, normal modern paints you spray, leave the paint to Flash Off, and then do another coat. With Coach Enamel, not so easy! Paint and then wait a minimum of 24 Hours before the next coat, so the plan will be Paint in the Morning, leave it until the afternoon the next day to sand back and then spray the next coat the morning of the following day. Now each coat, Primer, Undercoat, Topcoat and Clear Coat needs 2 coats of each. Do the math, 2 full days for each coat = 16 Days! thats pretty much my entire 2 weeks holiday accounted for. Will definitely need to make up for this with my family.

1st coat on, looks ok but there were issues, the biggest being that it went on a little dry. Once it had dried off for 24 hours, rubbed it down and checked that it had stuck properly. Second coat went on much better after re-watching a number of videos about how to avoid dry paint. Seems there were two issues. Not thinned quite enough and spraying technique, i.e. being too far from the panels, allowing the paint to dry a little before it hits the panel.

5 Days later, its time to apply the undercoat. Exciting, its going to go green! This time I thinned the paint to about 10%, the weather is still perhaps a little warm, which is why the first primer went on a little dry. This worked so much better, but introduced some other issues.

Thats 2 coats of primer, 2 coats of Undercoat and every little bit of every panel rubbed down, cleaned with prep clean and tack clothed off in-between every coat.

Onto Top coat. This is exciting. And while this article is becoming quite long, its not as long as the process took to get to this point!

Onto the final top coat. I mentioned I had bought clear coat, this is like a varnish that is applied in a very similar way to the other coats, giving a deeper shine and providing some protection for the paint. The final colour coats are supposed to be high gloss, and this got me thinking, does the final top coat need sanding before applying the clear? I sent a message off to Paintman with that very question and the answer somewhat surprised me, which was no, leave it un-sanded but still allow the 24 hours before applying the clear coat. With modern paints they flash off in a few minutes and can then be re-coated, but Coach Enamel doesn’t work this way. The problem I see is if I paint clear over un-sanded top coat, will it actually stick properly, and if I do sand the top coat, with those scratches show through the clear?

What to do? I searched endless forums, watched endless more videos but didn’t really find an answer. It was then, purely by chance, Facebook showed me a group I might be interested in? Funny, isn’t it how apps know what you are even thinking about! Anyway, I looked at the group and applied to join. The group is a Coach Panting Old Cars group. Seemed a great place to ask the question, albeit with some apprehension as Coach Painting is painting by hand, not spraying, and wondered if my question would be frowned upon, given that I am not strictly Coach Painting.

Seems not, had some great answers, and was sent a few pics of what others have achieved using Paintman paints and clear coat. One answer got my attention, mostly because the picture he sent me was incredible, the car, an old Austin 7 looked absolutely amazing. So how did he do it? Well, according to him, mix the final top coat 50/50 with clear and thin as normal, really? will that work was what I was thinking.

I think they look pretty good, and now you can see the colour I went for, Deep Bronze green, and I love it!

At the time of writing this, I am not completely finished, I still have the 2 wings to finish and paint, the bulkhead and the two doors, but we are expecting some crappy weather in the next day so, so I will get to those when thats passed.

So, what next. Well this paint will need some time to cure properly, weeks, if not months so once it is hard on the surface, it will all get wrapped up and stored until it needs to be fitted, hopefully sometime next summer. All apart that is the bulkhead, that will need to go on as lots of stuff needs to be attached to it, such as pedals, electrics and a few other bits, so that will go onto the chassis in a week or 2, being super careful not to scratch it.

As for the project, taking break for a few weeks but when I get back to it I will be sorting out the troublesome front axle, suspension, torque up all the stuff thats already on the chassis and then move onto brake pipes, exhaust and over winter tackle the engine and gearbox with the plan to start to put Isobel back together during next year, drivable for her 60th Birthday.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, maybe learned something and hopefully like what you see. Until next time, bye for now.

In the last article, I looked at all the bodywork issues that I would need to look at. In this article, most of those challenges have been sorted, kind of! This is a really long one, so sorry for that!

Before continuing, let me be clear, there are certain skills needed that I dont posses, and also needed to be conscious of budget and to keep as much of the original as I reasonably can, to try to avoid more comments like “Its turning into Triggers Broom!”. So what does this mean in reality? we’ll some might say I have bodged certain parts of this process and would prefer to see things done in a different way, for example weld the body panels, but I cant weld and certainly cant weld aluminium, and dont know anyone that can, so took an alternative route! Hey Ho! have to work with what I’ve got. I have also never done any serious bodywork, yes, used filler in the past, and painted a few cars before, with varying results, but nothing like this will need.

So here goes, and please be kind!

Doors

first part to look at was the doors. there was two challenges here, a smallish dent in one of the doors, and the door frames of both doors rotted out at the bottom.

First thing was to separate the door panel from the frame, its not too difficult, you just need to unfold the edges of the panel away from the frame and prise the frame off. Being super careful, as the aluminium can split, and did in a couple of places.

I didn’t think I was making too much noise. But after bumping into a friend at the monthly Spur car meet, who lives opposite (Chris I know you waste plenty of time reading these, thank you 🙂 ), commented he could hear I was upto something! Humm, maybe got some not very happy neighbours now 🙁

Front Wings

Onto the front wings, which also needed some attention.

The mud guard brackets were completely rotten, due to galvanic corrosion between 2 different metals. Using a piece of 5251 grade aluminium, which is the closest grade to the original Birmabright aluminium, a new piece was cut out, with the original spot welds drilled out, all the way through. Counter sunk pop rivets and a little bit of JB-Weld, and a new bracket is in place, minus the holes needed to mount the mud guards, the holes will come later.

Bit of filler across the top and it will look like the original spot welds, until you look underneath.

Another issue with the wings were the other mud guard holes, they had rotted through also, so cut out the corrosion and formed a piece of 5251 to sit in the behind and in the holes, again JB-welded them in, will probably add a little filler to tidy them up a little.

Finally, the last issue with the wings was damage to the outer wing panel, the bit everyone sees. Here there were two issues, 1 being the panel was quite badly bent, and second, a re-enforcing part on the inside of the wheel arch was damaged.

In the top part of the first image, you can see the damage, the bottom half of the image my “suspect” attempt at panel beating. Its along way from perfect, but it now resembles the shape it should be. The process for PB is not entirely straight forward. The Birmabright work hardens, so the more you work it, the more brittle it becomes, so needs to be annealed often, which means heating it up and allowing it to cool, beat some more and repeat. I could keep going with this but took the view I am more likely to make it worse rather than improve it significantly. The second and third images shows the re-enforcing bit, which had become bent and detached from the panel. This was re-shaped, spot welds drilled out and again, using JB-Weld and countersunk pop rivets re-attached.

Rear Tub

Seems every panel needs something doing!

The tub had a few issues, the rear quarter and also the fixings where the tub bolts onto the chassis.

With the panel beating, I also had to try to solve the stretching of the panel. So, I tried my hand at shrinking the metal. Heat it up to not too far way from the melting point, beat around the stretch and then cool it rapidly with a wet cloth. To my surprise, no more, or much less bulging and no more Bing Bong of the panel, I would call that a result.

I used the same basic process for both the front and back, only real difference the front ones (in the picture above) have three layers of ally, with one layer being thicker, 2mm, rather than the normal 1.2mm.

First, get rid of the corrosion, so it was all cut out and cleaned. I also read somewhere that soaking the corrosion area with white vinegar neutralises the corrosion. I guess we will see if that works in a few years time.

I would love to have the skill to weld these in, but I just dont, and need to keep an eye on budgets. While many I am sure will cringe at this, I’m pretty happy with the results. I guess there is an argument to make to make repairs visible, its a part of the character and history of the vehicle. I’m convinced by the argument, and the repairs will be mostly invisible unless you look underneath.

Last issue with the tub, for now was the floor. Will keep this one simple. basically there are 3 supports that help support the floor, These supports are steel, the floor is aluminium, hence the corrosion of the middle support. the corrosion was cut out, strips of aluminium were cold-welded and riveted in and a piece formed to sit over the top, which was also cold welded and riveted on.

Nearly there. In fact, will keep these final 2 parts shorter and sweeter.

Bonnet

The bonnet is pretty simple, much like the doors, it is made up of a skin and a frame that sits underneath. I decided, thankfully, to take the frame off the skin to clean it up, which revealed lots of little holes. I considered a couple of options here, but you can only, as far as I know buy a replacement H section, not the two end parts, one of which was like a piece of holey cheese. The other option was to buy a complete bonnet and hope the frame was in better condition. I considered asking Nephew Lee to weld it up, but to cut out all the rust and corrosion would leave nothing left. So, what I did, and please dont ridicule or judge me, was to form some pieces of mild steel to sit inside the frame and cold weld them in. I did this after taking off as much rust as I could and treating it with rust converter. The fix, you wont see when its all back together.

So final part, the front grill. This is the part, when Isobel is on the road, most people will see in their rear view mirror. The bottom of the panel was basically falling apart. Another repair panel from Paintman Panels, off to Lee to have the rot cut off and new panel welded in, really happy with the results. Little bit of fettling to make the welds invisible as much as I can, but a massive improvement.

Ok, so a really long one this time, if you get here well done, and thank you.

Next up there will be lots of sanding, cleaning and perhaps a little filler (but not much I hope). All with the goal of getting everything ready for some paint at the end of August 2024.

Now I have painted 3 cars in my life, 2 with my Dad, a Morris Minor and a Cortina Mk3, which turned out pretty good and one by myself an Escort Mk2, outside, down the side of the house with a rather suspect compressor which to be fair, was a really crap job! So hoping for a much better result when I tackle this one with a newly purchased LVLP spray gun.

So, I have the list of paint and stuff I need, I know where I am getting it from, I know what it will cost me, all I need now is a bit of good weather, a bit of luck and you might, just might, be seeing some nice shinny, Mid Bronze Green body work in the next article.

Thanks for reading and as mentioned, with a little good fortune, some decent weather Isobel might have a body to be proud of.

If you look at the Plan, I was supposed to do the Engine and Gearbox first, which seemed to make sense when I wrote it. But I also say, the Plan can change but the goal stays the same, well the plan has chaned.

I will “try” to get as much of the body work cleaned, prep’d, repaired and painted before the end of summer 2024, so I can focus on the Engine, Gearbox and other bits over the winter. So, lets get started.

First thing was to strip down all the final bits of the body work, Number plates, Lights and all the galvanised capping’s and other galvanised bits, they will go off to be re-galvanised at some point.

Next step, get everything together, give it all a good jet wash and take a proper look at what needs doing.

Onto the examination, which soon made it apparent I had a shed load of work to do to get this into a reasonable state. As I have said before, this will not be a concours restoration, but I want it to look good, even with a few blemishes. So what needs to be looked at?

Looking at each part in turn, starting with the doors, but in the picture above, the front grill needs a new piece at the bottom, bought one of those, and that, along with other bits have gone off to be welded on.

Next part is the wings, and as with the doors, a few bits to look at.

Final part to look at is the Rear Tub.

A few things with the tub. Took the floor out and the braces off, which showed up some corrosion in the floor supports, that will need sorting. the Offside rear quarter of the tub is badly bent, and has several small splits so that will also need sorting. Finally the areas where the tub bolts to the chassis is also badly corroded, they need cutting out and repairing.

All in all, there is loads to do, which is why I have decided to write this part up separately. Next one will be about the repairs. What I wont cover is my failed attempt to strip the paint off. Used some strong paint stripper “professional use only”, which took the top layer off, but noting else, so sanding will be the way.

Next we’ll look at some of the repairs, where a myriad of new skills will be needed. Panel Beating, Annealing, Shrinking, Riveting, Gluing and maybe even a little aluminium welding/brazing.