1970 MGB GT progress

We removed the front bumper for my Dad's MGB GT. we needed to get it off to get the fenders removed (that will come later. I sanded down the front valence as well. I have to say it looks killer with out the front bumper..

we got a parts car this week for $700, hopefully she'll be chock full of goodies, usable goodies, like fenders, hood, switches, seats..

MGA

My cousin finally finished his MGA, more pics to come, expect to see it at car shows all around New England.

I'm Back..and I see Red

I know it's been awhile, but the cold winter months kind of kill alot of cool car stuff in New England, and if I did any consistent blogging over these winter months it would just be me posting how cold & miserable it is. But I digress..

Like Britney Spears, I did it again. So another set of Rostyles landed in my lap after finishing the last set I did.

To recap, in Sept 2008 I restored a set of Rostyle wheels, in the Factory Silver/Black color scheme. It took a few weeks to do them properly but I got them done. Then on the last night of my Auto Body Class in 2009 I decided to throw a good clear coat on them using the spray booth at school. They came out great, super Glossy! I think I put about 4 coats of clear on them.

So with the season almost upon us I decided that I wanted to have a set in the Silver/Damask Red color to match our 74 MGB convertible. Now I ran into a few problems here and there. So here it goes:

1. I lost my garage space to work in. Since I live in an apartment, and have limited space I could really only work on them during School nights. BUT since the school's media blasting facilities are kind of non existent. I had to do them outside by my uncle's Shop, which was not fun in early January. I did get them done, applying the primer after sandblasting in the 4:30 twilight that happens in the winter months.

2. Since these were going on MY MGB. I took extra steps that I didn't on the last set. I really cleaned out the backsides of these wheels too, getting all the gunk, and rust off of them. Even though they won't be seen, I wanted this to be perfect. So I went over them with a Wire wheel, and got them cleaned out. I ran into problems in getting the Dupli color primer that I used last time, so I used some regular primer to finish them off. It seems to hold up, but I had some incidents while taping them up, that the razor cut through the color to the bare metal. That was kind of a bummer.

3. I think I laid down about 2 cans of silver on them. While painting them I noticed some "fur" that seemed to be paint dust that was kind of "floating" over the surface. So I ended up using a Scotchbrite pad to get them smooth between coats of silver. minor setbacks: one of the wheels falling over when I put it down to open the garage door for one of the guys in my class, and took off a chunk of paint "OH you poor bastard" he says. Great...although he helped me out in finding a place that could get me the color I wanted for my insets.

Sandblasted, primed, and silver coat:

All taped up:

4. Getting the color was kind of interesting. I went to Kwik Auto body supply in Medford, MA and asked them to mix me a Spray can of the PPG color. Just asking for PPG Damask Red isn't gonna do it. Get the Paint code. Thankfully with my handy dandy I phone, I was able to look the color up on the web. Unfortunately The kind of PPG paint I got wasn't that Thick (it was their lower priced "shop-line"), and 2/3 of the way of painting the wheels, I ran out of paint. BUMMER. So I asked the Paint/supply guy to get me some. The price was the same and he got a Dupont version that did the trick. It seemed like the Dupont went on thicker as well.

This is the label for the PPG product:

5. As usual, after doing the inset color, they needed to be re-taped, as they sometimes bleed through all those tight corners, and taping them on one night, painting the next night, kind of messes with the Tape actually sticking among the edges. So you end up having to tape up the red areas, and re-applying a silver coat AGAIN. It seems to be par for the course, if you wanna do them right. Not a real big surprise there, as the last set needed them done in the same fashion. I painted these ones the silver base coat FIRST this time, as opposed to doing them AFTER the colored insets. I can't say which way is better, as it seems like you end up making 2 passes each time.

Color is done:

6. I think I got the equivalent of 3 coats of clear on them. I was sharing the paint booth with one of the guys in class, as he was painting a valance for his 1970 Impala. by the time he was ready for clear, I had the "touch up" coat of silver done, and was in the booth. The clear doesn't seem as thick as the last one, but it seems to "pop" a bit more. I may have the same amount of clear on them, as last time, I don't particularly remember as it was the last class of the previous semester. The spray booth has only 1 working air line in the booth, so we had to share the air hose.

Applying clear coat:

Completed (I had to post this pic, as the Iphone doesn't have a flash)

Regardless they are done, and hopefully they'll be on the Red MGB within a few weeks!

AGAIN I still have a few more Rostyles to do, and with the better weather hopefully coming upon us I'll do these a little bit each week, this time they'll be the traditional Silver/Black color scheme. If anyone needs a set of refurbished Rostyles, drop me a line..

I promise to post some more stuff, as the driving season is coming up there will be some cool car stuff happening, such as shows, and other events!