Acid dipping to a bare shell?
Discussion
I'm still mulling over what to do with my 62 mk1...
One option is to do a full rebuild, doing the job properly - no patches, lots of new panels on the floor.
Everything above knee height is OK apart from the scuttle corners.
She would then get painted properly.
I'm tempted to get the shell dipped, to try to get back to bare metal, but I've got a couple of questions....
Is it better to do this before doing any of the repairs to the floor?
I guess it would show up any weak areas, but if it took a while to get the rest of the work done the rest of the body would be sitting there unprotected (albeit in my garage).
The paint is pretty ropy - she's been fully resprayed once before (inside and out but not engine bay).
If the whole thing was done down to bare metal, how much extra hassle (and therefore cost) would this add to the spray job? I'm not going to spray it myself, it's an expert job and I don't have the time.
One option is to do a full rebuild, doing the job properly - no patches, lots of new panels on the floor.
Everything above knee height is OK apart from the scuttle corners.
She would then get painted properly.
I'm tempted to get the shell dipped, to try to get back to bare metal, but I've got a couple of questions....
Is it better to do this before doing any of the repairs to the floor?
I guess it would show up any weak areas, but if it took a while to get the rest of the work done the rest of the body would be sitting there unprotected (albeit in my garage).
The paint is pretty ropy - she's been fully resprayed once before (inside and out but not engine bay).
If the whole thing was done down to bare metal, how much extra hassle (and therefore cost) would this add to the spray job? I'm not going to spray it myself, it's an expert job and I don't have the time.
If you acid dip, then you MUST acid etch prime the complete car immediately or it will just get a covering of surface rust virtually straight away.
I'm currently doing a 1966 Mk. 1 which has had new front wings, new A panels - inner and outer, new inner & outer sills, a boot floor repair, a new rear valence and a front panel repair. I have not stripped all the paint back as the rest of the car is fine, so I shall now prepare it for priming, prime it and finish paint it later (or I may sell it c/w boot lid, bonnet & doors).
Going back to bare metal is fine, but it does make a lot of work as you then have to re-prep all the former good surfaces like the roof and all the interior panels. Some body experts see the original paint as a really good base onto which to re-finish.
I'm currently doing a 1966 Mk. 1 which has had new front wings, new A panels - inner and outer, new inner & outer sills, a boot floor repair, a new rear valence and a front panel repair. I have not stripped all the paint back as the rest of the car is fine, so I shall now prepare it for priming, prime it and finish paint it later (or I may sell it c/w boot lid, bonnet & doors).
Going back to bare metal is fine, but it does make a lot of work as you then have to re-prep all the former good surfaces like the roof and all the interior panels. Some body experts see the original paint as a really good base onto which to re-finish.
Cooperman said:
If you acid dip, then you MUST acid etch prime the complete car immediately or it will just get a covering of surface rust virtually straight away.
I'm currently doing a 1966 Mk. 1 which has had new front wings, new A panels - inner and outer, new inner & outer sills, a boot floor repair, a new rear valence and a front panel repair. I have not stripped all the paint back as the rest of the car is fine, so I shall now prepare it for priming, prime it and finish paint it later (or I may sell it c/w boot lid, bonnet & doors).
Going back to bare metal is fine, but it does make a lot of work as you then have to re-prep all the former good surfaces like the roof and all the interior panels. Some body experts see the original paint as a really good base onto which to re-finish.
Thanks - very helpful.I'm currently doing a 1966 Mk. 1 which has had new front wings, new A panels - inner and outer, new inner & outer sills, a boot floor repair, a new rear valence and a front panel repair. I have not stripped all the paint back as the rest of the car is fine, so I shall now prepare it for priming, prime it and finish paint it later (or I may sell it c/w boot lid, bonnet & doors).
Going back to bare metal is fine, but it does make a lot of work as you then have to re-prep all the former good surfaces like the roof and all the interior panels. Some body experts see the original paint as a really good base onto which to re-finish.
My car needs a similar amount of work to yours - we had the wings and A-panels off at the weekend and took a long hard look all over the car. She also needs the ends of the sills / ends of heelboard repairing as well.
The floor pan is looking a little thin in places so it's debateable whether to patch it or use the full length repair section from front to rear, tunnel to inner sill.
Oh and the final biggy is whether to replace the inner wings / flitch panel - most of the inner wings are OK, but the piece that the end of the inner A-panel butts up to is gone on both sides.
FWDRacer said:
To the OP - have a look on www.surfaceprocessing.co.uk
Cheers, have had a look.As the top half of the car is basically OK I will probably look at sanding / blasting the underside.
You can get repair pieces for the ends of the inner wings onto which the A panels are welded. I got mine from Mini Machine and they fitted fine. In fact, I had to cut the overall length down as theyn were too long, but a few minutes with a metal cutting blade in my Bosch Jigsaw did the trick.
Just one thing, in case you hadn't thought of it, make sure you do a drawing of the door frame size with all critical dimensions on, such as the distance from the B-post to points on the A panel and the hinge centres so that you can align accurately before you finaly weld up. It means the doors will fit accurately. Also, when doing the A-panels, make sure they are set parallel to the door frame. I saw a car recently where the A-panels were a few degrees out from the true 'fore & aft' plane and it looked awful.Apparently it was also dificult to align the wings. Do a trial fit of the wings, using self-tapping screws before welding up the A-panels. It takes a bit longer, but the result is worth it.
I was working on my 850 yesterday anbd it is starting to look really good. I used the brush-on seam sealer and a quality trade filler, followed by a white high-build primer. After checking for smoothness with a black 'witness' coat, I'll finish with a grey primer to make it ready for top-coats.
I hope I'm not telling you what you already know.
By the way, if you are in any doubt about the paint that's on there, give it all a coat of isolator - trade name 'Bar Coat' - before any priming. I always do, as getting 'reticulation' is a real sod after all that work.
Just one thing, in case you hadn't thought of it, make sure you do a drawing of the door frame size with all critical dimensions on, such as the distance from the B-post to points on the A panel and the hinge centres so that you can align accurately before you finaly weld up. It means the doors will fit accurately. Also, when doing the A-panels, make sure they are set parallel to the door frame. I saw a car recently where the A-panels were a few degrees out from the true 'fore & aft' plane and it looked awful.Apparently it was also dificult to align the wings. Do a trial fit of the wings, using self-tapping screws before welding up the A-panels. It takes a bit longer, but the result is worth it.
I was working on my 850 yesterday anbd it is starting to look really good. I used the brush-on seam sealer and a quality trade filler, followed by a white high-build primer. After checking for smoothness with a black 'witness' coat, I'll finish with a grey primer to make it ready for top-coats.
I hope I'm not telling you what you already know.
By the way, if you are in any doubt about the paint that's on there, give it all a coat of isolator - trade name 'Bar Coat' - before any priming. I always do, as getting 'reticulation' is a real sod after all that work.
Cooperman said:
..By the way, if you are in any doubt about the paint that's on there, give it all a coat of isolator - trade name 'Bar Coat' - before any priming. I always do, as getting 'reticulation' is a real sod after all that work.
+1Unless of course you like the look of my crackle finish mini
Years ago I bought a Mk. 1 Cortina GT which had had a damaged bonnet and front panel. I straightened it all out and got a nice 2nd hand bonnet which I fitted and rubbed down. Then I primed it and it looked like crazy paving. Someone had used a synthetic paint on it and I had to use paintstripper, wire wool, a scraper and loads of time to get it back to bare metal. I then learnt about the isolator coat and now I use it on everything I paint unless I have painted it myself before and know its history.
Reticulation is a thing of nightmares for the paint sprayer!
Reticulation is a thing of nightmares for the paint sprayer!
Did you flog it?
My Mk1 has sat for 2 years and now I have a full on race 1430 to go into it. It's still sat there, much easier to get the motivation for a new project!
Need to get a grip. My SJ makes the Berlingo feel link a hillclimb car and the mini made the Berlingo feel like a hovercraft. NEED TO GET IT SORTED.
Hope you made the right choice.
My Mk1 has sat for 2 years and now I have a full on race 1430 to go into it. It's still sat there, much easier to get the motivation for a new project!
Need to get a grip. My SJ makes the Berlingo feel link a hillclimb car and the mini made the Berlingo feel like a hovercraft. NEED TO GET IT SORTED.
Hope you made the right choice.
Edited by Tangent Police on Monday 2nd November 17:58
Re acid dipping.
The Austin A30 van shell was dipped as the first part of the process and when we collected it was raw , bare steel.
Not for the faint hearted, but in this case, no worse than we expected, in fact, in some areas quite remarkable.
Be aware that this method takes everything off and even takes out the lead type sealer they used in the fifties for seam sealing. The car is in the process of having new steel here and there, this being carried out on a double ended indexing rotisarie that we built, that allows you to work on the car in more convenient positions rather than just on a four legger, this way we can put in any position through 360 degrees. I will get someone to put photos on for me as I'm cr*p at that sort of thing. By the way, when we were at the dippers there was evidence that some bodies that they get, really should not be subjected to this method, be aware that it really does reveal EVERYTHING.
The Austin A30 van shell was dipped as the first part of the process and when we collected it was raw , bare steel.
Not for the faint hearted, but in this case, no worse than we expected, in fact, in some areas quite remarkable.
Be aware that this method takes everything off and even takes out the lead type sealer they used in the fifties for seam sealing. The car is in the process of having new steel here and there, this being carried out on a double ended indexing rotisarie that we built, that allows you to work on the car in more convenient positions rather than just on a four legger, this way we can put in any position through 360 degrees. I will get someone to put photos on for me as I'm cr*p at that sort of thing. By the way, when we were at the dippers there was evidence that some bodies that they get, really should not be subjected to this method, be aware that it really does reveal EVERYTHING.
Tangent Police said:
Did you flog it?
My Mk1 has sat for 2 years and now I have a full on race 1430 to go into it. It's still sat there, much easier to get the motivation for a new project!
Need to get a grip. My SJ makes the Berlingo feel link a hillclimb car and the mini made the Berlingo feel like a hovercraft. NEED TO GET IT SORTED.
Hope you made the right choice.
No - guess what, she's still in the garage on stands with no more work having been done.My Mk1 has sat for 2 years and now I have a full on race 1430 to go into it. It's still sat there, much easier to get the motivation for a new project!
Need to get a grip. My SJ makes the Berlingo feel link a hillclimb car and the mini made the Berlingo feel like a hovercraft. NEED TO GET IT SORTED.
Hope you made the right choice.
Edited by Tangent Police on Monday 2nd November 17:58
molestrangler said:
Re acid dipping.
The Austin A30 van shell was dipped as the first part of the process and when we collected it was raw , bare steel.
Not for the faint hearted, but in this case, no worse than we expected, in fact, in some areas quite remarkable.
Be aware that this method takes everything off and even takes out the lead type sealer they used in the fifties for seam sealing. The car is in the process of having new steel here and there, this being carried out on a double ended indexing rotisarie that we built, that allows you to work on the car in more convenient positions rather than just on a four legger, this way we can put in any position through 360 degrees. I will get someone to put photos on for me as I'm cr*p at that sort of thing. By the way, when we were at the dippers there was evidence that some bodies that they get, really should not be subjected to this method, be aware that it really does reveal EVERYTHING.
What did it cost, and who did you use, if you don't mind me asking? Considering getting my subframes done rather than spending ages with the angle grinder and a wire brush!The Austin A30 van shell was dipped as the first part of the process and when we collected it was raw , bare steel.
Not for the faint hearted, but in this case, no worse than we expected, in fact, in some areas quite remarkable.
Be aware that this method takes everything off and even takes out the lead type sealer they used in the fifties for seam sealing. The car is in the process of having new steel here and there, this being carried out on a double ended indexing rotisarie that we built, that allows you to work on the car in more convenient positions rather than just on a four legger, this way we can put in any position through 360 degrees. I will get someone to put photos on for me as I'm cr*p at that sort of thing. By the way, when we were at the dippers there was evidence that some bodies that they get, really should not be subjected to this method, be aware that it really does reveal EVERYTHING.
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