Now we are rolling

With the painting done, it is time to get this thing rolling again. I started by installing new bushings in the rear springs.

Next some fresh paint. These are not the original springs, they still had the Moss sticker on them, but they were not brand new either, just making them look new again.

Where does all this stuff go? Actually it wasn't too bad putting on the rebound buffers, with a picture to go by.

Here we go, progress. The front cross-member is installed, shocks in place.

 

Done with the right. Lower A arm installed, pressed up on the new spring, just the hub to go. 

 

The rear end going in. The springs are just mounting on the front bolts and I'll wheel it under the car on the dolly, bolt up the springs to the axle, then use the jack to lift the diff and springs up to their mounting points. 

Just like that. Then the parking brake goes on. Just a few brackets and it is good. It actually stopped the wheel spinning on the first pull of the brake handle! 

Next, the steering rack has to go in. Fresh seals and boots, and oil, and clamps and ball joints and... that's it, I think. 

Hubs, wheels and steering wheel on, a slight adjustment to the wheel toe.....

And she is out of the garage for the first time in about 10 months, not too bad.

Back in the garage already! This time centered under the I beam for the engine hoist, yeah this is coming along now!

 

Paint: Base and Clear

 

No, I am not painting my car with blood. The car was Blaze, which is a red shade of orange, but when I ordered the BLVC16 color code for painting the engine bay, I didn't like the color, it seemed to have a slight bit of blue in it. Fine for the engine bay but that wasn't what I wanted to see every day so I went to Sherwin Williams automotive paint and picked out the color by eye, comparing it to the hood of the car.

I hung the doors and boot and bonnet lids to ensure I could paint all the gutters and sills on the car easier.

This is what the color looks like on the car, more orange. I like it! This is just base, or color, no clear coat yet. 

 

Finally here are are with two coats of clear on everything. Everything turned out perfect, except the hood, the part I really wanted to be perfect, it got a huge run. Maybe perfect is a bit overstating things, there are dust nibs to take care of, but not a lot, this is normal. The hood can be corrected too, it will probably take a whole day though. More to come on the final finish. 

 

 Here is a nice shot of the boot lid that shows the depth of shine. This is less than 24 hours from spraying so it is not even set enough to start color sanding or buffing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paint Preperation, and more preperation, and more

 

Started with the boot lid, it's big, flat and steel. I removed the luggage rack so I welded closed the holes. The filler is just to smooth it out.

This was the side marker, and there was a chip below it so I got that filled while I was in the neighborhood.  

Sanding the transition to the new steel fender bottom. This is block sanding, buy the dura-block set, makes life so much easier, they bed to match the shape of the panel allowing an even curve. 

 

 

Both dogleg panels needed the same treatment. The panel is easy, it is getting the door edge even that will make you want to throw things. I probably added more filler eight times and then sanded 98 percent of it off again to fill every little hole and ensure the door opening contour was even, it really just takes practice.

Here is the rear valance panel. I had to ask the experts at MGEXP.com if this was normal? Yep, the bumper covers these ugly welds that come with it from the factory.

After finishing the filler, I hand blocked the whole car with 120 then 320 grit paper.

The new weapon, about $40 on Amazon, comes with three nozzles of various size.

I decide to hang the panels for paint so I didn't have to worry about painting door jams separately and other inconvenient procedures.

Tape and paper.

And finally, primer. Aaaaah, that feels good, such a milestone. The $40 gun worked like a champ, two coats gave great coverage and held up to 600 grit hand sanding before paint. Not yet though, while sanding I of course found about ten little pin holes in the primer from the filler. Time to go back and fix those.

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My nemesis, the front valance! I have already spent days, maybe a week total replacing metal, cutting bumper slots, pounding out bends, filling and sanding, and when I the primer dried, it still looked like crap. I changed tactics, rock guard.

Three good layers of rock guard hides most of the irregularities and is common for a lower valance. The bumper hides most of this anyway. My choices were limited here. Everyone reports that replacement panels fit badly, so this really was the best option. The 600 grit primer sanding is done, just need to clean it off and shoot base and clear, maybe tomorrow or the next day.