deluxemk1

Hi everyone Mitchville Autobodies has merged with another Custom ,classic ford ,race car shop in sittingbourne kent. We are very busy and need a self employed panel beater to help us with this very busy restoration shop. You must have at least three years experience repairing bodywork preferably with NVQ qualification or similar. You will be working on a lot of classic fords ,also american classic and drag cars. Please check websites www.mitchvillehotrods.co.uk and www.spectrumpaintworx.co.uk. We remain seperate companys working closely together from same premises . If you want to do what you love for a living contact us or pm me plse this is a toy shop for petrol heads and you will get to work on some very special cars . Thanks si Mitchville Autobodies.

Where are you at then? May know a contact local to you

Thats about right mate. In two pack three litres would do car , engine bay and door shuts ,if you do it in cellulose obviously there will be a need for a extra coat or two, so five is safe it will probably leave you bout half a litre spare for another day I reckon. If you are doing it in cellulose make sure you buy a good top gloss thinner to mix with the paint not cheap gunwash or universal thinner. Its been recycled and has a slight water content ,hence you may have seen before its a little yellow in appearance. Its fine for cleaning guns but thats about it! Apply three coats ,let dry , then flat it with 1200 or 1500 wet ,clean it do any pinholes you missed then recoat with two more coats to finish. id mix first three coats 60% paint 40% top gloss thinner to get some material on it. Doesnt matter if slighty peelier as you will flat it. Mix last two coats 50/50 as you said that will give a nice top surface. Good luck!

I dont think there are words . Just stare in disbelief, thats got to be a wind up.

aldridge are the best I found. Did a mk2 lotus tina side windows a while ago the east kent rubbers would of fitted a clown car better,got em in but they were evil on the corners as usual. Mk1 tina rubbers were pants as well if memory serves. Baines in Tunbridge wells are good for rubberes ,but deffo aldrige they are the biz

Is that BSB group? Lechler dealers? They are a good bunch im there the main man is Jason hes really clued up hes your man si (mitchville sprayer bloke)

two pack laquer is what you need on it it will resist the temperatures ok. Just think how hoy your car roof gets in the summer, you can fry an egg on it it will be fine ive painted lots of engine blocks etc in two pack paint. mask out the cosworth letters etc then etch prime the rest . Get a upol acid 8 etch primer aerosol from halfords and a colour of your choice in rattle can. Paint it up ,remove lettering that you masked out then get a local body shop to two pack laquer it for you. You may run a slight risk the laquer will lift on the polished up letters in time but you will prob get away with it. Or of course prime ,paint and laquer then demask it and polish the letters on it ,but that will mean regular polishing on the letters to keep nice. Hope that helps

A holley 390 will do the job ok we had a evil v6 mk1 tina with vulcan heads n other mad stuff that carb was great on there. The webbers look awesome ,but would props be a pain in the arse to set up

They probably mean solid colour which shines straight from the gun like cellulose would or base and clear which uses a coloured undercoat then a clear two pack laquer. Basecoat will do normal colours like signal yellow or rosso red etc as well not just metallics. However with waterbase being the norm use a solid colour two pack if your car is not metallic. Oh ans d ask for a high solid product you can do it in two coats then not three as the paint covers quicker!

If the car is in crap condition , metal it, if its ok bar a few places then yeah id flat it with 500 and spot etch and prime the repairs. Im yet to see an old ford that only needs that tho. Paint stripping cars is the last resort really and it depends how much dosh you have and if it warrants it. I metal lots of customers jobs ,but thats cos they are normally crap and have tons of paint on them. Your all right 2 pack primer seals against most types of possible reaction. Bar coat is shite and really seals deeper problems ,but as is said you shouldnt really need it and in this case its already metalled so it dont matter. If you have as I think you said put some etch and primer on it key up all the repair areas and do the gob work then reprime. For gods sake use two pack primer it is dodgy ,but its mixed thick and doesnt make a lot of over spray. Cellulose primer will sink like a pig in a year or sooner. Tip if you use cellulose paint use top gloss thinners not the cellulose thinner used for cleaning out your gun or that rubbish from halfords.Also I dont know what spraygun you have ,but it helps to have the right set up for cellulose paint. If you buy one these days get a budget gun from machine mart or a u pol one from your local paint shop. You can pick one up for about 50 to 80 quid. Us paint boys use mad price guns costing mega bucks (Sata 3000s) to those in the know! Whatever you buy look for a number on the air cap of the gun. 1.3 or 1.4 any bigger than that number is only good for primer or painting fences. For the real anoracks a no 36 set up for a devillbis jga gun is the best choice for celly painting ,but seeing as only the british museum probablly has this gun and fluid tip these days, a gravity gun (pot on top) with a 1.3 or 1.4 in it are the best choices. If you havent painted a car before get a 1.3 gun its not as agressive with the paint delivery you will find it easier to spray without runs. Good luck with it. Any more questions just ask, but wot do i know anyway!

fill then etch prime mate. Filler has best adhesion to bare metal. Use a sander to key up all the area you need to fill (use 80 grit or 180) . Do your repairs. When the whole shell is repaired. Flat the whole shell with 180 on the bare metal areas to to remove any remaining surface rust, as this could cause blistering in your new paint job after time. Finish your repairs by hand with 180 then 240 dry on a block. Then etch prime all of it and apply a good two pack primer on top of the etch to seal it all in. Dont leave it to long between etching and applying the primer though as it can give adhesion problems. Hope that helps . Simon (mitchville autobodies guvnor)

That car got me into hot rodz/ fordz /drag racing. I to remember it in its hayday and like most thirtys somethings or older im sure I wasnt the only one in love with that car as a 18 year old!

Email me some pics of car and what needs doing Might be able to help you if you can wait a little while! www.mitchvillehotrods.co.uk. simon

Good one boyz !! Get them wheels up! Geez Jeff that things gonna be biting the wheels of my altered dragster if you keep that up mate! Glad you had good weather,we sat in the camper for five days at the finals! Back up there thurs night for the national finals this weekend coming.That had better be dry grrr! Another beast from the harris empire he he!!

Yeah will call Gaz I think it seems to be the less drama of the options .Il find out tomorrow when I check it all out. Car is bare metal now ,looks not bad actually thought it would be worse than it is .Will stick up pics when i get a chance

Thanks il take a look we do most things to em but we are paint and resto specialists really,mechanical mods I like to get sorted properly for my customers and Im never afraid to ask as many questions as possible. Did think about contacting Gaz about doing something with the front legs ,Il check the site out cheers for the help.We got the car stripped down last couple of days.Should start paint stripping it next week. I know there will be some nasty surprises under that lot!

Will do mate thanks for the kind words. Have to catch up for a beer soon thought might of seen you at medway meet last night ,guess like me you been working hard mate hopefully il see you soon Jeff says hi

Welcome to the mad house mate hope you like it!

cheers fellas , its hard to find good people for fixing our sort of cars these days. Im sure the other pros on here will agree with me. You cant just get anyone to strip /fit or weld these cars. The attitude of many young guys is if it breaks get a new one ,but as we all know that doesnt happen with these cars someone who is carefull and works proud is so hard to find and obviously thats all we could have down here as all the cars are loved by us prob as much as the owners do. Hope im not left on my own for long! That will have to be the way til they right guy /gal steps forward! And thankyou for the nice comments by the way! Cheers si

Put mt foot in it a while back in the pub.It was a get together from my old work got to see a few painters ,beaters etc that had also left this company and had like me dropped in to say hi. Over a beer I was taking the piss out of those cars and said how shite they were. Turns out one of my mates that was there was proudly showing pics of these to others on his phone turns out he painted em! Oops Anyway the saving grace was he said that before he painted em they were shite as was the repair work! Dodged a bullet that night I think !

quick bump up in case anyone sees this ad just hope that the right person is maybe on here. Favourite applicant would be one of us who was stripping escorts cortinas etc before they were old enough to go to school!

Il get jeff to post a pic of it asap took em yesterday

looks like the front of this car may be a pig then! Dont want to cut the stock springs thats animal. Thanks for all the help so far il call the relevent people on the bits you have all come up with so far. Thought North hants would be worth a shot for the wheels. Il call old ford autos for the rear end bits ,just dont want to have to get deep in it with the front. By memory A 7 j rim is the most you can get under a mk3 with stock rear end? Had a mk2 zody years a go I stuck 7 x 15 centrelines on that and if memory serves that was all id get under there. Il have to go measure the back space now unless anyone knows off the top of their head?

Thanks for the links chaps thats a good start. Just went over and collected car and moved it over to workshop to start it next week. Took a few snaps il get jeff to post em up later on. Any help welcomed it seems the lowered springs will prob be the biggest headache.

Right guys and gals heres a quick brief and a couple of requests /questions. Will post pics this week got to dig it out the garage tomorrow. Right car in question mk3 zodiac , been asked to sort it out n make it bit more cool to. The car is stock at the moment , imperial maroon in colour with stock wheels. 1. we gonna bare metal it and go digging for rust 2. fix it, prep it , paint it. 3.Lower it 4.Sort the wheel department. Wel post it all as we go with it. Right couple of questions before I go to Zodiac Motor Services , John Blythe etc. Has anyone on here lowered a zodiac before? Obviously lowering one is straight forward ,but im wondering if anyone knows where I could get lowered springs for one? Im assuming without looking that a standard lower block kit for the back will do if I get the rear leaf springs sorted as well to deck it? Wheels will be a personal choice ,but ive been given free run of it. I thought about banded steels n keep the chrome caps , do em cream and do the roof cream as well to go with. Now one of you guys do em on here I know ,sorry forgot who it is! Plse could you let me know? Ta . Thought id ask peeps what we should do with the car to old skool cool it. Chuck some ideas at me ,we want it resto style so colours and wheels is really what id like some ideas wot people think would look wicked. Help us build a croozer he he cheers si.