CREDIT CRUNCH ENGINE BAY RESPRAY

[petrolhead]

Rattle cans 'R' Us

 

My engine bay was looking tatty, paint was cracked and scratched especially around the strut tops. I don't have a garage so I decided to do a spruce up with spray cans on my drive (Yee Haw I hear you say). This was how I did it:

 

You can see here some cracking here. On mine water seems to sit in this slight depression and the water has seeped into the cracks.

 

Nothing for it but to sand it right back! No power tools for me, just good ol' elbow grease.

 

I stripped all the ancil components, masked off the engine and removed the bonnet and just carried on sanding....

 

A good base of hammerite primer and zinc oxide primer followed and a little more sanding/flatting

 

Next day 4/5 coats of silver, difficult colour to do - if you do it too thin all the metallic flakes lay flat and you lose your sparkle

 

Followed by about 3/4 coats of laquer

 

I have to wait for it to harden before cut 'n' polish. Its not perfect but is now looking a lot smarter and very presentable. Total cost £40

[Stu_B]

Nice work

[evil knievel]

nice work man

 

what was the total cost of work?

[lotusless]

he said total cost £40. nice job looks well smart

[Rick]

nothing wrong with a good rattle can job.

[Trevmk3]

looks alrite that does mate, i need to get mine done sometime over winter, i may take the engine out though and get that cleaned up

[Takeshi]

My kind of budget work

 

Good job.

[Mick The Mig]

Top job. Just shows what you can do on a budget.

[sambo]

Im doing mine soon too. Should be easier as it is satin black !

 

Nice job mate!

[petrolhead]

Thanks fella's

 

yep, £40 was the cost, I used:

 

Thinners & various grades of sandpaper

1 x small can of grey hammerite primer

2 x cans of grey zinc oxide primer

3 x cans of Stratos Silver

2 x cans of Laquer

BBC weather service and 3 consecutive mornings!

 

I've learnt that with a spray can (as with the gun) if your finger is 'on the button' the can should be moving at a steady pace. Otherwise you get what I call the 'I-beam effect' -> a line of thin paint with two splodges of heavy paint either end! In this respect spraying is similar to welding IMO.

 

OR you could do Satin black all over which would be easier and show off your shiney engine bits

[antz]

holy mother of god youve done a sterling job there!!!!!

 

[NeilT]

looks like a good job fella money well spent

[evil knievel]

i see! i missed that before... £40 is very good!

 

 

im tempted to do it now

[Tom]

lol thats exactly how i did mine before i fitted the new front end!!

 

Wicked job mate looks very good

[5hane]

definatly having a go at that !

 

guess everything will be the same fo the interior too?

[Nettles]

Top work fella

[gpcmatric]

GREAT JOB WHY THE BOLTED ON WINGS?

[caprinerd]

nice job i did mine in satin black with arsole cans and it come out ok not as tidy as that though

[marky4]

brilliant job you've made there m8

[petrolhead]

The wings are glassfibre, even if they were steel I'd choose to bolt them on. Not original but much easier to change, so personal preference.

 

Again its personal preference on the interior. If you are going for the stripped out racer look I wouldn't use rattle cans on the inside. Borrow a compressor and buy a paint gun OR if you have carpet like me sand everything down and brush paint the entire floor pan with similar coloured hammerite/smoothrite. Its thicker and harder wearing.