Quote:
Originally Posted by mike5352
Hi All,
I am currently trying to restore the exterior of my father’s Bristol 411. It is either a series 1 or 2 as it has 2 large and 2 smaller headlamps. I am a novice when it comes to body work, but the aim is try to do as much of the work ourselves.
I have stripped most of the paint down to the primer using Nitromors paint remover and A LOT of patience!
I am unsure of how to remove the front headlamps so as to get a proper finish to the paint stripping, and future painting. Any tips?
There is a small dent in the roof (just above where the rear-view mirror attaches). What sort of filler should I use on this? Any tips for doing this?
The car is made from aluminium so is there a special kind of primer we should use? And also special type of paint for the top coat?
Any advice, hints, tips or pointers would be very much appreciated.
Mike
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Hi Mike,
Where are you located (what country) and what experience do you have in classic car restoration? If novice means very little, you really should consider finding an old, cheap aluminium bodied Land Rover and practice on it. The 411 is considered by many to be the best of the V8 classic Bristols, and the company's owner, Toby Silverton is buying 411's to turn them into 411-mark 6 rebuilt models. It really is not the best car to learn restoration on.
On dents, aluminium is better beaten out with a skilled hand than filled with bog. On painting, aluminium requires far more skill to get right. It requires an etch primer, but it also requires perfect temperature, humidity and dust controlled conditions or a few years down the road you will regret wasting the time. As others have noted, the headlamp buckets are screwed in, but it probably is all is rusted out. If so buy new buckets first and when you have them, use a grinder to destroy the rusted buckets without damaging the aluminium to which they are affixed. Also, you may have corrosion where electrolysis is the result of the aluminium body touching the steel wheel wells, and even if not, you should make sure you detail that part right by preventing the two metals from touching, or in a few years it will bubble again and mess up the paint. If you do have corrosion, which you may find behind the headlights as well, this should be repaired by a skilled aluminium welder, not bog. It's worth it to spend the money.
If I can give you advice, keep on with the messy, but essentially low-skill work of preparation. Remove all the paint and bad bog, replace all the rusted screws, take off everything that gets in the way of a painter (but have a professional remove and reinstall the glass - it's easy to break and expensive to replace). Then pay a recommended professional who knows aluminium to prepare the body, prime it, probably spend three weeks with long block sanding and top coating. It's not a prime-top coat finish, but instead will be etch coat, several prime coats, several top coats and optionally a clear coat on top of all.
Alternatively, have a professional skim and etch coat it to assure the paint will bond to the metal, then you prime it and then go to a World-War II Bristol aeroplane museum, note the military matt-colours and spray it in some tint of flat or matt green and grey with appropriate military decals. Going this route, all of the imperfections that will show up are part of the image, and when someone does invest the funds required to do the proper top coating, the protective paint will serve as a good scratch coat (used in sanding to find the high and low spots).
Claude
PS: See
http://www.oldclassiccar.co.uk/forum...8e711574c8331c