I have been thinking about this for a while and now have decided to
gather up some advice from the list.
My car is a 76 TR6 with most of the paint still original. I have had it
for 16 years and know it to be free of rust (a couple of very small
bubbles are evident, I am sure this is just surface rust). I am
interested in possibly giving the car a new paint job next spring (color
is pimento - pretty standard stuff for these cars I guess). The parts on
which the paint is still original are somewhat faded and the parts on
which it is not are a different shade of red. No biggie but I would like
to make it a little more consistent and bright.
So, given that, here is what I am wondering about...
I am fairly certain I will not do a body-off paint job - this is simply
more than I want. If I went that far I might as well rebuild the whole
car and I am not prepared to do this just now. So I think I would like
to do as good a job as is possible with the body still on the car. (When
I say I will do it, I really mean I will pay someone to do the actual
painting).
Having never had a car painted before, I do not know all the issues
involved. I assume I will need to remove all the following parts from
the car prior to sending for the painting:
- all lights and associated trim,
- door handles and locks,
- wipers and wiper shafts,
- plastic vent below the wipers,
- bumpers (not sure about this?),
- front spoiler,
- gille and the black plastic piece under it,
- driver side door mirror,
- britsh leyland badges on front fenders,
- antenna,
- chrome trim under the doors,
- trunk rack,
- trunk lock,
- roof (soft top),
- outer door waist seals (not inner I think?),
- all the snaps which hold the roof and tonneau,
- fuel filler cap,
Have I missed anything? Am I on the right track or is there a lot more
to do than just this? I purposely left off the windshield cause I am not
sure if this needs to come off, any advice here?
Should I also be removing the door seals, hood seals, trunk seals, etc.?
I don't really want to paint the inside of the doors, trunk, hood, etc
unless this would mean I would get a proper paint job - all these
surfaces are in prime shape right now paint-wise.
Assuming all is ok so far, once I have this stuff off the car, I plan to
drive it to the paint shop. There the paint dude will presumably mask
off the exposed parts and proceed to... do what? Will they strip off the
old paint right down to the metal? I assume this is desirable so is it
possible to do this properly with the car in the state of only partial
disassembly I described? Or is it a waste to try stripping off old paint
when the body is still on the frame?
Once he painting begins, how many coats of undercoat should be applied?
How many coats of paint? Any clear coat or other finish to put on the
actual paint? What are reasonable paint choices? Are any paints (brands
and types) better than others for this?
Now here is the final question... If I do what I describe and take it to
a quality paint shop, what would be a fair price for the paint job. I
will be replacing all the removed parts myself of course.
I realize this is a long winded request for a lot of info, but it is I
guess a very important aspect of owning a car like this and I want to
make sure I have as much info as possible prior to commencing this
effort. I would really appreciate any tips on painting from those who
have been there. Thanks as always...
Peter Zaborski
76 TR6 (CF58310 UO)
Calgary AB Canada
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