Fresh coat of paint

[PeterTR7V8]

finally, at last and about time my TR is headed to the paint shop.

I've had the car nearly 2 years and all that time I have put up with the faded & cracked paint while I blew my auto budget on the mechanicals. Now, despite the fact I can't really afford it, it is getting close to Christmas & the wife wants to paint the house I am getting the TR all tarted up for the summer season.

I got 2 quotes earlier in the year. One was for about $NZ10k while the other was a very pleasing $3200. The 1st quote was from someone who had ripped me off when I had the GT6 restored many years ago so I was really just vengefully wasting his time, whereas the 2nd quote was from a recommended painter who admittedly specialises in fire trucks but is familiar with the TR7. I went with the cheaper quote of course. The car has very little discernable rust with maybe a patch needed on the bottom of the driver's door so for a Speke car that's like zero rust.

The car is, I think, Flamenco red which is a bit dowdy even when new. So I am leaning strongly towards changing this to Carnelian red but this is not going to be a full strip out job so the engine bay where the paint is still in good condition will remain Flamenco which may look a bit naff. I'm also keen on colour matching the bumpers which gives the car a more modern look I feel. I'll make the final decision when I talk to the painter on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, I've ditched the wing & removed the exterior trim & bumpers which I plan to paint myself to save money. The front bumper needs a minor repair from when I drove into the workbench I built in the garage. What can I say, it wasn't there the day before. I was thinking some epoxy resin would fix this but would welcome other ideas.

Oh, and does anyone have info on painting the aluminium pods please?



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Upholstery/Motor/Gearbox/Suspension/Brakes/Carb/Tyres../Gearbox/Cam+Motor/Paint
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[gaz]

it'll be a great feeling to get some fresh paint on it just think how it will glisten the sunshine.........
PAINT THE HOUSE YOURSELF AND THE MONEY YOU SAVE SPEND ON THE SEVEN.......

It rides again.....

[Hasbeen]

The bumper can be plastic welded. Epoxy is NOT suitable, unless
you have an Oz aftermarket fiberglass bumper cover. Some
solvent based adhesives would work, but to find out what, would
require some experimenting, where it would not show, to test
adhesion

You need someone who does a range of stuff, so he knows about more
plastics than just dashboards, & motor bike fairings. Otherwise they
may try to use the wrong filler rod material. A quick chat should
tell you if a bloke knows his stuff, its not rocket science.

I had a rear corner of my 7 damaged by a truck, in the local service
station, 6 days after it went back on the road.

I was lucky to find a really knowledeable bloke, who welded it up, &
painted it, using a special primer.

That was over 6 years ago, & i've had no problems with it since.

Good luck with the paint.

Hasbeen

[Wayne S]

Hi Peter,

Just to answer your bit about the light pods. You effectively pain them using the same methods as any other panel with sanding, priming, flatting etc but its just the primer thats different you need to use Etch Primer - or sometimes you can pick up special aluminium primer which is really the same thing.

Wayne

<b>FOR SALE!!!!Purple 2.0 Litre DHC Grinnall</b>
Red 4.0 Litre V8 DHC Grinnall (with huuuuuge arches...!)

[John Clancy]

Keep it Flamenco as I think it looks great and it's almost synonymous with the Speke cars. I still see a few of them that colour over here. I wouldn't paint the bumpers either - the car is 30 years old so who cares if matt black bumpers date it a bit? It's still going to look better than most modern cars on the road... no, make that all modern cars on the road!

<center><b>[url="http://www.triumphtr7.com/documents/sales/codenamebullet.asp"]Buy the story of the Triumph TR7/8 on DVD here[/url]</b></center>

[PeterTR7V8]

The bumper does seem to be covered by a fibrous material with a thin plastic crust. It is only the plastic that is chipped.

Good info about the etch primer Wayne.

John, maybe I'm suffering from a bit of Grinnall envy [8D] but the other thought I have in the back of my mind because I do the odd event, is to do works rally decals which would require a brighter red than flamenco - maybe signal red? Looking at my Pond & Eklund models the works bumpers are black so maybe I can meet you halfway on this. I wonder why the pods were painted black. I'm definately doing the sills in red though.

Cheers.



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[PeterTR7V8]

Took the car to the painter today. It broke down on the way with a dead fuel pump. After a 10 minute break it started working again but sounded pretty sick but it was enough to get me there.

When I passed on my infinite wisdom about painting aluminium to Steve the painter he pointed to the fire truck he had just painted & said what do you think they make these out of. Felt a bit stupid after that.

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[Mowog73]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Century Gothic, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by PeterTR7V8</i>

Felt a bit stupid after that.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I feel a bit stupid most of the time.

Normally I would say paint what ever colour you like, but unless you are planning to paint the engine compartment later, I'd keep the car it original colour.

I be you'll be raring to get the project done once the car is painted; I know that's how I feel about the project sitting in my garage, all freshly painted.

Mark

1973 MGBGT, 1976 TR7, 1980 Spitfire 1500

[Rich in Vancouver]

I also own a Speke car. A PO repainted mine from the original French Blue to a rather, no very, boring metallic dark green. The colour change constantly annoys me, but unfortunately he sprayed the boot and bonnet areas black while he was at it so changing it back won't be easy.
My point? Give it a good long think before you change from the original colour. Those 70's colours really suit the cars and their era.

Rich

1975 TR7 ACL764U

[busheytrader]

Flamenco red is Fire Engine Red so your guy should have no trouble with it.

Unless you're going for a full colour change, as in boot area and engine bay as well, I'd stay with the original colour. It'll only bug you afterwards as off colour paintwork catches your eye.

Adam

TR7 V8 DHC Jaguar Solent Blue. 9.35cr Range Rover V8, Holley 390cfm, JWR Dual Port, 214 Cam, Lumention, Tubular Manifolds, Single Pipe Exh, 3.08 Rear, 200lb Spax & Solid Bushes, Anti- Dive, Granada Vented Discs & Calipers, Green Stuff, 4 Speed Rear Cylinders, Uprated Master Cylinder & Servo, AllyCat 5 Spokes. No Door Stickers.

[FI Spyder]

General agreement here. If you don't do a total paint job the different colours in boot and engine bay etc. will still make it look like a groody paint job reguardless how much you like the colour. In other words you have to do a total srips down to paint it proper. If these areas are not done you have to keep it original colour even if it might not be your most favourite. Polished and gleaming in the sun it will look better than your favourite colour in two tone.

TR7 Spider - 1978 Spifire - 1976 Spitfire - 1988 Tercel 4X4 - Kali on Integra - 1991 Integra

[PeterTR7V8]

I paid the car a visit today & it is coming along nicely. I made my mind up for the final time that it will stay the factory colour, the sills & rear panel will be red also & the bumpers black.

Loads of pics in my blog...

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To do list:
Upholstery/Motor/Gearbox/Suspension/Brakes/Carb/Tyres../Gearbox/Cam+Motor/Paint
Done......./done./done....../done......../done../done/done/redone.../under way.../under way
Blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548

[REPLIC8]

I think you've made the right decision. Should look really good.

Andy
1981 UK SPEC TR8

[omichaelshar]

Sounds good Peter. Looking forward to seeing the pics.

[PeterTR7V8]

Pics are in my blog. Click the link in my signature below.

I'm having a bit of trouble with the bumper painting. I've done several coats now so I can probably stop but after some coats there appears to be severzl grey 'burn' marks caused by the aerosol paint. I can redo those areas ok but is this the paint not mixing in the can or something else? I do the shake for 2 minutes thing.

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To do list:
Upholstery/Motor/Gearbox/Suspension/Brakes/Carb/Tyres../Gearbox/Cam+Motor/Paint
Done......./done./done....../done......../done../done/done/redone.../under way.../under way
Blog: http://www.forum.triumphtr7.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8548