MG Maestro Progress

[Russ]

Mines on trims,but I think ill get a set of cheesegraters but use them for summer use only and put the steels on in winter.

Russ

[G51 NAV]

I've got a set of cheesy's waiting to be used as alternative wheels for Barney. I've also got a set of used-but-tidy Austin-branded square centre caps to go with them. I won't reveal how much I paid for those caps but it was a darn sight less than the £40 a similar set brought on eBay last year (whoever outbid my maximum of £30 did me a favour).

[Jonathan]

It's been waaay too long since I brought this up to date, so for the benefit of those interested in how a car is resprayed the next sequence should go some way towards explaining what happens (this is obviously simplified, so if anyone wants it in detail it could be covered in Monstro?). I've enjoyed having the opportunity to see for myself some of the work as it's been happening because there's more time and skill to getting the perfect finish than many of us would ever imagine.

I've tried to keep the size down as much as I can, so I hope this won't take too long for anyone to load!

1. The driver's footwell. A new patch has since been welded in place, it was quite rotten in this area and it made sense to repair while the car was apart.


2. Spot welding a repair section into place rear O/S sill. The repair panel was fabricated from a piece of Metro roof, so still genuine BL tin!


3. Most of the detailing in the engine bay complete.


4. NAM3300s complete with their new Pirelli rubber. We've got a good product lined up for dressing the tyres that shouldn't harm them or look over shiny.


5. Adding the textured stone guard to protect the sills and give an original appearance. The trick is to mask off so that it's not so near to the upper edge that it can be seen from above, but not so far as not to give adequate protection.


6. Only once all surfaces are properly prepared, free from any kind of corrosion or contaminants can the primer be applied.


7. Once the primer's on this black spray helps show up any imperfections.


8. Rubbing down with a very fine grade abrasive paper to give a completely smooth surface.


9. Here's the Azure Blue paint. This small tin will be about £80 worth.


10. Once the paint has been mixed with thinners to the right consistency it's filtered into the spray gun.

[Jonathan]

11. Before the base coat goes on a tacky cloth is used to remove any contaminants from the surface to be painted.


12. On with the base coat. Before any paint is applied the gun can be used just to fire air at all surfaces to remove any contaminants and to check that all the masking is going to be secure rather than risk it coming loose and ruining the job.


13. With the first coat applied these small marks (indents) could be seen. Ideally these would have been picked up after priming.


14. A tiny amount of stopper removes the marks. They're then rubbed down and the final layer of paint applied.


15. Laquer going on.


16. Here's the other side of the car, completely painted and looking very good indeed. As I described with the bonnet in an earlier update, it'll all get rubbed down and polished.


By now all the bolt-on panels will have been fitted to the other side of the car and that side painted too, so we're almost ready for fitting out and MOT

[tony]

how it going? how near done is it? will we see it next week , or in two weeks after that?
looking good j
its always good where one job turns into 20

[Dave]

wow. looking good!

[Jonathan]

It's mainly just reassembly now, so the aim is it'll be ready by the end of the week. There's currently a bit of a question mark over the weather for the coming weekend though, and it's not going anywhere if I even suspect rain.

[D87SMW]

Nice one, Jonathan. It's looking really good!

[Russ]

Looks like your doing a cracking job mate,I (no matter how much time and effort Iput in) can not get bodywork right. A pig with knitting needles will always do a better job

[philippope]

Looking good Jonathan!
Phil

[G51 NAV]

Glad to see it coming together at last.

Presumably you're having the rubbing-strips put back on the doors. If that's the case, tell them to fit the wheel-arch spats first: the top of the rubbing-strips should allign precisely with the top of the wheel-arch spats. Fitting the spats first makes it a lot easier to judge. Oh what fun I had with my bodyshop when they didn't heed my advice and fitted the strips half an inch too high because of poor guesswork.

[Oli]

That looks absolutely great Jon!
Will you be at BL Day with it?

[Guest]

Glad to hear its coming along nicely. The colour looks Really good !!

[Jonathan]

Will you be at BL Day with it?

Hope so. I've already got my car pass and the hotel booked.

[Oli]

Grand news!