Dico's project

[roy666]

Dico - Happy New Year to you. Spent last night having a good read of "The Thread'.. but after he 4th glass of Red and too much laughing I was in no fit state to type a reply. What a project and what a great 'thread' to read (10 years worth?)! I finished a lot wiser... where did you get your cam-cover painted??!!!

And I think you should be known as 'Obi-Wan'..

have a great 2014

cheers

R666

[Dico]

Hiya Roy. Not too sure where exactly the cam cover was painted as a member on here had it done for me. East midlands somewhere. Quite a few have had it done now. Anyone?
I've owned the car for almost exactly 10 years now, and I believe started most of the work 8 years ago. Not a lot has happened in the last 4 though

Happy New year

[rip]

Not a lot has happened in the last 4 though

All those upgrades & you've hardly driven it.

[dapinky]

Hiya Roy. ......... Quite a few have had it done now. Anyone?

A few have been done in my garage

[Rambo]

Having woke up early I decided to have a rare LEC browse. Had a read of the first few pages of my project thread. Boy was I passionate about my Elan back then!

The thread was only mildly infected with banter back then too.

Now its mildly infected with upgrades and largely infected by banter

Come on Obi Wan Ker - give the beast some love and action in 2014. Let's have another camping trip in the Lakes next year and invite Stevo, Scott, Monty, Stef etc.. and any other blasts from the past I will bring some fruitcake

[Dico]

Only if you promise to invite True Blue!

[nicowalker1]

Will it be even further down the list with a wedding pending?

[roy666]

Thanks Dico.. I'll ask around. I'm sure Gerald at GST would know. I must say I agree with Rambo, with all those upgrades The Beast should be out more. I sold my SE last year which I bought in 93 with 162,000 miles on it! Now I have a S2.. same Blue as yours.... and I think I'm showing signs of that contagious 'upgrade disease!"

R

[Rambo]

I must say I agree with Rambo, with all those upgrades The Beast should be out more R

I'm glad you agree Roy. Some of us have been banging on about it for the last 8 or 9 years I think I might have mentioned in jest somewhere that it it's been SORN'd more times than its been taxed

PS Even with all those upgrades Dico and Monty still couldn't keep up with Rambo

[Dico]

[Paul.P]

The cam-cover was painted by my local bodyshop when 2-pack paint was still being used, not sure if the modern water paints are as heat resistant as 2-pack was ?

[dapinky]

The cam-cover was painted by my local bodyshop when 2-pack paint was still being used, not sure if the modern water paints are as heat resistant as 2-pack was ?

The 'lost man of east midlands' speaks good sence here - get it done with the right sort of paint! Whilst there are many heat-resistant ones about (I went for a crackle black finish on my current one), ANY 2-pack paint should be up to the job (so you can get an exact match to the bodywork if you want to), but water based paints may soften with the heat and not work as well.

(but overall, it's basically an easy DIY job)

[epipete]

what about preparation? Will it go in a dishwasher ok, I seem to recall you using one on your head!?!?

[dapinky]

I suppose it would go in the dishwasher - but I didn't do that.

My concern with any form of preparation is "what is likely to happen behind those baffle plates i cant get to"...

so.....
sand-blasting is out (don't want stray bits of sand getting into the engine)
water-immersion is out (don't want to clog anything up with water which will get into the oil)
solvent cleaning is in or out depending on your view...

As such, the first one i did was rubbed down with all sorts of abrasive paper, then filled, the rubbed, then filler-primed, then rubbed, then painted, then rubbed, then painted, then laquered.

The next ones were roughly sanded (240 grit), painted, painted, painted, laquered.

Then i just used the angle-grinder to shape it, 80-grit paper, and paint.

All looked as good as each other - but had different paint on them!

Basically, the thicker the paint, the less effort needed in the prep work (to get rid of scratches).... if you want top-notch paintwork, you need as smooth a surface to start with as you can get, and spray thin coats (as my last one is a wrickled finish paint, surface prep was unnecesary - apart from a clean with cellulose thinners).


If you fancy having a go, then let me know, and I'll see if I can find anything which may help you further before you start

[roy666]

Thanks Guys.. all interesting stuff. I think I'll use a body shop.... anyone know a good one around the Stamford/Peterborough area?
R

[Enright]

Will Spalding do?

http://www.kelsport.net/contact.asp

[roy666]

Hey thanks Niel... J have used Kelvedon quite a lot and Pat and his team are great,,,but they don't really do this sort of stuff... Pat will just out source somewhere else. In fact I will give him a call..he'll know a good place.

R

[Paul.P]

The 'lost man of east midlands' speaks good sence here -

I'm always here watching Dave !, not sure about speaking a lot of sense though ?

Roy, bodyshop I used was Richard Mitchells of Oakham, 10 miles from Stamford, you could try them on 01572 757351. You normally have to be patient with them when doing small jobs like this, so if your in a hurry perhaps not the best, but if not, there work is very good.

[GeoffSmith]

Happy New Year to you Mr. P.

No not the coloured one, the vegetable variety.

[Paul.P]

Happy New Year to you Mr. P.

And the same to you Geoff, indeed to all my old LEC comrades. I fear I may have to pop in hear a lot more this year.