The Project Dixie thread!

Ian

Club Member
Clearcoat is always heavy on the overspray, the Cerakote ceramic clear I use on some of my work is really bad because its super thin compared to regular clear, atomizes easy. I'm spraying that through a 0.8mm cap setup, and even with that the fluid is turned down to only a few turns open.
 

richiep

Club Member
Buffed out (as much as I’m going to anyway given it’s an engine bay!):
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Just some touch ups and more cleaning to get rid of all the powder thrown from the buffer in the nooks and crannies to do and then I’ll get a brush out to do the satin black as per factory on the rad support and central scuttle area. Absolutely itching to start fitting some peripheral parts in there though to make it feel like genuine progress towards rebuilding!
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Amazing work as ever Richie! My one regret is I didn’t go at it harder while flattening the engine bay. As Rob says, your engine bay will be a show piece of the car so IMHO it needs to be right in all respects.

What black paint are you using for the Rad panel?
 

richiep

Club Member
Amazing work as ever Richie! My one regret is I didn’t go at it harder while flattening the engine bay. As Rob says, your engine bay will be a show piece of the car so IMHO it needs to be right in all respects.

What black paint are you using for the Rad panel?
Thanks Ali. It’s not perfect, but the spots where there are issues are places you will never see once everything is assembled. The main areas all flatted and buffed out nicely.

Black paint- whatever I can lay my hands on at Halfords tbh! Probably some satin black smooth Hammerite or similar. I did have some nice satin black chassis paint knocking around, but I can’t find it!
 

richiep

Club Member
A couple of things fitted (e.g. oil cooler to the mounts I fabricated) and the blacking out done:
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No pictures yet, but I have completely freed the shell from its masking for the first time in well over a year. Over the next few weeks, I will be doing some assembly inside and in the bay, and transferring it to the fixed stands from the rotisserie. And doing a booth refit/upgrade based on learnings from the engine bay spraying - mainly that the air flow wasn’t enough to deal with clearcoat to the same degree as basecoat, smaller areas, etc. And yes, that means I’m giving serious thought to painting the whole thing myself. But even if I don’t, I’ve got some more specific paint exercises to do, e.g. Raptor on the inside of the front wings. The other milestone early in the new year, once it’s off the rotisserie will be a test assembly with most panels to check lines, gaps, etc.
 

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Ian

Club Member
Exciting Stuff. Can't wait to be at mine again.

Yet to see if I need an oil cooler. Fitted a sensor, so after a few months of monitoring I will ascertain if I require one.
 

richiep

Club Member
Not if it goes wrong 🤔😬
If I do it myself, you can be damn sure I’ll eliminate every possible risk factor I can before and during the exercise! Plus, it wouldn’t all be done in one go anyway due to space; shell and individual panels will be done separately. Any issues can thus be isolated to the specific work piece.

In the meantime, I’ve brought a parts box back from the barn to start fastening things to painted areas of the shell, e.g., engine bay, inside, underneath. I’ve got a diamond vinyl kit sitting at my sibling-in-law’s place in Massachusetts, which they can forward on in January, along with a growing shopping list of other items I need (fasteners, fittings, missing or damaged bits that can be replaced with new).
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
If I do it myself, you can be damn sure I’ll eliminate every possible risk factor I can before and during the exercise! Plus, it wouldn’t all be done in one go anyway due to space; shell and individual panels will be done separately. Any issues can thus be isolated to the specific work piece.

In the meantime, I’ve brought a parts box back from the barn to start fastening things to painted areas of the shell, e.g., engine bay, inside, underneath. I’ve got a diamond vinyl kit sitting at my sibling-in-law’s place in Massachusetts, which they can forward on in January, along with a growing shopping list of other items I need (fasteners, fittings, missing or damaged bits that can be replaced with new).

I wouldn’t fit too much until the vehicle is fully painted. Trust me when I say even if you’ve masked everything up, over spray (especially clear coat) still tends to find its way over everything….
 

richiep

Club Member
I wouldn’t fit too much until the vehicle is fully painted. Trust me when I say even if you’ve masked everything up, over spray (especially clear coat) still tends to find its way over everything….
Thanks Dan, I’ll bear that in mind. Mostly, it’s small stuff I’m fitting and some of it only temporarily, as I’m finding things that need additional work in their own right (replating, etc.).
 
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