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MG Midget and Sprite Technical - Preparing for paint

Hi, I am replacing my fibreglass front wings for a good used pair of steel ones, they are sound painted but some deep scratches from storage, they will need a colour change . Can someone help me with a simple stage process for prep for spraying with aerosols. The car is tatty and used for sprinting so doesn’t need to be perfect. I gave one a once over today with 80 grit on an orbital sander and that definitely took the shine off but will need to do some hand sanding for the curves edges etc . What grits do I need please in order. I’m planning to spray with a high build aerosol primer before a top coat too , is that right ? . Many thanks
Mike Fairclough

Mike
80 grit is quite aggressive - I'd probably go up to 320 before high build to hide the scratches. Aerosol primer may have more thinners than sprayed primer so might not be as thick so you'd need more coats. The original scratches might need stopper at this stage. Then flat it with maybe 400/500 before colour coats. If you're not being too fussy you don't need a "guide coat". I'd be interested in other opinions though.
Bill B

Yes 80 grit is very gritty. You probably won't want to go straight to 320 from that, maybe 200 first. I always wet sand with a drop of washing up liquid in the water. Rinse well and dry with a heat gun - gently. In these temperatures you will probably need to leave primer a couple of days to harden. You might not be aiming for a concours finish, but you'll be annoyed if you skimp on preparation and it looks terrible. I always degrease with panel wipe, but you might get away without it.
Les Rose

A little bit of useless info, in a 400ml aerosol there's only around 90ml of paint with remainder made up of propellant/solvent, so as Bill said the primer in an aerosol will be pretty thin and low in solids so you'll require a good few coats.

As for sanding 60 grit is harsh for paint, I'd start higher around 240/320 grit and to ensure all sanding marks eliminated go up through the grits.
Tim Lynam

Thanks for all the advice , I only did a quick run over with the 80 so won’t do anymore until I get some higher grades. I did a hardtop and boot lid last year with aerosol but they were new fibreglass so didn’t the issue of old paint . I had the primer I used recommended to me and it worked well on the them , Pro Xl pro build .
Mike Fairclough

Personally, since the wings are off, I'd strip them back to metal. It's not really that big a job. Starchem isn't bad. Or a heat gun or sander will do it too.

Otherwise, I guess agree with all the above advice on rattle cans too, since I haven't used them 'that' much.

Why not consider buying an electric spray gun? No separate compressor, it's built in the motor head. I've used one for over 40 years. I've sprayed entire cars with it, including my Sprite. A pair of wings is easy meat for it.

I don't know how much rattle cans are these days, but a litre of celly, 50% thinned, isn't very expensive. Spray gun circa 20/30 quid, and you'll have it for life.

And they do a very very good job, even if doubters won't believe it.

Gloss straight from the gun, with M99 celly. https://www.hmgpaint.com/products/classic-car/topcoat/122/m99-cellulose

Just a thought.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402366898596





anamnesis

I buy my aerosols from a paint factor. They mix up the paint and pressurise the can whilst you wait. They can scan a test piece to match any colour. Apparently body shops buy them to touch up door shuts and the like where using a gun would be extravagant. I recently had them match a door from our Wicks kitchen which had been damaged, it was perfect. The paint brand is MIPA and even though the aerosols are slightly more expensive than the pre mixed ones at motor accessory shops they last far far longer and the spray valves are much beter.

Jan T
J Targosz

I would take them back to bare metal and then you can be certain you are not going to get any kind of reaction between different types of paint. The paint shop I worked with when an apprentice welder and panel beater always sanded down with 220 wet and dry.

Have you thought about finding a local paint shop to paint them in the colour of your choice? It might work out cheaper than buying a lot of aerosols?
Daniel

I have one of those electric spray guns. I've never painted a car with it but it does a fantastic job on fences and sheds.
I used it to paint a spare bedroom with multiple coats of white contract emulsion to get a neutral surface for a colour change from make-yer-eyes-bleed yellow to a much calmer pale violet. With a little practice it gives excellent results.
But I wondered if cellulose thinner might be a bit too "aggressive" to the plastic parts.
Anam, you've had yours a long time I guess and I imagine it's made of sterner stuff than the modern offerings. I'd be doubtful about mine, but it was so cheap that it would probably be well worth a try.
There used to be a brand of paint for cars (Sherwood maybe?) that was specifically made for brush application. I used it on one of my old Triumph 6s and it was okay. The brush marks virtually disappeared. I just went over it lightly with very fine W&D and gave it a final polish. I can remember being very pleased with it.
I wonder if there is an equivalent nowadays?
Greybeard

Greybeard,

Maybe what a mate referred to as 1pack, IIRC basically a coach enamel. He had an old Mk4 Cortina he was tarting up and he sprayed the bonnet with that having flatted it with something like 80 grit and you had to look closely to see it as it had pulled out really smooth and had a good shine to it straight out of the gun, try that with cellulose and it would have looked awful as all the sanding marks would show.
David Billington

Yep had mine a long time Grey.

Mine is a WAGNER, Mistral Triumph-N. German. I bought it in circa 1974/5 for 5 quid in Halfords.

Celly resistant. I'm guessing even the new ones would be solvent resistant.

I've sprayed and resprayed my Sprite and panels a couple/few times; as well as my first Capri all over, which is why I bought it in the first place all those years ago.

I seem to recall HMG do a brush on version of their Celly. Might be worth a call to anyone who fancies doing that, as it can give pretty good results with a final cut afterwards.
HMG Paints Ltd

Riverside Works
Collyhurst Road
Manchester
M40 7RU

Tel: 0161 205 7631

Website: www.hmgpaint.com

Email: sales@hmgpaint.com





anamnesis

Another vote for Wagner.
Bought mine a little more recently than Anam (2023) and it's brilliant for fence panels.
Also painted smooth PAR wood side gate with Sadolin and it did a great job of that too, so well worth a try.

Grey, was it Parsons Repaint for brushing on?
Jeremy MkIII

ISTR the brushing paint was ‘Brushing Belco’

I have somewhere an old airless electric sprayer - ‘Burgess’ make worked ok but it seemed to leak a bit after the piston wore a tad !
I sprayed the boot/ under bonnet areas on my old MGB, got a bit worried when the paint (Celly) ran out via the switch ! (240volt) so haven’t used it for at least 30 years - will have to find it !
richard b

I did my first car with one of those sprayers but cant remember the make now. I bought ICI coach paint which was for brush painting as I was originally going to brush it on but decided to spray it. You had to thin that paint a lot to spray it but it made a good job with a bit of orange peel here and there which cut back fairly easily. The only down side was it took about 4 hours to dry between coats. Some time later used the same sprayer on my uncles Ford Classic using, I think, it was acrylic which went on a lot better.

Trev

T Mason

Many thanks for all the helpful comments, I’m reluctant to go back to bare metal as I’m up against it time wise unfortunately but I know I risk a reaction. I’ve actually put the wings on the car to test fit and it’s a good job as they needed some fettling to fit and I didn’t want to scratch them if newly painted. I will rub them down with them on as far as I can for ease then take them off to do round the edges and maybe paint them off the car ? I’m interested in all the comments around an electric sprayer thank Anam for the suggestion but like others suggested I though thinners may dissolve it ! But definitely worth me looking into . I did wonder about getting it priced up Daniel but when I did that for a bootlid I was quoted £500 which I was horrified at . I will maybe try another place for a quote for the wings and I’ll report back . Maybe I should offer a sweepstake on the quote .
Mike Fairclough

If you are spraying with celly, and want to check for possible reaction, fold up a piece of kitchen towel to produce a small pad. Soak with thinners and leave it for 20 minutes on the existing paintwork. If it is going to react the paint will bubble up or craze. If no reaction, you are good to go.
Or, paint shops will sell you a 1k barrier paint to act as a primer coat.

That Teetoc brand of sprayer that Anam links to make a whole range of items that are direct copies of Makita tools at about 1/3rd of the price. For about the same amount they also do a battery version, excluding battery. But of course if you happen to have a Makita cordless drill that battery will fit. And no power cord then to trail across the panel you just finished spraying! 😂
GuyW

This one looks interesting, complete with 2x Makita type batteries for £25.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286172804287
Dave O'Neill 2

If the wings haven't been touched for years, they may well be celly anyway. If testing with celly thinners, I'd do a very small area where it won't show so much, as if celly paint, it'll soften it a lot.
anamnesis

Mike
It really would be better to spray the wings, especially colour coats. I know I'd struggle to get good even coverage with aerosols. They don't deliver a wide enough pattern with sufficient paint volume for a complete panel and the paint in the first pass will be drying as you return with the second pass etc. so that it's difficult to maintain a "wet edge".
Bill B

Wow, that does look interesting. It's roughly what I paid for my mains power sprayer too. And I already have Makita batteries.
D'oh!

But a thought popped into my grizzly old head that if one were using a good brushing paint it would be greatly to a fellows advantage to bring the wings into the house and paint them in the spare bedroom (for example).
So much more pleasant than a cold damp shed at this time of year and less risk of bloom or orange peel.
The pong should dissipate fairly soon.
All dependent on the fellows relationship with the Leader of the Opposition of course. But I have got away with that sort of thing before now.
Lucky me.
Greybeard

Aerosols:
spray with two cans at the same time, at right angles to each other. This gives good cover.

Coach Enamel:
Craftmaster paints
https://www.craftmasterpaints.co.uk/

Brushing/Roller and Tipping:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWFlddeWP_E
(yes, it is on a canal boat side, but the process is much the same, there are other videos of brushing on cars)
Tim Carter

Just checked on the Wagner website.

Their spayers are still compatible with solvent based paints.

"For all low-viscosity solvent and water-based wood and metal paints including enamels, varnishes, wood protection, stains, primers and oils"

If you look on ebay, you can get a very good condition, used once, used one for cheap money.

Example.
Wood&Metal Sprayer W 100.

£21.99+ £5.15 postage or Best Offer

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/387874954135

More here.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_nkw=wagner+wood%26metal+sprayer+w+100


anamnesis

Just an update, I checked the current paintwork with celly thinners and it didn’t react at all so I assume that’s good . Took the wings to a paint shop and he said it would be about £200 per wing but one needs a small weld where someone got busy with the grinder cutting between the wing and lowers valence and he couldn’t do that so would need to get that done somewhere else . So I am erring towards DIY , I’m interested in the electric spray gun idea but the actual instructions for the Wagner ones say do not use with or clean with flammable material although they say you can use solvent based paints that doesn’t make sense to me. I will see how I get on flatting them off and getting them primed with an aerosol and hopefully it will be a bit warmer for considering what to do about a top coat. I have got a sprint first week in April deadline though !
Mike Fairclough

This thread was discussed between 01/02/2025 and 04/02/2025

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