TR2/3/3A Painting

Looking for some advice. I'm picking up a project car this week. Car was running, but previous owner had the body disassembled to repaint. Now its in primer. This is my first project car. I'm going to do the paint job myself, but was wondering what opinions were as to what components in the engine bay would be easy to remove to paint around and what would be better left in and masked. Any advice would be appreciated.

IMHO... I would pull the engine and gearbox and paint the whole lot properly, as you may regret not doing so later.

+1 on the removal of the engine and transmission. Will make life much easier in the long run for painting in the engine compartment. Assuming you have the front apron off removing the engine and transmission as a complete unit is not too hard.

Post some photos of the car.

David

Appreciate the advice. I have another question. The car is primed. Not sure what kind of primer the previous owner used. The primer is in decent shape, and I'd like to avoid re-priminig if can. Is there any way to test and see if its epoxy or lacquer? Don't want to spray urethane over lacquer primer.

If it is ordinary lacquer, lacquer thinner will soften it.

Ed

On to the next question....it is apparently lacquer based primer. My “inconspicuous area” is now primer free. I’m curious to opinions on sanding back down and priming in urethane or using a lacquer based color?

And primer was applied 2 yrs ago so I think its pretty dry.

The big question is...was the body work already done, or is the primer just rust prevention in preparation for bodywork? Do you still have high and low spots?

No the body work was all good. Panels are all straight. Body was in good shape. Previous owner just wanted a new color when he bought the car

Hmmm. I wish I had a good answer. On the one hand, laquer based primers were all we had for many years, and I have used it under 2 stage finishes many times. In fact, many of the top line paints, like Glasurit are laquer base coats. That said, many of the latest paints may lift laquer primer.

I would study the spec sheets for the paint you plan to use and see if it gives an answer. If not, check with your supplier...not the "dumb" clerk that just got hired. Ask for the one who knows how to paint...every supplier has that "go to" guy on the staff. if all of that fails, then you will have to either try it on a small panel, or bite the bullet and put a layer of epoxy primer down.

In any case, you will have to wet block sand with 400 for a finish coat...or 220 for a re-prime. If the primer is in really good condition and surfaces true, you can get by with just light roughing with scotchbrite, or gently once over with 400-600 grit.

If your not sure what the primer is then your not sure what is underneath it ether. The PO could have just sanded and primed right over the old paint. If the old paint was lacquer you can't put a urethane anything over top. May stick for a while but over a year it will come off in sheets. If it was me I'd block it all off down to the base and that way you will have a good starting point or you may be doing it all over again.

I agree with "Got all 4"....take off all the primer and start again with new/known primer.