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TR2/3/3A Crinkle/Wrinkle Finish

RJCOX

Jedi Hopeful
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Reposted from the Triumph Experience

Well, working on old cars definitely has a learning curve. All of the old techniques might be lost to even my generation (I am over 50 though) without forums like this one.


I have been researching (well, mostly reading posts) on how to do a wide variety of things my TR (as well as my Dad's) will need to have done to get her running safely and looking spiffy to boot. It doesn't need to be said that taking care of little problems now can save us from major problems later. In today's world if something starts wearing out we tend to replace them, but what happens when there are no longer replacement parts to be had? You'll wish you had taken care of it before it was too far gone.

This board is a wealth of knowledge and I, like many others, benefit from those whose journey with their TRs through restorations, problem-solving, and just general maintenance gets shared here. I hope that I am not the only one who feels that sharing even a small tip or trick is worth sharing.

My current knowledge of restoration (though growing) is quite small. I can read directions, I know how to clean and polish, and even turn a wrench or screwdriver. I even fancied myself capable of using rattle-can paint, until I tried to use wrinkle paint on my instrument panel of my TR. I mean, it's just paint, right? How hard could it be?

Boy, was I in for a surprise.

After removing all my gauges, switches and instrument lights from the center panel, I took it down to the shop (a short walk down hill, longer coming back up hill) and stripped the old paint off with a wire brush on a mandrel. Quick work 5-10 minutes using a coarse, then fine wire wheel to leave a fairly smooth paint free finish. I took it back up the hill in the cold and downstairs to my work bench in the basement. My basement is heated and I often spraypaint model rockets or crafts since the temp down there is consistent all year long. I pulled out some primer and shook it up and started painting.

Mistake 1: metal parts also need to be at the right temperature for paint to stick. I didn't get a picture (too embarrassed then to share) but where the paint did stick it drew the paint away from where the paint didn't stick. In effect, it looked like Swiss cheese. I allowed the paint to "dry" and attempted a second coat a few hours later. Mistake 1 now was even worse looking as it looked more like craters. Let it dry some more and attempted to sand it.

Mistake 2: READ THE DIRECTIONS! The primer that I had was a paint/primer combo (that I use on some of my models) that really wasn't sand-able until cured (24 hours). I left it to sit under a halogen lamp for a day and started to sand. It wasn't getting any prettier even with a sanding block so I tromp down the hill (20 degree day that day) and go into the shop to take it back onto the wire wheel again so that I could start all over.

At this point I hadn't even shaken the can of VHT Crinkle/Wrinkle paint. I put the part down on my bench to get warm under the lamp and get on The Triumph Experience and do some searches. Lot's of mentions (some one did it, someone had it done) but no step by step. I ask questions, I get answers. My results however were not so good.

Mistake 3: Most of the time when I paint, my project happily sits there while I add layer upon layer of thin paint, with stops to dry and lightly sand between coats. Wrinkle/Crinkle finish goes on rather heavy and wet, painting using passes in three directions, waiting 5 or so minutes between each. The paint dries slowly and needs to be baked to cure it. The TR center panel is not flat on the back so it never occurred to me that it needed to be flat (I mean level flat) to be painted. The first heavy pass ran downhill, pooling in the gauge openings and the bottom edge of the panel. I left it for 24 hours to "dry" (didn't read the directions again) and thought I would just add successive coats to it.

Mistake 4: After leveling the part, I attempted to spray the panel heavy enough to level the paint. I left it to sit under a halogen for over a week. When I next checked it, it had developed a surface that looked somewhere between a human brain and the surface of that comet in Armageddon. At this point I had read the directions about how slow it dries and also that it needs to be cured in the oven at 200 for 1 hour. I bake the part to see if that smooths it out, during which time I go downstairs to start stripping my dashboard. I had heard it was smelly, but I didn't get that. In fact, no one in my house notice it while I was doing it, even though I warned them it would. Part came out of the oven and it looked the same: AWFUL! I then proceeded to tromp down the hill again and back on the wire wheel, then back up the hill for yet another try.

Mistake 5: This time I know I can get it to work. I put a thin layer on a level part, wait 5, add another, turn and repeat, turn and repeat. I let it set waiting for the wrinkles to appear. They do, but in straight lines going horizontally across the panel. I add another thin layer and leave it. I come back later to nice wrinkle/crinkle but now my lines are shiny and still aren't wrinkled/crinkled. WTH?

Finally, I decide to experiment. I now know that my horizontal lines are where the paint wasn't heavy enough because my passes didn't overlap enough to keep the paint thick enough to create the wrinkles. This time I layer the paint heavier on my shiny spots first, and then another overall coat to make it even. Tired of waiting, I "help" the drying process by turning my heat gun on it (lower of two settings) and keep moving in circles from the center. My thick crinkle paint then does something amazing, it starts to wrinkle and in the light, I can see it (the crinkle/wrinkle) spreading outward slowly. I move in with the gun a bit and watch it accelerate. It's still shiny, but I keep passing the gun over the panel slowly and watch as the finish becomes more matte and even. Woohoo! Now I just need to cure it. I go to pick up my part (by the edges) to transfer to a metal tray/baking dish (like you see in the salad bar) so I can cook my part. The part is hot and slips, but guess what? NO DAMAGE! In fact, because the part was heated so much, my supposition is that it is cured. I test this (after the part has cooled) by trying to scrape some of the paint with my fingernail (next to one of the indicator light holes) then finally with a small screwdriver. I do score it a bit (it will never show) but I pronounce it cured.

Yes, yes, I'll get to the pictures (eventually). It snowed today, so instead of working on recovering my dashboard, I had to run the snowblower over Dad's, my brother's, and my driveways. We are all neighbors and there is perhaps a half-mile of driveway (my brother and I share one long one) between the three houses. My Dad's is steep (his house is on the side of our hill below my brother and I) and despite 6 forward speeds and 2 reverse, it's a lot of work. My Dad isn't a very young man and just had eye surgery, and my brother had surgery as well (about 6 weeks ago). I actually like doing it, and since they are my two best friends as well it's no big deal to me. I'm not a very buff guy and workouts like that really can wear me out. Either way, Mom fed me (she always wants to feed me) and Dad and I catch up on our TR projects while we eat. He started his center panel and got stuck on these two knobs and I volunteered to take over. I'm getting good at this, remember?

The two knobs didn't survive (we kind of knew they wouldn't) but the switches did and I took everything I learned so far and applied it. 5 minutes on the wire wheel, up to the house, clean first with windex, then with alcohol, hit it with the heat gun, check temp, level, spray one heavy even coat using three directions, let stand 3 minutes, then I turned on the heat gun and helped it dry. I continued with the heat after the wrinkle/crinkle appeared until the shininess disappeared. I can't wait to show him! On top is the before, please note there was some rust-like stains in the metal after the wire brush. I used an 80 grit sanding wheel on a Dremel to touch those up.

Bonus! Mail Carrier just dropped off his Christmas present. Two more weeks till Christmas, I'm not sure I can wait that long!
 

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glemon

Yoda
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Great write up, I have never gotten quite the uniform finish I wanted, and that is using it on a nice warm, sunny day. Good job with the heat gun. I will usually spray in the basement and face the wrath of the wife for making the house stinky.
 

mrv8q

Luke Skywalker
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I tried 3 times as well; halogen wouldn’t wrinkle enough. Like you, I hit it with the heat gun and got the finish I wanted.

13 years on, it still looks good. Yours does too. Fun write up!
 

TRMark

Jedi Knight
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Thank you for the fun read. I used 3M rocker panel coating (08889) on my tr4 bracket support assemblies and instrument panel. I had some left over from hiding less then perfect work on lower fenders and rocker panels. I think I top coated with black semigloss. Looks good enough for my driver.
DSCN1765 (1280x810).jpg
 
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RJCOX

Jedi Hopeful
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https://www.britishcarforum.com/bcf/showthread.php?94885-Instrument-Faces

Also, a really good read on this forum is in the link above.

I used the info there to figure out how to disassemble and clean up my gauges. I still need one bezel since sometime in my TR's 58 year life, the fuel gauge bezel became damaged. There was a huge dent (crease) in it and it was barely holding on. I tried to get it back into shape and it is holding on, but it's as far from pristine as you can get. I know that every time I look at it, it will bother me (since it would be so easy to replace).

I thought that I needed a full set, but after a good scrubbing (and realizing that one is part of my ammeter housing) I only need to replace one so far. I still have to do the speedometer and tachometer. Then it's polishing the lock rings on the indicator lights and switches.
 
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