• Hi Guest!
    If you appreciate British Car Forum and our 25 years of supporting British car enthusiasts with technical and anicdotal information, collected from our thousands of great members, please support us with a low-cost subscription. You can become a supporting member for less than the dues of most car clubs.
    There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Subscribers don't see this gawd-aweful banner
Tips
Tips

Paint!

Share this page

B

BN1L_156424

Member
Offline
My 54 100 has now graduated to the rank of "Daily Driver" with over 500 miles in less than a month. Sadly it's 30+ year old paint is falling off the body in chunks, especially the on the aluminum panels. So the question is what should I be expecting to pay for a decent paint job, not one that glows, but one that looks fine while rolling down the streets of San Francisco. I think I need to take it down to bare metal, but what should I be looking for in a paint shop? What should I be expecting to pay? What should I tell them I want?

-j
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/shocked.gif If you've never had a car painted before you're in for a shock as prices have increased greatly over the years.
First, you're correct it should be taken down to bare metal. Once all the paint is removed you'll most likely notice some rust, that too has to be removed and new metal needs to be installed. Then finally primer then paint can be applied. Remember, Healey frames and body panels have to be painted both inside and outside. All this takes time and most body shops don't like doing a complete paint job. So expect to pay minimum 6K to 8K. A quick note "red" paint costs more.
Good luck with your project, keep us informed please.
 
Some at this forum may find this sacrilegious but there is no reason that the exterior paint can't be replaced at a reasonable cost.

I'm not looking for a show quality finish, at 6k-8k the car will sit in the garage with my grandmother's plastic sofa covers protecting it, never to be driven, at that point I may as well sell it. This car driven most every day that it doesn't rain, which in San Francisco means 250 days a year. Things happen, tools get dropped on, my dog puts his paws on the door, it gets parked near 16th and Mission sometimes, etc.

So any ideas for a city dweller, who has already had disappointing experiences to down right bad with almost every healey/BMC mechanic that that I have tried.
 
If you are not concerned about a top quality paint job, removing rust that may be hidden, etc., just go to any body shop and have them sand (but not down to bare metal), mask, prime and paint the car. Even Maaco can do that, although I would go for their best (most expensive) job. Assuming that rust isn't totally eating away panels, Maaco could probably do a reasonable job for under $1000. Not one I would put on my Healey, but one that would probably look pretty good for 3-5 years. I would tell them I would pay them an extra hundred if I didn't find ANY overspray on the chrome, tires, seats, etc.
 
Hi J,

Shop around is good advice although hopefully someone from the SF area can help with some referrals. You can save some money by explaining that you are not looking for show quality but can tolerate some imperfection in fairing of body surfaces and imperfection in the top coat. I'm not talking about a sloppy job but a good driver quality. Until you strip down the old paint you won't know what lurks underneath such as old bondo and rust (unless you have owned the car from new). You will also save by not changing color and doing only a respray of only the outside surfaces. You still will want to remove as much trim/windshield/handles, etc as possible to avoid masking lines and cover as much of the outside as possible. Insist on a proper treatment of bare surfaces, quality primers and quality paints unless you want to do this again in 4 years. I think single stage paints look more authentic (instead of base and clear paint jobs). This should also cost less (in theory) since there is less steps in painting the car. However, many shops are set up to do base/clear more efficiently since it is the bulk of their work.

Cheers,
John
 
Thanks John etal,

I was thinking of taking a lot of the chrome, etc off myself, I did get berated this weekend for installing a new interior in a shared garage space. I think someone was having a bad day plus a nice bottle of wine or two goes a long way in easing those situations. As for rust, the only exterior panels that look disconcerting is front bottom of the left rear wing. I do plan on a complete body rust removal in about 5 years.

First I need to learn to get the mechanics on my side, every time it goes to a shop I don't hear a thing for months at a time.
 
And if you really want to save some money you should stroll over to the Spridgets forum and check out the recent thread called Re: Another Paint thread. Although, with your 'shared garage' arrangement you may need to factor the expense of many bottles of wine /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
Hi J, fellow Bay Area Healeyest,
Maybe I can shead some light on what is entailed and who to see in the Bay Area for paint and a good Mechanic. (I am just finishing up a 2 1/2 year restoration). My Healey mechanic lives in SF! I live in San Leandro. How lucky are you! If your interested, contact me via private message and maybe we can get together. Cheers, Roger
 
Seems to me there were a couple of guys at the shops at Sears Point who did race cars etc and were pretty reasonable.
 
As for the garage bribery/lubrication (and I don't mean the oil leaking on the garage floor), for bigger DIY jobs I was thinking of looking at the Bay Area Motor Club, which is a DIY garage with space/lift rental, air, parts cleaners, disposal, and even a paint booth. I haven't actually used the place, but I thought it may be a good place to do my front end.
 
I'd have to agree with John L, I'd also seek out a local guy who's got a good reputation working with any older cars. Just keep talking, he'll get over the initial disdain and work with you.
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/savewave.gif

Yeah ED! Keoke do too.----- /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
 
Back
Top