1995 G-Limited ***RESTORATION***Rebuild

[Lumphammer]

Finished the scuttle yesterday evening, looks a lot better than before. Never realised that the scuttle area isn't clear coated from factory - I guess no one goes there much, making the job largely pointless

Primer, flat back and fixed some areas that weren't right

prime.jpg (327.13 KiB) Viewed 7932 times

Colour coat and clear coat

left.jpg (430.57 KiB) Viewed 7932 times

right.jpg (367.25 KiB) Viewed 7932 times

[Natehd9]

How much blood and swearing went on there? I was cleaning mine out a while ago and left a fair bit of skin for the Mazda god!

[Lumphammer]

It wasn't that bad, the rotisserie helps a lot. I lost a lot more skin on the engine bay!

I've spent the last few evenings learning how to do filler (thanks to Wayne for the reassurance). The dent pulling has got the vast majority out but there was a lot of rippling and undulation left. It surprised me how far out a dent can radiate in a much shallower way.

I used P38 filler and then 120 grit to sand it. The last step before paint will be U-pol Dolphin Glaze filler and sand with 240 grit.

I've striped the stone chip from the sil so the next thing to do is smooth out the dents in the sil

forward.jpg (275.51 KiB) Viewed 7699 times

backward.jpg (422.04 KiB) Viewed 7699 times

sil.jpg (394.41 KiB) Viewed 7699 times

[John&Luke]

Re your bodywork.

Are you using a guide coat? I tend to wet flat my primer with 600 before top coating.

[Lumphammer]

I've got two cans of Upol guide coat aerosol.

Could you have a read through my plan? I've never done paint before, not properly anyway. I did the wings on my other car several years ago but that wasn't complicated.

Go all over with 180 grit to take off the peeling lacquer and blend in.
Glazing filler to fill small dents and marks in the filler.
Etch prime onto the exposed metal parts.
Filler primer over the whole lot.
Flat back with 240 grit.
Apply guide coat.
Wet sand with 600 grit.
Apply stone chip paint to lower sections with top masked off.
Top coat.

Is it a bad idea to do all the parts separately? Like do the doors and wings separate to the body etc?

[John&Luke]

Hi, will try to answer your questions as best I can;

Before you go anywhere near you top coat you need to wet flat with 600. You are looking for a smooth flat finish, this is my boot lid I’ve flatted tonight.

C5E89EF0-94EC-4AD2-B0E2-1E85ED37AB34.jpeg (50.22 KiB) Viewed 7651 times

If you look at the photo you can just see a faint reflection, for me, this is ideal.

Generally, for body work I have found it best to start with 80 to 120 grit, prime and then block with 240/320 and then guide coat, final prime then guide coat and wet sand with 600. I use a powder guide coat, spray will also work. The purpose being to flat back until all the guide coat is removed.

IMO I find dolphin glaze will tend to self flatten a bit to much for large areas, so I limit this to small pin holes/spot repairs between the 320 and 600 grits.

What type of sanding blocks are you using?
On bodywork you need to use a hard sanding block (mirka type) before moving to a mirka aqua star type flexible block. Don’t rely on your hands for bodywork!

Finally, dry the panel you have wet sanded after you have finished. Primer can absorb moisture, this can then lead to micro bubbles in your top coat.

Good luck, and ask away, you’re doing a great job.

John

[Lumphammer]

Thanks John,

I'm currently using a 125mm hard block, i don't have a flexible block but I will get a few Aquastar blocks. Can I use normal wet and dry paper with them or do i need the Mirka papers?

This is the starting point for the paint prep - peeling top coat, crap paint job underneath and small dents / scratches

OS_rear_qtr.jpg (413.64 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

What I've done so far is using the hard block and 160 grit dry smooth it all in following the curves, remove the defects in the exiting paint without going into the ecoat too much, should i be using a coarser grit?

NS_arch_sanded.jpg (375.08 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

This is the the sort of thing i'm left with which i intended to key and using the glazing filler on. Is this right?

example_dent_01.jpg (296.34 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

There's a low spot here underneath the tail light, should i fill it or leave it?

example_low_01.jpg (377.95 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

Ive been working on it a for several hours every evening, the ripples from the dent pulling in the sils is filled and to my eye / feel smooth but i'll find out when i guide coat it

OS_sil_01.jpg (330.09 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

OS_sil_02.jpg (287.52 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

OS_sil_03.jpg (386.15 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

NS_sil_02.jpg (390.03 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

NS_sil_03.jpg (343.08 KiB) Viewed 7631 times

Grateful for your time and advice,

Tom

[John&Luke]

Tom I think you are doing a great job.
No, you dont have to use the mikra paper with the aqua-star sanding pads. I just use a good quality wet and dry paper. Here are a few photos of my previous build for reference - note i'm no expert, but this has worked for me in the past.

Example of powder guide coat on a door.

WP_20170227_002.jpg (321.42 KiB) Viewed 7607 times

Slide1.jpg (72.98 KiB) Viewed 7607 times

By blocking in the direction of the door yor will hopefully remove any ripples in the panel. These vertical ripples will stand out more than any horizontal ones. Hope this makes sense?
Next photo with the door almost finished just one small area left that is low, this is where I might use some dolphin glaze

WP_20170227_004.jpg (217.86 KiB) Viewed 7607 times

I also tend to fill a larger area than the defect and then flat this back and try to leave just one continuous feathered edge rather than lots of small areas of filler in amongst metal. I find the with lots of transitions between metal and filler this can lead to sinkage. In the next photo is an example of my 'over filling'

WP_20161126_002.jpg (294.81 KiB) Viewed 7607 times

Hope this answers your points, and good luck, J

and keep the updates coming!

[Lumphammer]

Hi John,

Yes, the elimination of vertical ripples makes complete sense - plain of view and all that I assume.

What you described as over filling also makes sense, I will try that on the N/S rear wing where I've currently got a lot of transitions.

In your example picture does this over filler spread out onto keyed paint and should I use a thinner type of filler? I'm using the P38 generic stuff at the moment and it works and sands well but I don't find it particularly compliant to put on, it's fairly thick.

Thanks for your kind words, after seeing the quality of your work that means a lot

[John&Luke]

Hi John,

What you described as over filling also makes sense, I will try that on the N/S rear wing where I've currently got a lot of transitions.

In your example picture does this over filler spread out onto keyed paint and should I use a thinner type of filler? I'm using the P38 generic stuff at the moment and it works and sands well but I don't find it particularly compliant to put on, it's fairly thick.

Thanks for your kind words, after seeing the quality of your work that means a lot

Tom, I use generic filler, think I have a 4kg tin of stuff called 'magic' at the mo. You should not need to use any other type of filler. Stuff like Dolphin glaze I reserve for pin holes and small spot jobs. The key with filler is mixing it well and making sure it is nice and workable. Its a good idea to leave your filler tin in the sun to 'warm' before using it, Do you use a mixing board? A nice solid piece of MDF will do. But you want to be able to really 'work' the filler when mixing by smearing onto the board when mixing (this help get any air bubbles out). This seems to increase its workability for me. When finished just smooth out any remaining filler on your board and the board can be used over and over again. I use one side for standard filler and the other side for Plastic bumper flexible filler (nose cone/rear bumper etc).

Actually, you may want to seal your board with a thin coat of filler and let this harden so the MDF does not rob any of the resin out of the filler. One thin coat will be enough. My board is about 10mm thicker than when it starter due to left over filler over time

Yes fill out into your painted areas. As an example here is a picture of my sons grey MX5 we repaired.

OCLD3430.JPEG (127.3 KiB) Viewed 7580 times

The important bit is to stop if you hit metal, If you hit metal in your repair area it is likely this will be a high spot. As you can't sand away metal you will therefore need either to tap this down and refill or, refill.

Not sure if I posted the next photos in my thread but this is a series of shots showing the filling process I use on a rear wing.
The first is a 'build fill' in the welded area just to get me started without any air entrapment in the filler.

SRPV4432.JPEG (86.76 KiB) Viewed 7580 times

The next is halfway through, hopefully you can see how high the filler goes and where I'm still building depth in the lower areas.

GBUM0271_2.JPEG (82.36 KiB) Viewed 7580 times

Finally, ready for primer, note again hieght of fill (albeit very thin) and the only metal being the wheel arch edge.

OLXH5518.JPEG (70.71 KiB) Viewed 7580 times

Not sure where you are in the country, I'm near Oxford, once this lockdown thing is sorted happy to meet up if that an option. In the meantime, hope this helps, again I'm no expert and happy for anyone to correct me

[Mazda Mender]

I was hoping to start the permanent roll out of menders tech weekends this year...but hey ho ,which would of been a great place to catch up ,meet and all talk mending ,fixing and repairing etc...next year with any luck now..but we should be at the clubs rally if one takes place? If anyone wants to sit down and chat all things roadsters, There as been a hint about the NEC Classic restoration show to be there,again if that takes place? But i would rather be safe and alive if it means missing everything this year and means double catching up next year..but we still have our forum ;0).
Stay safe.
M-m

[Lumphammer]

John,

That is very helpful, thank you! I'm currently using a big ish piece of alu plate for mixing filler, probably 6mm. I did as you said and left the tin of filler out in the sun for a bit which has made it easier to put on. I think some of my difficulties have been down to inexperience like when i smooth thin wet filler it often "tears" and i have to repeat a few times until it doesn't.

I'm in Milton Keynes and I go to Oxford every now and again, it would be great to catch up. I suspect this project might be finished by the time we all get let back out - you can let me know what you think!

I put the front wings back on yesterday - I thought they were relatively good but looking again the N/S has two scraping dents on the arch and the other appears to have had an impact at the lower corner. I think they are both fixable, there's next to no corrosion otherwise it wouldn't be worth it - need to work out how I'm going to get the dents out

[John&Luke]

Tom,

Yes MK not to far away.

Here’s a couple more photos for you. If your filler is ‘tearing’ its setting too quickly, are you using to much hardener. Also when you mix it, don’t leave it in a mound, spread it out on your mixing board. Filler is exothermic, and the heat it generates will set it even quicker if left in a mound.

My mixing board.

861CB3FD-CF4A-4CCF-A59C-19583BA81552.jpeg (87.76 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

Bonnet flatted today. Step 1 guide coat

3B48A480-2B0A-480E-94C9-A7E64B36AEF8.jpeg (95.17 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

I’ve tried to take some pictures as I went, starting at the front of the bonnet.

9EAA551A-9668-4088-A0F7-B3EC0C608205.jpeg (74.65 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

can you see the progression ‘up’ the bonnet, Bottom edge is finished, middle band is part flatted but still has some guide coat and top is just lightly flatted.

Here is a close up, All the guide coat marks need to be removed.

A2E52D41-E02F-4EC0-85C4-4E1C56FFE28F.jpeg (39.14 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

And all finished. If you go through an edge just tickle it with a bit of etch primer once dry.

51563366-DE14-4E79-968E-996D6910C04D.jpeg (50.71 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

32850DFF-D3E4-46AC-A321-E5BC2B5D3EA8.jpeg (94.75 KiB) Viewed 7561 times

[Poundrick]

Wow what an awesome job you are doing and thank you for sharing your work to date it's very inspirational. Can't wait to see the next stages.

[fujikun]

I agree, brilliant write up and great tips on spraying. enjoy every word. great work