FILLING

This is not an easy process as the filler will need to be rough dry sanded before it fully cures and goes rock hard. Alas it then shrinks as the heat caused by the catalytic reaction dissipates, which introduces problems.

• Dent knock as many "dings as you can.
• Fill all obvious defects with "Plastic" body filler.
• Rework with a thin filler coat at least one hour later & finish with a finer dry sanding paper.
• Next day go over it again with another thin layer & finish at least 2 hours later with a 400 wet & dry

  Hey, don't worry, you will probably find more dents later on!

  BASE COAT

  The high gloss finish of POR paint is truly unreal, most of my photos have whited out its so glossy.

   

  Method:

  The body was turned over bit by bit and all the spot welded seam joints were flooded with POR until it seeped out of the bottom. This was a messy process, and sometimes a number of applications were needed to get a seal. It is advisable to clean up the drips immediately the paint starts to set, otherwise a file will be needed to clean them off.

  No doubt, like me you will find areas requiring filling again, do it as soon as you can before the POR cures fully.

• Rough up the POR and fill with plastic body filler, using the same procedure as in "Filling" above.
• Overcoat the filled areas with POR and flare out paint to the surrounding parts.

  Tips:

• Buy a really good brush and clean it in normal paint thinners immediately after use, you don't need POR's fancy thinner for this cleaning.
• Use long brush strokes & over brush a couple of times.
• Too little paint on the brush gives a poor finish, too much gives runs.

  POR "TIE COTE"

• NOT RECOMMENDED

  After a one week cure, top coating of the POR paint can be started. You can either rub off all the gloss with 600 wet & dry or use POR's special "Tie Coat" paint. which I used on the body only. This paint reacted with acrylic top coats if put on thickly.

  Tips:

• Go over all the cosmetic POR paint surfaces with 280 wet & dry and remove all runs & drips. Touch up the inevitable rub thru's.
• Then rub over again with 400 wet & dry. Make sure the surface is as smooth as possible. Again touch up and refilling may be needed.
• Clean the surfaces thoroughly with a wet sponge & follow up with a damp 50% methelated spirits/water clean.
• DO NOT USE PREPSOL it interferers with the Tie Coat bond.
• The Tie Coat is a high solids paint which called for a Top feed spray gun. I used an ANI Astina low quality with a 3mm. nozzle with 2.25 Bar of air pressure.
• Apply in single coats & allow 10 minutes "Flash off". DO NOT DOUBLE HEAD coats.
• Build up "Tie Coat" until you get an even coverage, be careful it behaves like enamel paint & can suddenly sag or run.
• Leave to cure in a warm well ventilated place for at least 7 days. (POR's 24 hour recommendation is not sufficient)
• DRY sand to a smooth finish, again be prepared for touch up work.

  ALTERNATIVE TO POR TIE COAT

• Due to continious problems with "Tie Cote" reactions with the Acrylic Primer Surfacer when used in thicker coatings on the remainder of the body, I changed the process to:
  • 600 grade wet sanding of the POR 15 to remove its gloss.
  • 2 coats of single pack Wattyl Super Etch (epoxy etch primer)

  PRIMER SURFACER

  This final preparation process will show you why a top class spray job costs a lot of money, it needs a lot of patience, care and rework if you want a good job.

  To get a good final finish, the "Tie Cote" (and/or Etch primer) needs a Primer surfacer. This is the final paint before Top Coating and many so far unseen blemishes will appear, be prepared for quite a bit of touch up work. Pick your weather, humidity must be below 80% and the temperature should be about 20ºC.

  Decision time on whether to use an Acrylic paint Enamels or Two pack paints etc. must be made. All paints can affect the respiratory tract. Acrylic paint is banned in some parts of the world now due to hydrocarbon pollution from its high ratio of thinners. Isocyanate two packs paints are also banned in many countries because of their toxicity. Inhaled vapor from two pack paints WILL kill you quite well. Two pack paints need specialized breathing equipment and booths (for controlling dust & drying) all well beyond my small resources.

  With a proper charcoal breathing mask and good ventilation, Acrylic is probably the least dangerous so I went this way. Its advisable to ask your neighbors to be understanding to avoid friction. I found the best way is to show them what I was doing.

  I used Wattyl SuperCryl Series 2 Primer Surfacer with STANDARD thinners, do not use high quality thinners here. You can use high build primers also, they give a slightly lower grade of finish.

  Tips:

• Go over all of the POR "Tie cote" or Etch Primer with a damp clean sponge
• Clean again with damp 50% methelated spirits/water sponge.
• Put on special acetone resistant gloves, goggles & a charcoal breathing mask and clean with Prepsol and WIPE dry.
• Leave to fully dry for say 15 minutes.
• I used a cheap Star siphon fed spray gun with about a 1.5 nozzle and 2.5 Bar of air pressure initially (later an expensive DeVilbiss "GtI" HVLV gun for a better finish, paint savings & negligible overspray)
• Apply in single overlapping coats
• Double heading is ok., but try to avoid it.
• Allow 10 mins flash off between coats
• Build up at least 5 coats.
• Allow to dry overnight
• Wet sand with 600 paper next day, (Weather must be below 80% humidity & above 15C)
• Like me you will now probably find even further little dings & imperfections.
• The minor ones can be fixed with "Stop putty".
• Major ones will probably need rubbing back to the POR coat & Plastic filling.
• Once you get this final preparation done, leave it to cure & dry for at least one day.

  After rubbing down the primer surfacer with 1000 grade wet & dry on a 3M flexible backing rubber and Prepsol cleaning, the primer results were spectacular, laying the foundations for the finish coat.  

  FINISH COAT

  This final part is the most costly, easiest and most enjoyable part of the painting job.

  Needless to say the weather for this final coat must be perfect, and all dust removed from the painting area.

  • You will need:
• A high quality spray gun (HVLP preferred).
• A good quality Acrylic paint popular with body repairers in your location.

  Do not use cheap spray guns, they can splutter, block and wreck your hard work to this stage in seconds.

  Do not use cheap paint unless you are going to sell the car immediatly (you wouldn't have bothered with all the foregoing preparation either in this case anyway!)

  With the cost of Acrylic Top Coat paint is $65/litre, there are economic justifications for a good spray gun. A complete 2CV respray top coat will need 4 to 6 litres of paint = $260 to $390 (with the normal 70% spray loss). A good high pressure spray gun will cost about $450 to $650. You can do the economics of respraying at least twice with a cheap gun, and also ponder how people paint a 2CV for a couple of hundred Dollars!

  I initially used an excellent high quality Binks Bullows 230 high pressure suction spray gun (thanks for the loan Geof) at 2.75 Bar with Wattyl SuperCryl Acrylic paint thinned withSuperCryl Series 2 thinner (150 parts of thinner to 100 parts of paint.)Even working outside with a moderate breeze, the pollution from this gun was unacceptable to me.

  I cannot speak highly enough of the DeVilbiss GtI high pressure convertor spray gun

  I bought a $500 DeVilbiss GtI low presure, high volume spray gun, which essentially eliminated overspray and increased paint application rate two/three fold. I found I could paint within feet of glass windows and not get overspray & didn't even hae to cover the patio's brick work! It was initially difficult to use, foreward movement off the gun was essential (it cannot be waved around the place like a high pressure gun). Once mastered, the finish was simply stunning with virtually no orange peel. Nozzle: 1.8 mm. Air Cap: 110Pressures: 1 bar inlet (5 psi at the nozzle), spread setting "full", paint feed 1.5 turns open.

  TIP:

  After waiting for the final coat to flash orff, mix 5% paint to thinners , reduce the gun's paint feed to 1 turn open and "brush" over the surface in a logical foreward movement, this will dissolve any minor overspray reduce orange peel & bring out the paint gloss. Be careful not to wet out the paint too much.

   After two weeks, flattening of the slight "orange" peel and overspray with 1500 followed by 2000 grade 3M wet & dry resulted duller more even finish.

  Four weeks later (6 weeks after painting) this suface was washed and dried and hand cut with 3M Perfect It (a very fine non silicone) and Polished with 3M Imperial non silicon wax.