Degreaser

[Dougal]

After 100's of hours of prep., I've reached the stage for spraying polyester filler - U-Pol Reface. The supplier recommended U-Pol's degreaser, however the data sheet only mentions it's use on bare metal or previously painted surfaces - no mention of glassfibre. I'm concerned about putting anything on the bare shell that may have unforeseen consequences. I recognise the need for a contaminant free surface and wondered if I was safer to use acetone for the wipe over at this stage. Does anyone have any experiences?

Dougal.

[nebogipfel]

Dougal,

You certainly don't need nor should you use degreaser on your shell.

If the surface is clean and freshly sanded the product will go straight onto the surface and adhere well. Remember it is basically polyester filler which is thin enough to spray.

I used it on my shell with very good results.

The only problem I had was it was tending to cure in the gun ..... it was a hot day So my advice is slap it on quick

[nebogipfel]

PS

Sorry I forgot, as with all polyester fillers DO NOT wet flat it. Fillers soak up water and will release it slowly into your nice new paint job.

[Dougal]

Thanks John - much as I suspected. I was thinking of finger marks in relation to degreasing, however that doesn't seem to have concerned me during the filling stages . I'll give it a last overall light sand, hoover, blow over, tack cloth and press on!

Dougal.

[nebogipfel]

You're welcome Dougal.

Don't go too fine on your final sand, you are aiming for a good physical key for the Reface.

Any sanding scratches will be long gone by the time you have flatted the Reface and whatever primer system you decide to use.

I have a bit of a thing about keeping water as far away from the preparation process on fiberglass especially on this damp little island of ours. Once it is in the glass (and fillers) it is nearly impossible to dry it out properly and you will probably end up with the dreaded micro blisters after a period of time.

On my shell I sanded dry all the way through the process including the first 2K primer coats. It was only wet flatted for the final primer coats prior to putting the pretty colours on

[Dougal]

Thanks for the additional advice John. I had taken a look at your post of Feb 2006 and reckoned on following your sanding advice. I'm using a 2K primer then 2K clear over base - Lagoon Blue L12.

I'll post some progress pics as things progress. The car is a 1973 +2S130 which I've had since 1977. Was yellow, with plenty of gel coat crazing and a few damages, plus a silver metalflake roof.

On the subject of the metalflake roof, I've looked at a number of posts, some suggest the flake was in the gel coat - mine is definitely a spray job, over white spray filler. The roof is in good condition but the acrylic clear coat is badly yellowed so with nothing to loose I've test sanded an area with P1000 which has got back to silver . It is now my intention to wet sand the roof at 2nd primer coat stage, then 2K clear coat it with the rest of the body. I doubt my ability to re-create the original if I strip it, however if the foregoing goes pear shape, I'll just have to get on with it.

Dougal.

[nebogipfel]

Dougal,

To be honest I don't know how Lotus did the flake roof but I would have thought that putting flake in the gel at the lay up stage would result in a patchy and hit and miss result.

I always assumed they were sprayed Metalflake which was traditionally done back in the 60's 70's by putting the flake and clear in the gun with some ball bearings or similar and then sprayed on shaking the gun frequently to obtain an even distribution of the flakes. I have never sprayed Metalflake but watched a friend do it back in the seventies in the way I have described.

If a light P1200 or better P1500 flat would reduce the yellowing on your roof you could probably get away with going over it with 2K clear at the same time as you laquer the rest of your car. Obviously if you flat through and hit the flakes then it probably will not look so good. (Sorry I've just re-read and seen that this is your intention ........ FWIW I'd give it a go if it was my car)

I assume you can still buy Metalflake, certainly from factors who stock customising products if you want to have a go at doing it from scratch.

[andyelan]

Dougal

Could you please let us all know how you get on with the roof. I've got a similar problem with the roof on my car and was going to try the same thing ie flatting it down and re-lacquering.

Incidentally my Plus 2, a '73 5 Speed, appears to be Metalflake all over under it's Tawny paint, even the doors.

Also, Metalflake is the name of the company as well as the product and they do still exist. Find them on the web at www.metalflakecorp.com

Regards
Andy

[Dougal]

Andy

Thanks for the info on Metalflake and yes I'll let everyone with yellow metalflake roofs know if this is the way to go .

Regards metalflake all over under the top coat, what I found when I stripped the car was that the metalflake roof had obviously been done on the bare shell without bothering to mask off, so the white spray filler and metalflake extended part way down the rear wings, no sign of clear lacquer though on the wings so I suppose masking was done at that stage. The grey polyurethane primer was covering the metalflake overspray.

Incidentally I also found the bonnet, bootlid and headlamp pods to have been coated with the same white polyester spray filler found under the metalflake, which was a surprise. There is none of this on the shell, apart from the overspray, or the doors.

Dougal