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MG MGA - Respray - practical guidance

I'm mulling over the practicalities of getting my A resprayed. As a bodywork/respray virgin, I find the thought, and potentially the cost, a bit daunting.

My instinct is that there's not a lot of point in taking the car apart unless I do a complete back to metal job. The car was resprayed probably 20 years ago, taking it from Chariot Red to a non-standard blue. The red is still visible in a few places in the engine bay, where the heat has flaked off the blue. There are a few touch-ups on various bits of the bodywork now, and the odd ripple here and there which suggests there's been some patching done.

Clearly, until the paint comes off, I can't be sure what I will find, and the scale of the problems. I don't have the facilities to do the cleaning and painting myself (very small rented garage which rather specifically excludes respraying as an allowed activity!).

I suppose I'm looking for a bit of reassurance as to how much this could possibly end up costing me, both in time and money - the last thing I want is a dismantled, half finished project that I can't afford to finish, and a car I can't drive, when I could happily have kept going with it in its current state - at least it's a great driver, just not the best looker.

I've heard others talk of evening classes that might allow me to learn and do the work myself in a professional environment, but don't know of any in my area (West London). I like the idea of doing some of the work myself, but feel a bit isolated doing it all on my own.

A bit of a rambling post, but keen to hear from others who have taken the plunge.

Richard.
Richard Ross

Richard keep it as it is, everyone has a superb MGA that has cost them a fortune so it is far better to become an individual. The job you are proposing if done yourself could if everything went right cost you 2 years and more of your life. Alternatively you could contract it out which would then cost 20 gran! Far better to have a car that gets used often and the one I would personally vote for in any car show!
Bob (robert) I am turning? yes I once owned an MGWasp!!

try a few of the paint suppliers, (morelli is in west london), they might know of some courses local to you.
mog

Richard, the usual areas of concern are shown well on the Eclectic Motors web site. http://www.eclecticmotorworks.com/
You should be able to inspect these areas fairly well using a magnet and mirror. If your car is basically sound in these areas then a respray shouldn't be a bank breaker. Additonally, most A's have had nose damage at some time in their lives, so careful inspection of the inside of this area is important. You might have to remove the grill to get good access. Even in a small one car garage, you could do a lot of the metal repair work prior to sending the car out for paint.
Bill Young

Hi Richard, I had a local sprayer "do up" my wings and doors 2 years ago. He did a back to bare metal respray which cost me £1000 -including full photographic record - this took my car from one with blisters and ripples to one that now draws many compliments. cheers Cam
Cam Cunningham

A colour change respray is quite tricky to do properly unless you have a stripped body shell which probably accounts for the bits that were missed last time. It takes a lot of hours to remove all the bits and take the body off the chassis and if you only have a small single garage you probably don't have room to store everything either.

The big unknown is of course what you will find under the existing paint. Assuming no new panels or major repairs are needed I would guess you are looking at about £2000 for a good paint job on a stripped shell. Materials alone will cost in the hundreds. One thing to keep in mind is that if you take the car down to bare metal yourself you should get somem paint on as quickly as possible, ideally minutes and definitely not days.
Malcolm Asquith

Richard

I had no idea how to respray when I took my MGA project on. I signed on at evening classes for body refinishing. After 6 weeks of instruction I was allowed to bring my own project in. That's how I did nearly all my bodywork over the winter. Every Monday for 3 hours I stripped prepared and painted panels using the local college's equipment including a fully equipped spray booth/oven and breathing apparatus for 2-pack. The main body tub and wings I took to a sand blasting company. I used to pick them up and drive straight to evening classes, into the booth and etch prime.

The course cost about £100 including use of paint strippers, welding equipment, lead loading etc. I just supplied my own etch primer and 2-pack undercoat. I chickened out at the top coat, although the instructors did offer to do it free of charge for me. Instead I took the 28ish panels to a professional body shop for the top coat. In hindsight I wish I had gone the whole hog and trusted to my own ability with the top coat.

The really good part was that our company encourages extra learning and paid the £100 fees!

Steve
Steve Gyles

Thanks for all the advice so far ... very encouraging.

Bob ... I am very tempted by your approach. What I love is just driving the car. Was out over the weekend and I can't think of anything better than a bit of sun on your head and a bit of warmth from the engine, and a bit of that unmatchable exhaust note ...

... however, if I could find a class like Steve's ... I might have to change my mind. An impressive project. Mog - I'll follow your advice and see if I can get a lead from Morelli.

Malcolm ... if I could do it for £100 rather than £2000 I think that would make my mind up, especially if I felt I had a hand in it myself.

I will keep you posted about my next step.

Richard.
Richard Ross

There are several ways to go with this and if I might make a suggestion since the car is very drivable as it is and your looking to improve its appearance the most for what you have to spend what you might want to consider is this. Remove the bumpers, grille, windshield, cockpit trim and loosen the fenders, removing the beading at that time. Have a professional body shop prep and respray the car using Acrylic Enamel with a hardener added. You can then reassemble the car with new beading on the fenders and seals for the windscreen etc. Your car will be off the road for a minimum of time and will look great for the least amount spent. Even more important you stand much less of a chance of having a "Project for Sale" rather than a lot of fun driving it. Just a thought, and by the way I'm just finishing up an 8 year frame off restoration, just wish I'd taken that advise myself!
John Nelson
John Nelson

Hi Richard. If you would be satisfied with just an exterior respray of the current colour, and perhaps an under bonnet touch up, then it is likely possible to do a decent but relatively inexpensive repaint. It is basically the labour for prep work that costs the most money for a respray. But it is quite easy to remove all the chrome trim, and to remove the fender welting. It is also easy (but somewhat tedious), to sand the entire vehicle. Once the chrome and fender welting is gone, there is little left to mask off, except for the engine bay and cockpit area. If you can do these things yourself, you can save a fortune in labour for prep costs. A good shop should then be able to apply a good topcoat to the fully prepped and masked vehicle for a very reasonable cost. Cheers, Glenn
Glenn

Thanks again ... plenty more food for thought.

Probably will wait until winter now before doing anything. Meanwhile, I'm trying to track down Body Refinishing evening classes.

Richard.
Richard Ross

This thread was discussed between 02/05/2006 and 09/05/2006

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