Apparently it will come back sealed /primer-ed and I can't afford a professional respray/paint. Any tips on how to get a DIY good ish finish? I'm more bothered about preventing further rot than perfection. Not too bothered if it's easy to see it's had new metal.
I'm more interested in the biscuit selection you've left in the car! But seriously. I don't have a great knowledge of paint but if your guy can rattlecan top coat over the primer then that would make it more weather-proof than primer in the short term. I'm sure there are more qualified people on here than I to respond.
Have a look at Copes GTI thread, there's lots of info about rattle can spraying. Sure he wrote a how to as well
Forgot to leave any biscuits in the car which in hindsight may have been a mistake - hope the welder hasn't seen this thread @RichardDarrenB nice one will check it out
Update! The car came back last week. Sadly no Tunnock's metal yet but that can be remedied at a later date. Not had welding done before so not sure how decent a job has been done. I was a bit surprised to get it back without anything on the bare steel so first thing I did was clean up any visible surface orange and get some primer on there. Only thing I had to hand was a rattle can of eBay 'Zinc weld-through primer' - a mate told me to use etch primer but I didn't have any. The blue part was a chop from my first mk2. Where it meets the shell at the rear it's recessed in a couple of mm - enough to be visible. Not sure if this is normal or could be better? My thinking is that it's easier to skim / fill a low part than something that's raised but would be interested to hear people's opinion on this. Also had NS outer + inner sill done and a few bits at each lower corner of the windscreen... hole? Again would be interested to hear people's opinion of this kind of weld / finish. Got to work on the card outside so winter might get in the way but it's under a cover for now. Onwards!
Mmmm…… if I had done it I would be “ok” with it. If I had paid a professional to do it I would not. However, it depends on how much you paid I suppose. I can’t believe they didn’t put some primer on it to protect it, that is poor.
I don't think primer is weather proof. I believe primer is porous so will allow water through and cause rust I would prime it and topcoat it with a rattle can regardless of how it looks. I agree with Pill not the neatest of welding but does look solid.
2 part Epox Primer is waterproof, I use Mipa Grundierfiller. Be careful though, painting with a brush and decent mask is OK, spraying I would want proper air fed mask.
Get decent primer on it and then some cheap poundland spray paint to seal it up. Yes primer is hygroscopic so will absorb water. Halfords do a rust inhibitor primer, and I've used the rustoleum hard hat paint on the mobylette recently, but their top coat is an enamel and I've not actually tried celly on the primer.
Agreed rattle can it with primer and top coat so it doesn't start rusting before you decide on the final finish. Whatever you do don't leave it. Then sit back with a nice cup of Yorkshire tea and a few biccies for a job well done
Thanks all - have got some brush on epoxy primer on the way and got a half decent 3M mask in the garage Now that you mention it @stephen stanyer I do recall reading that primer is porous and not to be left for too long on it's own. Not really going for a professional finish - just a half decent DIY job that keeps the rust away. Funds are tight and I'd rather spend cash on running gear / interior etc. That and tea + biscuits of course
Have a good read of the instructions, with the Mipa you mix the Epoxy Primer then leave it to stand for 15 mins before using. Great stuff, all my floor and chassis repairs have been coated with it. Graduated Mixing cups are handy, I bought a box full off Amazon.
Took advantage of the surprisingly nice weather last week and got some filler/primer/paint on the car. It's not perfect by any means but good enough for me. After painting I couldn't resist putting in these blue clusters to see how it looks. Alignment between clusters and body isn't too bad. I think the theme for this car will be borderline bad taste styling
I usually go for OEM or very close to OEM with my mk2s and I would normally agree with you but these lights have prompted me to 'experiment' a bit
Looks like you need some membranes on your doors before the bad weather otherwise you'll have a swimming pool in your footwells. Milky/clear rubble bags are a cheap and OEMish solution.
Nowt wrong with experimenting!. I've got same job to do with rear light surrounds, put it on the back burner until it passed it's MOT so I've got no excuses now..
