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"I did a try before you buy with Protool. Ended up going to their website and finding out you have to purchase their BT device (or a Thor brand Wifi). I have three OBD BT devices already (a cheap China ELM327 knock off, a Veepeak BLE+ and an OBDLink CX and none of them work with it. I understand the knock off, the other two are good products.
It does work with my K+DCAN cable but on their page it states it might not actually code with it and they recommend purchasing theirs. I think I am going to buy the app and try it with my cable. If it doesn't work, purchase a Thor adapter. At least it will work with some of my other apps."
It is just aggravating when others are totally ruled out by the people coding/selling the app. Has it been tested with any of the others, doubtful as they can have a BT device produced for less than $15, sell it for $60 and pocket an additional $45. Funny thing is, their brand "Expert" K+DCAN cable, Pro K+DCAN cable (which looks like one of the low $$$ knock offs with their logo sticker on it) and their BT device and is currently out of stock so it limits you to the Thor.
The Thor adapter is available from ECS same price. If I buy it, it will be from them. They have been great to work with!
I finished repairing the brake line last evening. I finally found a flare tool I like. I have tried so many of the standard flare kits and normally I am disappointed. They either will slip in the jaws of the flaring bar or the flares turn out like crap, wrinkles in them or not fully formed. I normally do not promote something unless I was truly impressed by it. I got one from Amazon that I really like. It is a Capri Dual Head flaring tool. The dual head does single, double and bubble fitting. The Mini has bubble (also called DIN), my couplers needed double.
You put the tube in and finger snug it, use the chrome nut which adjusts it to the correct length in the clamp, and tighten the 3 bolts. If doing a bubble use the 4.75 DIN die and tighten it till it stops. To do a double set the tube in, use the OP1 end of the other die 1st down till it stops then reverse it and down till it stops. It isn't the fastest but I had zero issues using it both on the bench and the two flares I had to do under the car.
Here are a couple pics of flares I did.
The top is a DIN flare on the nickle/copper line, the middle is a double and the bottom is a DIN on stock MINI line. On the car I took some 800 grit and smoothed the coating on the line.
Put all the exhaust heat shields back up and mounted the JCW exhaust. Time to order my parts. Get them in then it is assemble and bleed the brakes/clutch.
Only down side to it is you are limited to 4.75mm and 3/16 line on this model.
Last edited by DogfaceSGM; 07-15-2024 at 04:08 AM.
Reason: last sentence
BTW, you don't "HAVE" to get the ABS coding performed. However, if you ever get into a situation where ABS is needed, you'll be glad you did get the coding done. The coding changes the modulation of the ABS pump.
Protool only has a discount on Black Friday. I may wait till then to purchase. I have only had the ABS engage two times in two years, once on snow/ice (shouldn't have to worry about that between now and November) and when the idiot caused the accident. If that happens again I now have uninsured motorist personal property insurance and will get $7500 for the car. Take the goodies off and let them have it, buy another.
After doing much research on painting the plastic body parts, I am taking them down to bare plastic on the exposed "shiny" visible parts. Some of my research indicates when you spray it with adhesion promoter and you have existing paint, it can cause a defect along where the paint meets the bare plastic. I bought a power washer blaster attachment on Amazon for $30 and a bag of Quickrete medium silica sand (again after researching). Tried it on a section and worked pretty good. Bought 10 more bags of sand ($9/ea at Rural King) and blasted all the nooks and crannies of the plastic (used 5 bags of sand so far). I am going to DA the flat surfaces then do a once over quick power washer blast to the entire thing. Afterwards, fix any flaws and get ready to paint them. That gives me 10 days to properly prep them.
The blasted area actually has less plastic "hair" then where it was sanded.
The front bumper, back bumper and driver's side rocker panel cover sanded fine. The passenger side rocker panel cover is a total PIA! I am assuming it is the only stock plastic piece as the Carfax for the donor car showed 3 rear accidents, one driver's side and one front. The nooks and crannies didn't blast like the others either. I will finish sanding it tomorrow.
After sanding I have a little "body work" to do on the plastic pieces. I am using USC Garage Flexible Glaze which is designed for plastic pieces like this.
Because of the sanding creating loose plastic, I am planning on shooting the 1st coat of epoxy primer Wednesday. Thursday I will wet sand it, Friday I will give it a second coat of epoxy primer. If need be I will sand again Saturday AM, if not I will shoot base and clear. The clear needs to cure before assembly and it is recommended curing outside as it cures with ultra violet light. Let it cure for the week and start assembling the following weekend.
Need to schedule an alignment. Since I changed the struts/bushings etc. it will need it.
I will do some before/during/after pics of the spray process later this week. Since life has been busy, I still need to finish putting the JCW brakes on, replace the tail lights with the Union Jack lights and finish the Xenon conversion. Plenty to do while not prepping or waiting to cure.
Done with prepping the plastic pieces. That was a lot of work. Sanded down to 320 wet. I am not concerned with the areas that do not show. If I get some noticeable lines from the existing paint there who cares, no one will see them.
Unfortunately, I didn't get the rack for painting them made. I will get that tonight (hopefully) and spray the 1st coat of epoxy primer Thursday. Worst case if I can't get everything this weekend, I will push it back to next weekend.
BTW, flexible glaze on both the front (lower right side)and rear bumper (1/3 in from right side) where it looks like a white. The front was from my error, the back they must have backed into something and had it dented. I used a heat gun and some dollies to get it back to as straight as possible. Light coat of glaze and some paint, I don't think you will be able to tell.
Nope. It will be covered by the black plastic pieces so I won't loose any sleep over it. If I were doing a "total" restore, heck yes I would have everything to a T.
After doing more research, I decided to go with Automotive Arts MotoBase for the base color. A lot of the members of the SPI forum sing its praises. My local supplier only carries Exalta/Dupont, which is really good paint but also really expensive. The MotoBase is half the cost. There is a dealer 35 minutes from me and I had them mix me a Qt. of A63 Lightning Blue Metallic. Without any clear coat, it was hard to tell how well it would match. Tonight I sprayed some rattle can clear over the dot they put on the lid. I think it will match pretty good. Below are three different angles.
I made a parts rack out of 2 X 4s and 1/4" rod to mount the bumpers and side panels on. Hood and the quarter panel will be on cheap Harbor Freight saw horses.
The epoxy really brings some defects to light. The good thing is you can put flexible glaze on top of epoxy primer. I will be doing that and wet sanding with 800 tomorrow. Saturday will be the 2nd coat of epoxy.
The only advantage I have over others is I used to work in a body shop as a teenager. Otherwise, it was all online research. The only problem with that is I am not watching YouTube videos for entertainment, get to the point and show me what I want. U-Wrench TV, Paradise Garage, Paint Society and Garage Noise were the big four that I watched the most of. Like this site, SPI's user forum is a very good tool. Of course as you read through posts, you have to decipher which users info you trust and which ones are the "well I did it this way"
I had never used SPI's product previously (I am not associated in any way other than a new customer) but seen their products pop up on some of the videos or other sites when researching painting this stuff. The epoxy primer I am using is good stuff and is less $$$ than most major brand epoxies. It is able to be sanded (sand-able) which most are not. I went with their Euro 2020 clear after researching their forum. It has about the same amount of orange peel that factory paint jobs do. This is the 1st time ever spraying epoxy or clear (other than out of a rattle can).
Learning some spray technical terms (or having previous knowledge of them) helps, for example dust coat, medium wet coat, wet coat. There are some terms I hadn't heard previously as back in the day we only sprayed lacquer and enamle.
The other thing that helped is spraying each product on some test panels to get an idea of gun settings and speed. I used plastic drop cloth to test my fan pattern and I had all the test panel area I needed off of scratch and dent parts from my Coupe. My old hood worked great for this.
If you are doing rims or anything with a lot of different contours, they are difficult to do. They are prone to running/sagging as paint can get heavy quick in all the recesses.
Plastic pieces are a new critter to me as well. Back then the only plastic on an exterior was under the front bumper between it and the grill. Plastic is a very different animal. Different preparation steps and products are used (flexible glaze/scuff stuff/gray and red Scotch-brite pads/Adhesion Promoter). If doing new stuff like purchased from one of the vendors here, it isn't that difficult. Being used and having to rework it created a lot of challenges. Never, never, never go with coarse sand paper. The heaviest grit I used was 360 (and that is discouraged). To get the old paint off, I used 360 dry, then 360 wet, then 600 dry then wet to smooth it out. Since I went this coarse, I will be wet sanding between epoxy coats as the sand paper causes plastic hairs to raise and show through the paint like dirt. It might take 3 coats of epoxy to fully cover and smooth with wet sanding between each coat. If it takes 3 coats, that will put me out another two weeks as am gone 3 - 7 August. If that happens, the weekend of 10 - 11, I will sand the last coat of epoxy and shoot and epoxy sealer over the plastic pieces. It is the same stuff just thinned with reducer. After sealing, couple hours of cure time, I will apply the base/clear. All the times between coats are covered in any paint manufacturers tech papers.
Didn't mean to write a book. Just typed what came to mind.
Last edited by DogfaceSGM; 07-26-2024 at 04:17 AM.
I want to take care of a few different areas on my vehicles........I'm definitely going to use one as a test canvas to practice on....
What type of guns and compressor are you using.....
I did some research on some lower $$$ guns. I don't need a $400+ spray gun. I ended up going with a kit from Amazon, AeroPro Tools R500 LVLP Air Spray gun with 1.3/1.5/1.7 nozzles and added a Master Paint System Disposable Paint Spray Gun Cup Liners and Lid System. Different paints recommend different size tips. Heavy build primer 1.7 on average, base 1.4 - 1.5 and clear 1.3 Is it a top $$$ gun no, is it suiting my needs yes.
My brother's shop has a huge compressor with a 1000 gallon tank and a refrigerated drying system. Otherwise, I would want at least a 30 gallon tank (which I own) to spray with a moisture separator. Thing is you are supposed to have so many feet of metal air line between the compressor and the separator as the air comes out hot when it is running. My system is straight out of the tank to soft hose.
This thread is the first I'd heard of a LVLP.
My dad used to be in the home repair business & has a few HVLP guns.
Guessing the LVLP reduces the chance of runs, but likely necessitates extra coats?
My Midget needs a bit of rear quarter body work, debating on trying to DIY the fix, or cut it out & weld in a new panel.
Big thing to see yet is how well the paint/metallic matches. I am not doing a blend, which most body shops do on something like this. If it is a slight shade off, I can live with it. If it is "OH MY GOODNESS, looks like a two tone" that is a different story.
I'm researching the guns now.......I think the first project I'm going to tackle is the rear trunk on my cruiser....
I'll definitely be going to the autobody and paint supply store next week.....
2nd coat of epoxy on and looking smoooooth. Tomorrow is base and clear. With going to church in the AM, it will make a long day. It will be 1:30 by the time I get out there. I have to scrub the plastic pieces with gray Scotch Brite and Scuff stuff and 800 wet sand the hood to get it smooth for base. It will take about 2-3 hours to complete. Two hours for 3 coats of base, wait for two hours and start the clear. Two coats of clear should get it so home somewhere around 10-11 PM.
It will have a week and a half for cure. I have my military duty next Saturday and I volunteer at a kids camp for abused children (have for the last 18 years, used to be Royal Family Kids Camp, now it is called For The Children) Sunday through Wednesday. The following Thursday through Sunday will be reassemble time. Man.... I really hope I remember where all those plastic clippy things go and the twenty bolts I took out. LOL
I also have to add another board to my stand. It is best when panel painting with metallic to have the part in the same orientation it is on the car. It determines how the metallic lays in the base. I did the epoxy on the 1/4 panel laying flat.
Ended up not having to add a board. I could hold it to the board with one screw. PAINT DAY is here. Gotta wear your PPG (Personal Protective Gear)
Two coats of base on. Turned out pretty good. I have 3 sags in the paint that I am just going to live with. Too much trouble to correct at this point. I NEED MY CAR BACK ON THE ROAD!
I will post some pics later of the clear. Will most likely be 11 PM or later as I have an hour to wait before starting and shooting 2 coats, cleaning everything up.
Good job Dog! SpI clears are really the best out there imho, I've been using them ten plus years. Ditto their single stage black and their epoxy. Can't wait to see your finished pics.
07-14-2024, 05:21 AM
