578 replies to this topic

[rich_959]

Looks great Ben! Will the bonnet and boot go back to new shiny paint, or will there be an effort to blend it in to the patina of the rest of the car?

[Ben_O]

Looks great Ben! Will the bonnet and boot go back to new shiny paint, or will there be an effort to blend it in to the patina of the rest of the car?

I'm not really sure what I will be able to do to match in the patina so the plan stands as painting them, fitting them and then polishing the wing tops and fade the polishing out across the panels in an attempt to make it fit better.

 

Cheers

Ben

[Ben_O]

With some help from my paint suppler, we came up with a plan to try and match the existing finish on the car to ty and keep the new panels looking like they belong and haven't been replaced recently.

Obviously the existing pain has oxidised and faded but polishing may just make it look worse and then it would loose the wear and tear look of the car.

Once we were happy with a colour match, we played around with finishes and settled on a satin gloss which looks good next to the existing paint.

Note that I only polished the existing paint with a fine compound and a cloth by hand so that it doesn't look too obvious.

 

 

And then I painted the panels

 

 

 

I think once the wing tops have been hand polished and the panels are fitted up, it should look pretty good.

 

Cheers

Ben

[KTS]

colour match looks really good. 

 

did you use an old t-shirt when polishing by hand ?  ..that's got to be an essential part of replicating that kind of patina...

[Ben_O]

colour match looks really good. 

 

did you use an old t-shirt when polishing by hand ?  ..that's got to be an essential part of replicating that kind of patina...

I couldn't find any with buttons on them

[rich_959]

Excellent match, both in colour and finish. A very lucky Elf owner to find someone who would go to so much trouble, rather than sticking brand new shiny paint on and hoping for the best. 

[eric67]

Looks good Ben;and will be even more striking with the chrome 'bling' back on.

Hope the refit and swap-over go well.

Thanks and regards, Mark

[Ben_O]

Cheers.

 

I have now finished fitting the new panels and I am quite pleased with the match in finish.

They don't look too far off being correct and to me certainly don't stand out too much against the surrounding fading.

 

 

 

 

Just the suspension to drain, evacuate and refill now but the evacuate function on my Churchill has seized so ill need to repair it first.

 

Cheers

Ben 

[eric67]

Looks good on the car Ben and a relief that the 'new' bonnet and boot seem to fit so well.
And I suspect that the Churchill is as old as the car so can forgive it a bit of tlc!

[cooperd70]

fantastic matching there...if you weren't told you wouldn't notice!

[JXC Mini GT]

Great paint match Ben, and also good bonnet/boot fit.

What an excellent example of an original Elf, the owner must be welll pleased with the effort you have put in to keep it looking original

[Ben_O]

Cheers all

 

Ben

[Ben_O]

The last job on the Riley was to drain, evacuate and refill the hydro suspension.

 

 

Once side down.

 

My old Churchill leaks slightly when draining . Look at the colour of the old fluid!
 

 

Anyway, I flushed the system through and refilled with fresh fluid and that competes the job

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers

Ben

[Shep76S]

Sweet!

[rich_959]

Beautifully sympathetic resto work. Love it.