Chris Williams' Journal

Went over the engine bay again with some abrasive paper by hand and decided to remove all the paint from the oil cooler panel.
Used the cup brush and the blue grit disk.
Bought some Primer filler and some thinner. One general purpose for cleaning and use with the filler primer - dries fast apparently. One thinners for top coat - dries little slower - gives a better finish.
Thinned a jar of primer and hooked up the gun. Filled the reservoir fiddled with the settings, tried it out on drum surface and got stuck into the engine bay.
Went OK. Had to refill the gun regularly but that was not a hassle.
Covered the engine bay and was pretty happy although I thought I should get a wider spray pattern.
During the cleaning, I noticed that when I was blowing raw thinners, I was getting a much wider spray pattern.
Next day I sanded all the primer plus the primer on the rest that I'd done with spray cans. Mixed the primer/thinner with a bit more thinner and covered the whole car. Several refills but the spray pattern was much better.
I was very pleased with the smooth surface I was getting off the gun.
Light sanding the next day mainly with a foam sanding block. Follows the contours of the car much better. Taking mainly the overspray off.
Set up the gun, mixed the top coat - a little more thinners and laid down a coat of top coat every where. Had a litre tin of paint and used it all. Pretty pleased with the results, but it does show up flaws that I had not seen in the primer. Still it's a 40yr old car and a few little flaws in the paint aren't a problem.
Here are some photos.