My first restoration: TV175 Ser 3

[911hillclimber]

Actually found some time for the TV3 this week, so thought I would do a short up-date.

The racing has begun and takes a lot of time, the old 911 much the same, but as both are now 'ok' and the weather is perfect it is time to do the body a bit.

I started with the rear floor panels as they were more dented than anything. Trying to remove a 1000 dents was tricky but I've sorted about 750 of them...
They are now sorted and the last skim of filler needs sanding before high-build filler etc and paint.

Took a look at the legshields today which are in great shape with just 5 small cracks to welds and one screw hole to braze. The small side 'panels' that match my rear boards also has 500 dents a piece...so now generally flat/straight they too are filled bar the final finishing.

The entire rest of the leg shields are perfect. Lucky or what?
It was good to rest them all on the scooter, and a great reminder why the Series 3 is so good to look at.

Next came the NS side panel. This was rusty along the bottom and stripping showed a few pin holes too, but all welded and brazed up ready for leading. I don't think filler is robust enough for this area and it has been about 30 years since I last leaded any bodywork, so that should be 'fun'.

The os panel is in fact worse in the same areas, that is still in the loft along with the new fibre glass front mug guard that came with the TV 16 years ago when I bought it.
Plan is to two-tone the side panels, old English while and deep alfa red, all DIY painted after the looming 2 week holiday.

[911hillclimber]

Well, made the decision to buy 2 new side panels.

The kick-start side panel held up to the sun shows about 1000 pinholes across the whole panel, totally useless.

So, after the hols will buy to new steel ones, rot -free and with zero dents too!

Shame to not use the originals...

[garynonnah]

Its fun fun at the stage of putting panels on....not as straight forward as it seems, but hey looking good...

[911hillclimber]

Makes the Series 3 I think, such a great design, just as I felt in '68.

I think the side panels must have been bird baths when it was in Rome full of water to have suffered so much, both of them.

I will dry fit the lot before painting esp the glass front mud guard as it does not look too 'true'.
Since I've been moving the TV round the garage I have noticed the fork bearings (all new) 'clunk' when you stop the thing using the front brake. I was so carefull to set they 'just' on the tight side too.

My time table has slipped a month but the motorsport stops for 7 weeks soon before restarting, so I want to get it all painted and ready for the MoT etc.

I'm convinced the 15 year old paper boy is in love with it, so might have a buyer if his dad is rich!

I'm already thinking what to do after it is done. Fancy an old motorbike but the TV will have to go to fund that, and I've seen another race car I would like...mad.

[Storkfoot]

Since I've been moving the TV round the garage I have noticed the fork bearings (all new) 'clunk' when you stop the thing using the front brake. I was so carefull to set they 'just' on the tight side too.

Take the scoot of it's stand, put your left thumb on the gap between headset and leggies, push forward and pull the brake with your right hand. If your bearings are too loose, you can feel the movement in your thumb. As I am sure you are aware, this is an MOT fail

[911hillclimber]

Finally cleared a lot of the work needed on other toys, so a re-focus on the TV3.

With the side panels like lace I took the plunge and bout a set of 'machined-finished' side panels in bare metal from Buzz.

Have to say they look very nice and a re VERY oily to stop rust, so I haven't tried them on the scooter yet. They will be the last parts to be painted, so in the home 'office' good and dry. Hope I can drill the badge holes accurately!

Found the fibre glass front mud guard that was thrown in with the scooter when I bought it as the TV came with a steel Li front guard which is in great condition.

I'm not sure if the glass one is a good 'profile'; the shape seems ok but not too sure..what do you all think?
Hope to go and buy all the paint pots and gun and thinners etc on Monday.
Will be painted in cellulose with a contrasting colour on the side panels and the central dart on the front guard the same colour.

[911hillclimber]

Thought this might be of interest to restorers on here.

Went to buy all the paint for the sheet metal today. It was 1989 that I last painted a car, so a bit out of touch...

Had a list and came away with:
Litre of colour paint, etch primer, filler-primer, 5 L of top coat thinners, panel wipe, tack rags, mixing pots, tube of stopper, guide coat rattle can, mixing blade (free), kim-wipes, masking tape, 7 sheets of wet-or-dry and a mask.
All in cellulose as it wont kill me slowly. Spray gun also as my 27 year old one is knackered. Never used a gravity feed before.

The mask is a revelation.
Fitted, I can breath in and out, nose or mouth without my glasses steaming up! first time ever. Comfortable too.

Cost was £134 inc vat for all the above which I thought was really cheap.

Bought a trestle too for £24 so no back aches for me.

Next job is to make a 'tent' to go inside my garage as a spray booth ( ).

This should be interesting when I start (or depressing).

I used to spray a treat with the gun finish not needing any flatting down before polish. Lets hope I can still do it.

Decided to keep the mudguard even if the shape is 'unique'. Doubt two were ever the same from the factory.

[911hillclimber]

The BBC said 20+ and dry for today, so perfect to start the paint work on my TV3.

I had already prepared a 'tent' to go inside my 2 car garage made from old plastic 'tarpaulin' and some bungee cords.
It has been since 1988 since I sprayed anything so I hoped this would all be like never forgetting how to ride a bike, so set-to in a positive mindset.

Thought it a good idea to practice/start with the rear running boards, hung off long welding wire hooks from the ceiling.
The primer I have is a mix of etch and filler primer so this should be good and the first mix seemed a bit thick (2 primer to 1 thinner) but it went on ok as I got back into (literally) the swing of it. First time with a gravity bowl gun.

Ended up with the legshields, the running boards and the front mudguard all laced with the primer cocktail as I'm leaving the large side panels until I have done the rest as I think they will be far harder to do (nicely).

The primer flashed off very quickly, around 3 mins and quite hard after 30, so I will leave them all until Sunday and locally fill with stopper and rub them down endlessly and repeat if required.
Primer next, rub down and a dusting of guide coat for the finale of the paint.

Anyway, the first easy bit done so far, tent worked great, garage is nearly dust=free.

[911hillclimber]

Top coat on, or at least the first base of it.
Not sure I have enough paint on so will wait for it to harden and colour sand the leg shields.

The rear boards and nose I think are ok.

Started to rain when I started to spray...but no bloom

[nickw]

Nice to see the scoot coming along.

[911hillclimber]

Indeed, taken far too long.
The leg shield needs painting again tomorrow as it is not shining like the rest.
Found it to be a very awkward shape to paint evenly.
Rear boards and nose are great, when hard, a light cutting compound will be all that is required.
The powder coat is not exactly orange peel free....

Sadly, once registered it will have to be sold for another project.

I'll miss it.

[johnnyXS]

looks like you haven't lost any of your spray skills then

is that the compressor you are using I see in the background ?
I've been considering buying some spraying equipment myself as I have a campervan and a scooter needs spraying.
Could you tell me which compressor and spray equipment you are using and if you are satisfied with them

[911hillclimber]

It all comes back after a few minutes, I've 'garage-painted' 5 cars over the years, all in cellulose.

The compressor is one from Machine Mart and the first item I bought off them, 26 years ago!
It has been faultless, utterly brilliant piece of kit, 7.5 cfm. Then, I wanted one that was portable/moveable. I think I had a choice of 2 then and this was the cheapest. I used a far bigger gun for the cars and the compressor just about kept up, but did the job a treat. The equivalent now is their Airmaster Tiger, £95.

The gun is new and bought from the paint supplier recently.
I can't get a good fan width which I think is why the legshield area is troublesome to cover. it's a pressure issue as it runs on 22psi, but going to ask the shop today for advice and buy more paint for the side panels

It was only £30 and I wish I had paid more, but we will see.

The majority of guns now are gravity feed, the paint bowl on top of the gun. I was used to a pressure fed gun, bowl underneath, but the top bowl is a great balance in the hand.

Graham.

[911hillclimber]

Repainted the flatted leg shield and have a nice shine with a touch of orange peel how I image the factory got their paint. Doubt factory paint was like an Aston Martin is now...

While that is hardening off (about a 3 day wait) I opened one of my new Vietnam made side panels with some trepidation I add.
After a while got all the oil off them and started to rough sand and feel what I actually have.
Pictures say a 1,000,000 words, but I do have some detailing to do!

This panel has felt a lot of hammering but thankfully, almost zero linishing.

In comparison to the originals that are riddled with rust it is wonderful, but missing a lot in definition of swage lines or even to much detail to the swage lines!

Lots to do, endless hours rubbing down but the labour is free.

[911hillclimber]

some more!

[johnnyXS]

its depressing isn't it, the lack of attention to detail and poor quality control but I guess we should count ourselves extremely fortunate that anyone is manufacturing them at all frankly.
Thanks for the advice about spray equipment, its good to know that a 24l compressor tank can actually supply a small gravity feed gun ok for panel spraying. I guess you'd need to take things at a slower pace to let the pressure build up as you work.
Have my eye on a used 50l Airmate

[911hillclimber]

Not so, my compressor builds up before spraying to max fill in the tank.
Then start painting and the tank cuts back in after about 1 min and you just keep on going until done.

The quality of these panels is much what I expect now from the supply industry.
It will take hours to get them right and at , say, £30 per hour those side panels would you a lot.
I can see 8 hours of messing on each of them and painted, £500 for the pair!

I think these are typical of the breed.
Porsche panels can be bad too but carry a very big ' Porsche Tax' on top.

[Digger]

its depressing isn't it, the lack of attention to detail and poor quality control but I guess we should count ourselves extremely fortunate that anyone is manufacturing them at all frankly.

The originals were pressed steel - what you get from Vietnam are made by hand so what you get isn't too bad in my opinion.

[911hillclimber]

I think what I have/bought were described as machine finished, not by hand...

These are a mix of both methods.

not to worry, just some slight filling, a bit of lead loading and a bit of a compromise and they are done.
Drilling the holes for all the brightwork is quite tricky too, but the aftermarket badges fitted the original panels perfectly.

I am keen to get the TV done and ready for MoT, Registration and sold.

[911hillclimber]

Got to the other side panel this afternoon having spent 4 hours roughing-out the kick start side with skims of filler just about everywhere.

The other side is not much better, dings everywhere. The 'panel beater' must be a budding drummer for some group over there. Dings all over the sheet metal, but worse and I think a bit rough/unacceptable is the split in the one corner that needs brazing to fix...
Seems a bit pointless complaining as I'll be ignored, but beware of these claims for these panels are off tools, they are not replicas of the factory panels by any means.

Best bit is there is no rot.

I wonder if the trade here use these panels?

Hope to have them painted by the end of next week and the TV fully assembled ready for a full spanner check and MoT/Registration.