The PO had painted the engine bay black - by hand - with a paint brush.

I wish to return it to original colour.

There are brush marks - runs - build up and patches of original and bare metal. The engine is out but still not the easiest place to get at. Should I just sand the obvious and hang the rest - put stripper over the lot and take it back to bare metal or do you think a thin layer of stripper may just get the black off and then need not so much work in bringing the finish coat back?

Also: the round 100mm diameter or so round plate in the firewall near the brake m/cylinder - was that black on original regardless the of the rest of the colour?

_________________
David L


My greatest fear in life is that when I die my wife will sell my Mini and tools for the price I told her I paid for them!

Hey there Wombat,

You'll find that using a thin layer of paint stripper with the intent of removing the top layer or so will not give you fantastic results as you can't really control how much paint will be dissolved in all areas that you use the stuff on.

I am stripping back my mini to bare metal using paint stripper and in some areas the paint comes off to metal while a patch right next to it may only remove the clear and top layer of paint.

In my opinion you'll find it quite patchy in results so it may be best just to get rid of all the paint on work with a clean slate.

Also make sure you get some paint stripper that holds on to the surface a bit. You don't want it all slushing off down the engine bay due to the effects of gravity. Make sure you have some layers of paper sitting under the car when this does happen or when you are scraping the paint remains out.

Cheers,
Birty.

_________________
Cheers,
Rob.

Hi,
Paint stripper tends to be a bit unpredictabe on what it takes and what it leaves behind. Sound like an all or nothing job and much easier done with the engine out the way. i suppose it depends on what you will be happy with and how much time you want to put into it.

You may as well do it right once, then maybe you will never have to touch it again.

It has become painfully obvious to me that the joker who changed my car from yellow to candy apple red, did zero prep. SO now I have nice yellow patches as chunks of paint come off.

Jim

_________________
1975 Mini SS converted to a Mini Miami
1978 Clubman S
1965 Mk1 Cooper S
2005 BMW 318i (Well at least its a real BMW)
"Dont take life to seriously, you may never get out!"