thegimpy1972 wrote:
Thank you very much. I will fit doors and spray. I can see the mini in the first pic. So good to see these old pictures.
Cheers again jason
Mate all good to follow the factory, but remember what they did was for efficiency, not best practice. If you are going to paint them fitted why not blow some paint over the body where the hinges fit up, and then fit the doors for final paint. Will still give you that legitimate crap finish BMC strived for but at least you have a chance your car won't have rust bubbling out from behind your hinges in a couple of years time.
At the same time I would blow a bit of paint around the inside of the door. Personally I choose to paint them separately. Gives you the opportunity to paint evenly and thoroughly under the doors themselves and particularly on the doors leading edge. Painting them with the doors on you just can't get the paint to lay evenly, which is why so many original doors have runs or conversely bugger all paint at the forward panel where the hinge retaining screws go.
Same goes for under the number plate flap. Try covering that with colour with it attached.
When restoring a car you need to make some decisions on authenticity vs finish. The engines for example were painted with virtually everything attached. Oil filler cap, inlet manifold, starter, generator, radiator bracket, oil pressure line etc. The colour was just oversprayed onto the manifold and looks crap (I have a colour photo of an original S engine) To restore it like this would be correct but look terrible and have you laughed at at any concourse event in the country. These days most properly restored cars, and thats my cars included are far better than the factory ever produced. Its a decision you need to make for yourself. Doing it CORRECTLY you will be forever justifying why the end product looks like a crap job.
