I seem to recall you have an ancient local custom of letting wild ponies nuzzel your drying paint to get the right finish !

Well at £250 you could be having the last (smug) laugh. As long as it's a fairly uniform look at worst it will just be yet another distinctive and unique buggy colour. Added to which anyone viewing from a modest distance or when you are moving surely won't see any subtle variations.

If it turns out as good as  http://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,7580.msg78069.html, it will be a good effort, shame about the colour though " Allegro Green" does make it very special needs

Quote from: HUDGE BUGGY on March 28, 2016, 04:39:18 PMshame about the colour though " Allegro Green" does make it very special needs

A bit like the driver then   

As some of you know, I have been experimenting with metalflake applied with a paintbrush, and my antics can be seen here:

http://www.beachbuggy.info/index.php/topic,7580.0.html

The sun was shining today, and I thought it about time that my Buggy saw daylight after being stuck in the garage for a few weeks. The initial base layer of flake went on fairly well, and initially, the colour didn`t seem to be a million miles away from the original green, and I was quite happy with how it looked.





I went to fetch Lisa, to see what she thought of it, and she stood next to me in silence. In fact, I had just gone very silent too. The sun was hiding behind clouds at this point, and every now and then, it would shine on the car, and when it did, the colour was amazing. We just stood in silence as the Buggy was literally changing colour right before our eyes.





Anyone will tell you that flake is notoriously hard to photograph, which is a same, because what you cannot see here is the Golden Holographic Rainbow that was now dancing up and down the panel as the sun hid behind the clouds. We were just speechless.





And to think I started out by saying that the colour did not look to far from the original - My God, how wrong was I to say that !!





Time to get it back in the garage for a protective layer.

Very cool

From the photos I think that looks ace. Tell everyone you went for two tone.

I think that looks really good...

Do not be to hard on yourself over fnish quality it will look great from the pavement cruising past.

Whilst dusting the Buggy down, I have just been reminded of one of those little irritants that really annoys me. Open ended pipes on Carburetors. I`m as guilty as everyone else in having little bits of pipes with bolts fitted in an attempt to blank off an unused outlet, but these ones on my new Dellortos do not actually do anything at all.





They are, however, the same diameter as the rubber end caps on the Beesting antennas as found on VW`s and Vauxhalls, so after a quick scavenge around the workshop, I found some, and they do look much tidier.





When I get around to it, I will find some proper screws to fit in place of these pipes, but this will do for now.

Dave those pipes are for Synchronizing the carbs.
If you unscrew them a small amount and attach a multi vacuum gauge you can synchronize all four barrels.
I have a 4 gauge motorcycle balancer which I plan to try sometime. If I remember I will bring it to Stoneleigh if you want to try them while you are there if you are going. 
Other products are available and I used to have a set with mercury in the tubes but they don't sell them anymore due to health and safety. You can also get a set with dial gauges.
The usual way to is to take off the filters and put a air flow gauge meter on each barrel one at a time. Only thing is I don't have enough room to get one on top of the carb due to the small gap to the tub and I don't think I would be able to read it anyway. The other advantage is you can see all for barrels at the same time so it will be a lot quicker to do. Eurocarbs even sell them


Product Description

The New Carbtune Pro – essential for balancing multiple carburettors. Superior resolution to dial type gauges Easily read scale Comes complete with 4 x 5mm and 4 x 6mm ultra high temperature glass filled engineering nylon adapters and rubber hoses. Adapters will suit DHLA & DCOE carburettors and many motorcycle carburettors. Stainless steel columns indicate vacuum No calibration or set-up required High impact plastic casing and scale tubes – no glass Dampers supplied to reduce fluctuations Full instructions

MickyB,

Thanks for clearing that up for me - I was a bit puzzled why 4 non working outlets were there - now I know   

I`ll get myself one of those balancers ordered up I think, as looks a lot easier than doing one venturi at a time like you mentioned. 

Looks like the blood pressure monitor my doctor uses.

Whilst much fun and experience were had in flaking the side pod, as many of you will know it didn`t work as planned and I am now resorted to Plan B.  Plan B being that Plan A didn`t work. Summer is approaching, and the nights are now warmer and lighter.

So . . . . . . .

As previously shown, the Sidepod in question had a major issue causing the paint to fall off, so as a precaution, I am now going to rip the paint off the other side too and repaint it. I have a crack on the bonnet that needs attention, and a lot of the bodywork could really do with making friends with a few palettes of wet and dry. With so much ahead of me, (and effectively repainting the shell), I`m seriously considering of a mild colour change. It will still be green before anyone says anything.

Before, it was Austin Allegro Green, but I keep seeing these Mazda 2`s belting past, and the green metallic looks really cool. I am also considering the VW Scirocco Viper Green, but the colour doesn`t quite seem to  pop like the Mazda to me.

Decisions Decisions 

What I have decided to do though, is to eventually paint the inner arches and the "hidden" underside of the panels in black, because its as rough as hell under there and I want to hide it. That leads me to a question for you all . . . .

Is there any form of "textured" paint that I can brush on to gelcoat, that is durable, tough, isn`t a dust trap, and can be attacked with a pressure washer?

Not brushed but Mipa bumper textured paint is what my hard top is painted in.

Hi Dave,

You might remember a while ago I was considering going green and looked at the "Mazda Spirited Green Metallic".  It is a lovely colour, but I think I should warn you there is a lot of coats required to make it that colour and depth - if I remember right with base coats, top coats and laquers you are looting at around 10 if not more.

Another colour work considering is the Vauxhall Grasshopper Green used on the newer Corsa