More Work on the 1957 TR3 Completed

Last Saturday I managed to get the engine bay POR-15 coated. The weather was very cooperative but unfortunately my personal schedule ( a dinner party for a good friend) impacted the "careful" application of the second coat at the "tacky" stage of set up on the initial coat. The second coat went on smoothly but there are a couple of blemishes that could have been avoided had I had more time. I had to remind myself it is an engine bay and most of the flaws will be covered or hidden anyway...

Today I tipped the body on its' side and cleaned off the dirt and built up oil and grease from the underside of the body. Using the garden hose, Scotch pads plus a environmentally appropriate degreaser the underside of the body looks pretty clean. Tomorrow I am going back with the rotary wire brush and some mineral spirits to take off the remaining scum. I hope to etch the surface with some fine grit sandpaper and coat it with a couple of coats of black enamel paint. The original paint is actually in pretty good shape which is encouraging to say the least (particularly given the age of the car-it looks like it was redone sometime along the way... I did not want to remove the existing finish and keeping in the spirit of a "rat rod" type vehicle build my approach should work out well...