Full open-door re-spray
The Respray - Gloss Black
Two months after buying Jemima, I stripped her down completely. The plan was to do a full respray from red to gloss black.
At the time, I was working as an apprentice engineer at a workshop. The owner was very generous and encouraged me to work on my own projects, letting me use the workshop and facilities in my off time.
I couldn't leave the truck in the workshop as we needed the space for work, so I prepped and sprayed one piece at a time. This meant there was a stripped-down Landy sitting in my parents' driveway for quite a while.
I worked through the paintwork starting with the front wings, then the bonnet, then loads of small pieces - brackets, trims, etc. I got a lot of stuff professionally sand-blasted by Tristan Finishers in Southampton (bumper, door internals, door hinges), then sprayed them myself. This saved a ton of prep work.
Doors and Roof:
I bought new/second-hand doors that were fairly straight with minimal rust. The original doors were completely rotten with no frame left on the bottom half, meaning nowhere for the hinges to bolt through! I stripped the new doors down completely, prepped and painted them before assembling them with all new internals & seals.
I used the original bonnet but bought a new roof from Arconix Land Rovers. The old roof had a DIY perspex sunroof. I prepped and sprayed the new roof in the workshop, which was much easier than trying to do it on the vehicle. I also sound-deadened and insulated it while it was out, then we swapped the roofs over.
Interior:
Whilst all the doors, dash, seats, and everything else was stripped out, I prepped all the internal panels. This took hours, there are so many little corners you keep finding when you think you're almost done.
This was the only section I had to paint outdoors on the driveway, as I couldn't drive the truck yet. It was mid-February and I was trying to paint the whole interior and bulkhead outside. I had my good friend Ted round helping me mask and prep. We had a gazebo over the truck as the weather was unpredictable, but it started raining halfway through. I just went for it, the gazebo kept most of the rain out. The finish was good inside, but the bulkhead had some marks where water had settled on the paint before it fully dried.
Reassembly:
Now that the inside was painted and almost all the other parts were done, I could start putting everything back together. I finally got the truck back on the road, which allowed me to drive it to work to paint the rear tub. I fitted the roof a week or two after.
Paint Choice & How its Held Up:
Five years later, the paint is still holding up strong. There are signs of corrosion and paint bubbling here and there, but really not much considering it's a 37-year-old truck kept outdoors all year round.
The main reason it's lasted so well is the paint I used. One of the guys I worked with had loads of experience painting cars and boats and recommended epoxy primer. This stuff is horrible to work with but great at resisting corrosion and sticks directly to metal.
The epoxy primer I used was wet-on-wet, meaning I could prep the surface, then apply primer and top coat one after another without waiting 24 hours between coats.
For the top coat, I used standard gloss black 2K paint which is very hard-wearing. The biggest benefit of choosing these paints and simply gloss black is the ease of touch-ups, no lacquer required. Just sand the section you want to repair, mask it off, and spray another coat of 2K black. It still has a deep shine and is much easier to maintain.
Touch-Ups:
Since finishing the paint job 5 years ago, I've touched in a few sections:
Offside rear corner piece - started rusting and peeling because I'd replaced it with a new eBay panel that was already primed (badly). The paint hadn't adhered well and eventually peeled. I masked it off, sanded back and touched it in.
Footwells - Both footwells were showing signs of rust, I wire-wheeled them back to metal and touched them in.
Door frames - I had overspray from the original paint job 5 years ago where I masked the doors incorrectly. I finally got round to sanding them down, and touched them in.
