It has been my intention since I first purchased Lulu the Landy, to paint her a colour that would help her blend into the scenery, rather than her original stark white.
I promised myself if I ever found myself with access to a shed and sufficient time I would do it then, so it was a great pleasure to discover that the accommodation I was provided with a recent job in the outback came with a large carport and a large shed.
I had plenty of time on my hands before and after work and on weekends to tackle this big mission.
Preparation
remove roof rack, doors, bonnet, hinges, snorkel, front vent flaps, side mirrors
remove all light fittings
remove all badges
remove all tyre guards (that was a real pain!)
I also removed the hinge-thingy-m-bobs from the font of the vehicle that hold the top section of the wind shield to the main section of the vehicle in order to sand & paint them too
remove the solar panel
As this process is most definitely not a single-weekend project, I really did need a dry lockable space to park Lulu while her doors etc were all off.
Bonnet - creating a spare tyre mount system
I have one spare tyre on the rear door, and up till now I have been stowing the second spare on the roof rack. But, that needed to change as I plan to build a hard-shell-roof-top-tent.
It really pays to have a second spare for these outback roads, so I was not prepared to ditch it, which means finding somewhere else to store it. So, a bonnet mount is really the only other option.
I decided to build my own system - I really hope it is strong enough!
My process:
Mark up and tape into place the d-rings/tie down fittings where I think the need to be located. Note the strength rating of tie down points was 300kg each - plenty strong enough
Load tyre onto the bonnet: test and adjust locations pf tie-down fittings
Bonnet off vehicle, onto ground as a flat surface to work on
Repaint the underside checking for any rust
Mark up drill points
Add mounting points on topside, supported by galvanised steel mounting plates (cut and drilled by me) on underside. I also used RTV sealant/adhesive as well as bolts/nuts with locking washers
Add rubber supports for the tyre to sit on, lifting it above the surface of the bonnet
Replace bonnet
Add tyre and go for test drive on bumpy country road (every where here) to test the strength of the system and impact on visibility = pass the test!
Remove tyre, remove bonnet and prep for painting
Painting the bonnet
First coat on the bonnet, testing out the colours I had chosen and seeing if I liked the 'design' I had in mind.
My 1st attempt didn't work well.
the masking tape pealed off the paint when I removed it
the paint did not adhere well
I also did not like the sharp lines of the this fist attempt.
Very frustrating that the paint had not adhered well.
I had to sand it back completely.
I then cleaned the surface with a grease cutting detergent, re-sanded and tried again.
This image below shows the 1st coat on the second attempt.
Paint adhering better and I am liking the less refined edge between contrasting colours.
It still looks very rough in the image below... but a work in progress and the end result was good.
Prepping the wheel guards
The black curved items you can see on the drop sheet beyond the bonnet in the image above are the mud guards/wheel guards - they were a real hassle to remove!
Despite washing the underside of my vehicle 3 times before I began this process, there was still a lot of old mud and dirt stuck up under the guards, removing them was a very messy unpleasant job!.
After washing / sanding back the plastic guards I prepped them with a special plastic paint as an undercoat, then proceeded to give them 3 top coats of a satin back.
Hoisting the rood rack off the vehicle
As I was doing this all by myself with no one around to lend a hand, removing the roof rack was going to be a challenge.
The amazing Tracklander roof rack is super strong and super light, but still awkward to remove without damaging the vehicle.
That is where the carport came in handy, I slung some straps over the support beams and used them to hoist the rack off the vehicle and then drove the vehicle out from under the 'hoist''.
I actually left the rack hanging there the entire time I was painting Lulu!
Thank fully the carport was high enough to allow me to drive in & out under the rack anytime I needed to park on the grass on the other side of the carport.
Painting the doors
A lot of work, that is what I have to say about that!
I was painting not only the outside but the interior surfaces of the doors as well - because they were white and would look horrendous if I had left them that way.
That required not only removing the doors off the vehicle, but also removing all the mechanisms off the doors, stripping them back totally!
This is the rear door. I treated some rust on the lower door frame before prepping for painting. This image shows 1st coat of paint.
To remove the door off the vehicle I actually cut through the wires that operate the rear-demister. I will rejoin the wires when I rehang the door.
This door was very simple to work with in comparison to the side doors with their window-winding mechanisms which needed to be removed.
While I was painting the doors I also painted the door panels, called door-cards.
There is a lot of preparation work to be done BEFORE you can paint
These images show some stages of the preparation. The video at the end of this blog post will give you a better glimpse at the amount of work required.
Painting
It was actually a relief to begin painting, and that part of the process seemed to take almost no time at all, in comparison to the preparation time involved.
First coat on
Super happy with the transformation.
The advantage of painting with spray cans is that I can touch up the paint job at any stage and can even change the flow of the contrast colour - which I actually did after this image.
How much did it cost?
This is the great part, total cost of only $754 Australian Dollars... less than I was expecting, even considering I used a lot of spray cans.
There is the breakdown:
Spray paint at approx $17 per can x 37 cans $
Sanding paper $20
Masking Tape $20
Sugar soap $5
Respirator mask $80
View the full story in this little video below.
Thanks for sharing this journey of painting my vehicle with me!
What a lot of work that was!
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