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DonBurns
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After 8 years of slow restoration, 15800 finally went to paint shop. Getting bead blasted now so will know soon what we are starting with. Current color red, but original was Malaga Blue, and I am putting it back to original color.

The current interior is all black, but probably not original. Was tan more common with the blue exterior? I am trying to remember what I have seen in the past on blue JHs. Obviously dash stays black, but what all is tan on a tan interior? Is the center console black or tan, etc?

crothberg
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On mine, center console, dash, steering wheel, ‘a’ pillar & windshield header trim, rubber floor mats, soft top and boot cover are black.

Cr

DonBurns
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Thanks! That helps. Car now at bead blast. $2500 buys me an estimate. Yikes.

noomg
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Don,

What in the world are you doing that requires a $2500 estimate, bodywork, paint, interior, or what? Traditionally estimates are free.

Also, I'm not clear on what's currently going on. You're sending your car to a paint shop to get it bead blasted? In my experience those two things are done at different places, even Chip Foose sends his restorations out for bead blasting. It's unlikely after bead blasting your car's going to be ready for paint, more likely bodywork and possibly some metal replacement.

If you're trying to determine the original interior color you might try looking in the corners for original scraps like kick panels, material glued to rear wheel wells, etc. Personally I wouldn't worry about the original interior color, Malaga Blue/Tan is a spectacular color combo.

I just recently finished my car, bodywork, paint, and interior. If you haven't settled on a paint shop I'd recommend R J's Paint&Body in Garden Grove, he does good work and won't charge an arm and a leg.

For the interior I went with Rejen, their quality is off the charts. My interior is tan(original color)and I also opted for leather, which I also highly recommend.

DonBurns
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That's correct, The paint/body shop has sent the car out for bead blast. I am using California Classics in Santa Ana. They did the boot and engine compartment a few years ago when I was doing the mechanical work. The $2500 covers disassembly and bead blast. It's not possible to get an accurate estimate until you can see how much hidden damage, thick bondo, ect. there is, I believe. Original color was Malaga Blue based on color under dash and other places. Although driver door was something else, which has me nervous about what they will find. I was just wondering what interior was typically used with blue exterior. I plan to do a sound deadening with Dynamat or similar once back from paint. To be honest, I have not really been enjoying driving this car. My ears are ringing and I'm vibrating for an hour after I get home. I am hoping some sound and vibration dampening will resolve that. But I'm way too far into this to give up.

noomg
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Don,

You probably should have started this thread in the Projects topic, might have been a bit more visible. If you're interested you can go there and have a look at my resto.

It sounds like you're doing the full Monty, so you can choose any color/interior combo you like. I wouldn't worry to much about originality since your color choice is unlikely to affect the value one way or the other. So you might as well do it the way you want it.

I wouldn't worry about the door, it's probably a lot nicer than the one it replaced. Same thing with my hood, like your door it was probably a junkyard replacement. FYI, it was off a Malaga blue car.

I have to say, you're the first guy I've ever heard say he didn't enjoy driving this car. Since I've had mine only two other guys have driven my car, they both now own Jensen-Healeys. I've driven my J/H over 500mi in a day more than once with no problems at all. There must be a problem with this particular car, which is likely to be remedied with your full restoration.

The only Dynamat I used was in the doors, when closing them it gives a nice, solid, satisfying thunk. Being a roadster I didn't feel further sound deadening would make much difference.

noomg
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Don,

"8 years of slow restoration", kinda of the way I did mine, I'm guessing you were doing mostly mechanical stuff. I'm curious, when you get your car back is it going to be a fully assembled car ready to drive, or will it be a painted shell that you will be doing the final assembly?

DonBurns
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I'll eventually write up the saga under projects. I sent the car complete to body shop. Engine compartment and trunk already painted.

DonBurns
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Just got a look at body after bead blast. Not good. Will get estimate in a couple of days, but looking for replacement panels on Ebay.

redracer
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Have NOS and a few "good" ones taken off cars. Let me know what exactly you may need
bruce

noomg
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Don,

What panels are you talking about, inner body, floor pan, or outer panels such as fenders, doors, etc.? Are we talking cutting and welding or bolting off and on replacement?

When I did mine I removed all outer body panels so I could repair them on the bench and access to do any necessary repairs to the inner body. I had already repaired the floorboards awhile ago. There was no corrosion to speak of, the rockers were rusty but sound. After cleanup I reassembled the body and shipped it off to the paint shop. It doesn't sound like you'll be getting off that easy.

Not unusual though, start out picking color combinations and get sidetracked doing some major metal work.

DonBurns
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Body panels. All of them. Not sure about inner, but nothing I could see. I think some or all of the floor had been replaced. Looks good from underneath, and seat rails definitely new. Trying to send some photos, but can't seem to even when I reduce file size below the 102400 limit. The worst panels are the two rear fenders and the back of the boot.

Attachment: bonnet-low.jpg (Downloaded 62 times)

DonBurns
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Now seems to be working

Attachment: LR-low.jpg (Downloaded 62 times)

DonBurns
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This is the worst, I think

Attachment: Rear-low.jpg (Downloaded 64 times)

DonBurns
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The bonnet is worse than it looks in the photo. Strange - looks good from underneath.

Art DeKneef
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The front hood looks like the front emblem area was worked on. Are the emblem holes welded or just covered in body filler? And it seems that there is a bend going across the front also. Based on the shadow. Hard to tell but it looks like it could be repaired with some metal work.

On the rear fender and the back tail lights section are the lighter color areas body filler? Is it applied heavy or just a skim coat to level up the surface? Trying to figure out why there are 2 colors back there.

DonBurns
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After bead blast, they hit it with primer so the metal (what there was of it!) wouldn't rust. So the lighter color is really just different texture, and is bondo. Where the bondo was thin it was removed completely and is just wavy, which is not real clear on the pictures.

Art DeKneef
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OK. That explains it. Fixing waves is hard to accomplish sometimes depending on how wavy the panel is.

noomg
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Don,

Your pictures are causing me flashbacks. It looks like a body on restoration, nothing wrong with that.

A couple of questions; isn't media blasting supposed to take everything down to bare metal? You said a number of panels needed replacement, from what I can see , while some are a little beat up they all appear workable, which ones are you replacing?

In my experience if you can repair an original panel it's preferable to a replacement when it comes to fit. For example, if you can repair the rear fenders in place you'll be money ahead, removing them is quite an adventure!

noomg
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Don,

From what I can tell in the picture your bonnet looks pretty good. While it has it's share of dings that need to be addressed it doesn't seem to have the dreaded hood prop bend, which as we know once you get it you can never totally get rid of it.

When I redid my hood, which has the bend, I found the PO had fixed it by bashing it down with a big hammer then smoothing it out with about 4lbs of bondo. If that hood is as straight as it looks I'd stay with it.

DonBurns
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Update-

Total estimate $20,599.72, less $2500 already paid for disassembly, bead blast. Already paid about $1800 for engine compartment and boot, so total cost of paint and body about $22,400. The picture does not really show the damage on all the panels. Labor estimate for the bonnet is 25 hours.

The options I have considered are -

1. What the hell, I can't take it with me. Go ahead.

2. See if I can reduce the labor costs a little by finding less damaged panels.

3.Take to a less particular body shop and put all the bondo back on. Earl Scheib?

4. Buy another JH with a better body and put my drivetrain in that. (drivetrain has everything new or refurbished. I mean everything). 2.2, delortos, W58, powdercoated suspension, new brakes, etc. etc. My fear is that I'll discover the replacement has similar issues.

5. Try to sell to someone who wants the drivetrain.

6. Just walk away.

pokeyjoe
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I sent you a PM.

Art DeKneef
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All I can say is Ouch! That seems to be high to me but without the itemized breakdown it's hard to say.

I would do the options in this order depending on your time frame. Option 2 if you can find good panels though option 4 covers option 2 and may be easier to get.

Option 5 would be my last resort. It all depends on how badly you want the car. Especially knowing you will never recover the full cost, as much as I hate to say that.

Max_dvdt
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So there is one other option - Car looks like its still "rolling"

Finish it yourself - learn how to prep and paint...

this is mostly patience

it might not be "perfect" show paint - so what...


Hit the whole thing with high build primer - even from cans and then block sand and repeat -

An earl Scheib paint job (speaking from experience) they will wire wheel the car - no bondo and hit it with a single coat of "done in one" - not the worlds best finish - if you think you'd be happy with that then you'd also be happy with a home paint job.... mind you scheib is done in a day or so...


One final thought - you are close enough - mexico... I've often thought about taking my RV down there for a full respray...

Last edited on 02-03-2021 05:41 am by Max_dvdt

noomg
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Don,

I'm not even sure where to start here, maybe by saying "Your car, Your choice. But $22,400? Damn.

Let's take a moment to look at some options. For $22,400 you can buy two Jensen-Healeys in excellent condition. For considerably less you can buy a pristine J/H and keep yours as a parts car.

If you go with this shop, from what I see in your pictures it looks like the interior is also going to need restoration, is that covered in the 22K?

Like you I want my car like I want my car and like you I have the means to achieve that. But one thing I kept in mind, although I could, I didn't want to make it so nice that I'd be afraid to drive it. That's why I took a pass on a $10,000 paint job from a high end resto shop and found a shop that does a really nice driver quality paint job, and that included the double gold stripes.

Take a look at my page in the projects section to see what I did since it was basically the same thing you're doing right now. I think I posted the numbers there, but I think I spent about $7500 and that included not only bodywork and paint but also an all new leather interior.



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