While I was doing my complete vehicle overhaul, I had my hood off. It blew over in the wind and got pretty scratched up. The truck is black, and I wanted that cool two-tone hood look. I decided it was the perfect time to do an amateur paint job. That's exactly what happened.

I sanded the whole thing, filled in the gashes with some bondo, primed, and then painted a base of black. I taped off the area with newspaper I wanted to do gunmetal grey and then tried painting with wheel paint...yes, I did that. It's mistake number 2. the first one comes in last. It wouldn't give a good light or heavy coat, and the heavy coat was much heavier than intended. To try to erase the mistake, I pulled out the pressure washer. I just made giant gashes in the half-set paint.

I had to do a week of filling, sanding, and repeating until I was satisfied. I then did a layer of primer, sanded it, did a layer of primer sealer, sanded it, and then used some metallic grey auto paint in light layers. I used clear coat on top of it. After that, I dusted it with a light coat of metallic blue, and then more clear coat, and a few lights coats of the grey, I finished with clear coat layer upon layer upon layer.

It turned out amazing! The layering of grey, metallic blue, and clear coat gave some great depth and the light brings out the blue undertones.

I pulled the tape and removed the newspaper. Here's where mistake 1 comes in. I put the tape and newspaper on too soon. The first layer hadn't cured enough....Here's the result:


Later I'll sand it and tape off the grey, and repaint the black...Probably in a week or so. And then I'll clear coat the crap out of it!

I've done the same color layering on the grille with great results:

 

Wow! You are patient and determined.

But, I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to know, how is your motor running?

 

We've all been there, man. Can't wait to see the finished product!

 

I need to replace my old thermostat and adjust the throttle cables, but it runs great! I'm having some issues with my front O2 sensors not having activity, too. I'm going run wires directly to the ECU if my multimeter tells me I have wrong or poor continuity to make sure signal gets to/from them.

 

That's good to hear. Glad you got it all back together.

So what ever happened about the transmission, the tiny parts you were missing? Were you able to find those and get it back together?

 

Hey RicketyTick!
I met a guy who gave me a valve body he wasn't using! I'll try to get some photos up in my overhaul thread.

 

omg. you know you could have just bought another hood

 

Dusty, that'd be too easy. And the new hood would still need to be painted anyway, assuming I'm still going for the two-tone look. And a new hood costs $, where this only takes a little spare time.

These are land rovers, after all, so we have to try to do it like Land Rover intended repairs; complicated, time-consuming, and prideful

 

oh, I guess I'm doing things wrong because I'd just smeared some mud on it and called it done.

 

Hey, at least you didn't get overspray on the kitchen table!