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Has anyone painted their TD replicas and, if so, what did you do with the fabric looking body welts? Can they be painted as well? With this being such a small vehicle, what would you anticipate a fair price to be for paint and prep?
John, that is such an open ended question. Check some of the other project threads. Are you going to take her apart or pay someone else to do it? The quality of the prep is one price point. What is your expectations of a finished look? Concourse or driver? I painted mine with a roller for $50. The price goes up from there.
Oh, and don’t paint the welting. You can buy it in colors.Bill Ascheman
Fiberfab Ford
Modified 5.0, 5sp., 4:11
Autocross & Hillclimb
"Drive Happy"You can carefully mask over it, or just remove it temporarily. To mask it, I would use 1/2 inch tape, once per each edge, not trying to roll it over, and then just pinching the two halves together.
Ditto that. You cannot paint the welting. The paint will crack, peel and otherwise look horrible.
Chances are it is not fabric. It is likely some sort of vinyl. So if you are changing colors, you could try vinyl dye.
There are so many variables, it’s hard to guess at a price. As a start:
Are you completely disassembling the body?
What is on the car now? Paint or gelcoat?
Any cracks or spidering in the fiberglass or gel coat?
Any other body work necessary?Back to the welting for a sec, if you are disassembling the body, I recommend you replace the welting. If not, I would prep the body first, then dye the welting, then mask it and shoot the paint.
Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
Whenever painting vinyl, prep is everything. Use a really good degreaser or a volatile thinner. Well prepped vinyl will hold vinyl paint without flaking off. This goes for upholstery as well.
Bridget’s welting appears to have been painted body color. Not sure how it was done but seems to be holding up very well.
I’m sorry to pose such an open ended question. I just figured I would get an idea of what some other people have done to gauge different costs, successes, and the best route to take in the future. I realize that I could rattle can it or spend $10,000 dismantling the body and giving her a three stage. I appreciate some of the suggestions. As for the welts, I assume the fenders would need to be removed to replace them? Thanks for the heads up on not painting them. Did the Duchess come with a gel coat? The body is in great shape with no cracks or damage.BIGBAND392013-06-23 02:27:45
The fenders don’t necessarily have to be removed. My assembly manual instructions say to install the fender bolts hand tight to allow insertion of the fender welts at a later time. But if you are painting the car and have to remove the fenders, running boards etc, it the becomes a moot point.
Allen Caron
VW based 53MGTD - "MoneyPenny"
"If one thing matters, everything matters" - from the book The ShackMy Duchess is gel coat.
As far as the welting removal…the most accurate answer is “it depends.”
On my Duchess, the various rivets and bolts that hold the body together go through the welting.
Others will be different as Allen points out.Paul Mossberg
Former Owner of a 1981 Classic Roadsters Ltd. Duchess (VW)
2005 Intermeccanica RoadsterIf you own a TDr and are not in the Registry, please go to https://tdreplica.com/forums/topic/mg-td-replica-registry/ and register (you need to copy and paste the link)
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