hey, does anyone know roughly how much it costs to get a seven type car sprayed?? i have been quoted £900 and find this pretty had to believe - ideally id like a kind of TVR pearlescent jobby, but obviously cost is a fairly major issue being a student and all that

Cheers
Tom

£900 you should be able to build 4 cars for that seems alot theres not that much bodywork on a 7.

To straighten and paint a nosecone, bonnet, scuttle, 4 wheelarches and a rear panel in a fully authorised bodyshop is on the slightly high side of average. They will be using 2k etch, highbuild (2 coats with a good blocking in between), clear over base 2k paint, and full machine polish. Sounds expensive, but how long would it take you, x £24 per hour, then add £240 paint & materials, then add VAT!

Find a smaller bodyshop, one man band would be much cheaper as his overheads would be much less - we have £780,000 of equipment on the books and £90,000 of impressed wet stock, not to mention the buildings, or the staff averaging £9.00 per hour, or 24 courtesy cars and a computer system which is more like mission control at NASA, than a bodyshop.

About £60 from Halfords hehehe
(that includedsthe undercoat/primer too)

how hard is it to get a good finish (bearing in mind i havent got much experience at spraying) but i am fairly patient? have you tried 2-tone or whatever its called kitloony?
cheers

Tom
contrary to what some might tell you on here, forget any TVR colour, you will need a mortgage just to pay for the paint and you would have to buy the paint from TVR. I know this because i have been involved with the bloody things there are colours out there that look similar and Mark put me onto a website that had some fantastic colours at a fraction of TVR prices..If you do a search you should find the thread along the lines of this one.
Tim.

Tom, u want cheap u need a radiator roller and a big tin of Johnstons Enamel (99p and £7.50), worked on my mates Mk1 landrover, anytime it gets a bit grubby he just slaps another coat on
Shug

There was a very nicely painted tiger at Doniington last year, Pearlescent paint job looked fantastic - BUT it cost the owner £3500.00 !!! and to cap it all every time he took it out it got chipped and cost a fortune to fix....also even at that price the spay shop had managed to wreck the rigidity of his bonnet leading to a really bad bulge at the rear.
I may have some piccies - have to look....

My advice - only go for 'fancy paint' if your loaded!

did look bloody good though......

i dont have much experience at spraying, but im willing to give anything a go once. practice on a trial piece, get the feel for the paint, see how it applies then give it a whirl, thats what i have been doing for the last 2 days(on holiday).
I havent done that bad
Rescued attachment ooooh shiny things.JPG

They are a pig to repair usually needing to redo the panel when chipped and don't look the same if not applied under identical conditions to the original job as the particles react differently in different orientations. Leave it to the Nova boys and stick with something rational unless you wear your cap backwards and like bass.

yours, Pete.

Thanks for your comments guys!! been really helpful - will post pics when i get the parts done..... (i think i will give it a bash, as once i get an idea into my head, i have to see it through)

One last think, if the base colour i wat is dark blue, with a pearlescent finish, would the best idea be to get the bodywork in a gel-coat dark blue, or a neutral colour - eg cream/light grey?
thanks again guys

"They are a pig to repair"

No, they are dead easy, just like most things, its only the cost that varies - They are VERY EXPENSIVE to repair