Vert agave. I haven't decided on the roof colour yet, it is between Rouge cinnabre, jade green, or grey.

With some folks it's that certain squeak that happens when you inadvertently push back a chair on a hard surface, for others it's the classic 'fingernails down a blackboard' type sound that sets the teeth on edge, but for me it's the very thought of bare metal rubbing against painted metal that is guaranteed to drive me nuts. I mean why do it?



As I touched on in my earlier post the idea of placing some sort of rubber gasket between the two metal parts is uppermost on my mind at the moment, especially as I've used Cellulose paint on this project which is very easily damaged - more of which later.
I told previously how I fitted a pair of paperclip style over-riders to my front bumper recently, but I just couldn't live with the thought of the metal to metal contact between them and the top of the bumper. I don't know if this is how things were on the original 1960's models that had the clips fitted, but I'm sure they must have had a better arrangement.

What I did about it was to search my famous box of bits to locate two of the small circular rubbers that are used behind the dash panel to prevent vibration. Luckily they are exactly the right size, and have a ready made hole in the centre!



I taped up the new bumper to prevent my fiddling around from scratching it as I juggled the locating bolt through the bumper, then the rubber, and into the base of the paperclip. The whole thing was then tightened up again which compressed the rubber and seated the paperclip perfectly. Having removed the tape I'm now left with a firm but vibration proof joint, which is tight enough not to allow water in between so hopefully rust won't be an issue in the future.



Now on to my continuing love/hate relationship with Cellulose paint. I'll start by saying that without the use of Cellulose it's very likely that I could not have resprayed this car at all. To a complete novice such as myself, and for use with with no special equipment, Celly has been a godsend. It is fantastically easy to spray, and with a little care anyone can produce 'professional' results in much less than ideal circumstances.

So what are the downsides? Well, first of all it shrinks with time, so unless your primer is absolutely smooth you're gonna see sanding scratches start to appear that weren't there before. More irritating than that - for me anyway, is how easily it can become marked or chipped by the slightest contact.

The example below is what I mean. I came into the garage one morning to find that overnight an object had fallen off a shelf and flung itself across the garage (as they do) in a seemingly desperate attempt to hit the newly painted car standing just yards away. It succeeeded of course, and the white mark shown below is the result. Modern paint would have shrugged that off, Cellulose chipped off to reveal the primer below.



It's not all bad news though, as it's a very easy paint to blow in small repairs with (which is just as well) and can be hand rubbed to a good shine rather than machine polished as with 2 part paints. At this point I'd like to mention a product that will have the old pro's amongst you rolling your eyes - Farecla G3. Ok so it's not new, and it's no big secret to anyone used to a body shop environment, but remember - it's not them that I'm writing this blog for, it's ordinary guys that like to see what's available, and what works.

For those that have never used Farecla let me tell you that it isn't on the shelves of your local Halfords, this is the stuff the pro bodyshops use, and it's fantastic! Used like the older T-Cut, I applied it with a damp rag and worked it hard by hand, no expensive polisher machine needed, and the results are shown below. A top product! I can't recommend it highly enough.

I used farcella on the pickup and on a wing for my red car today it makes the paint like glass, I really cant wait to see this finished !

Old-Nail,
the way things are coming together, you're probably within sight of the finishing post...

Anyhow, I noticed that you've fitted the rubber buffers on the front bumper with the small end facing upwards.
Even though most of them seem to be installed that way nowadays, when Citroen used the same item to support the boot well cover on Dyanes, the wider end was the contact/support surface...

Anyone out there know for sure which way up they should go on 2CV front bumpers?

ken

What the small jelly tot rubber?

They came out the factory with the tall bit you see on mr Nails photo pointing down as a spacer between the lamp bar bracket and the bumper apron

Sean

Ken, you'll not believe this but until this morning I had them facing t'other way. It seemed much more logical that way somehow, but then I had this post in relation to them.



So this morning when I put the rubber buffers on the paperclips I changed my rubber jellytot thingies around! Where's Johnathon...I'll bloody kill 'Im.
Still plenty to do yet though, 4 doors, two front wings and a bonnet to prep and paint. Seats to refurbish and recover, the roof to fit, and sundry other little mauling bits.

Believe me, I am right It helps to "sit" the bonnet and stop it from moving too much, but also helps keep it away from the paintwork of the bumper.

I'm sure Jonathan's right as well.

I've just been catching up with this thread. I am truly very impressed with what you're doing, Old Nail. I love the style in which you're building this car, and your attention to detail is incredible. I wish some specialists (and even Citroen themselves) worked to the same standards!

Nice work!!!

Thanks fella's.

Jono the car that became the donor shell for this one had recently been refurbished by a rogue 'specialist'. I don't know which one, but believe me in the places you wouldn't ordinarily see it wasn't how you'd want it to be if you had done it yourself. There have also been times on this build when I've been sat with sore fingers, cleaning some part or other with wire wool before painting it, and I've thought "It's easier and quicker to just buy a new part and fit it" which is why I don't - funnily enough. I want to refurbish the parts properly rather than use the (understandable) Bish-bash-bosh 'time is money' approach of a garage.

I found this photo on the net the other night which geed me up a bit, apart from the indicators I'm pretty close to having a looky-likey.