Priming & Painting the Bulkhead

After rubbing the rough surface left by the KURUST nice and smooth, I started the first body-paintwork the car has had since the early '70s by first throwing on a liberal coat of nice protective zinc-primer. It took a couple of rattle-cans to get a complete cover, so got us thinking about buying a little air-compressor and spray gun.

Dad then sprayed one can of red-primer on. Our final coat will definitely be a deep red colour,  probably BMC, but not an original MGA red. We've yet to decide.

Preparing the Bulkhead for Paint

With the restored heater still out I decided to remove as many more of the bits as I could and repaint the whole bulkhead / firewall. This also gave me a chance to refurbish the wiper-motor and other parts, and means that when they all go back on with the heater and master-cylinder they won't need removing again when we focus on the bodywork.

I began by rubbing the bulkhead down as much tp the bare metal as possible using 180-grit sandpaper and removed parts as I went along.

I then treated the bare metal bulkhead with Hammerite KURUST...

...which turns it black and cruddy - I was expecting shiny metal. This stuff is supposed to kill any remaining traces of rust and chemically protect the metal. It also prepares the surface for primer.

KURUST also prepares the surface for primer, apparently, though I think I'll still be giving it another rub down before painting.