Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Sidescreen restoration

My restoration of a 1969 Morgan 4/4 is nearing completion but the sidescreens are now in need of improvement. The aluminium frame is scratched and pitted in places but I believe it can be polished back to an acceptable appearance but it will need to be anodised, Has anyone experience of this, costs or where to get it done.
My first enquiry resulted in an estimate of £300 to polish and anodise the frames.
Alternatively has anyone used powder coating ..obviously not original and more prone to damage but as I dont expect to use them often it might be good enough.

Isnt powder coating a bit thick ? Maybe have issues with the glass runners being too tight and with it chipping down the line ? dunno.

What about Cerakote , super thin, beautiful finish, lots of colour, very hard wearing and does not chip. The only down side is that its so thin ( Microns) that any imperfections show up too so unlike powder coating it will not fill minor scratches or dings.

Ive had a lot of stuff by Wes if you go down that route.

http://www.hi-speccoatings.co.uk/

It would be nearly 40 years ago when I had a batch of custom motorcycle aluminium linkages anodised. Don't recall any difficulties or great cost and that was well before Google was available to find services. Definitely the way to go in this instance with range of colours available. I checked and found plenty of companies offering the service locally.

I've just finished a light restoration of my side screens (1974 4/4 2str). They had scrapes and scuff marks on the outside profile where they had been laid on concrete or similar. The anodising was certainly broken through. I removed all the anodising with 120 grit wet and dry and then used progressively finer grits until it was smooth. Finish off with fine wire wool. Not exactly the same finish as the remaining anodizing but close enough. A coating of wax protects the surface. I did my MGB windscreen surround like that and it's not suffered in over five years. Doesn't cost anything and worth a shot before get any professional work done. Just needs a bit of elbow grease.

I washed and dyed the fabric with Renovo I had left over from redoing an MX5 hood but would perhaps just make do with just a good clean unless you intend to dye the hood as well.

I polished the perspex after removing scratches with wet and dry but probably wouldn't bother again as you can buy cut to shape perspex from one of the perspex suppliers (only found one that would cut to anything other than rectangular) for about £6 a panel. I used the smooth half of Velcro folded into a U shape in the bottom grove of the sliding panel as I was missing the felt liner on one side.

Have a look at Frost website. They sell diy home plating/anodising kits.
https://www.frost.co.uk/
Their anodising kit is £117.49.
Haven’t tried them so I don’t know how good they are.
The final finish will depend on the prep. Anodising doesn’t hide scratches etc..
It is possible to dye the anodised coating too. I think Dylon cloth dyes work well or you get anodising dyes.

Thanks for all your replies . I have decided to have a go at polishing the aluminium myself . I found some polishing mops in my late father in laws garage so will buy some polishing compound on flea bay and have ago. Will certainly investigate the Frost kit if I decide to anodise later.

Phil polishing aluminium can be relatively easy, spinning mops can catch on the edges and perhaps cause you damage let alone the side-screens. If you are using wet and dry try not to put too many scratches on the surface by using a low number grade, which can be great to get the rough off but leave you with deep scratches to then try to polish out by choosing perhaps 400 grit. once you have the surface scratch free you can then go for a polishing compound witch will still be course T Cut was one I used, which can make things really shiny and if you want to go further I used a polish called Solvol Autosol which can bring alloy up almost like chrome. Halfrauds should have that sort of kit in small volumes.

Though alloy will dull quickly of not regularly rubbed with a rag. However once polished it is reality easy to keep looking presentable....No substitute for a bit of elbow grease..(-:

Good luck in your choices.

Of course it is a long time since I polished alloy, so as ever I could be typing rubbish...Duh!

Phil4/4, I don't know were you're located but these chaps have experience in polishing & restoring delicate trims

Badger Anodising, Bissell St, Birmingham
tel 0121 622 1850

Polishing is a gradual scratching process using finer grades of abrading material to gradually remove the previous scratches. As a metallurgist in the steel industry we polished samples to view down microscopes using fine diamond abrading spray on soft pads to get rid of final marks.
When polishing, the technique was to get uniform scratch lines then rotate the sample 90 deg and repeat with finer abrading material until uniform scratch lines, but finer, were obtained.
Repeat as necessary using finer abrading media. We use normal wet and dry papers to start. Depending on the metal we ended with varying final media, diamond for steel or hard metals and jewellers rouge for softer.
Autosol, Brasso, car detailing polishes are varying grades of abrasives in liquid/paste form.
Coffee or tea stains in a mug? Make a paste of bicarbonate of soda ( sugar, salt would do ) but just enough water without any dissolving. Rub that round the stained areas. Very mild abrasion to rub off stains. I just bottled some beer, I used clean sharp sand with water to shake inside to flush the glass before final washing/sterilising.

Sospan,
A bit off thread I admit.
I have an old Victorian cruet set, and one of the glass bottles has gone cloudy , seemingly a film on the Inside surface or perhaps abrasion of the glass by some substance. What would you try, to get the clarity back, please?