Final Primer Sanding Part 2 (shell)

Moving on to the sanding the Mini shell (which already had one coat of high build primer applied), this was block sanded with 180grit to catch any minor variations in panel flatness. For example : 

After block sanding there were a few areas where I had sanded back to bare metal and needed a coat of epoxy primer to cover those spots :

I found a few small chips which were filled with spot putty and sanded smooth then painted some areas with another lighter 2x coats of high build primer, waited a week or so to cure and block sanded again with 180grit. 

I used LED worklights to illuminate down the length of the shell to help highlight any larger  imperfections that needed an extra block sand.

The bright worklights are important when sanding larger areas where it's not hard to miss minor imperfections in the paint surface however I found a handheld inspection light held close to the panels worked extremely well to highlight really small scratches in all areas.

Inside the boot was a lot of work to contort myself to reach and sand all surfaces. The initial sand exposed various spots of bare metal :

After a few touch up coats of epoxy primer it was then fine sanded.

The interior it was sanded down to 240-grit first, primer touched up where any bare metal was exposed and re-sanded with 320 grit. Only the small number areas of the interior where paint would be visible (ie. not covered with interior trim, dashboard pieces, carpet, sound-deadening etc) was fine-sanded using 400 & 600-grit sanding pads. 

Rear parcel shelf :

...after primer touchup and some re-sanding :

First sand of rear half of the interior :

...after primer touchup and some re-sanding :

First sand of the front half of interior :

...after primer touch-up and re-sand :

As the largest panel on the whole car, I spent more time getting the roof really straight and smooth. Once completed I pushed the Mini out of the workshop and wiped it over with a liberal amount of wax and grease remover to simulate a gloss paint. The result was very satisfying. 

The engine bay was sanded with the same process, first with 240, 320 & 400 grit.

then epoxy primer touch-ups and 320, 400 and 600grit sanding

In total, over 6 months (with the limited spare time I have each week) had passed in getting all panels and the shell from high build primer to being ready for the paint shop.