Finally my Campaign restoration continues..

As some of you may know I bought another Mk1 about a year and a half ago. Last January I began restoring my Helious Blue GTI. I bought it from a lady near Cardiff whos husband had owning the car from new, sadly died 8 years previous. It had stood in her garage ever since, but sadly the tumble dryer had been venting near the sill and a badly fitted towbar (is there any other sort?) had let the rust in in patches. other than that and a manky filler neck its done 136k from new and has a 1.9ltr engine. Anyways after months of nothing happening I have finally decided to get it finished.
 So Saturday sees it come out from under the sheet and over to Worcester on a trailer for what will be its transformation back into a standard looking Helios blue GTI..
I guess its watch this space Ill post pics as we go but to remind you heres a few of it last year..

Nice one! keep us posted :wink:

Chef,

Looking good - nice work.  You spraying yourself?

good work! 8)

some very tidy filler work there  :clap:

is helious metalic? I heard metalic paint is harder to spray  :dontknow: but I do hear a lot of rubbish  

Not too much harder but then i do it for a living !

Main prodlems are just trying to get tha e same amount of metallic scatter across panels when trying to blend into existing paintwork, if you're doing a full respary should be no probs !!!

Except for runs metallic flop etc etc etc!!!!!!

Looks nice such a stunning colour!!!

should look awesome finished

I am not painting it myself I have a group of guys who work for Mercedes doing it…
Im glad you all aprove.. :wink: mind you im in the right place..
Ill take a few snaps when i move it weather permitting..

Good to see another Helios Blue being sorted!

Thank you for all the kind comments, It looks like Saturday is the day that it will go in to the shop. I am excited now as it should be awesome when its done.. fingers crossed..

Well I went and unearthed the old girl today, pulling back the tarp and after checking her vital fluids popped on the battery one turn and she fired into life.. we drove her onto the trailer and she is in the body shop now when on Monday it will be scrutinised and a plan of how much cash to releive me of will hatch….

Nice one! Yours looks like a mirror image of where mine needs repairing!!

Well, I went along this afternoon and they reckon on ?750 paint and materials and 2weeks work so looking at ?2500... A bit steep I thought esp as vat is on top I imagine. I will get a quote from the boss tomorrow though. Anyone else had a glass out respray done in metallic if so for how much..

Sounds a lot, worth seeing what they would charge if you where to strip and prep the car yourself, the prep work is where the time is normaly

i prepped mine myself (60 hours) bought my own paint (?400) and paid a bodyshop  ?300 cash to paint it.

outcome=gutted and wishing i had just payed for a professional to do it.

don't try and do a professionals job, bite the bullet and pay, you will not regret it coz if you are not happy with the outcome you don't pay.

Well as they say its all in the preparation... Its odd how I have had quotes from ?1000 all in to ?3500 some say these are worth a mint now arnt they others say well it is an old car you cant expect much.. the painting cars industry is full of flaws making it hard for the real craftsmen to offer a service. Having said that the last body shop I used took 9 weeks to paint a spoiler and only managed to put wrong primer on it and originally said it would be finished in 4 days...

Nice work, I totally simpathise with the sprayinf hassle. It hard to find someone which will prep,paint and give a good result..without costing the earth.

This may sound odd but its a point my local car restorer follows. He allway strips to bare metal before a respray!!!  Sound like  allot of work, but the chances of reactions etc are reduced and the finish he get is amazing  

But you need to take the paint off and take it straight to the shop for painting or it will rust quickly 8O

some nice repair work there chef, 1 question what is that on the rear panel where the number plate sits? (page1,pic 4) ive got that on mine?? cheers. keep up the good work

It had rusted through where the screws went so it has had two repair pieces welded in its such a neat job you cant tell he has not left any trace inside or out. The new number plate will be stuck on with pads.  Below is the repair where the tow bar was fitted with horrid nuts and bolts.

cheers chef, keep up the good work.

The_Chef said

he has not left any trace inside or out

wish i could say this about the repiar on mine in the same section, whoever done it made a complete dogs dinner of it!!