AL's (not so) mini build... August 2015 - Paint!

No problem, I've never had an issue with them.  

After a wet start to the day, the sun broke through in the afternoon, so I did the left hand lower quarter yesterday.

Made up a bit of a shelter to try and stop stuff falling on the paint…

IMG_20150810_184427069 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_184438526_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_190449613 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_190459422 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_195715050 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_195701772 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150810_195801168_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


I don't think this one came out quite as well as the other side, though again, for a rattle can on the drive, it looks ok.

Need to do the top half on this side too as you may recall the car sustained a little damage after an incident with the garage door frame. Just needs a tiny bit of filler to take out the wrinkles and should be ok.

At this rate, it shouldn't be long before it is all one colour again!

I have been looking at DA polishers to give the whole car a once over but didn't realise they were so expensive - thought I'd pick one up for about £30!
Anyone have any recommendations?

A little bit more work today.

On the rear panel just below the rear lights, I had "blended" the new paint into the old where I had to do a small filler repair on the driver side corner.
Once the paint had dried properly, you could see and feel this where the overspray from the new block of colour had faded over the older paint.
To rectify this, I had a go at wet sanding this area with some 2000 grit wet-n-dry then polishing it up using some T-Cut that I had.
I didn't manage to get a shot of the "before" that clearly showed the issue, though I took a couple of shots comparing the old paint, after a bit of a polish with the new paint after a polish…

This is the older paint from when the car was professionally done back in 2004. You can see the reflection details are quite clear:
IMG_20150811_194829210 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


And this is my new rattle can paint after a quick wet sand and t-cut:
IMG_20150811_194743733 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


Not too shabby eh! I am pleased with that! It is not too far away from the original finish!

It does mean that I need to wet sand and polish both lower rear quarters now though which will take a fair amount of elbow grease!


I have also started having a go at cleaning up one of the wheels.
When I acquired them about 12 years ago, they were new old stock from a motorsports company who were having a clear out.
They where in good shape, but given their age, the lacquer started lifting on them around the rim not long after they saw the British roads, so they need a little TLC.
I have decided to try and change them up a little and go with a black centre, but keeping the cut/polished spoke faces. I cleaned the first one down and keyed the surfaces of the silver paint and gave the centre a dose of black wheel paint:

IMG_20150810_202027312 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150811_195535413 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

After letting it dry I got to work with a knife blade and a sanding block:

IMG_20150811_202748006 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

IMG_20150811_203838648 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

It needs a little more work to get the aluminium surfaces a little smoother and shinier, but they will then get a good coating of lacquer to prevent them oxidising.
I don't want the polished to death look, just a nice clean alloy wheel.

A teaser against the car…

IMG_20150811_203934427_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

With the black bumpers and the black side stripes applied, I think these will look spot-on!

That's all for now…
AL.
 

So, I have been out on the drive today trying to fix a leaky sump plug on my daily so in between letting the oil drain and letting some JB weld start to cure (Sump has a hairline crack at the sump plug hole so dremelled a grove and attempting to fix with JB…), I thought I'd do a little more work on my wheel.

Finished with the wet'n'dry and then went round all the bare alloy bits with a bit of autosol to bring up the shine.
Gave it a nice wash and dry:

IMG_20150813_132826188 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


Then after a bit of panel wipe, I started applying the lacquer:

IMG_20150813_153202279 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


It started going a bit cloudy, but I didn't panic and left it to dry.
After a couple of coats and some drying time (still sticky, but I think it will be for a good 12 hours), it looked OK.
Difficult to really see the finish in the pic, but it looks good in the flesh:

IMG_20150813_165058650 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


Started on the centre cap, though don't  know if they will be going on as I quite like the raw look without them.
I think I'll do them all anyway but get some nice new shiny black wheel bolts to match the rims in case I want to remove them.

Once the lacquer is properly dry, I'll dress the tyre and get it on the car for a photo.

And a (very) quick mock up of the wheel on the car:

MockUp by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

You like?

Looking sharp Al and great paint work reflection is very clear.

Good going buddy and the wheel looks spot on  

Cheers guys. I am pleased with the recent progress which is really encouraging me to crack on and get it finished!

Finished off the wheel centre today. just waiting for the lacquer to dry and I have one complete wheel!

IMG_20150814_151101759 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Also touched up the rear lights.
A subtle little mod which only a handful of people have noticed over the years, but I like the way it looks and I like to be different:

IMG_20150814_154512316_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Love the alloys Al  

I've not seen the red stripe done on the rear lights before, it will be interesting to see the end result  

So,

I had some other bits I needed to paint on the drivers side. The lower door section, sill plus the arch where I had to do a bit of work on the lip:

IMG_20150816_151039669 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Masked up to the lower swage line and around the arch and unleashed can #3:

IMG_20150816_174220292_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

I was going to try and feather the edge around the arch and blend the paint, but it just didn't look right. I could not get the old vs new to blend into one another without seeing some sort of line, so I flatted the front wing back again, and painted the whole lower section of the panel as I did the rear quarter:

IMG_20150818_192019214 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

now that the drivers rear quarter has had a week or so to harden off, I gave it a bit of a wet sand (2000 grit) and polish today.
It actually made quite a difference. The paint is much smoother and flatter. Not going to go overboard though as I don't want to go through the new top layer.
Also, couldn't resist fitting the finished wheel, rear bumper and rear lights for a quick pic.

IMG_20150818_202316079 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr


Really starting to look like a car again now!

Oh - and a sneaky little arty shot that is now my mobile desktop wallpaper…

IMG_20150818_205556 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

This is coming along nicely Al When will it be back on the road?

Hairyarse said

This is coming along nicely Al When will it be back on the road?

Well…

It's been over 5 years so far. I'm nearly there, but winter is fast approaching.

I'd like to think it could be taxed and mot'd this year so it is ready to go come spring time, but we'll have to see…
  

nice build so far mate, awesome job on the spraying too  

Rubbadubdub said

nice build so far mate, awesome job on the spraying too  

Cheers man…

Just checked out your flickr stream - Some nice photography work in there.
 

I can't wait to get mine back into a suitable state to get out with the camera…  

Little update…

I really want the deep duckbill spoiler to go on, though I know it is not going to survive the lumps and bumps of the roads around here as it will be very close to the road. For the time being, I thought I'd stick the small spoiler back on, though it needed a bit of repair as one of the ends was broken.

Broken end with a piece of PVC plastic shaped and glued in to place:
IMG_20150830_181918990 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr
IMG_20150830_182141555_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Apply a bit of filler and shape:
2015-09-08_06-39-58 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Can't see the end result too clearly, but I painted it up with some primer and black satin and stuck it back on the car:
IMG_20150831_184313851_HDR by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

(Painted the red grille surround too…)


Also started wiring up the Polo clocks. Got some of the warning lamps and dash lights going. Bit hard to see in the flesh, partly due to it being day time and partly due to a flat battery struggling to power main beams and these leds! Managed to snap a pic though…
2015-09-07_07-43-58 by www.pix-al.co.uk, on Flickr

Also found out that the clocks are showing a mileage reading of over 133k. Probably not too far off what the car has actually done!  

some really top work going on here, i remember the day when you sheared the rear beam bolt off

come on along way

Great build so far mate!
Go to love the repair on the lower wing

Looks great..

Looking good!

Nice to see how you tackled the rear arches as I'll be doing mine soon.