Ellface's Brown Cabby - S1 Bumpers

Cab looks great, loving the colour. Looks like a great job done on the arches too!

Bronze said

Cab looks great, loving the colour. Looks like a great job done on the arches too!

Thanks! Yeah, they did a perfect job on the bodywork, it's just the 'putting the car back together' they failed at..

Not much to update, just thought I'd let you all know she's still here

I finished off the detailing sessions with a few layers of Kleenfreaks' 'Invisible Wax'.. I've always had trouble getting much of a reflection with this paint, probably due to a lack of machine polisher.. But this wax is by far the best thing for it so far! Even kills AutoGlym HD



Machine polisher on the way though haha

Then I took her to her new home.
This was a little less graceful than I had originally planned.



After a night in the garage, under her cover, I wiped her over with Kleenfreaks' Quick Detailer, and dressed plastic and tyres with Autobrite trim dressing



I started my new job a few weeks ago, and not much will be happening with the MK1 until I'm happy with the MK5.. Won't be more than a month or so..

If no one minds, here's a picture of a bit of progess on that



Sorry about the long posts, and thanks for reading!

Hope I don't run out of motivation on the engine transplant…

She's shining like a new penny mate. Very nice indeed.    

Thanks Smudge I've got 2 out of 4 wheels on now, kinda a test fitment before I went and bought all 4 tyres. I'll upload pictures of the fitment later, but work seems to be actually happening on the MK1 now, since the daily is at a point where I'm happy with it. But I'm in 2 minds on what to do with the car. I've started an apprenticeship in British Airways, and while I could probably afford to 20vT and respray the MK1 this year, I'd be able to do it with less of a financial struggle if I wait.

So the other option is to get it back on the road for another year, and restore her once my pay goes up. This, however, also has problems, since I'd want the wheels all sprayed the same colour, coilovers, since I chopped the springs the other day, and I refuse to actually drive it like that.. (the arch gap was burning my eyes) And new fuel lines and possibly a new tank first. Probably more for the MOT too. cf_emoticons__BangHead:What would you guys do? Bite the bullet and get her finished for next year?

If it were me I would keep the car and spend money on her and stick a 20v in

No doubt, I'm keeping the car
And a 20vT will happen.. It's just a matter of when

Here are some wheely pictures anyways





Coilovers are seriously needed.. the rear arch gap is ridiculous
But I still love the way they fit. IMO the front could come out a little further, so I may get wider adapters, but the rear..

Before anyone asks, they will all be one colour, I just don't see the point in refurbing them to have them sat in the garage

I think if you start planning now for the 20v conversion if you do go for it you'll be in good stead mate.

Start now researching the different ways it can be done, turbo's engine codes etc

smudger said

I think if you start planning now for the 20v conversion if you do go for it you'll be in good stead mate.

Start now researching the different ways it can be done, turbo's engine codes etc

Yeah, I have started having a little look around. I think I'm going to keep it as standard as possible, and then better it every winter, just so I feel like I'm still getting progress on the car, rather than finishing it all straight away.

So eventually I'll go for a KO4 and bigger injectors and so on.

How much is it likely to cost all in? I'd probably keep the 020 gearbox for now, since it's just been rebuilt and is working perfectly.

How long is a piece of string mate. I found with mine the costs do mount up with conversions.

You can buy a 20v engine with turbo for around the £500 mark sometimes less.

You then have to consider things like engine mounts, ecu options, driveshafts etc.

I have heard the 020 doesn't last too long on the 20v conversions though

Haha yeah I guess so!
Yeah I'd read that too, but my thoughts were that the 020 would probably be fine for a year or so if the engine is standard?
We'll see anyway! I've got a good few things to get sorted before the conversion starts
It'll be a learning curve, that's for sure!

Indeed it will be mate. Give me a shout if you need any help.

Smudger

Looking great on the Teledials. I think the spacers are perfect as they are. Bit of tuck at the front, bit of poke at the rear  

smudger said

Indeed it will be mate. Give me a shout if you need any help.

Smudger

From “Ellface's Brown Cabby - S1 Bumpers”

Haha thanks! I'm sure I'll be flooding the forum with my questions once the build begins properly

Ronnie85 said

Looking great on the Teledials. I think the spacers are perfect as they are. Bit of tuck at the front, bit of poke at the rear 

Thank you! I really like them as they are, but I think a few more mm on the front would be perfect..
I guess that'll all change once she goes down on coilovers though. So we'll see

Got a bit of work done on the cabby over Christmas. First up was getting rid of the front number plate. Since it's not my daily, and I had no plate for months with no problems before, it's off.
Since the bolts holding it on were seized tight, I figured it'd be easier to take the bumper off.



While it was off, I took the opportunity to give the front valance a machine polish and a bit of wax.
The paint on this panel is terrible though..


Then, the next day, the rest of my tyres came in the post, so I had them fitted, and threw on the last 2 wheels.
While I was doing MK1 stuff, I cleaned up the front bumper, took off the number plate after battling hard with a rusty bolt, and put it back together.

Here's the result.. Much better

The sun was out majorly when I took that, and it made me realise how much nicer the car looks with some reflections in the bonnet..
So off came the bonnet.
I took it up to my bedroom, as I wasn't liking the idea of doing it in a cold garage, and gave it 3 hours of machine polishing..
It's still not great due to a terrible respray job on this panel in particular, but here's the paint before polishing & waxing:



Notice how blurred the shape of the light bulb is, and how dimpled the paint looks And after..



It's still badly dimpled, but I couldn't get it much better than that.

To put the difference into perspective, here's the difference in depth of reflections, before:



And after:



And the full bonnet:



Here are some pictures with it re-fitted. I still need to sort out the alignment as it sits low twards the windscreen.





Then my new sill trims from Crazyquiff's arrived, as I was missing any trims after taking off the Zender kit.



Also got her started for the first time in months, which was an awesome feeling I may need a new wheel though, one of them was leaking and then stopped.. I'll have to pump it back up to reasonable pressure and see if it's magically fixed, but I doubt it cf_emoticons__BangHead:Oh, and it's going back on the road.. I'm aiming for March time.
The reason is that I can't take driving a boring, modern car everywhere, it just isn't fun..
So I'm going to see this engine through to the grave, and probably 20vT next winter instead. All I need to do for the MOT, that I know of, is suspension, sort out the horn, and wire in a rear fog light. Then while it's on the road, I'll have the wheels refurbed and other stuff!

A few updates for you guys First off, I decided to machine polish the next panel. Went for the driver's wing. I also got some amber genuine Hella repeaters to replace the leaky, cracked clear ones.

Before:


Comparison:


After:


Then I got some HotTuning coilovers from Brad McKee, not looking for anything special, as they're only temporary Threw them on after having some problems with the camber bolt washer jamming onto the bolt cf_emoticons__BangHead:The old leaky Teledial came off too, and I sat it on a space saver.




Happy with the drop.. Pretty sure it'll be bottoming out all over the place like this though Then the passenger side, but I couldn't wind it down as I forgot to bring the C spanner cf_emoticons__BangHead:

Also got some new indicator lenses to replace my tinted ones.



Before:


After:


Ignore the wing gaps, the wing is just hanging on there. I finally remembered my C spanner, so the coilovers went down 


Control arm mounts have about an inch of clearance 

Then, after taking out my inner arches to stop any rubbing, I was faced with a hanging repeater cable..



Trying to suss out how to sort this out in a non-bodgy way, with sealant or drilling holes took me a while..
I then came across a little cable bracket that came off a Boeing 777 in work.. So I borrowed it..



I had to take off the protective cover, which was a shame, but this is what I ended up with.



I used the existing wing bolts to fasten the bracket between the inner and outer wing. Here's a little shot to show you what I mean.



It's very secure, and well out of the way of the wheel, perfect. Then came a new Teledial from eBay to replace the leaky one. This one had brake dust baked into it, took a hell of a lot of cleaning 

Then I threw it on, and I'm so so pleased with it, looks miles better than the cream one. I love it. 


FYI, that door trim is only off for polishing. Got a red bulb for my rear fog setup, which I finally got round to sorting out.
And got her started and tested all the electrics.. Everything works perfectly, such a relief! 

The backbox and tip will be changed soon. Just gotta tuck that other repeater wire up, and I'm booking it in for MOT next Friday. Fingers crossed.
I'll leave you with these. 

Nice 

Looking lovely  

Good luck with the mot.

Matt

Looks good mate.

Love the colour, how are getting on with the machine polishing? did you go with a rotary or a dual action?

cheers

Ian

Nice cab man! Don't see many in that colour these days. Where abouts you from bro?