herisites

Yeah i know what you mean mate, i had a look on edition 38 for some squarebacks and fond some pretty tasty examples! If i get bored and find some uber cheap wide steelies or wide wheels then i will chuck them on it (might make it a bit more stable to drive :shock:) and just chuck on some cheap arse lowering springs so it sits on its arse 8)

Well as some of you may know i am going back to uni in just over a month (eek!) and running the corrado is going to be rather expensive especially as it will be supercharged by then (he says :roll:) so i was looking for a daily hack to use for uni and general driving whilst the corrado gets tucked up in the garage only to come out on sunny days and when i can afford to put some fuel in it. Originally i wanted a mk1 golf because they are SO cool slammed on wide 13's! 8) However i have been looking at mk1's recently and tbh for one thats going to definately get me to uni and back every day ie well looked after engine and service history wise but maybe a bit tatty on the outside, they still seem to be fetching a good amount of money! But then i noticed on edition 38 this old D reg polo squareback (in red so proper postman pat :lol:) which has only done 74k miles and has tax and mot for only £100! Bargain to be had i thought so last night i went and picked it up. Its a BEAST! :twisted: :lol: The stickers have been taken off and the lights are no longer yellow. The exterior is tidy, no rust or major damage anywhere it just got a few dents and faded paint (soon to be sorted with the machine polisher though). Engine wise it got me home lastnight (70 miles) and didnt skip a beat and was very happy sitting at 70/80 mph on the motorway with its massive 55bhp 1.3 engine!! The clutch will need doing as its slipping a bit but other than that its a sweet little motor. Dont expect many 'plans' so to speak as i havent got it for that, and i may not even use it for uni yet i havent decided. The reason i got it is because i want to learn! So like doing the clutch for example, i have never changed a clutch so thats something i will learn from it. Also i am going to learn to pull the dents out, repair any rust, wet sand any deep scratches and polish it up. Then once its looking pretty smart and it drives better i will decide whether to use it or sell it on for a profit and get a mk1 golf. Although tbh im not bothered about looks and that squareback will be ideal for luggin about valeting/detailing kit!! So anyway, i will update this thread with anything i do to it that i want to share! (dont expect any mahooosive turbos like that beige one :lol:) Rob.

I run german plates with the D band on and never had any problems with the :lcop: and i have even had them right up my chuff and been up there chuff (ooer!) and they didnt do anything. I say go for it Jon, i was really impressed with how much better my C looked just by changing the old manky plates for the german ones.

Received my bracket, pullies and £75 traction oil today minus the belt though as they forgot to put it in which is a pain but Martin is sending one out to me straight away. The bracket is rather hefty! Looks a bit confusin but it only goes on one way so cant imagine it being too hard to work out :lol: Just waiting for my injectors to turn up now which should be soon really, need to ring Storm at some point today as they are working out what piping i need for it to run the MAF upstream with diverter valve etc, as well as get a price and time they might be able to map it. Spark plugs i was told that ideally i needed the Denso Iridiums? But they work out at £12 each, are there any others i need to use, just NGK platinums etc?

Awesome!! 8) I might be getting an old squareback but dont think i will do anything like this to it :lol:

I will PM you Steve as we dont want to clog up Nathans thread.

Cheers for the idea Andy but im borrowing someones Halfords trade card so am going to get some oil and spark plugs etc from halfords in one shot and save some money! Sadly the trade card doesnt cover cleaning products :(

Hi Steve, the only way of getting rid of swirls is with a machine polisher as Nathan uses, it is possible by hand but you would need arms like Arnie and it would take AGES. 3.02 is Menzerna Intensive Polish PO85RD 3.02 which is an abrasive polish used to cut the lacquer to remove the swirls, it can only be used by machine as the heat generated from the machine breaks the abrasives down leaving such a good finish as seen in Nathans pics. Intensive Polish is used for fairly heavy to medium cutting and may need following up with some Final Finish polish such as 106FA or 106FF which is for light cutting and contain much smaller abrasives that break down faster to remove any marks left behind by the more aggresive polishes, but i believe that the 3.02 has deminishing abrasives which can be broken down to work as a finishing polish. By hand you could always go over a few times with Meguiars Scratch-X but like i said its not really going to do much especially on VAG paint which is solid! Swirls are caused by poor washing techniques, basically by using a sponge after not properly rinsing the car. Sponges have a very flat surface which pushes the grit into the paint scratching it causing swirls, and again if not properly washed then a chamois leather will also cause swirls. To prevent them you need to thoroughly rinse the car from any loose dirt, the idea is to get rid of as much dirt as possible without touching the car with anything. You can see what i mean in Nathans pics of the car covered in foam, that a pre-soak foam that lifts the dirt on the car, then you just pressure wash it all off, that can remove about 90% of dirt on the car so you dont move much around when you wash it. And to wash it you need either a microfibre or lambs wool mitt which will actually lift the dirt off the paint into the long fibres as apposed to being pushed around underneath. Then to dry a waffle weave drying towel, which you can just lie on the paint and pat to dry, one drying towel (Sonus Der Wunder for example) can usually dry a whole car without needing ringing out!! Hope that helps, im sure Nathan will back me up and add anything else i have missed. Rob.

Ok im going to bump this back up as lastnight i was driving my car home (about a 15 miles journey). Gave it a bit of a thrash on a dual carriageway (bloody clio sports!), slowed down though soon after as he turned off so then just continued about 10 miles down the dual carriageway at about 80-90, then gave it another thrash. When i got home and put the car in the garage i noticed a trail of water following my car, i popped the bonnet and the water level had overflowed the expansion tank! It wasnt overheating, the temp guage was only at about 90-100 max. I left it overnight to cool down and went back down there this morning to check and the water level is still really high! I have checked it and there's no oil in it, there's no smoke/steam coming from anywhere and no 'mayo' etc, so am i right in thinking it could just be an air lock?

They look just as good in the flesh mate believe me, Karl's done a top job!

Well i rang stealth today to find out what dates im looking at getting it mapped so i know when to fit it and they dont have any space now until the 2nd week of september which is a shame as i was hoping to get it done sooner than that, mainly for edition 38 :( oh well, gives me a bit more time to save up and get more bits :D I also rang Storm Developments and they seem quite excited about it which is nice to hear, they are going to get me some prices on all the air intake piping etc i need and also a price for mapping it in case they can get me in quicker than Stealth as these do know Rotrex's a bit more, so we will see! What spark plugs should i run when i come to fit it? I will be giving the car a service ready for the charger so going to change plugs and change oil for some Silkolene Pro-Race 10w50.

Where can i get some of that Silkolene then Alex?

Whats my oil choice going to be when its supercharged? Any different to standard?

Just to add to this part which i have said many times before, DO NOT use UDS followed by EGP as the EGP will not bond to it, EGP is designed to work on top of SRP which it does very well, if you put it on top of UDS you will just be wiping it straight off again and you wont have any protection. So if using UDS use a wax after.

Yeah but by the time you have used the collinite up we will be driving around in hover cars and paint wont need to be waxed as they will have forcefields round them!! :lol: By that i mean the collinite wax lasts AAAAAAGGGGEEEEESSSSS!!!!! :lol: :lol: But good choice on the Dodo Juice, not tried it myself yet as i also have too much wax to use up but i will be getting some when i start detailing part time so i have some more choice.

Which collinite do you use Karl 476s or 915? The collinite waxes are the most durable you can get really, the 915 being the slightly better though as it has a higher carnuba content which will last a tad longer but also give a better finish, especially on darker cars 8)

Yeah i sent my details in :oops: so not that special really :lol: As for the charger! Well i got the charger, the brackets and pullies etc should be here either today or if not maybe monday. I have a diverter valve, i have ordered some red top injectors which are on their way from the states, so they might be here next week. I gotta get all the piping still as well so need to ring storm developments or NS racing which i keep bloody forgetting to do!! Then i just need to ring Vince at some point and see what dates he has free for the end of the month to get it mapped so i can work fitting it around that really. Im hoping to get it done for e38, technically i could do it, just depends on whether Vince has any days free to map it and depends on when Karl can come and help me fit it.

Thats because plastic heats up alot quicker than metal (hence why rotary machine polishers are risky on plastic bumpers!), the mirrors and spoiler are at higher points of the car and sit there taking the suns heat all day where as the bumpers are lower down so aren't subject to as much direct heat. However if you polish them regularly with an abrasive polish like SRP or use the step 1 paint cleaner and seal it after with EGP (i would only use EGP if you use SRP first as its very fussy as to what it sticks to where as its designed to bond to SRP) then they should last a bit longer.

Jim definately try the EGP mate, give your car 2 layers of SRP (apply to whole car, leave for 10 mins whilst you make a brew, come back buff it off then apply again) as although 1 coat is sufficient 2 is going to be better imo, then apply the EGP to the whole car leave for about 45 - 60 mins and then buff off. I think yours will benfit from this as sealants actually have better UV protection than waxes do so should keep the suns rays from fading it so quickly. The EGP also contains oils which will effectively moisturise your paint again stopping it from fading so quickly.

Be careful though mate, dont just keep using the step 2 and 3 and thats it, every now and then use the step 1. The reason being is that the step 2 'polish' although labelled as a polish isnt actually a polish, its a glaze as it contains NO abrasives to cut the paint which is what polishing does, instead it just sits on top of the paint looking very shiny. The step 1 is what will remove oxidation and freshen the paint. Or alternatively just use AG SRP if you have it as imo its very underated. Its a proper polish so contains abrasives to cut the paint, it cleans the paint as well as step 1 would, the resins in it fill in swirl marks and it also protects to a certain extent (albeit not very long mind). And if you found it a good product before but just didnt last very long thats because you didnt put anything on top of it to seal it in. The polish itself will only stay on so long, the first time it rains and it will be gone. So AG have a sealant designed to go on top of SRP which is the Extra Gloss Protection i mentioned which should be applied, left for an hour and buffed off. This chemically bonds to the paint and the SRP locking it in and gives great protection for a few months easily, plus it gives a great shine! Definately my top recommendations SRP followed by EGP every time and then if you like you can add a wax on top as well.

Yeah the megs stage 3 is the exception, tbh its not actually a very good wax. It does give a very nice shine imo but its not durable at all, it only lasts a few weeks max where as most other waxes will last atleast a month or 2. So the longer you leave it on the harder it will get and its best to add 2 layers about 24 hours apart as well for even more durability. Then just keep it topped up every other week or every 3 weeks etc.

Agreed, i wouldnt personally leave anything on that long, its not really necessary. Some sealants like Autoglym Extra Gloss Protection for example need leaving on for about an hour before you buff off, any longer would just be pointless imo and like said you would risk too much dust etc to settle. But it is a good idea to apply a second layer of wax/sealant 24 hours after the first application for better durability. Some waxes and polishes are very fussy with how long they are left on. For exampe AG Super Resin Polish can be left on for quite a while and would still come off fairly easily, where as scratch-x for example is a real pig to remove if left for a minute too long, its a bastard to remove! The same with some natural waxes, i found Collinite to be ok to remove when left on for a while although it did need a mist of detailing spray here and there to remove some stubborn bits but generally not bad, whereas the wax i currently use which is Victoria Concours is a real bastard if left on too long so i apply it a panel at a time.

Or Pink... Or NOT :lol:

I heard you the first time!! NO! :lol: Paint them Signal Orange then Orange wheels on a purple car :pukeright: Maybe i should try the Gulf oil colours ay Jon :wink: :lol:

Im not taking it to uni, but i will be taking it to my mates house and getting a lift to uni with him up until i get a mk1. My insurance actually runs out next week :( and i havent got the money yet as im counting on completing a website i have been working on for a little while to pay the majority of it. I did get some quotes though, started off as standard with most companies you see on telly and here are some ideas of prices for standard car at 21 years old, passed 3 years with 2 years ncb: * The AA (who i currently with!) - £1042.77 fully comp and £1077.99 TPFT, dunno how that works out :? * Tesco - £1214.85 fully comp, thats more than i paid last year :shock: and £995.40 TPFT. * Churchill - £1246.35 fully comp :shock: and £1223.35 TPFT! Then we start getting somewhere! * Admiral - £996.63 fully comp and £952.88 TPFT * Elephant - £930.12 fully comp and £889.88 TPFT * Bell - £926.45 fully comp and £860.13 TPFT * Direct Line - £866.25 fully comp and £915 TPFT Then i tried HIC and get this, for a standard car they quoted me £583.60 fully comp!!! And then i declared all mods apart from the supercharger and the quote was exactly the same!! Then i got a quote with the supercharger and all other mods and it went up to £930 fully comp! I havent tried Adrian Flux or Brentacre yet but so far HIC are certainly living up to their reputation! :D