seanl82

Well I've almost finished the bit of paint rectification I'd done, just needs a final polish to sort a little bit of hazing that's still there around blend lines, although I'd planned on giving it a full machine polish when off work next week in preparation for National Day anyway. Process was rub down with 240, 600, 1000 grit to bare metal/plastic, prime with three coats of etch/plastic primer as necessary, and flat back with 1000 grit after final coat. Panel wipe & tack cloth everything inbetween obviously. 3 coats of basecoat, 3 coats of lacquer. With the rattle cans obviously having a poor spray pattern, there was alot of dry mist (I did it indoors so no wind btw) that sat either side of the intended area. This was most apparent on the bonnet being such a large are. This created a LOT of orange peel and overspray, so it needed flatting back before polishing up. This was achieved using 1500, 2000, then 2500 grit wet sanding. I then went over it all with 3M FCP on an old 3M yellow pad. This has bought it up to a reasonable shine, but I didn't paint the whole bonnet so there are obvious lines if up close where it hasn't blended well at all. Looks great from 10 feet away though!!! The rest of the painting has so far turned out Ok. Although the bonnet looks pretty poor tbh, but still better than two big and obvious lacquer peel areas. The paint wasn't as good a match as I'd hoped either. I used paints4u, as I have on a number of occasions previously and they were always excellent matches. :shrug: Anyway, it was a bit dark, but its not massively noticeable unless its pointed out or you're looking for it. A few before and after pics. There were two big areas on the bonnet, but I only got a pic of one before I'd started rubbing it down. After Before After As said, its alot better than it was, without being great. Its temporary until full respray next year, just to tidy it up a little. Ordered a new sump gasket today too, so I'll give it the oil and filter change and clean the pickup at the same time as the detail. Other than that, I've just been enjoying driving it really! :smug:

I thought the deadline just applied to the track session Tom? Quite a few mods on here I believe. Eric who is running it is Tempest on here iirc, may be worth a PM.

That's fine mate, thanks anyway. I've got a long way to go yet until mines finished though! Mechanicals are pretty much done now. A couple of electrical gremlins to sort out, then its onto interior before exterior next year. Good luck with the rest of your sale mate, you shouldn't have too much trouble shifting that little lot!

Saturday 20th at Castle Combe, Chippenham nr Bristol. I'm after the passenger seat, specifically the bolsters to repair my drivers side. Your a bit far or I would have picked it up, and its probably too much hassle tearing the seat down to pack up and post the bolsters alone for the price. No worries though mate, I'll keep an eye out! :thumbleft:

I thought by swapping out the ECU, you need the immobiliser ring for ignition as well? I was gonna suggest that it could well be an immobiliser fault until you mentioned that it starts fine when bypassing direct to the pump, as the immob cuts both fuel and spark I believe......

Sean, are you going to national day mate?

Looking on the autometrix site, its actually not just specifically for us. Its a VW Audi trackday event so think there will probably be quite a few on the track for the sessions. I was thinking of doing it, but as it would be my first track session I'm a little nervous of some of the other young drivers getting a bit over excited and causing problems for others. I think you can also pay on the gate for the session, or direct to autometrix if you wish though.

That look really good now! Excellent stance and the wheels really suit the car in white!

Yeah I'll be there now buddy! Really looking forward to it, as is the missus actually! Will be great to finally put some names to faces and have a good chat with everyone. :thumbleft:

I'd remove the plug under the seat, and measure for voltage and insulation to start with mate. If the wire has been trapped or accidentally tugged on, it could be a break or loose connection. Better to ensure all wiring all the way to the motor before you start ripping the seat apart. Its all about processes of elimination, and the motor will be dead last in the list of investigation. :thumbleft:

Did you mean me not being able to go buddy? I am deffo going now mate! Fresh MOT and I'm now ready to rock and roll! Pity my diy painting didnt come out very well on the bonnet, Just don't laugh! Lol

That Orange one hails, or used to at least from Plymouth Bill. It was for sale about 9 months ago but wouldnt imagine anybody actually bought it!

Looks excellent now, well done! ..............Well, except for that exhaust which I find quite offensive! :lol: God I wish I had a garage like yours though!!!!

Think the VR is M14 whereas all narrow track models are M12 so don't think it'll work Gaz.

Doesn't look bad at all! Those Ibiza wheels look surprisingly good! As for the wheels on your Cabby, I didn't think anybody actually bought them.............................:lol:

Have a look on ebay mate. Obviously its gonna be at the lower end of anything on there, but it'll give you a rough idea. There may even be some in a similar state.

Its because its not original it hasn't sold Pete. I'll tell you what mate, I'll straight swap my real Speedlines for your fake ones.................:thumbleft: :ignore:

How much posted for B pillars mate?

Its true about third party. Go on any comparison website and change them around. Third party fire and theft is usually slightly cheaper than fully comp, but third party only is ALWAYS more expensive than the rest! Its the young dumb kids that get caught with it, they automatically think it will be cheaper so wont even bother looking at fully comp assuming it will be massively expensive. Its probably true that those buying 3rd Party have more accidents too for the above reasons.

Would have been up for this, but going up to the Families in Bristol on Friday to drop the kids off for the weekend now!

Cheers Dave, yeah the lacquer peel is no fun! Full body respray will happen next winter I think. for the moment I'm just trying to hide it a bit so its not so noticable, as I don't wish to be embarrassed toooo much in front of all the no doubt minters at national day! Hopefully have most of the paint done by the end of the week so should have pics, then it just a case of flatting it back once its fully hardened. Still need to order a sump gasket and clean the pickup and oil and filter change, then a new tyre due to the nail and I'm good to go!

Cheers guys! Started rubbing down the lacquer peel on the bonnet today. Got interrupted half an hour in to go and handle a load of **** samples for the rest of the day! :mad2: Had Compulsory drug testing team at the base so had to document all that. Had the two patches on the bonnet down to bare metal, so had to spray a quick bit of etch primer to cover it up whilst I did that. Will need re-doing again tomorrow as I hadn't got it all out on one of them. Its a PITA, the pealing keeps spreading when trying to rub it down, even when you come from the other side of it. The whole reason for doing it was to make it catch the eye less. I now have two big grey patches on the bonnet! :bonk: Just took a mate out, then let him have a go too. He has an EP3 Type R Anniversary and he was pretty impressed! He bangs on about his V-Tec like its the best thing since sliced bread. When the VR comes on song and gives you a kick in the back at around 4.5K RPM, he couldn't believe it and was making similarities, although he has to wait until well past 6k to get his! Think he wants a C now! :lol: It did get a little naughty though................:ignore:

Very impressive! Didn't know anything about it, and mentioned at the end about the air compressor sounds really good too! Electric cars a ton of L/ion batteries my eye!

The best thing is I'm now definitely on for National Day! :cheers:

Cheers, yeah I was over the moon although I'm taking I'm doing a little paintwork the rest of the week so I won't be using it now! It actually failed this morning at 11. I did all pre-checks and all was good, although one of the sidelights was out at first, but came on after I switched to main beams then back again. All seemed good, and ABS light was behaving. Got to the MOT centre thinking all was well, then the ABS light refused to come on, and the sidelight didn't work! :mad2: Booked it back in straight away for half 3, then whizzed back into work. Took the sidelight out, put it back in, and all was well with that. Had a look at my ABS "fix", and had voltage to the unit, but not to the LED. Measured resistance of the .........Resistors, and all was well, so took a punt and soldered in a new 555 timer. Boom, working again! Left it unplugged until I got round the corner of the MOT station, fixed it in and that was that! :cheers: Got a couple of advisories too; "Nail in Nearside Front tyre" - Bloody car club yard! Will get a new one on asap. "N/S headlight beam a bit high" - :roll: "Slight Oil leak" - New sump gasket required as it looks to have been silicon sealed and poorly at that, and the gearbox needs to come off at some point as I'm pretty sure the timing chain cover has not been sealed correctly. Either that or the crank seals gone, but its gearbox off either way. Will get round to that................... Just glad I can now start doing things without that monkey on my back!