Lewvw's Blackberry VR6 for sale again

[lewvw 10]

Right guys and girls, as i've spent the majority of the past year making sure my vr6 doesn't boil itself to death (at great cost). I thought it was about time for some fun stuff so here goes...

 

This is my C

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I think it sits too high and rolls too much so I broke the bank for these

 

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and these

 

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Hopefully I'll get around to prepping the car for this stuff in the next couple of weeks, I want to powdercoat my lower arms and subframe, does anyone have any contacts or recommendations in the Gloucestershire area for this?

 

I'll post some more pics when it's sitting just so...:thumbleft:

 

And before you all start ribbing me for not being able to spell the colour of my car I tried to edit it but don't know how :(

Edited July 10, 2013 by lewvw
Blackberry

[VR6 0]

Done for you ;)

 

Looks great :)

[lewvw 10]

Brill, thanks :cheers:

[lewvw 10]

Well just finished getting my lower arms off, so tomorrow i'll be taking them to work to press the bushes out then off for shot blasting and powder coating because as you can see they are pretty shabby lookin' now!

 

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So anyway it didn't show me the usual belligerence it usually would with all the stubborn rusty bits, everything came off a treat :) , although I really should invest in a trolley jack 'cus jacking the sump with the widowmaker jack to get the front os arm bolt out was a tense few moments :thumbleft:

[GlosterOx 0]

Try QS Enamellers + Powder Coaters in Nailsworth, Andy (Cazza VR) had some bits done there and was pleased with them.

 

Ian.

[lewvw 10]

Update; Had my lower arms powder coated at QS enamellers (thanks GlosterOx for the shout :) ) and fitted my powerflex bushes

 

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These will never look this nice again :(

 

All new bolts to be fitted along with the new front strut top mounts, I didn't want to use all the rusty old bolts with my freshly rejuvenated lower arms :grin:

 

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So I then got back to work in my garage (which is approximately the width of a Corrado plus about 3"!) fitting all of these bits along with my torque wrench and bentley for guidance with torque figures (i always torque everything correctly where possible - even on the fords at work - I just can't deal with the guessing!!)

 

I only really struggled with one bit and that was the NS lower arm rear bush bolt - i'll be brief - basically for those of you that don't know powerflex lower arm rear bushes come with a washer and a collar above and below the bush, I think the collar is there to secure the washer in place while you fit the arm (not 100% sure) the washer has a half moon cut out which locates on the subframe mould of the same shape (this is the bit which the original bushes locate in to) and my n/s collars could not be fitted because the at first the bolt would not catch on the thread, after about a whole day of struggling on my back, I removed the arm and the bolt went in a treat. So I then tried with the collars fitted and the collars would not fit into the recess's with the bolt in place. I ended up fitting it without the collars and it's been fine :) but I still don't know what the problem was all my subrame looks visually ok. Oh well i'm sure i'll figure it out.

 

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So, very impressed with the Weitec Hicon Gt's (although i've never had coilies before so have no reference point here) there is minimal roll and body control is pretty good.

Plus it looks so much better at this height ;)

 

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[GlosterOx 0]

Cars looking good, do you work @ Bristol Street Ford by any chance?

 

Ian.

[Jim 2]

Hard to beat Blackberry sometimes - looks fantastic :)

[lewvw 10]

Thanks guys, yeah I do work at bristol street Ian - unfortunately!

[GlosterOx 0]

Thanks guys, yeah I do work at bristol street Ian - unfortunately!

 

I live not far from there in Linden, perhaps can meet up sometime?

 

Ian.

[lewvw 10]

Yeah definitely, you're going to Coleford aren't you?

 

Lewis

[scarlet_vr6 0]

Looks very nice :D

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[GlosterOx 0]

Yeah definitely, you're going to Coleford aren't you?

 

Lewis

 

Sure am, will either see you there or have a mini convoy to it?

 

Ian.

[lewvw 10]

Sure am, will either see you there or have a mini convoy to it?

 

Ian.

 

Sounds like a plan :)

[lewvw 10]

Finally got round to taking some good pics in great weather ;)

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[lewvw 10]

Got a couple of things done today

 

Carried out the headlamp switch fuse mod, couldn't stand the idea of a flaming corrado so thought i better had! Muchos cheap and easy, cheers CrazyDave for the excellent guide :)

 

Then fitted my new switch as the old one disintegrated on removal. Cheers 8vmatt for the switch :)

 

I then washed and went over the paint with a clay bar, now i didnt really know how to approach this but once i got going it really was JUST like rubbing a piece of clay over the paint :D

 

But amazed by the amount of crap that it digs out of supposedly clean paint. Highly recommend doing this.

Thanks scarlet_vr6 for the idea ;)

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Edited April 1, 2012 by lewvw

[lewvw 10]

Sprayed and laquered my calipers today, realised that i had no masking tape and no where was open so just went ahead anyway. All the paint came off the discs by the way!

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I then attempted to tidy up the bay a little, looks better but still needs a proper degreasing with a bit of wire wool on the engine :)

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Noticed my earth strap is broken, what are the symptoms of this as I hadn't noticed anything off?

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And my scuttle panel looks like its missing half or is this right? Amazing the crap that accumulates under there!

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[GlosterOx 0]

All scuttles are like that Lewis, don't panic!! Not sure either what the earth strap does, but mine had snapped too and got one from the dealers for about £10.00 iirc?

 

See you tomorrow bright and early ready for Coleford, fingers crossed for the weather.

 

Ian.

[lewvw 10]

Cheers ian, just looks a bit weird with just the small piece. Yeah i'll sort out an earth strap tuesday. see you tomorrow then!

 

Lewis

[lewvw 10]

Cooking with gas this weekend, changed fuel filter and aux belt tensioner and carried out a brake fluid change :)

 

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While waiting for the brakes to bleed I took a bit of wet and dry paper to the tailpipe. It came up really nice all the corrosion came off ok, and now it looks pretty sweet.

 

I also tried cleaning some of the dirt from the bay, but there are quite a few patches of protective wax, any ideas on the best way to clean the bay? And is it wise to clean that stuff off? Even though it only protects patches now!

 

Also i noticed the underseal on the chassis leg holes coming away and there is some moisture in there causing corrosion, can this underseal be repaired and can i do it myself?

Edited May 6, 2012 by lewvw

[WillCful 10]

Underseal is pretty easy to do yourself, I bought a big tub of the stuff from halfords. I have no idea whether or not its competitively priced from there, I wasn't that fussed but you can probs get it cheaper on-line somewhere.

 

Just give it a clean and then a sand and then a clean again (easier if you've got a jet wash and an apc thats good at cutting through grease) to make sure there's no corrosion or dirt left and then whack on the underseal! Go nuts you can never have too much but obviously don't paint it on anything that moves or gets hot :-)

 

Good contrast in those pics by the way, maybe just a warming filter to really bring out the blackberry!

 

Will.

[CazzaVR 0]

As above, although I paint over the bare metal with anti-rust primer, then Rustoleum black paint before the underseal goes on. Nothing's gonna get through that!

 

Seen the latest Prometheus trailer by the way? WOW!

[lewvw 10]

Cheers guys, i'll have a go at it then :)

 

Andy, yeah i've seen it and now i'm actually wetting myself with excitement :lol:

Edited May 6, 2012 by lewvw

[WillCful 10]

Good call on the anti-rust stuff. Oh and I think white spirit is good at cutting through old underseal but I've never tried it and would be very careful around the paintwork with it...

 

Yes! Prometheus looks awesome!

[daves16v 1]

Paint looks great, well done.

 

Shame about that spotweld on top of the tailpipe, if the tailpipe is Stainless you should get it ground off and re-polished.