The Rising

[Portent 0]

Look lovely. Nice and rare in grey too. Merry Christmas :)

[Redfox 10]

Small update.

 

To get rid of any little play in the gearshift, I bought these bits and bobs, and installed them in the engine compartment today:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50938[/ATTACH]

Hmm, can't really see too much on the picture, but they are all for the gearcable shift arms above the gearbox, plus a new lamp for long beam control.

Made for a nice precise better gearchange after I adjusted and lubed it all up, which was real easy.

I'll have the bracket made in stainless or just get a new surface on it, when I find a company who'll do it. Maybe we should ask Fave 16v if he would fancy making one up, as they cannot be bought any more from vw ??

Up next is the bits and bobs on the gearstick and a shortshift (much needed).

 

Cheers,

Redfox

Edited January 3, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

So, put in the bulb in the instrument cluster today and back on. Dead easy, just take off the two upper screws, remove 2 broken plastic screw covers down, and then remove instrument cluster frame. The undo two screws either on the middle or on top each side, to remove the glass and black cover or the whole instrumentation cluster. Then remove the little multicable blockon the rear plus the airtube for the G-lader, but only if taking it all out.

I chose to take the lot out to give it a god cleaning too:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50961[/ATTACH]

Then prise the glass and black cover off:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50962[/ATTACH]

Lift off the left side diode cover:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50963[/ATTACH]

Here you can see the broken bulb:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50964[/ATTACH]

Lift it out with some pliers, and nte which way it sits:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50965[/ATTACH]

prise out the old blue cover and oress in the new one from the underside, and then insert the new bulb by hand:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]50966[/ATTACH]

Then put back on glass/black cover,

Tighten the two screws, one each side, not that you get the reset button through the glass,

Insert instrument cluster into panel,

put tube and multiconnector back on,

insert and tighten two screws, one each side near top,

test for correct function and screw back on the cluster surround.

 

Note: I have the newer version two digital face version, but the old interrior in my G60 (1991), and I did not have to take off anything else, incl. the steering wheel which on my car is not adjustable.

For easy handleling you can chose to remove the fuse cover and lower shelf to ease the cable access etc, but not really needed.

½ hour job in total and then I don't blind the oncomming trafic any more ;)

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[Redfox 10]

Thanks Portent, I get that they are somewhat rare in grey, but I really want a black one, and around my waters, unfortunately there's noone to swap with, plus I will restore it as good as I can to look more like new.

We'll see, I ordered the black stuff plus a lot more chemicals yesterday.

 

Cheers and a Happy New Year,

Redfox.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Okay, time for an update,

 

I have been getting the two nice boxes filled with goodies to spray out all over the interrior that I am renovating. 22 bottles, plus lots of foam bits, clothpieces, sandpaper etc:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51058[/ATTACH]

Since I had already been using a whole bottle of Meguiars leather cleaner, it was not overly dirty, so I spend a whole evening cleaning it all up two more times:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51059[/ATTACH]

and:[ATTACH=CONFIG]51066[/ATTACH]

This leaves the leather and vinyl clean and you can see the cracking and crazes more clearly like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51061[/ATTACH]

Now is the time to use some alcohol cleaner to remove the last of dirt and grease (right side bottle of the three I am using at this stage:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51062[/ATTACH]

Then I move on to use the leather prep, which dissolves to a degree the old layers of clear lacquer and grey paint:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51063[/ATTACH]

After some good scrubbing with lots of microfiber cloths, they look like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51064[/ATTACH]

then the leather looks like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51065[/ATTACH]

and this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51067[/ATTACH]

I then left it over night to let the remaining stuff escape the leather.

This is then followed by another alcohol cleaning, and then over to a good rubbing of all leather in leather revive.

A second layer is applied and then clingfilmed until next day, and then two more layers and then wait until next day also with film.

This makes it much more soft, and prevents it from cracking in the future. Pics will follow.

 

If you chose to work with this particular company, you should make sure you get an extra liter of prep, and a lot extra green scrape pads as well. The extra large set I bought, plus lots of other stuff, does not at all contain enough prep.

As you work with the prep, change the mocrofiber cloth often, and be amazed to see many crackings dissapear or get really flat. More work gives better results for sure.

I got lots of real cheap microfiber cloths from a local supermarket.

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Redfox

[fla 9]

good work Redfox! I need to do my front seats at some time, especially the d/s bolster so your pics are very useful

[Redfox 10]

update,

 

Now I have followed the instructions of the products, and ran out of prep, which is the paint/clear coat remover. So I ordered 1 Liter more, so 1½ in total. This is sufficient to remove the paint. So I start over from after the cleaning, this time with a lot more prep, and then liberal amounts of leather revive and leather binder.

After one time of prep, and here you can see that there is still a lot of paint left on the leather:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51248[/ATTACH]

and:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51249[/ATTACH]

So I did it all over again. Remember pro mask plus fresh filters, as this can poison you seriously!!!

Then it looks like this, and here you can see the paint removed much better. Remember to use fresh microfiber cloths all the time, plus fresh green pads too:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51250[/ATTACH]

and:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51251[/ATTACH]

Now it's time for some serious softening of the leather, so I used a lot of this, in tripple layers in total:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51252[/ATTACH]

and this. Remember to use a sponge, as it applyes it more evenly. Great product, after two days of drying, it really is a lot softer to the touch, for example onf the backside of the rear seat headrests, which had hardened a lot over the years. Rub it in thoroughly:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51253[/ATTACH]

Now it's time for leather binder, which makes old leather much more strong, and prevents the cracking (which the revive also does), plus it helps contracting old cracking etc, and strenghens the leather a lot. It is applied in liberal amounts and 4 times , with two hours drying in between:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51254[/ATTACH]

and after 4 layer of binder, it looks like this. Dries off till' tomorrow:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51255[/ATTACH]

 

Note: I couldn't get the revive to work, as company says it should be applied on the inside (not mentioned in manual). But after the second prep (a lot), it sucked in perfectly. So do that, as it's quite costly.

I can aslo add, that I used 18 microfiber cloths the second time of using prep (paint remover), and they were all completely filled with gray paint. Recaro certainly does use a lot of colouring ;)

 

More to follow as it is ready. Meanwhile I orderes a lot of fittings for the Recaro front seats to make them look and function as new (I hope) when they are finished being coloured.

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

Edited January 26, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

More progress:

I have spent the weekend giving the various parts several coats of this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51275[/ATTACH]

which is mixed 1:10 and used within 3 hours, so I had go get going

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51276[/ATTACH]

and this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51277[/ATTACH]

A layer applied with a sponge, and then more with the spraygun. Then it's time for a very light sanding with grit 1200, and then make a move to the black colour, which is applied with a sponge, one layer ata time, then dried off with a heatgun:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51278[/ATTACH]

Looks terrible, and I thought that it may never cover and even look nice, but just keep on pressing, and second layer is then applied:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51279[/ATTACH]

That covered it a bit better, then some more with the sponge. This is the 4'th layer:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51280[/ATTACH]

Rinse out the spraygun well, keep the room warm, and wear a mask with filters:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51281[/ATTACH]

Dry it off, and then for second sprayed layer, changing spraypatern to cover up any missing parts:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51282[/ATTACH]

This picture is the same, just with no flash:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51283[/ATTACH]

The pictures did not turn out well, but I can say that it is pitch black and absolutely well sprayed.

I let it dry off till' tomorrow, then I will do the edges on the rearside. And then all the other parts.

Buy a compressor or get more aircans, as 4 are not enough for the many layers I am doing.

 

More to follow.

 

Cheers,

Redfox :smug:

[fla 9]

very good pics Redfox, i admire your efforts and the results will no doubt speak for themselves. That quarter panel has come out really well.

[Redfox 10]

Thanks Hasan. It's nice to get some cheering up, as it takes a lot of time to get it right. Progress is slow as it's around minus 10 here, and there is also the thing that I have to keep it more dustfree. So it weather permits, I'll vacuumclean and wash the floor a couple of times tomorrow.

I did manage to make two more bits today.

First there's this pic, where you can see the difference between a grey and a black doorcard:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51298[/ATTACH]

There is no clear coats on anything yet.

 

Then here's a pic of the two rear quarter cards, now in black :black: :

[ATTACH=CONFIG]51299[/ATTACH]

 

Edges should be tomorrow, and then time for clearcoats, two layers of gloss, which is very strong, and then two layers of matt, to make it nice and look factory and how I want it. Now, that it's without matt clear coats, the black colour is more like satin black. I bought the total matt finish, as I want it black with no reflections and nothing to disturb my view, when driving ;)

 

More to follow.

Cheers,

Redfox.

Edited February 26, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Small update,

I've grown real tired of ugly looking stereos (head units) so as the on/off button have gone lazy too, and contact cleaner did not help it, I had to search for a decent looking all black, no bling bling, no motorfront, no alien display, no mp3 ****, no-nonsense head unit pref from Blaupunkt or nak. So just got me a brand new Blaupunkt CD36 Malaga, and an extra for spare. No tare off front, and really nicely laid out. Plays well too (I am not into car-stereo, only living room HiFi). It even plays better than my precious Blaupunkt and JVC h.u. ;) It also have a very intuitive controlling, and a turning knob for the volume, so I din't have look at it, while driving, and changing something at it. Green light all over, so fits exactly with the original green light in the Corrado.

Very satisfied.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]52965[/ATTACH]

 

Cheers,

Redfox

Edited March 14, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Question:

What did you guys do to keep it dustfree when dyeing and clearcoating your seats? I've cleaned up everything 7 times, and still get small dustparticles in the final layer.

It's got all old stuff cleaned off, very well cleaned, softness treated, durability treated, adhesion treated, 5 layers of black plus 2 sprayed layers of black, 1 sprayed gloss layer with extra x-linker strengh treatment, plus 3 layers of matt clearcoat with extra x-linker strengh treatment. 15 layers in total. Damn dust :scratch:

And I may add that this project is not exactly cheap as I had to buy the x-large set plus a lot of aditional stuff.

Here is a picture of a finalized rear seat, no crazing, no cracks, no worn stuff, and very very nice matt black. Apart from a few dust particles, I am overly satisfied. Hmm, I may have to do it all over again, if more dust comes into play. Any ideas?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]53057[/ATTACH]

 

Much appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

Edited February 25, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Update,

I've spent all day cleaning my garage out, and then I've sanded all finished peices all over with grit 400, lightly. Amizingly not a scratch in the black surface, and then cleaned it all up with the ultracleaner from furnitureClinic. Then let it to dry, raised my spraying level way off the ground, and stopped using a heatgun/hairdryer which is normally used as per Furniture clinic.

Then I've sprayed one new layer of matt clearcoat with a mixture of x-linker to make it stronger.

Result? Perfect ;) Sooooft, smooooth and niiiice to look at and to touch.

Now, I have finished the two rear doorcards, the two rear seats, and the center armrest.

I'll be doing that all over from now on. So if anyone else does this, do yourself a favour, and do the same, to get perfect result. What amazes me is that even though I sanded it down with the coarse 400 grit sandpaper, I couldn't even see one scratch or loss of surface, matt finish or colour. That makes a good promise for the future wear and tear, which with all the extra chemicals, should be in no less than 20 years use ;) (or more). And way too easy to do again.

 

A daylight of the finished new matt leather finish:

 

 

More later.

 

Cheers,

Blackfox :black:

Edited February 27, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

solution to a potential proglem when dyeing leather.

 

I have observed that spraying of colour and finisher in particular, can create a few small white specs in the surface. Not dust, but miscolouring. This is solved by shaking the ingredients longer before use, and filtering it through a cofee filter and finally by adding a bit of the volour into the finisher.

 

Cheers,

Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Small update,

I've made a little progress (have to go to job), and since last time, I have lofted the parts higher off the floor, and use my compressor (turned down) as supply, in stead of a lot of cold cans.

I am now on the back seat back rests, and after having cleaned them, dissolved them, and given them all sorts of leather revival, they look like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54081[/ATTACH]

I then let it airdry for an hour, before proceeding to next sponged layer:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54085[/ATTACH]

After four layers, I turn around and make the backside similar.

Then I spray on two further layers of black, with one hour of drying between each.

I let it dry for one day, and then spray one coat of gloss clearvoat (for a lot stronger surface) combined with x-linker.

Then let dry till' next day, and then clean up again, and then three layers of matt clearcoat, again with x-linker to make the strongest possible surface. All parts get this treatment, not only the seats. This is to get the best surface on all parts. Because of this, I can really clean it up later with no fear of loss of finish or colour or matt surface, plus no wear and tear. On a doorcard, it looks like this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]54089[/ATTACH]

I now ran out of matt clearcoat, and ordered some more, so more progress later.

After one week of letting it dry, and np touching, I will use a good going over with "ultra cleaner" and then proceed with two layers of leather protection cream. It will bring a small amount of shine to the leather, but because I chose total matt clearcoat, it will be like factory when finally finished.

So more to follow in a weeks time or so.

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[Redfox 10]

Changed all my front light bulbs today to Osram Nightbreaker H4 and the seperate long beam bulb as well. 90% more light and 10% whiter. Souds too good, but actually I am very surprised of how good they light up ;)

Adjusted hight too. Now speed can be approached at night time ;)

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[DriverVR6 11]

Redfox, your attention to detail is amazing and your car looks fantastic! You have inspired me to start cleaning/polishing my flash red VR6 to get it looking like it should ready for the summer. Keep up the good work!

[Redfox 10]

Hi DriverVR6, Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I really like the flashred colour, and it's fun to remedy from previous owners neglect. When I bought it, it was not red any more, but kind of greyish/red/pink/white after too much sun and no suncreme with high UV factor ;) But a good 26 hours of hand polishing made it red again. I do have stonechips, so I will have to sort those out later on. First mechanics, then looks ;)

Let's see some pics of your Corrado and a big congratulations on it too. Enjoy a seriously well driving car, they don't really make them any more.

 

Cheers,

Redfox - maybe to be blackfox, if I ever finish up renovation my Recaro interrior.

 

---------- Post added at 10:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:56 PM ----------

 

Sorry, just realised that you had your Corrado 12 times longer than me ;) ;) ;)

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[DriverVR6 11]

Redfox, yes I've owned mine for 12 years. It's always been a second car so I've only done 30k miles in it since I've owned it, it now has 78k on the clock. I'll put up some photo's of it once I get hold of a camera (mine just broke!!!).

Keep up the good work with yours, and I'll follow your progress.

[Redfox 10]

Argh! recieved a fresh bottle of matt finisher and it was clearly written on the label. Okay, taking free from job, clean everything, seal off the space, move stuff, clean again, vacuum clean a couple of times, clean back rests on backseats, get compressor set up, adjust pressure, mixing finisher with a bit of black colour and x-linker like I did earlier (same measumrements), and what happens? It's not matt...

Apparently I got a wrong labeled bottle of semi-matt finisher. Ggrrrrrr.... ;( Should have cut my roses or listened to some good music ;)

 

So much for all the big ado for nothing.

 

Got a new oem oil feed tube for the G-lader, and a spanner too (the little shock), which I will put on the shelf till' I have bought the rest of a nice service kit for the engine, including the terrible bent plastic water thingy on top of the radiator, which seems to break in the most unfortunate moment, so better avoid that, and some other bits. Awaiting them from Germany.

 

While taking it for a spin today, I managed to get a few stonechips, even on the front wheel arches. I don't blame it on the low Corrado, but the government neglect of public roads. Grrr...

Yeah yeah I know, full mooon and all ;( Still blame it on the neglect of roads.

 

More later... ;)

 

Cheers,

Mattfox.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

Hi all,

After my sour phrases yesterday, I feel to write here, that Furniture Clinic also have an extraordinary service, as I have already this mid day recieved a new package not only containing the correct ½ Liter matt finisher, but also an extra bottle of ultra cleaner and a bottle of leather protection cream. Well done. It is absolutely not every day you meet such a good service.

So, I am in the garage, painting, and waiting for it to dry.Weekend saved!

 

Cheers,

Redfox, mattfox, sprayfox, blackfox... whatever ;)

[Redfox 10]

All right, todays chemicals:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55345[/ATTACH]

And after a whole days work, I managed to finish the rear seat backrests and the passenger frontseat plus both headrests.

So I went from this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55357[/ATTACH]

over this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55361[/ATTACH]

to this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55365[/ATTACH]

And finally this:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55349[/ATTACH]

And the frontseat:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55353[/ATTACH]

It looks greyish, but that is just the flash light. It is really pitch black and totally matt. Very nice. I'll let it dry for 7-8 days before reassembleing, and lots of leather protection cream.

The drivers seat I must work more on, to accept it, before painting it.

More to follow.

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

Edited December 9, 2012 by Redfox

[Redfox 10]

All right, here's the finished passengers seat. Still working on the drivers seat:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]55669[/ATTACH]

Quite satisfied. Just need to do a lot more on the other one. We'll see how it works in practice later on, when I install it all. Still need some spares to renew the old parts many places.

 

Also installed a new rear plate light bar complete with sealing, wires etc. No more blinking light ;)

 

Cheers,

Redfox.

[Redfox 10]

MMmmm, polished my stainless steel original exhaust tip tonight, and it came out nice and shiny. No need for a Magnex, as I think they look a little silly with a fat tip, and a thin tube inside. Maybe some of the others makes it nice and closer to the original??

 

Cheers,

Redfox - aka Blackfox - aka Blackfix - when you do yout Corrado yourself :black:

[DriverVR6 11]

Redfox, the seats look great. How hardwearing is the black finish on the seats?