Now I have got the car back I have started to get stuck into all the little jobs that have been bugging me.
First one up was the rust on the N/S front wing. My Dad and I attempted a reapir when we bought the car but couldn't find the paint in Ireland so left it in primer but it didn't take long before the rust was coming back through. To be honest I we didn't go deep enough in getting rid of all the rust and when I had a closer look at the repair it was terrible to say the least.
The attempted repair :shock:
You can see the size of the hole. I dug out all the loose rust and liberally slopped rust remover inside. The rust did actually break through in places to the other side, and you can also see evidence of blue paint under the white so obviously not the original wing.
After many layers of filler the surface was sanded flat and smooth ready for primer. With the extent of the hole I know that I will need to have a professional repair done or replace the wing at a later date.
Also delievered with the brackets was a new steering side rod arm, the O/S one was flagged up in the MOT as having excessive play so fitting that will be another job to tackle.
Two layers of etch primer and two of normal primer and sanded smooth ready for paint.
I had a local paint supplier mix up two aerosols of Pendelican White and the painting commenced. I lost count of how many layers I did, but I did use up a large can, the colour match is very good and I'm pleased with the results. Today I flatted back the paint with 1500 grit and I will leave it a couple of weeks to fully harden before I give it a polish. My only criticism is that I didn't fill enough of the bare metal area. The paint layers on the car were quite 'high' and didn't notice this really until the white started going on so when you catch it in the light it does look like a shallow dent
, however at a glance it does look passable and much better than before.
Also today I have started to tidy up the boot. As this is a Denovo car I have a complete boot carpet set which is in good need of a clean, once i removed it I gave the metal work a good clean and a once over with hardwearing stone chip paint.
Before. Bits of surface rust evident.
After. The picture doesn't do it justice but now it looks a lot ceaner and the musty smell has been replaced by fresh paint smell. much better in my opinion. Now I have a clean boot to attach the carpet to.
My brackets arrived for the Lucas Square 8's I bought off ebay, so I couldn't wait to fit them. I did temporarily wire them up and they work perfectly but I will permanently wire them up later as the old connector in the car aren't great. I also think they need some fine adjustment.
Also in the package that arrived today was a new steering side rod as this was flagged up in the MOT as having excessive wear, so another job to add to the list.