[car_restoration] Saved From The Chavs! Cherry Red Restoration

[Keljon 7]

That's a non-standard rear wiper arm there! Looks like it's from a Clio.

 

Good work on (starting) restoring it back to standard - I love cherry reds, don't tell my car, but I think I prefer them to white.

have always preferred white but maybe i will change my mind when mine has been rotary polished

[m@ttc 30]

i dunno where you get the plastic cover for the PAS but if you find out will you let me know

great project carnt wait to see the new paint job.

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Dear All,

 

SPOILER > Shiny Cherry Red Pictures Below!

 

Firstly an apology. I have been very remiss, and haven't done an update for a while. Time to correct this.

 

So, as you know, the car was transported to my workplace, and suspension stripped off ready to paint. My buddy in the spray shop took one look at it, and doubled his quote. A week long row ensued, and it all went political. After virtually the entire company had had their say, it was eventually agreed that the original price would stand, but that I would have to do the majority of the prep work myself (under supervision). I didn't mind this too much, because it was a good learning experience for me, and there would be pros around to make sure I didn't cock it up too badly. After all, how hard could it be?

 

I can hear you chuckling, those of you who know! Anyway, many late nights later, and the car has made it to this standard:

 

 

 

This was done mostly with an airline random orbital sander and 200 grit paper. After the big panels are done, the rest is just plain hard work sanding by hand. Oh the RSI!

 

 

The eagle eyed amongst you will spot the green boundary on the rear quarter panel, around the area I suspected a previous injury. This is a layer of pretty ugly primer which was only well adhered where the boundary is shown. Whoever had repaired the damage had clearly only abraded the existing lacquer up to this point, but had continued to spray undercoat and topcoat over and around the trim indents. Paint in this area was flaking badly, and as you see, I've had to sand it back much more aggressively there.

 

The rear window weatherseal was more difficult to remove than I had anticipated. It is well pressed in, and bonded to the sika which holds the rear glass. It took me a while, but eventually I managed to get it out undamaged. A blunt dinner knife is your friend here. I found that the trick is to place the knife on the rear screen with the tip pointing towards the seal. Run the knife gently in under the edge of the weather seal, and rotate it away from the screen around the axis of the edge of the window. You should be able to feel the edge of the screen all the way round to about 160 degrees. Press the knife in gently a little further; you should now be resting on the sikaflex, next to the barb of the weatherseal. Pressing the knife gently in towards the vehicle, rotate it back through 160 deg so that it is once more parallel with the screen. Ensure that you have picked up the barb of the seal as well, or you'll simply pull the top off the barb. Once you've got it started, it'll pull out real easy like.

 

 

 

At this point, I handed over the vehicle to the guys, and went away with my fingers crossed. They touched up my body filler where necessary and then applied a high build primer. The primer was flatted down, and then the colour coats and lacquer applied.

 

A good polishing later and we have.. Drum roll please... Tah Dah!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think you'll agree that they've done a pretty damn good job! I've never seen a shine like it! I'm well pleased!

 

She now has to stay in for a few more days to let the paint harden properly, and then I have to re-fit the suspension, and take her away. Now all I've got to do is not scratch her while I'mm putting her back together!

 

Watch this space.

 

Mike

 

 

[dcc 855]

So bloody nice!

[stuart 31 3 Cars]

Beautiful paint job there, making me wish I'd done mine red now...

 

It'll be good to see it go back together

[GLPoomobile 958]

That looks bloody lush

 

Did the guys not see the car before they quoted for the work? I hope the paintjob turns out OK in the longterm. Could turn political again if you have problems later on, as they could blame it on your prep.

 

EDIT: not that I'm saying your prep was bad

Edited January 5, 2013 by GLPoomobile

[sensualt101 31 1 Cars]

that new paint looks amazing! i am hoping when i have mine resprayed it will look as good as that!

 

earlier i posted that your rear wiper arm is from a mk 1 clio and is a popular mod from back in the day and one i am considering for mine as i think it looks better than the standard peugeot arm.

 

keep up the good work and i look forward to seeing you progress.

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

loving it this has allmost made my mind up to keep the dimma red now stunning

[ALEX 98 1 Cars]

The fun part starts nar! Hope you can remember how it goes back together?

[Juttie205 123 2 Cars]

Is this lacquered as some cherry reds are not?

[mikeygulley 19 1 Cars]

Looks ace!! Mine will look that good one day I'm sure!! Look forward to seeing it go back together.

 

Is this lacquered as some cherry reds are not?

SkyQuake's last post says it has been.

[Kezzer30 40 1 Cars]

Fantastic mates, so happy we'll and truly saved

[johniban 59 1 Cars]

wow awesome

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Dear All,

 

It's been quite a while since I last did an update on this, but things haven't moved on that much. Let me fill you in on the progress anyway:

 

I left the car in dry storage at work over the worst of the winter for two reasons. Firstly, to stop it filling up with water, but possibly more truthfully, so I wouldn't be tempted to be out there working on it in the freezing cold (wimp!) Since getting the car back towards the end of February, I have been making some small progress, but the weather has been defeating me. I have mainly been re-installing the door & tailgate locks, and getting the windows ready to go back in.

 

The car is once again below the cheapo Amazon gazebo, and the weather has been defeating this too! It now has no less than 10 guy ropes holding it down, plus a pair of diagonal stiffeners inside, cunningly fashioned from some copper pipe I had kicking around. All four legs have a speedline strapped to the base, and the curtains have been pinned down all round with bricks. Still I find myself out there at all hours hammering back in tent pegs, and tightening guy ropes. Summer, whenever you're ready? People are waiting!

 

Trying to re-fit the rear window seal has been one of the most infuriating tasks of my life. Try as I may, there are two parts which simply will not sit flush, and all I have achieved in carrying on trying, has been a number of even more infuriating scratches in the new paint job!!

 

Anyway, the car hadn't been on the driveway very long, before a direct declaration of war was received from a four legged member of the neighborhood.

 

 

 

Unfortunately, forum rules prevent me from fully expressing my true opinion of the aforementioned feline, but let's suffice to say that an insult like this wasn't going to pass unavenged. Sadly my first two booby traps were too complicated, and my failure was rewarded with further footprints. Noting that the delightful little fleabag seemed to favour the roof, my third countermeasure was simple and effective. Several strips of high-tack duck tape were positioned upside-down, directly over tabby's favourite spot. A few nights later I was ecstatic to find a large mess of tangled duck tape, featuring several new sizable clumps of cat hair. That brings the score to one all.

 

If you're following my 'Cut Vinyl' thread in the Group Buys forum, you'll know that I am in the process of developing a vinyl wrapping kit, for the door pillars and other areas. This has been another trial of my endurance, as I have now discovered that there are few things quite as frustrating as vinyl wrapping. Look it up on the net; it looks so easy! Don't be fooled! Anyway, after much swearing and cursing, I have finally got my door pillars to look like this:

 

 

News on the wrapping kit to follow in the other forum shortly.

 

Over the coming weeks, I plan to continue doing everything I can to waterproof the car, mainly so that I can bin the hated gazebo. I then need to underseal the underside, and then I can start on the engine bay. More updates soon, watch this space.

Cheers,

 

Mike

 

 

[sensualt101 31 1 Cars]

well done mike that vinyl looks very oem i look forward to seeing a kit available soon and of course progress with the car as a whole

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Dear All,

Time for an update I feel!

After weeks of freezing my arse off trying to do the smallest little bits of work, the weather has finally caught up with the calendar! Therefore I made good progress this weekend!

The side door and quarter windows are now back in and working. Door locking mechanisms are also back in.

I've refitted most of the gubbins back into the tailgate , and put back most of the wiring looms, although I am yet to attempt to attempt to wire the crummy immobilizer back in! As you can see, I've also fitted the original rear spoiler in place of the huge one, and I think the original is a vast improvement.

With the car almost starting to take shape, the next step was to take it all apart again! Suspension off completely!

This was in order to finish the underside. I'd already done the boot floor underside, and fuel tank pocket, but I now needed to do the full underside, right up to the engine bay. This followed the same procedure as before; wire brush and abraid underside, treat rust, and then plaster with two coats of Hammerite No.1.

Next weekend's task will be the liberal application of waxoyl to the entire underside, and then hopefully I will never have to do any more painting or sanding while lying on my back, ever again! There are a number of activities which I do indeed enjoy in this orientation, but I have decided that painting is certainly not one of them!

More to follow. Cheers,

Mike

[shalmaneser 26]

Wow what a paint job! The car looks great, a real credit to your perseverance!

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Disaster.

 

This morning at around 5 am, the wind managed to gust with sufficient strength to tear all six guy ropes off the gazebo. Even though it had two wheels and bricks strapped to each corner, the godforsaken gazebo then proceeded to pull my beloved car shell clean off of its axle stands. Not before, it appears, one of the gazebo legs carving it's name into my freshly sprayed bonnet. I was woken by a neighbor to find this:

 

 

While this was a real sucker punch to the groin, I actually got off quite light. There are two relatively small dents in the LH sill, and scratches in the LH wing and bonnet. The car came off three of its axle stands, and both the rear ones fell clear, without doing damage. The shell landed on my cheapo screwfix trolley and some wheels which I had positioned underneath, just in case. This may have caused my trolley to expire, but at least I didn't break any of the studs off from underneath, or do any real damage. Equally, none of the windows broke, which wouldn't have been surprising after a fall of this height. Suppose there's a silver lining.

 

Anyway, I had the satisfaction of cutting the damned gazebo up with the angle grinder, which made me feel a hell of a lot better.

 

I have now managed to polish out most of the scratching from the wing and bonnet, but there is one big one I might not be able to shift. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

 

Anyway, to anyone else who is considering the under gazebo restoration project route. You have been warned.

[NFS 32]

wow, i would have been disraugt to have seen that, glad it came off lightly though, looking good pal.

[welshpug 1,661]

I thought you only used it whilst working! I wouldn't dream of leaving something like that out even overnight unattended especially on the street!

[Leon 24]

What a kick to the balls. I wouldn't have left that gazebo up permanently either mind you!

[GLPoomobile 958]

I think you got off lightly given the damage that it could have caused to other people's property had it gone further afield!

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Dear All,

 

Long weekend in the sunshine means progress!

 

So, I've nearly undone the damage from the aforementioned gazebo indecent. I've filled, sanded, sprayed & lacquered the dents in the sill, and it's invisible to anything but a thorough inspection! Quite pleased actually, could have made more of a hash of it than I did. The bonnet however, is not savable, and will need respraying! Bummer.

 

 

As you can see, the windscreen is in, heated mirrors are on and the sunroof is back on top. The sunroof itself needed quite a bit of work. I started with a good scrub, and then cleaned the really dodgy bits with the wire brush. This revealed that one of the four drain pipes was completely shot.

 

 

This was beyond treating with Karust, so I drilled it out, and replaced it with a piece of mild steel tube I had lying around (formerly one of those flat pack mini greenhouse things!) The sunroof was then painted, gasket tape replaced, seal autoglymed and refitted to the roof.

 

 

Many thanks to marksorrento205 for the replacement bolts!

 

On a sidenote, NFS asked me a question about Sunroof Rivnuts on one of my wanted forums, which I haven't had chance to answer yet, so here goes. This only really applies to the earlier manufacturer's sunroofs (pre 92?), as the later roofs have rivets direct into the roof panel.

 

Picture this. Whilst removing your sunroof, one of more of the sunroof screws have rusted absolutely solid within the threaded fixing in the roof. No amount of persuasion will shift them, and the inevitable happens, you shear one off. If you haven't been introduced to Rivnuts (also called inserts, nutserts or rivet nuts), then one of two things will go through your mind at this point. Either you ignore the problem, and stick the broken head of the screw back in place with some tigerseal (uber-bodge), or you drill the insert out, and attempt to get a nut on the back of it (unlikely to be terribly water tight). Neither of these is good.

 

However, replacing the original type of Rivnut in the hole is not difficult, once you know what you're doing. Firstly, get yourself over to the Bollhoff website, and read up on what a Rivnut is, and how it works. Ignore any nonsense about needing air powered tools ect. If you can't be bothered to do the research, then this is all you need to know. A Rivnut is similar to a pop rivet, but instead of having a tension shaft down the middle, it is empty, and contains a thread. Instead of using a pop-rivet gun, you pull on the thread using a mandril. Like a rivet, at the top there is a deformable section, which spreads out to clamp the Rivnut in place.

 

Specifically for the sunroof, what you're looking for is an M4 Closed Ended Mild Steel Rivnut for thin sheet. Do not waste your time with the crummy aluminium ones you get in DIY stores. A quick google gives you an eBay shop called 'fastenerswales' which sells just the thing. Here's the eBay link, but I don't know how long it will last.

 

Now, fitting them. You don't need air tools or any such nonsense. Just buy a hand rivnut gun like this one, as a cheap example. If you want a good one, mine is one of these, and it's excellent.

 

Now simply drill out the hole in the roof to the correct size (probably 6mm but check for the Rivnut you buy), and then push the insert through. Following the instructions for the Rivnut gun, screw the mandril into place, and clamp up the rivnut, ensuring that it is gripping the roof tightly. Unscrew the mandril, and boom, job done!

 

One word to the wise. I've compared the Rivnut to a pop rivet above. The same cannot be done with the tools. Do not keep pulling on the rivnut gun until you hear a pop. That noise will be your very expensive mandrill breaking off.

 

Anyway, back to the main event. Things are going back into the engine bay too. I've fitted the brake servo, and run new brake lines around the bay and under the floor. I opted for the copper nickel brake pipes, and shielded them using heat shrink. They'll probably last longer than the car, but at least I won't have to do it twice..

 

 

 

I'll keep you informed as things progress!

 

Mike

[NFS 32]

On a sidenote, NFS asked me a question about Sunroof Rivnuts on one of my wanted forums, which I haven't had chance to answer yet, so here goes. This only really applies to the earlier manufacturer's sunroofs (pre 92?), as the later roofs have rivets direct into the roof panel.

 

Picture this. Whilst removing your sunroof, one of more of the sunroof screws have rusted absolutely solid within the threaded fixing in the roof. No amount of persuasion will shift them, and the inevitable happens, you shear one off. If you haven't been introduced to Rivnuts (also called inserts, nutserts or rivet nuts), then one of two things will go through your mind at this point. Either you ignore the problem, and stick the broken head of the screw back in place with some tigerseal (uber-bodge), or you drill the insert out, and attempt to get a nut on the back of it (unlikely to be terribly water tight). Neither of these is good.

 

However, replacing the original type of Rivnut in the hole is not difficult, once you know what you're doing. Firstly, get yourself over to the Bollhoff website, and read up on what a Rivnut is, and how it works. Ignore any nonsense about needing air powered tools ect. If you can't be bothered to do the research, then this is all you need to know. A Rivnut is similar to a pop rivet, but instead of having a tension shaft down the middle, it is empty, and contains a thread. Instead of using a pop-rivet gun, you pull on the thread using a mandril. Like a rivet, at the top there is a deformable section, which spreads out to clamp the Rivnut in place.

 

Specifically for the sunroof, what you're looking for is an M4 Closed Ended Mild Steel Rivnut for thin sheet. Do not waste your time with the crummy aluminium ones you get in DIY stores. A quick google gives you an eBay shop called 'fastenerswales' which sells just the thing. Here's the eBay link, but I don't know how long it will last.

 

Now, fitting them. You don't need air tools or any such nonsense. Just buy a hand rivnut gun like this one, as a cheap example. If you want a good one, mine is one of these, and it's excellent.

 

Now simply drill out the hole in the roof to the correct size (probably 6mm but check for the Rivnut you buy), and then push the insert through. Following the instructions for the Rivnut gun, screw the mandril into place, and clamp up the rivnut, ensuring that it is gripping the roof tightly. Unscrew the mandril, and boom, job done!

 

One word to the wise. I've compared the Rivnut to a pop rivet above. The same cannot be done with the tools. Do not keep pulling on the rivnut gun until you hear a pop. That noise will be your very expensive mandrill breaking off.

 

 

Thanks mate, will head over and doo some research, cheers, also the car is looking sweet, im nearly there with mine, i painted the door shut and then decided to take a small joy ride (no doors, wings, boot, windscreen, just a seat.) and stone chipped the feck out of the newly painted door shuts so i feel you pain with the gazebo.

[SkyQuake 70 1 Cars]

Ok, so I guess it's just time I gave up apologising for the lack of updates!! After I've spent the whole weekend slaving away, and my

fingers are bleeding, I can't say I feel like writing an essay on my progress!

So, crap excuses aside, let's get down to it. As it's been a while, I've got lots to cover!

Let's start with suspension. I had mostly refurbed the front sub-frame before it went away for it's respray, but I hadn't fully

reassembled it. So this was the next task. Anti-roll bar went back on, with new bushes. New Rod ends on the PAS rack, and

everything else had a good cleanup. I drew the line at tarting up the heat shields though (you've got to stop somewhere!).

As you know from earlier up this thread, the blue plastic bag which protects the PAS actuator was totally shot. I was unsuccessful at

finding a replacement. Several hours of pouring through catalogs for gussets/boots didn't help me either, due to the proximity of the

ram to the rack boot. I therefore gave up, and decided to make my own. After several failed attempts, I ended up using some military

grade tent canvas, bonded with polypipe along one side, and cable tied into place. This was a bit fiddly to make, but seems to work

pretty well. I don't know how it's going to last; we'll just have to see.

So it's just a tapered panel, wrapped around the ram. I used a 15mm overlap for the glue; this gave me area to bond, but didn't make

it so stiff that it just broke up after the first movement.

So, subframe rebuild, it went back on next. Followed shortly by the struts and rear beam.

Now, some time ago I stripped the front and rear calipers down, with the grand plan to replace the seals and paint them a nice shiny

red. My advice to anyone considering such rash action is, don't. There's nothing too difficult about stripping and re-assembling

them, but paint them just once, and you'll be perpetually painting them for the rest of your life! You'll chip them during re-

assembly, you'll chip them with tools when re-fitting them, you'll chip them putting the wheels on. You'll pretty much chip them by

looking their direction!

Anyway, chipping aside, I do now have my calipers rebuilt (with nice new seals) and back on the vehicle.

Right, so that bring us to her looking like this:

Next challenges coming up are the electrics (which I am scared of!) and the partial strip down of the engine. More on those soon.

Cheers for still reading!

Mike