Spring/Summer update from the South London base
Hi all, Its been a real long time since I posted any progress and I feel bad about it! so here I am with lots to show
Last time I was in the process of swapping all of my arches around and getting the body as close as possible to perfect
I have changed them all now and they are in the correct place
a couple of the arches crinkled a little on the edge when fitting them for a second time
I tried using a hot air gun to form the fibreglass back into shape but it was sooooo time consuming and started causing other parts of the arch to crinkle! which was counter-productive so I ruled that out as a method
the other alternative I could think of was to blend the line that runs along the edge of the arch completely and shape a flat face on the arch
I haven't seen anyone with an IMP modifying the arches in this way yet, mine could be the first
either way it only took a good day to make all the arches look the same
there are still a few bits here and there that I'm not 100% happy with yet
you see the little scrape
The holes from where the mirrors would mount onto the hood have been welded and smoothed over with a skim of filler
I want to go for cone mirrors mounted to the door so I can see better from them
however, the heat from welding caused the metal to sag a little and meant I had to fill it more times than expected to get it flat :/
its almost there in terms of being level
cool the car comes with a beer opener
Here's some other body parts I've been repairing and modifying to suit the style of the car
front grille panel cut out
The engine cover has also been chopped and will be covered from behind with black mesh
hopefully this will let some hot air out of the engine
I bought some rear wheels for the car too, didn't want to spend too much so I got some 8x13 minilites on 205/13 Avon lady tires.
the reason I went for them is the price was too good to refuse and they already have tires on them
for the front I'll get some 7x13s
compared to the old rear tire haha
the aim is to paint them black, silver isn't ma thang
I finished preparing the interior and it started to see some paint.
I didn't go as far as a fine wet and dry for prepping the inside areas of the car just scouring pads so I was expecting many ripples and imperfections, inside the car I can live with this however for the outside the prep work will be super thorough and near on perfect flatness
there were a lot of hairs that came off of the cloth when spirit wiping the car in preparation for paint
some of them got engrained into the paint on the 1st coat
Using a gentle scouring pad I tried to remove as many of the hairs as I could before applying the 2nd coat of paint to the inside
some red overspray from mates car that I had to get off D: I masked it up so well and it still finds a way in!
the next day I tried to finish painting the interior and front deck area whatever you will call it
around the headlight needs more sanding and a little more paint which is why it looks silvery unlike the other parts
The paint I'm using is the 90s shade of Gunmetal Grey Metallic from Nissan (KH2), I first liked the colour when I saw it on the R32 Skyline as a kid; I thought it would suit the IMP well as its a classy yet understated colour and considering most IMPs are white, blue, red or orange I thought it would make a nice change
If you remember a while back I stripped the original dash apart and wanted to paint it all instead of having vinyl and fake leather trim.
well I've shaved it, sanded it, primered it and painted a part of it, just needs a finer wet and dry compound then the lacquer can go on
the interior with the dash panel in place
I applied some lacquer today, it still needs another few coats
with the lacquer the colour looks richer, compared to the other side of the floor which is yet to receive it
some shots of how my friends interior came out too
at least the cars are more easily distinguishable now that his is partially red and mine grey
before
after
the roll cage, underneath the car and a few interior accessories will be painted in this bright red which I think will contrast nicely alongside the dark gunmetal grey
just need to work towards getting the outside all sanded to 1500 so it can be painted
thanks to all of you that read and follow my build thread I appreciate it