|
|
|
My old man's Audi 80 had a funny clip thing in the rear shelf behind the headrests- two headphone jacks, two little clips that would capture the top bands of some very 80's Walkman headphones and a switch to disable the rear speakers. Fader set to fully R in the back and your passengers could listen to the radio.
In reality the switch became unreliable and would often pop and crackle and the fader on the (factory) Blaupunkt Windsor didn't actually go fully one way or the other so you'd always have some audio coming out of the front.
Vorsprung Durch Technik.
Phil
|
|
|
|
|
Rich
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 6,317
Club RR Member Number: 160
|
|
Jun 25, 2019 12:57:22 GMT
|
Rich What a peculiar option. I can't think of any other car with that. Vauxhall loved it as an option, Meriva and Astra are 2 that spring to mind.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 18:00:26 GMT
|
The seal kit and bleed nipple dust covers that I ordered arrived today, much sooner than expected, so Mike got busy rebuilding the calipers and now they're all done and looking lovely. Bleeding process went very smoothly and everything was going well. All that needed to be done was nip up the last bleed nipple and put the dust caps and wheels back on. The last bleed nipple is the one that had to have the thread retapped. The last bleed nipple did this. Great joy. Fortunately, the spare calipers haven't sold so we're pulling those off sale and hoping we can dismantle them to give us the bits we need and that they're in good enough shape to be rebuilt. At least I've enough spare components to do this after having to order the other seal kit. If we can't salvage things this way then it looks like all this effort to rebuild the front calipers, and the money invested, as a waste of time and I'll end up having to buy new calipers. Oh well, that's just the way these jobs go sometimes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 18:21:22 GMT
|
Ah! that's not so good. Bet you said 'gosh, darn it. I appear to have broken the caliper, that is most inconvenient' in your best Chomely-Warner accent
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 18:25:28 GMT
|
I jolly well did, old bean!
|
|
|
|
jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,916
Club RR Member Number: 40
|
|
Jun 26, 2019 21:01:51 GMT
|
Swearing here on reading this on your behalf old chap. James
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jun 27, 2019 11:22:54 GMT
|
i aint even never not trying to be empathetic or nothing ( bit of estuary english there for a new medway inhabitant) but that's literally what happens to me on every well intentioned job i do
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
Jun 28, 2019 22:18:23 GMT
|
I shan't bore you with the details of getting the dashboard out, nor the fact I had to re-tape the speedo cable (because no adhesive heatshrink and plenty of impatience... a job for another day when I buy a replacement cable probably) but I can tell you that all 25 of the dash binnacle bulbs have now been replaced. The problem with the ones that weren't working was poor fit more than it was blown bulbs, the replacements are a slightly different design that actually works better. All the telltales work that should and a first look is promising. I was going to go the LED route until it was pointed out that they're not compatible with the rheostat and you have to be aware of the polarity. Then there was the added issue of actually finding LED versions of these bulbs that looked like they were from a reputable supplier and the cost difference was such that I was as well going with incandescent types, so that's what I did. I don't often use the rheostat, it's just nice to have what few options the car has to actually work, so here's the dimmest and brightest settings for the light bulb geeks out there that might like this sort of thing. Much better! I suspect the centre console will require the same treatment, I haven't actually checked to see if what should illuminate there actually does since I never really look for the controls in the dark, they're chunky enough to find by feel. The other important thing to arrive today was the new rear suspension gaiters and clamps so once the Princess is sorted I'll get those replaced. Fortunately Mike did get the spare caliper apart and has already painted the part we need ready to bake the paint so that it can be rebuilt, so we should be good to go on that one very soon.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
We finally got the brakes sorted today. Another bleed through and we found the rear passenger side drum was a bit recalcitrant until it spat out a blob of some gungy black stuff, presumably that's been floating around in the system for quite some time since I have bled the brakes on this car at least twice in my ownership and it's not done that since the first bleed through. The pedal feels very different now, in a good way, so I'm looking forward to actually testing the brakes properly, which I'll do when the car isn't blocked in by a recalcitrant P38. Yes, we did go to the trouble of fitting bleed nipple covers all round. That's the first car I've ever had with a full compliment of those, they'll likely all ping off in a few months. The only other job I could do today was repair the mirror, a simple case of cleaning back the broken weld and rewelding it with more heat. Went back together no problem and, with the brakes done, we could get the car back on its wheels. My list of jobs is quite small, though some are a bit expensive: Re-gas displacers - driver's front especially in need and I have no spare front displacers Rust repair and repaint of rear driver's door Rust repair on rear arches Repaint front valance and, maybe, bonnet Fit new windscreen seal - To be done before the weather turns again, now it's finally warm and dry I stand a chance of getting it done. Proper respray - I really do want to get the car properly resprayed. Realistically, I'm expecting a minimum £5,000 investment on this which is a massive spend for me. To me, the car is totally worth the cost, I'm not in this game to make any money (just as well, really, given my choices) and if it costs nearer £10,000 that's okay too providing I've got it. Luckily, £5,000 is going to take me ages to save up because right now I've got about a dozen different colours I like that I can't choose between so it gives me time to make up my mind. Or find more colours I like.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A full respray would be amazing but you could probably save a lot with your knowledge of cars by stripping and prepping yourself. I would go Kawasaki green ☺
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
The current paintjob is Rustoleum rattle cans and it's adequate enough for the most part. There's lots of areas of bodywork that are sub par, especially for my abilities, and while I can get it nice I'll never get it great. It needs someone to do it properly. Kawasaki green with black trim would be a great choice, if I wanted green, and if I were going green it would be BL's own Tara Green or Applejack.
A sample of the colours I'm currently considering:
Cadillac - Rose Mist Jaguar - Heather Pink Rover - Nightfire Red British Leyland - Mirage Studebaker - Flamingo Lotus - Moonstone Silver Vauxhall - Sapphire Black
I'm a bit all over on colour choices. Too much to choose from.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The problem with a full respray is it would really require a Grumpy level of rust repair first. If this was not done then the £5,000 or £10,000 you spend on paint would be a total waste as it would rust through in a matter of months.
I would estimate if mr Grumpy were to take on your car somewhere around £14,000+ to get it the the Corsair standard.
|
|
|
|
eurogranada
Europe
To tinker or not to tinker, that is the question...
Posts: 2,555
|
|
|
Colour choice is probably the hardest choice to make in a restomod restoration. Seconded by wheels...
I like my choices (although not appreciated by any and all), but they were hard derived. I had pearl white/metallic black two tones, purples, greens, grays and the lot on my mind. In the end I settled on a colour I had never previously even considered... Weird how stuff sometimes works out.
Also, I should think 5k in pounds should get you a decent respray with some body work. May not be a Grumpy style job, but surely a decent result should be achieved with that budget. Assuming body work, but little to no welding (you seem to be able to do that yourself).
Edited to add: as I couldn't weld myself, I've paid about 500 euro's or so for all welding all around the car. Take into consideration that I made all patches myself so paid primarily for the actual hours of welding.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
I'll only know actually how much it costs when I start hunting out quotes and I can't do that until I've saved up at least the £5k, no point wasting the time of bodyshops and individuals until I'm at least at that point. My price guess is based on both work I've seen and the standard of finish I'm after. I would love to treat the car to a Grumpy spec restoration, the problem is there's a lot that would need to be undone, quite a few repairs that while perfectly adequate would definitely fall short of his exacting standards. I don't mean that as a criticism, far from it. If I were to go the perfect Grumpy paint route I'd be expecting to pay £20-24k in all seriousness because of the huge amount of non-paint work that would have to be done to get the car ready. This is further complicated by the lack of panel support which means there's a lot of scratch fabrication to do. That said, a Grumpy resto would be amazing and would make me super happy.
£5k is the bare minimum. That's me having done the welding repairs and stripped the car down and then the painter does all the dent fixing, filler, and paintwork. It's entry level. A tidy job to get the car in one unified shiny coat with acceptable imperfections such as imperfect panel gaps and paint that isn't absolutely mirror finish.
£10k is more realistic as a target price, especially if the painter is doing some rust repair and other fettling. Again, there's going to be imperfections at even this price point because of how imperfect the car is to begin with, I'm under no illusion about that, and it's an awful lot of money for a less-than-perfect finish.
Over £10k I'd be expecting higher standards, naturally. It's all about where to draw the line on the finish. There's absolutely no point getting this car to a top end concourse type level because that would spoil my enjoyment of it. I'm just after getting it smart, presentable, and in more a more durable paint finish than what comes out of a rattlecan. I'm not interested in getting the shell stripped totally back to bare metal and that sort of thing, I'm not even that fussed about microscopically perfect panel gaps. The car is what it is; old and slightly wobbly. That's not something I want to lose and I suspect a Grumpy level resto would lose that particular slightly rubbish character that I love about this car.
Really, the repaint is about getting it smart and dealing with as much rust as possible so that I can keep on top of it going forwards. A good all-over starting point that deals with the worst of the imperfections I don't like (door bottoms and wheel arches mainly) without worrying about the imperfections I don't mind.
It's a tough one, really. How do you communicate "just make it smart" without coming across like one of those customers that says that and then picks fault with every blemish they didn't ask you to rectify?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I couldn't let Grumpy work on my car. I can imagine his build thread...
"Here we see where some fool blobbed a repair panel on and didn't paint it properly..." "And here the idiot tried to weld to filler..."
And I'd be cringing at home saying "Er, yeah, that was me... Oops, that was me too... And that..." Far too embarrassing!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
My advice (even though you never asked for it ha-ha!) is to save a lot less and buy yourself a decent compressor, a mid range spray gun and paints and do it your self.
Unless you really chop out the rot & replace metal, de-rusting everywhere etc as GN does then rust will always come back. If you paint it yourself then you can always touch it back in again with a proper match rather than shell out £100s of pounds to fix those pesky rust bubbles.
It really is easy to paint, you already have the skills and a spray gun is such an invalueable tool. Compressor is also invaluable, pumping up tyres, drying things off, cleaning things down etc. So your £2,000 investment on a compressor, sprayguns, masks, paint, filler, primer etc will be a lot less and you get to keep the tools for other jobs.
You have (had?) the luxury of a unit to borrow for paint but you can achieve good results outside on a decent weather day - you only have to look at what Jim has managed on the deisel SD1 to see this.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
For unsolicited advice, that's actually pretty good . Has the added bonus that I can deal with the poor paint on the BX too and the result on the SD1 mentioned is about the standard I'm after. I won't have the luxury of the unit by the time I can afford it and it would have to wait until House Move 2 (House Move 1 is currently underway and will be the stop gap for HM2, but there's zero paint spraying or car welding space at HM1), but by the time HM2 happens I might actually have workshop space of my own, which would be neat. A compressor is on my workshop wishlist. --- Drove the Princess home today, finally. The brake job was just one of those jobs where it was plenty of little things going wrong and then waiting on parts and so on. That said, it was well worth doing. All the while I've had the car until very recently the brakes have never felt inadequate and have always met the legal requirement so apart from general bleeding there never seemed to be any need to investigate further. How wrong I was! The brakes are so much lighter and more responsive now than they've ever been, it really has been something of a revelation. It's difficult to explain it really, it's almost as though the brakes feel like they're off a newer car, just not an over assisted car with a dead feeling pedal. It's like there's more fine control on the braking progression and I don't have to brake as hard or as early to slow the car down. This isn't really that surprising given that everything is practically brand new up front now and all 8 pistons are working in the calipers rather than just 2. Now to enjoy driving it for a few weeks before disabling it again to get the front displacers re-gassed. At least that's a fairly straightforward job.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
my reservation with a grumpy level resto is the car potentially becoming an ornament, be that due to actual monetary value, or intellectual value ive assigned to it based on the spend. if theres a moment before i grab the keys where i have to decide if i should take it or not, might change my relationship with cars.
or maybe i'm just scared i wouldnt value the car enough if someone else had put 1000 hours into it.
|
|
|
|
vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,256
Club RR Member Number: 146
|
|
|
Had a surprisingly easy time of swapping the rear door for my (fairly rotten) spare so I can repair the one I took off and finally get it painted to match. Eventually I'll replace that rear Allegro hubcap with a Princess one. This will make the door repair much easier since I don't have to disable the car or work to a tight schedule (or really any schedule) to get it done and ready to go back on the car. Rear arch repairs are less vital and much small than the door bottom replacement so it makes sense to do the door first.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Some top advice there. As others have said if you have the skill and time get it totally solid and then pay someone who knows what they're doing to do your prep and top coat.
That said by the sound of the finish you want, some practice with a decent gun and compressor should yield adequate results.
It's a case of taking your time on prep and if you put a run in it or make a mistake it can usually be sanded out and polished. By doing it yourself you can take that extra labour time to get it how you want it.
That said I get very jealous of the finish the pros can get straight out of the gun!
|
|
|
|