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Also "finished" rubbing down the roof for paint. We got down to the weave in places so some filler and resand needed. But nearly there.  Went on a lovely little drive with my bestie and his project, to my favourite tunnel and some twisties, to celebrate his overheating issues being over... Alas, he overheated on the way back. But that's a different thread. |
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Fossilfish
Part of things
Thank fossils for fuel!
Posts: 653
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Oct 30, 2018 10:10:12 GMT
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 Just for anyone wanting a perfect fit grommet the drivers side wiper arm has a hidden grommet which fits perfectly. Good solid car you have and looks good with all the little bits your doing. |
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Thank fossils for fuel!
1996 Jeep XJ Sport 2.5 Manual
1975 Scimitar 3.0 V6
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Oct 31, 2018 10:48:50 GMT
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Thanks for the tip! However if this is the grommet I think it is (that covers the retaining bolt?) then mine is missing! Halfords jobby doing ok so far. I miss the radio occasionally so may reinstate a stubby here
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They look better from further away. Tbh you've probably seen them fitted a thousand times
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No updates since ducktail other than to say I'm only driving it once a week or so. It starts first time every time with no problems, although the seats seem to be getting a bit damp. Hopefully just condensation
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Finally got a chance to chip off the raised bubble of paint on the nearside rear arch with a screwdriver. Didn't know how bad it would be, but early on in the process I thought that it was just surface. After starting to dremel it away though, I realised it went all the way through. Cut it all out, for a given value of "all", covered it in rust converter then filled it. Just the start:   OK, there's some rust there:  Dremelled back, there's a bit of a hole:   Kurust done its job, plus a small thumb for scale (I have small thumbs):  Filled:  To stop the filler coming straight through the hole, I bluetacked a bit of plastic across the backside:  Next step will be sand, fill again, prime, spray. I've got a small can of Silver Stone so fingers crossed it won't look 100% terrible! Also this is coming (on the old lipless lid):  Sharpie-art bootlid  This is my wife's handiwork my own additions are somewhat less artistic! |
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My dad gave me a set of WIPACs for my birthday, so last weekend I put these in. I had to get a set of rubber boots to go with, because my old ones had perished. The old lamps were Indian-made, but not sealed beam, so I imagine these were an upgrade themselves at some stage. I actually prefer the way these look - I think they're more innocent-looking, so I've kept them for if I change my mind. Old ones:    A bit grubby, possibly on the inside too. I think having the beam pattern on the lens itself marks these as older style. The circular retaining clip screws all came off fine except one, the bottom one on the driver's side. This had rusted on and the crosshead rounded off, so I had to very gingerly dremel it away, then drill out the remains. Surprisingly this went as well as could be expected. I even found a nut and bolt that just about fitted to replace it! New ones:   Very modern. Too modern for my current front end! I love TSIs but want to finish more pressing jobs before I go mad on non-essential styling. Well, I say that. It's more that I feel I should do non-essentials last! Ah, we'll see where my impulses take me. I've yet to drive it at night to see if the light output is improved, but I'm not holding my breath. The previous lights were actually OK. If I want more I could get the Phillips Whatsits or Osram Nightbreakers, but in my experience those have a limited lifespan. |
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Massive increase in light output! Sadly didn't do a comparison but I reckon another 50%. Really amazing, best upgrade yet
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The hardtop aerosol sprayjob progresses well, for a given value of well. Black shows up all imperfections, of which there are many! I've only done wipers and trim before. Doing bodywork is considerably harder. Next time I need to spend about 3x the time in prep. In the meantime, I've tested my replacement driver's door - I needed to find out if the electric window worked so I pulled out the connector in the current door, offered up the replacement and plugged it in. Thankfully it did work.   I'm hoping this is an easy job to swap over - it certainly seems so on a guide I read! However the guy in the guide says he left the hinges on the body not the door. This seems ideal to me as the bolts holding hinge to body are mostly obscured by the front wing, so I would definitely rather leave them attached to the body. But it looks like the bolts on the door have tack welds or blobs of glue or something holding them on. I'm hoping these will break with a torque wrench... but then if they were there for a reason I'll need to reapply something afterwards. To stop the door falling off? Edit: looking for the first time at this image on a computer screen close up, it looks like the blobs are just attaching a washer??! I hope so!  |
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OGDB
Part of things
Posts: 544 
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Apr 12, 2019 12:25:24 GMT
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Seems like a cracking little project you have here. I bought one of these in the same colour for my mother a few years ago and she really liked it, but it was ever rarely used.
I’m considering one myself since I sold my MK2 MR2, they seem to have gone through the roof in value recently when compared to the MX5.
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piguin
Part of things
Posts: 136
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Glad to see this back |
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Midas
Part of things
Posts: 515
Club RR Member Number: 14
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I have a few random (mainly interior) parts for a Mk1 and I’m not a million miles away from you. Drop me a line if you need anything and I’ll have a look.
Rich
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Called the hardtop respray done and pulled the masking tape off. It looks decent from 10ft away, which is all I could really hope for. It's several coats of clear over many coats of satin black. The rear screen is trimless and I like the clean look so I'm thinking of leaving it that way.    Need to do a test fit on the car. Quite excited about it actually. Also removed my plinth of darkness from the front plate. Eyeballed new holes and think I've done an OK job. Certainly seems a bit nicer. This is a temporary measure until I repaint the car, then I'm thinking about a slightly shorter plate or a sticker.  |
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I read about a simple foglight integration that just involves a red bulb and one of the two reversing light positions. Since the MX is tiny, I rarely reverse in full darkness, and I can always upgrade the remaining bulb, this seemed a no-brainer. I don't think many people like the look of an auxiliary fog hanging off the rear bumper (or stuck on with pads in my case), so I vowed to do the mod and bought a set of 2 (since I could get one) 13 SMD LED bulbs that light up red, so I wouldn't have to tint the clear reverse lens - this saves money and effort and means my rear is still symmetrical. No bad bum-job for me! LED bulbs arrived yesterday, and I trial fitted them last night - by just swapping the bulbs.  Alas, this highlighted an issue I should have thought of. They were way too dim. Presumably because only 3 of the 13 SMDs are end-mounted, and the reverse light isn't the reflector type, merely an old-school diffused lens. You can tell straight away it's dim, but for a real eye opener I put the current fog on! Like night and day, but more dangerous imo than slightly dim tail lights. Current bulb:  SMD LED bulb:  Trial:  Trial with fog comparison:  The bulb hole - no reflector, made worse by faded finish:  So, obviously, took it out. £3.50 gutted, which isn't that gutted I suppose. Went back on ebay and ordered a different set of LED bulbs, this time with all the diodes in the end-facing position, sold as fog-worthy. By the way, my reasoning behind red-light LEDs instead of a red-coated normal bulb is that I want to avoid the "fried egg" look you get with clear indicators and orange bulbs. If I can. They'll probably show up next week for the next exciting instalment. Although rather more excitingly, my GCR1 is on its way and I've decided on my repaint colour... |
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Sighhh. So the new bulbs showed up. Looked promising til I realised they were 2 contact ones. Assumed I'd just made a mistake so soldered a joining piece out of a snapped off piece of picture hook, which worked well enough for testing.  Sadly testing showed the new bulb was slightly better than the last one, but still not even slightly a match for the real thing. Without lights on, new bulb in reverse housing on the right (reverse bulb on left way brighter):  Lights on. Brighter than taillights, which is more than can be said for the last one:  The real foglight. Still no comparison!:  Output on the garage - new fog:  Old/current/proper fog:  And then I checked the listing (looking for wattage) and found it was supposed to be single contact and the seller sent the wrong one / supplied incorrect information on the listing. I'm pretty near giving up on this idea now. Thinking about either a low centre mount for the current fog, maybe integrate it into the bumper a bit, or an internal high mount on the soon-to-be-installed rollbar. I guess this would be slightly more interesting and a bit rallycross, but might produce some unwanted reflection, especially at night. GCR1 and hardtop brackets are here, planning to install this weekend if the weather lets me. Juuust about squeezed in the back seat, which the dog was grateful for:   |
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Apr 29, 2019 13:58:14 GMT
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So much done in the last week. Dented door replaced, discovery of uprated speakers, rollbar mostly in, new mirrors ordered after I snapped the one on the new door like a prat. Full write up and pics to follow, this is mostly to remind me to do it.
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Dec 12, 2019 10:48:55 GMT
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This still lives, and has new stuff too, I just haven't been able to work up the enthusiasm to write about it
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Dec 23, 2019 12:58:46 GMT
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Went out for a nice drive with a friend and redid our tunnel shoot. Shows how far we've come - and how much nicer his is!  |
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off and took way too long considering!
