I thought about doing a reasonably quick job on this around the suspension mount MOT fail, as we've not even lived with it enough to know whether or not it'll actually work for us or get used enough, but since everything crumbled and fell apart I'm in for the long haul as apparently I don't know when to say no. At least the other projects should be easy providing I make it through this one.
As you say this is the perfect project for practising welding really as its a rough and ready van, and will never be a pristine example. I've been following other threads here and elsewhere more closely the past year and what's been obvious is the improvement in their welding after a year when people just get stuck in, so I decided to stop being silly and just get on with it. Also following threads and YouTube series like Jim's SD1 car park restoration has provided much needed inspiration.
I actually bought the machine mart folder just for this project, although had been on my list for yonks as I've always wanted to get into decent bodywork stuff. Still have a few more tools on my list of must haves such as a shrinker/stretcher for that inner structure shown in my previous post.
I was at RRG. I did keep an eye out for you but I guess in a crowd as large as it was the chances were fairly slim, and by the time I thought to message you I was already there with no phone signal. Hopefully there'll be a next time. My black 9000 was there on the combustion punks stand looking out of place next to a bunch of MX5s.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Update on the van, shortly after my last post I made up some repair sections for the inner structure but as it happens wouldn't get around to doing much more until this month.
So fast forward 6 months and Mrs8925 finally pulls out the interior
Behind the fridge wasn't great but could've been worse
And I welded in the repairs
And then a couple of patches in the chassis rail
Otherwise the MX5 was great on track and I vowed not to sell it, but it picked up a suspension knock (turns out probably a front wheel bearing), an exhaust knock and had run out of tyres. It's rarely moved since and now needs a bit of work. I picked up some 1.8 front hubs to sort out the bearing and to replace my hacked up disc guards following the 1.8 brake conversion. I also picked up 1.8 rear hubs with push in driveshafts because a) the rear bearings are also noisy, and b) the exhaust, although a proper Mazdaspeed system, isn't a great fit and was knocking on the driveshaft flanges. While it doesn't cure the problem it will at least help with some clearance. Couldn't throw them on covered in rust so they've been stripped and painted, I'm now wondering if I should strip and paint the lot while I'm at it and replace the bushes, and clean and re-underseal the car. The diff could also do with new output bearings, thought I had something lined up but was let down so now questioning doing it myself, taking it somewhere for £££ or taking a chance on another diff. Still not put new tyres on it, wanted to get a road going set of Mazdaspeed MS03s and keep the Weds for the track but the one set I've found for sale had an asking price of near £1k also want to give them a DIY refurb but I can't get to any vinyl places to have new WedsSport stickers cut. And finally I wanted to remake the decat section (only bit that isn't Mazdaspeed) with a different angle and with a flex to help the rear of the system sit more naturally. I know it's not an idea solution but I don't want to go cutting up a Mazdaspeed 4-2-1.
The 9000 is unfortunately looking a complete state. Paint work is again faded and discoloured, another electric aerial has stopped working half-mast, the interior's a mess, top engine mount needs replacing among other problems. Still utterly reliable though. There is hope though, Mrs8925 is looking to replace it with a Disco 3, which means I can replace the 9-5 with it. I may have done some preparation here, Bilstein B6's H&R springs, SAS ARBs and a Jamsaab short shift to go on. I'm on the list for a brake upgrade which will vastly help stopping power but still fit under the Super Aeros. Quite looking forward to it - if it ever happens.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Another long overdue update, I meant to do this a couple of months ago but haven't been able to get around to it until now. So I was making some good progress on the van and then had to wait a little while for the bits and bobs to create the ribs to arrive. While I was waiting I thought I'd tick off some little jobs on the Mx5, which was a huge mistake...
The job at hand was to swap over my freshly painted four hubs and driveshafts - not too difficult. Except while there I thought I'd tick off another job that'd been on the list for a few years; to underseal it. Of course much easier to drop all the suspension to do this, and it would be rude to drop the suspension and not paint it up too look nice under the freshly undersealed car. The thing is the chassis paint I used on the hubs is quite thick and shows the brush marks so it would be really nice to buy a spray gun and have my first go using the compressor. Well if I'm going this far I may as well change the suspension bushes, they weren't too bad but were of unknown age and a lot of other rubber parts on the car had perished so it made sense. And if I'm doing all that I may as well drop the fuel tank just in case there's hidden rust.
This is what I was left with
Above the tank was spotless
I'm pleased to say it was all very very solid. Everything was degreased and hosed off, the surface rust wire wheeled off and a coat of Dinitrol RC800 rust converter and primer put over everything followed by the underseal. Dirty work but the back end started to look quite nice
I then had the fun job of removing the old bushes with the bench vice, tricky but got there eventually, had them shotblasted and made a jungle gym in the entrance to my garage Used Bonda Rust Primer and Frost Chassis Black on top. Both went on very nicely from the gun but the lack of space made nice and even coverage difficult. If you're doing this, note the tin lies! Cure time is not 6-12 hours, more like 6 days.
It felt so nice to start bolting bits back on after a couple months' work, IL Motorsport uprated bushes went in with SkidNation uprated alignment bolts
While pulling everything apart I went looking for rust and found some, although not much by MX5 standards. Two odd holes in the boot lip
The rear of the sills (actually where the rear quarters wrap around) looked a bit bubbly and didn't take much encouragement with a scredriver
Thankfully the outer sills behind them were still solid, although crusty, so they were wire wheeled back and as no holes were found they were treated with RC800, epoxy primer in the middle and weld-through primer over the top of it all. I know in an ideal world it would all be cut out and replaced but in the position I'm in now I can't commit to that, so I figured if I can treat and repair it to last another 3+ years before needing to be done properly it will do me. At that point I'll be a bit more invested in the car and will feel more comfortable spending the money on getting it all done.
A little while later when moving to the front of the car, removing the front wings to underseal behind found the passenger side inner rotten. Oddly the drivers side is immaculate.
It was at this point I decided I'd get someone else to do the bodywork rather than struggle through it myself, lacking confidence. After much searching I settled on a local mobile welder who had a lot of experience and a good reputation - I know mobile welding isn't ideal but in this position it was, to me, the best option for the money in the circumstances. Unfortunately it turned out to be the wrong decision, while it was far from the worst work his precision with the grinder wasn't great, his panel making abilities were lacking even compared to mine and his welds were inconsistent and largely porous. After some more deliberation I decided the work was good enough not to warrant cutting out completely and starting afresh, so on Saturday I set about dressing the welds back properly, which obviously opened up more holes and highlighted thin and fractured metal from his attempts at bending the repair sections. I went over any dubious welds and holes with my welder (why didn't I do this in the first place!?) and dressed it all back again, not stopping until I was as happy as I could be with it. By the end it really wasn't too bad, I threw a couple coats of epoxy primer on and cracked out the filler just to help smarten it up, blend the joints and profile the curves properly. God I hate filler. Another day gone and we're now at present day, more epoxy primer followed by high build primer has gone on and I'm now nearing the stage of putting colour on and putting this phase behind me
Thankfully it will all be hidden anyway, the boot lip by the seal and the rear decor panel, the rear quarters by factory applied stone chip and the front by underseal and the wing, so it should be ok come the end. Still a long way to go though, more to come soon.
Rain stopped play Before I tackle the rest of the repairs and paintwork I need to do a full decontamination anyway. It's covered in so much grind dust it looks more ratlook than anything else.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Not much progress over the weekend, on Saturday I was ordered by SWMBO to do some garden clearing work so that she could clean the patio and arrange her newly delivered garden furniture. Somehow that was the whole day gone, but truth be told it was nice to take a break from the car. I did manage to squeeze in sand blasting the last few bits I'd previously forgotten; diff mount spacers and castellated nuts for the front hubs.
Today was started with a tip run, I assume not many wanted to go on Fathers' Day so for once there was availability. I took advantage with a full car and trailer. I figured without much time to kill I'd use the evening to fit up the newly painted 1.8 front hubs to get them out of the way. For some reason I couldn't get the top ball joint nuts tightened far enough to insert the split pin, so measured the top knuckle which was 18mm compared to 14mm on my original hubs. This is when I found out that they were Mk2 uprights which are slightly different and use slightly different arms and ball joints - sold to me as mk1 by a supposed MX5 breaker and specialist. Thankfully the hub bearing assembly and brake shield is the same across the range, so I whipped out the rattle gun and took both pairs of units apart so I can mix my Mk1 uprights with the 1.8 shields and hopefully decent bearings off the Mk2 units.
Slightly annoying as I now have to clean up and repaint everything, but secretly I'm happy about it; I painted the 1.8 hub units at the beginning of the year using an old tin of Red Oxide I had kicking around and the chassis black by brush. I'm not sure the red oxide ever properly cured and the top finish was streaky, so this time I'll use the gun and give the prop a light coat too. As it's all disassembled it'll be much easier to comprehensively clean and paint too.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Struggling to find the time again but managed to do a couple of bits this weekend.
Pulled out the spray gun again to throw some primer on the prop and the front brake backing plates, having cleaned all the 6 month old paint off them. The chosen uprights and hubs are also prepped and ready for some chassis black when the time presents itself.
I also finally got around to fully test fitting the SkidNation chassis rail covers. The passenger side rail needed a little more hammering before the cover would slip over but nothing too awful. All bolts are in and the fit is great, now need to take them back off to treat the holes and strip, prime and underseal the rails.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Another few weeks and another few jobs done but progress isn't as fast as I need it to be.
The chassis rails have now been stripped down, rust converted, primed and freshly undersealed. I bought some dome headed bolts to use with the covers instead of the hex bolts, stupidly used the instructions to determine the size (M8x20) rather than measuring the bolts, and realised during final fitting that they protrude too much where the brake lines run, so I've had to reorder some in M8x16 to do that run of bolts again. Otherwise they're fitted up nicely with plenty silicone sealant used to keep moisture and dirt out of the contact areas. I need to pop to my garage to get some new underlay as I chewed the passenger side up in the drill, but once that and the new bolts are in the carpet can go back down and the interior can go back together, which will feel like a milestone.
Before refitting the front struts I degreased and cleaned up the engine bay as it was honking. I did consider and perhaps should have stripped back some of the surface rust and repainted bits before fitting the strut brace, but as it's generally in good condition and I plan to repaint the car including the engine bay in the next year or so I made do with some rust converter. It's still far from spotless but has made a massive difference, especially the underside of the bonnet which is now white again.
Part of the way through
After
Cusco strut brace and brake stopper were repainted in Citroen Poseidon blue, which is close enough to original
And with that the front struts were put on with the freshly painted and reassembled front hubs and the CMR anti-roll bar. Big thanks to Mike at Spring Loaded for managing to source some 25mm SuperPro bushes for me.
Unfortunately the rear ARB bushes could only be sourced in 18mm or 20mm, while my CMR bar is 19mm. So after some help from this forum I opted to get the 18mm bushes and a 19mm steel bar, chamfered the edge, left it in front of a blow torch for 5 minutes and burned/melted out the centre bore of the bush. This was a horrible job, and to anyone thinking of doing it wear a really good mask/respirator and do it in a very well ventilated area, it chucks out a lot of nasty fumes. Made a little bracket to hold the bush in but went freehand with the bar as didn't have anything readily available to hold and move it accurately. Here's one half way through
I'm surprised to say it actually worked very well and fits the ARB like a glove, although it has remained a bit tacky in places so I just overloaded the grease when installing
A shot of the underside as it sits
As a hopeful resolution to my exhaust woes I also ordered some poly mounts and an MX5Parts decat section, as my decat is obviously a home made job and seems to force the mid and rear sections to sit unnaturally. First comparisons looked promising
But on trial fitting I think I'm still going to have some problems with it as it just won't sit naturally
I'll wait until the diff and PPF are back on though so that I can set the engine height properly and see how it sits then. May still need something custom made.
I've just placed an order with Jawel paints so that I can clear coat the PPF, however I've decided not to attempt to refresh the diff bearings at this time hence it will go back on unpainted and looking out of place, but it will be the fist job to sort when back on the road. I also still need to apply stone chip to the repaired sills, also in the Jawel order, strip and paint some little bits like the light cages, then do a load of temporary body work painting to the rear panel, number plate panel, wings, headlight lids, mudflaps etc etc. The front bumper needs to be dismantled to repair some of the mountings and rear mudflaps forcibly removed from rear bumper, and a lot of further surface rust repairs on the door steps and the edge of virtually every panel. Mazda paint of this era unfortunately just doesn't last. Desperate to get this done now as I've finally been allowed to swap my 9-5 derv with the wife's 9000, so lots of fun to be had there.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
A few more bits done today. PPF clear coated, will give it a few days to cure before it goes on. Bolts changed on the drivers' side chassis rail cover, brake and fuel lines fixed into place, carpet underlay replaced on the passenger side, and everything hoovered and bolted back in. Nice to have the interior looking decent again.
Also front hubs and rear subframe bolts torqued up, split pins in. Hopefully diff and prop back on tomorrow, along with some bodywork.
Took advantage of the overcast whether for a long overdue wash of the MX5. I say wash, a little more was needed after months (or a year, really) of sitting and getting grind dust from the MX5 and van work all over the paintwork. It was really quite bad and I wasn't too sure how much I could bring it back to life. This is the boot lid to show what I started with
So I started with a normal wash over to get the loose stuff off, then attacked in with Bilt Hamber Korrosol. Left it to work for 5 minutes then agitated it with a damp microfibre; normally wouldn't do this because it will introduce swirls into the paint but such was the starting position I didn't really care
Following that it was rinsed off, dried and sprayed a second time with Korrosol, this time any remaining spots were dealt with using a clay bar. You can see on the second application there was much less reaction
Then rinsed again and moved on to the next panel. The bonnet was nowhere near as bad as the boot, but this shows first application on the right compared to second application on the left
With the whole car done it was rewashed, gone over with a clay mitt to get rid of any remaining spots, washed again then finally dried. I'm amazed at how well the paintwork has come back up. It still needs a machine polish but that can wait until the rear panel has been painted and some spot painting has been done around the car. Rejuvenated boot lid
Some of the troublesome areas. Really not sure of the best way to approach this (other than a full respray), the edges of near every panel has flaking paint through to primer or metal work; the back edge of the doors, leading edge of boot and around he fuel filler cap are particularly bad, as is the windscreen surround. I have a few colour match rattle cans, thinking anything white is going to be an improvement, but the thought of trying to blend in so many edges or little areas of so many panels fills me with fear. I did ponder over buying some non-iso 2k in the right colour and using a gun to get better coverage, but it would still have to be done on the drive in less than ideal conditions so I settled on touching it in with rattle cans and planning a full respray, DIY or pro, in the next year or so. Any advice greatly appreciated.
With the rest of the weekend I finally finished off grinding down the corroded screw heads holding the bumper/bonnet seal bits to the bumper retainer bar. This didn't quite go to plan as the screw heads were slightly countersunk into the metal parts of the seals so I couldn't grind them down completely and ended up bending and kinking them quite a bit to get them off. I needed to get the retainer bar off as at each end there is an M6 stud to fix the bumper to the front panel and one had sheared on removal. The retainer is available new but at £120 I thought I'd take my chance recycling it. 30 minutes and a roofing bolt later and it was ready for prep and paint. Thankfully the seal pieces could also be beaten back into shame with a little shrinking, so a nice couple hundred £ saving.
So to take stock of what needs to be painted now; front wings, front and rear mudflaps, front and rear towing eyes, both rear sill sections (stone chip bought for a factory finish), both headlight lids, bumper retainer bars/seals, headlight cages and bracketry, rear panel, rear decor panel. Dreading it!
I also changed my mind about installing the diff as it was. Figured now was as good a time as any to fix it, wither DIY or get a pro to do it. I also wanted to paint it to be honest. Stuck it on the bench and drained the oil, expected it to be relatively clean as it's only a year old and has only really travelled to Llandow and back in that time.
Uh, the dredges were very mucky and a thick sludge, with a good number of metal shards attached to the drain plug
Cracking it open it all looks good at first glance to my admittedly completely novice eye except for one of the worm gears for the right hand drive shaft. Some nastly looking damage here
Not sure now whether to dissemble it any further or just get it to a specialist and prepare to bend over. May see if I can do a bit of reading up first off. Second hand replacements appear to be around £400+ so I don't think it makes sense to take a risk on another.
After a lengthy period of not much progress I've started to crack on yet again. At the end of the summer I had decided the diff can wait and went to throw it back on the car only to discover the thread on one of the diff mounts was basically non-existent. So with that I left the car in a huff to regather some motivation. In the mean time I picked up another subframe, although this one the worst of the lot for rust, had it shotblasted and painted it up in Bonda Rust and Chassis Black. This time I also took the aluminium diff casing in to be aquablasted.
So last week I got around to clear coating the diff casing, not sure how long it will last but will hopefully make it easier to keep clean for a little while and it was a test for spray painting in my garage in this temperature. I ran out of gas for the heater part way through so it was a struggle. Let it cure for a few days in the house. Pretty pleased with how it turned out
I felt bad about bolting it to a nasty, rusty front half so gave it a quick splash of Kurust and some old Hammerite I found. Nothing brilliant but it looks decent, and will be replaced properly at some point soon.
And successfully fitted this weekend
With that done I could align and refit the PPF, driveshafts and hubs, rear brakes and exhaust. Rear wheels are temporarily back on so that at the next opportunity I can drop the rear onto ramps and torque up the suspension arms, struts and ARB.
I did hit a snag with the exhaust, which tracking back a few months in the thread was a known possibility. While the new decat has altered the angle of the midpipe so that the front sits much more comfortably and no longer hits the PPF, it has now raised the rear end of the midpipe so that it contacts the rear ARB and compresses one of the silencer hangers. Slightly at a loss with this now considering it's a Mazdaspeed system. Think I need to find a reliable and willing exhaust shop to make some alterations.
I've temporarily resolved it in the same manner as I had the midsection with the previous decat; this is a massive, chunky Ford Escort (randomly) exhaust hanger from Halfords with the cavities Tigersealed. Makes for a reasonable spacer.
While not ideal, it at least makes it driveable so that I can MOT it and find somewhere to make alterations. I also figure it's putting less stress on the downpipe here than further forward as it was previously.
Unfortunately I ran out of light here, so finishing off the suspension, bleeding the brakes and other bits and bobs will have to wait until next weekend. Hopefully I can finish prepping the small panels for paint and buy more gas for heating during the week.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Didn't accomplish much this weekend but painting the panels is pretty much the only thing left to do.
Frustrating start as I went to jack the car up off the axle stands and onto the ramps to torque up the rear suspension...
I did eventually find somewhere to buy a new lower handle but that could take weeks to arrive, so shifted all my welding gear back out of the van into the garage and cracked on
Reprofiled the retaining bolt so it didn't wear away the handle so much and to account for a bit more meat on the stick, painted it all up and finished off the suspension the following day.
Cleaned up and painted the remaining headlamp bolts so they can be reassembled but can't go on until the lids are ready.
So now I need to work out my garage heating situation, finish prepping the panels and throw some paint at them. Maybe buy a new gun too...
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
After much procrastination and deliberation (and even more expanding foam) I've rid the garage of most drafts and got to a point where I was ready to paint the panels. This didn't go well. Please feel free to give any advice and criticisms here because I don't have much of an idea. If you're sensitive to awful automotive refinishing please click the red cross now.
First mistake I made was forgetting to check the gun under pressure before pouring paint in the cup. This would have highlighted a sticky trigger pin although easily rectified, however something was not right with it. You can see from the second photo that it was chucking out the paint in what I can only describe as dusty lumps, at its worst it was like snow flakes. I couldn't get a nice flow or atomisation from it and at normal distances it would give this really dusty, lumpy finish. I should probably have stopped straight away but, being a bit peed off and with 500ml of paint mixed and ready to go, I thought I'd press on and see if I could find the error of my ways. Obviously I didn't succeed at this. So in order to get the paint to go on with any flow and avoid a really stippled patchy finish I had to bring the gun very close to the panel and move slowly, making it a very very heavy coat, which obviously caused its own issues. In the end the headlight lids have come out with decent gloss but a very orange peel finish. If, and it's a big if, I can get this paint to cure I'll see how much I can flat it back. The rear panel with its awkward shape is really bad in the number plate recess and will almost certainly need to be done again.
So, can anyone tell me where I went wrong for the paint to come out of the gun like this?
I don't have much confidence in the gun, I decided to stick with my Chinese gun for this job to see how it went considering the negative reviews I have since found on the paint. It's not the cheapest of the cheap, but was cheap, the brand is apparently 'Voche'. I used a 1.4mm tip, and after the problems with the mist coat swapped it out for another 1.4mm tip and needle etc, without any noticeable change.
The pressure didn't seem as adjustable as it was previously - I use an inline water trap and regulator (again, Chinese) and couldn't get more than just over 2 bar working pressure, but still thought this would be ok, also within the gun's specs in it's manual.
I also wondered if the hardener (which of course it isn't, it's uni-binder) could have been 'off'? It was about half a 1 litre tin that I opened a few months ago, but was still clear. Researching old hardener after the event I read some say don't use hardener if it's no longer thin and with a watery consistency, however when I first used this 'non-iso hardener' it was quite thick, this time no different, and my unopened tin sounds/feels glupey too. I've since read more on the non-iso stuff and read others have found it very thick too and needed to thin it down more than the recommended 15-20%, up to 35%. So could this be my issue? The mixed paint seemed a nice consistency and the garage was up to 25 degrees c, but I have zero prior experience of spraying with 2k.
I'm really unsure what to do with the rest of the car now. I was going to take the wings off and spray them in the garage as I took some surface rust off the top corner and fixing points, but there's not much point if this is the finish I'm going to get, might as well use rattle cans. There are also a lot of patches all over the car that need surface rust repair and repaint which I was considering having a go at myself in the summer, but again this finish on a large proportion of the car would be a disaster.
Apparently Jawel give out the wrong mixing ratio with the paint (2:1 + 15-20% thinners). The data sheet from Valspar says 100:50:50. That's an awful lot of thinners, but it seems to achieve a decent finish, albeit tricky because it's so thin. And it still has the issue of being soft 4 weeks after application.
Really can't decide whether to pursue this or give up and work out my alternative. The whole car needs a respray really, but so do 6 of the other cars and that's an awful lot of money! I've considered using proper 2k, would mean getting a second compressor and air fed mask and overalls, but still a lot cheaper than paying a pro. It's a detached garage at the bottom of my garden, so not particularly near anyone else's property, not near anyone's driveway or other cars, but I do worry about my two dogs' exposure to the over-spray. And my garage is not at all ventilated.
I could tidy up the areas needing attention with aerosols, but even when you can get a good finish on it I find it only lasts a few years max before it yellows, and there's possibly too much that needs doing to rely on aerosols; complete windscreen surround, top of both wings, bottom and rear edges of both doors, both mirror mounting points, leading edge of the boot lid, bits of both rear quarters, boot seal channels, inside the petrol cap, both sides below the swage line could do with paint too. Basically the whole car then...
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
Creeping ever so slowly towards the finish line, the headlight lids and mudflap have been flatted back and polished up...to some extent anyway. Took a lot of hard work but at the same time it's nice to be able to flat back a decent few coats of paint rather than aersol layers. They're still far from perfect, and yes the paint was still a little soft after a week curing in the house but they're good enough to be thrown back on for now.
Better colour match than the cans too (although we'll see how well it lasts)
Ditched the OEM steel nuts in plastic clips arrangement and went for spirenuts and stainless bolts. The OEM fixings seize, the nuts spin in the plastic and you're stuck having to carefully grind the heads of the bolts off without cutting the mudflaps.
With the front wings off I took the opportunity to chip away the brittle and split seam sealer around the scuttle/tops of the inner wings. There was a fair amount of surface rust so it got liberal coats of rust converter nicely into the seams, epoxy primer, fresh seam sealer, epoxy and a bit of colour on top. Should hopefully keep the creeping rust at bay for a little longer and perhaps prevent water ingress into the front sill void.
And while I had a bit of time I very quickly prepped my sun damaged cheap Chinese mirrors and put some non-iso lacquer on using a mini-gun and the 100:50:50 ratio. Very little prep, basically no garage prep so only ~12 degrees but I'm definitely impressed with this finish straight from the gun. Went on really nicely with this ratio so now need to find a test panel to try the colour.
Annoyingly I didnt think to paint the mirror stems before, so now risk marking this soft paint but I'll find a work around for that. All that's needed now is a clean up of the doors around the mirror mounts; sort the rear panel out; de-rust, prep and paint the wings and it can go in for an MOT. I'll sort the surface rust on body issues as and when during the summer and explore options for a respray as it's pretty inevitable
You have an eclectic and interesting group of vehicles there, As well, your "writing style" is both interesting and entertaining, Looking forward to seeing future updates, Definitely bookmarked, Nigel
BMW E39 525i Sport BMW E46 320d Sport Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 325 Touring (now sold on.) BMW E30 320 Cabriolet (Project car - currently for sale.)
Thanks guys. This was meant to be a quick fix only nigh on a year over schedule, and seriously dragging...but now so close.
Last 3 panels painted over the weekend; it was meant to be earlier in the week as I took some holiday but I seemed to spend the whole week chasing reactions between coats and fixing dents and other issues in the panels. With hindsight I should have just stripped the wings right back and started afresh; I bought some 'real' hardener because the non-iso stuff had proved to be useless even when mixed to the correct ratio (if you remember I needed to paint the stems on my freshly lacquered mirrors, I loosesly covered them in kitchen roll to protect from overspray and it marked the pattern on the paint after a couple weeks curing in the house) so I seriously thought about picking up a tin of decent epoxy and high-build primer to use in the gun.
So after a lot of back and forth I had what I thought to be a reasonably good base with any repaired areas sprayed in white primer to try to ensure a consistent shade in the top-coat.
Friday was spent giving the garage a deep clean which was no small job, and yesterday I was ready to throw some paint on. The outcome is...OK. I'm not sure the gun is atomosing correctly, or perhaps more accurately, atomising well considering it's a cheap ebay gun. I struggled again to get it to 'lay' nicely on the panel but I was really concious about creating runs so it was quite possibly me in the wrong. Otherwise I've learned I need to pay more attention to the edges and extremeties of the panel which have come out a bit thin in places, and if I do this more regularly I probably need some angled lights in the corners of the roof rather than directly overhead to gauge how the paint's going on a bit better. So it's a little more orange-peely than I'd like and there's a few imperfections/trapped dust but overall it's all in one colour and no longer has dents, massive stone chips and rust runs, hopefully some wet sanding will improve them.
I also gave the rear panel another crack but getting rid of the thick coverage from the first attempt proved very difficult - infact you could still dig a nail in and scrape the paint away in some areas. The surface seemed to flat back OK and this time I removed the badges so with a bit of filling and prep it was ready. In order to make it easier to get coverage in the recessed area I used the mini gun, which had worked fairly well for the fully thinned non-iso mix, but wasn't quite right for this. I think the 0.8 tip was a bit too small despite thinning a little more and it became even harder to get a nice wet finish, but again it's passable for now. Unfortunately this still seems a bit soft but I assume it's because the old uncured paint is still under it. It is what it is.
As you can see the bumper has been given a quick clean up and refitted. The paint is pretty ruined on this but that'll have to be approached as a later part of the project. To be honest I found it a massive pain to refit and the fit around the wings and bonnet isn't as nice as I'd like but I think it's probably as before; it was a long time ago now. Bottom corners of the bumper haven't been bolted to the wings yet hence they look a bit narrow. I'm sure the bonnet/bumper gap shouldn't be this large...
My repaired support bracket at the top edge of the bumper seemed to fit well so that's something, I replaced the air guide with a new Mazda part due to significant cracking and corrosion to the mountings of the original, and the lip was given a few extra securing bolts around the ducts and a lick of paint.
Ran out of light to fit the lights, however the pivot points will need cleaning of paint and lubricating before they fit nicely. New Mazda sidelight looms are on their way because the repair looms melted (I'm told this may be because the headlights weren't fitted therefore no clean earth, however I find it hard to believe the headlight casings earth the sidelight bulbs regardless, and the sidelights have only been on to test a duff numberplate bulb in the last year) and new brake discs too. I'm planning/hoping to book the MOT for next weekend and finish off the aforementioned jobs plus undertray, front arch guards and bumper mounting during the week.
Project Diary 1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
also want to give them a DIY refurb but I can't get to any vinyl places to have new WedsSport stickers cut. And finally I wanted to remake the decat section (only bit that isn't Mazdaspeed) with a different angle and with a flex to help the rear of the system sit more naturally. I know it's not an idea solution but I don't want to go cutting up a Mazdaspeed 4-2-1.
Before I tackle the rest of the repairs and paintwork I need to do a full decontamination anyway. It's covered in so much grind dust it looks more ratlook than anything else.
