So, I thought I would give a bit of an update on recent progress.
Continuing the theme of a build in reverse, I have spent many cold hours in February and March out in the garage armed with a sander and a desire to remove more weight from the car, in the form of paint dust. About 1% of the dust was collected in the little bag attached to the sander, and I am collecting that in a carrier bag to see how much I have at the end. The remaining 99% goes up my nose (even with a mask on) in my eyes, ears, hair, and ear hair, covering every inch of the garage, inside my tool chest, also into the utility room where my daughters bike sits laying under Pompei levels of new dust every day. I have also developed the ability to cough dust particles at will.
The reason for the strip down was because I like the slightly numbing sensation from holding a rotating sander for hours at a time while my feet also go numb from the cold. Also, the car had sadly developed hundreds of small blisters on the body over the last 18 months. Being outside, under a cheap cover is not good for a glassfibre car. You all knew that right? well, I kind of didn't. Not that I had planned on it being stored outside. It was supposed to be there temporarily until it went into someone's workshop, which never materialised.
So anyway, the car came home looking quite good from 20 feet. Mostly one colour, teasingly looking like a new paint job would be possible with a bit of final prep. The blisters put an end to that, as there was no way forward, other than stripping back to expose the problem. Osmosis is what I think they call it when a glassfibre car sweats, strange really because the thing hadn't moved under its own power for years, so god knows how it broke a sweat, maybe fear.
By my reckoning, even I can sand stuff. If I do it myself, without making a complete hash of it, then I can save paying some one else to do what is, in essence, a simple, but slow and therefore expensive task. Simple yes, enjoyable? Umm, sometimes it's therapeutic, sometimes progress seems rapid, when you are removing 'just' 4 layers of paint. The areas where there are up to 7 layers of paint, combined with plentiful filler, well, to put it mildly, they are less enjoyable. Not only is the dust pretty grim, but add that awkward dread when you expose an area that has so much filler you wonder if you will just end up with a pile of dust and 4 wheels if you keep going.
To keep myself motivated, I started to go back through old Rochdale owners club magazines to get in tune with the whole plastic DIY car experience. Pick up some tips from those who have been through the whole process and come out the other end with an actual finished car.
I also read up on how to best repair grp damage and prepare for paint. Lots of different methods, but the one which seems to be respected as the best long term solution as luck would have it, is the most time consuming, and of course, nothing I had attempted before. Oh good! Oh well, in for a penny....
I talked with a few bodyshops and started to feel I could ask the right questions, to understand who really knew how to paint a car that had a chance of looking good years down the line.
Obviously grp doesn't rust - which was one of my attractions to the Olympic originally. However, it can end up looking just as tired and scruffy on a car when the body is not properly prepped. You see quite a few scruffy old kit cars right? Gel cracks are the most common blemish and really do spoil the appearance.
So, I started to appreciate that pretty much any bodyshop is happy to paint grp, and some say that it is very similar to painting a steel car. This is comforting, but actually false hope. There is a big difference between making a grp car shiny after paint and one that still looks good years and 1000's miles later. The people who talk about the extra work involved to ensure a car still looks good years later, tell of quite a different approach to painting a grp car. Gel cracks have the potential to ruin the finish just as much as rust would, and the most trusted route is to grind any problem areas down to remove the crack in the surface, and use mat followed by tissue to re surface. The 2 most experienced and respected bodyshops I spoke to also re tissue the whole car before final prep for paint. They also talk of leaving the car for extended period between primer and top coats to ensure no adverse reactions.
Obviously, as little filler as possible is preferred, so the goal is to only need a 'veneer of filler' in prep for the paint. I think it is time to show this photo.
Ironic to think we should be aiming for a veneer when this filler has so many layers it looks more akin to the multiple years of a tree trunk. Oh well, more filler to collect in my filler bag and eyebrows......
So, anyway, a lot of rambling, here are some photos of the current state.
I made use of of the crazy windy bank holiday, pushed the car out of the garage and let nature blow away more weight. If you were in Dorking and experienced localised dust storms, I apologise, that was me.
So, to give you a a bit of a tour of the outside of car;
The original body was finished in red gel coat. That was back in 1962. So anything that isn't red, has happened since. Some old damage and repairs, but most of the changes have been during my ownership, with fussy bo**ocks here trying to create a shape that is virtually impossible to get right.
There is still some more sanding to do in the less accessible areas, which I will tackle with a dremmel, but we're not far off completing the outside.
This is the lower nose of the car, showing some damage around the air intake that has gone through the gel coat.
Same area showing some more previous impact damage to the nose. Probably just some low speed car parking dings but will need grinding down and making good.
This is the front of the car, in front of the bonnet, a previous repair has left a small hole and will need rebuilding.
From another angle -
This is, again, the nose area. You can see here some gel cracks, which originated after a frontal impact where a toe bar got trapped in one of the front nostrils. Don't ask, it was a bad day.....you can also see the previous repair to stop the gel cracks from spreading by drilling and filling a small hole in the fibreglass at the end of each crack. Seems to have worked....
A crack in the fibreglass on the passenger side wing where some previous DIY wing vents were glassed over.
The roof, where a sunroof has been filled in. I've not actually sanded this back fully as the profile is good and I am not sure that stripping all of the filler off is just counter productive, still deciding.
Round to the back and you can see the rear end has seen some action..ooer missus.
There will be quite a lot of surface repairs to do here.
Check out the recess for the new central fuel filler
Which means the 2 original fuel filler holes get filled, albeit with grp rather than so much actual filler as used previously -
Here is an area that has baffled and disappointed me. There is so much going on here, it is difficult to see what is on top of what. You have the original shell that meets an area of filler, which has then had new grp bonded on top. The dark area is the newest section, in this case the passenger side rear wing. You can then see a yellow band that meets the body, which is where the new grp has been bonded on top of filler. It's strong, there is no flex there, but I still wish that grp met grp without Filler being in the mix.
This photo shows the front of the same arch where the surface of the new panel has split to reveal resin and filler. Not happy about this, but I guess I need to just make good by adding may or surface tissue to seal the surface. Still not what I wanted to find though....
Another flaw on the same section, where the new arch has delaminated where it meets the original wing. I am trying not to be angry with these problems in areas that are evident in the most recent repairs. Stay focussed Al, look forward, not back. Deep breaths, it's my build now.....
The amount of filler used to blend in the new front arches to the original wings is also beyond what I think is acceptable but when raised with 'the experts' apparently that is as good as grp. Mmm, right !? You can also see some holes in the surface of the arch, clearly a gel coat wasn't used and the more I sand, the more I expose filler as part of the surface. That's not right is it, or is it just me??
So, here she is, looking sorry for herself. Pushed out of her resting place into broad daylight wearing nothing but her life history for all to see.
So, after stripping the paint off, I know more about the car than ever. It feels further from completion than ever. I feel totally daunted by the amount of work needed before paint, much more than I had hoped. I deliberate over whether the whole thing is even achievable this side of 2025 and a million pound build cost. But I am still going to start the repairs and see if I can actually do a half decent job. Can I ever get this build done, to the standard I want? Who knows, but at the moment I feel like I am getting clearer about the work involved, and I am only investing time, which will pass either way, so may as well give it a go. I am avoiding spending any more money on parts, or commissioning any specialist work until I am more confident that I am going to see this one through.
I completely forgot to take any pictures of the interior, which will also need stripping down as I want to leave certain panels in paint, rather than be trimmed.
I will get some photos of the interior and post another update, which I am sure you are all really excited about. Did you know the Olympic has a steel roll over hoop bonded into the fibreglass? Well, I will prove it in pictures next time.
I will leave it there for now as I have rambled on far too much. You can blame my wife and daughter as they have gone away for a few days, leaving me talking to myself and writing as if some of you could possibly be interested in this non progress of a silly old plastic car.
If you have managed to get through this update, well done!. One day I hope to be able to reward you with an update where things actually move in the right direction, and I am building up, rather than stripping down. Stranger things have happened, like Donald Trump being a serious candidate for US President. WTF?!
I will leave you with one piece of Rochdale trivia. The late, Richard Parker, who designed the Olympic, was poached by Colin Chapman and went to work for Lotus, after Captain Lightness saw an Olympic on display at a car show. A compliment on the design and engineering of the Olympic as well as the man himself I think. Some of us can see the genius in it anyway.
what do you reckon 
