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Things have been a bit slow this week for various reasons but the tank is finally finished getting stripped and primered. Need to wait at least 4 days for the primer to fully cure then it can get a coat of epoxy mastic. Still have one of the front knuckles and the tank straps to finish stripping before they get the same zinc primer then I'll epoxy the tank, straps, knuckles and filler neck together.
Fair warning, these aren’t industrial blasters and take forever. That one knuckle took several hours to finish. Wouldn’t use it with anything less than the 50l 2.5hp compressor I’ve got either as even that struggles to keep up and I need to stop to let the pressure build back up when I get a stubborn bit. And be prepared to get a load of ****e in your eyes. The visor I was using quickly got too scratched up to see out of. Now got some glasses with foam inserts which keep 99% of stuff out of the eyes but still it finds its way in occasionally. You’re going to want a respirator of some sort too unless you fancy breathing all that rubbish in.
That’s effectively what the foam inserts make the glasses. Think some sell them, at a huge markup of course, as onion cutting goggles. Been a while since I’ve used swimming goggles but I seem to remember them being fairly soft so they’ll probably get too scratched very quickly. I’ve now got one of the forestry mesh visors I wear the glasses under which obviously can’t get scratched. Doesn’t stop everything but does stop a lot.
Thanks John. Just spotted where you’re from. You’ll need to keep an eye out for the car when it’s finally finished as I’m down your way fairly often visiting family.
Sadly it's a bit before my time to have seen them for real. I missed out on the whole Group B era but old videos are incredible and of course it's always a laugh trying to tame them on Dirt Rally.
Decided I’d quite like a fairly easy, relaxing job this afternoon. The Hawk has been feeling a little neglected lately so I’ve decided to refurbish the original WRX brakes off the Bug for it since I have a set of Brembo’s ready for the Bug. Brakes had other ideas to the easy part though! About half the pistons were stuck solid, compressed air wouldn’t budge them. Eventually resorted to whacking them in with a hammer slightly to free them slightly then split the calipers, grabbed the piston in a vice and used the caliper as a lever to unstick it. Hardly the relaxing job I had planned but nice to get done none the less. I’ll be blasting them back to bare metal then giving them a fresh coat of paint, new seals and stainless pistons. Discovered the front calipers are heavier without pistons than the Brembo’s are with pistons. The larger disc probably negates that but still found it funny not that I should be surprised an alloy caliper is lighter than a cast iron one.
yuck, fixing brakes is always a pig of a job IMO The worst "maintenance" type job by far in my limited experience. Everything's invariably mucky, things are stuck, etc etc
I don’t mind the mess when it’s on a bench. Copious amounts of brake cleaner helps too. I’ve had to rebuild mountain bike calipers in the past a few times and they can be fiddly little buggers so to me the big car calipers are fairly relaxing other than the stuck pistons.
Not sure why I'm posting this here but I think I just need to vent a little.
So the last few weeks have been pretty difficult hence no recent updates. Our neighbour has been harassing my family for months now and in the last few weeks it's just got too much to handle. I've been assaulted twice by him (ok it was "only" a soaking with the hose/pressure washer but it is still classed as an assault and I wouldn't exactly call getting blasted in the face with a stream of water for 30 odd seconds comfortable) and my mum, dad, brother and myself have been subject to all sorts of verbal abuse from him. It seems the car is to blame for this which has made it increasingly difficult to get any work done on it. We've had to down everything and quickly erect lots of fencing, gates and move two sheds so the car can be brought into the back garden and locked in in an effort to keep him away from us. Not easy when neither myself or my dad are in the best of health right now. We're currently trying to seek a non harassment order against him but our first choice of solicitor is too busy to take it on right now.
But the car is now in its new home on the back patio and I'm nearly finished reorganising the sheds/workshop then I might be able to get a little work done on the car again. I've managed a few little odds and sods that I'll probably post an update about later this evening when I've taken some pictures.
Thats shocking Rocky, is he a big lad or just likes pushing his weight about , hope you get sorted and get some more updates up, i like following this thread
Honestly he's tiny compared to me and dad but then so are most. We're big guys naturally. Even at my skinniest with a 34 inch waist riding about 100 miles a week off road I was still about 100kg. He's also about 60 whereas dads in his mid 50's and me my mid 20's. He felt it necessary to get his son around one time to threaten me too breaking lockdown rules. He's just one of these people who likes to think he's well connected so can do what he likes and boss everybody else about. He likes to keep telling us various things we're doing are illegal, usually in regard to planning permission laws. Completely ignoring the fact dad was a chartered architect for over 20 years before he had his nervous breakdown. So unlike most people he's encountered probably we actually do know what is and isn't allowed so see right through his bull****.
We're not going to let him defeat us. We're going to keep working on the car one way or another until it's finished.
As promised some updates on what small things I've managed to get done.
First up was finishing the fuel tank and front knuckles. First they got a coat of epoxy after the zinc primer:
Then the tank got a coat of stone chip:
And finally they both got a coat of satin black chassis paint. The VHT spray cans on the knuckles is a much nicer/more satin finish than the Frost paint on the tank but needs must for the coverage the Frost paint provides for the cost.
The tank straps and filler neck will also get a top coat of paint but I ran out of epoxy as I was finishing them so there's a few spots that need touched up first.
Then I thought I'd give some cheap carbon fibre wrap a shot on the centre console. Actually turned out ok I think:
Some bonus pictures of the car being moved to where it now sits:
And finally another bonus. Can you tell what it is?
As promised some updates on what small things I've managed to get done.
First up was finishing the fuel tank and front knuckles. First they got a coat of epoxy after the zinc primer:
Then the tank got a coat of stone chip:
And finally they both got a coat of satin black chassis paint. The VHT spray cans on the knuckles is a much nicer/more satin finish than the Frost paint on the tank but needs must for the coverage the Frost paint provides for the cost.
The tank straps and filler neck will also get a top coat of paint but I ran out of epoxy as I was finishing them so there's a few spots that need touched up first.
Then I thought I'd give some cheap carbon fibre wrap a shot on the centre console. Actually turned out ok I think:
Some bonus pictures of the car being moved to where it now sits:
And finally another bonus. Can you tell what it is?
Bingo! Got in contact with Andy Hughes who made it up for a very reasonable cost. Totally overkill and unnecessary but so what? I know it’s going to transmit a lot more noise and vibration than a normal subframe but it should also make the car handle better. And come on, who doesn’t love a bit of welding ****.
It’ll be getting the same zinc and epoxy coating as everything else but I have something special planned for the top coat.
Got the subframe zinc primered a few days ago and some grey epoxy today. I normally use white because it’s easy to see what’s been coated against the grey primer but wanted grey for reasons that will become clear when I do the top coat. Might have missed a couple of spots because it was difficult to see bits that were missed since the colour of the primer and epoxy was so similar but I can touch those up when it’s fully dried. Also got the fuel filler finished in epoxy after I ran out just before I finished it the last time.
Shame to cover up those lovely welds though. I was considering for half a second just clear coating it as it was to keep the lovely blueing from the welds on show but that was quickly put to bed when I considered I live in Scotland so need better weather protection than just clear coat would provide.
Great work mate,and good progress, im not sure about the red gearstick surround though to be honest,i might sound thick here but whats epoxy ?
The surround will be the same red as the body in the end. That was just what was left in the can after I did the lights but it wasn’t quite enough so I haven’t bothered clear coating it.
Epoxy Mastic. It’s a two part really tough waterproof type of paint. The downside of it is it needs a top coat as it isn’t UV stable and it can take forever to fully cure but once it is it’s way tougher than most paint.
Thanks BPR. Other than the problems I've been talking about further up I've been really enjoying steadily getting on with it. It's also been nice to have a project to do with my dad too. We haven't really had something to do together since I stopped racing mountain bikes a few years ago and he was really into his cars when he was younger so I think he's been rather enjoying it too. I know he's already planning one of our first drives in it will be up to Aberdeen to see his flat mate from uni.
Thanks BPR. Other than the problems I've been talking about further up I've been really enjoying steadily getting on with it. It's also been nice to have a project to do with my dad too. We haven't really had something to do together since I stopped racing mountain bikes a few years ago and he was really into his cars when he was younger so I think he's been rather enjoying it too. I know he's already planning one of our first drives in it will be up to Aberdeen to see his flat mate from uni.
My kids are still too young to get involved with projects but I really hope I can do things like this with them when they get older. The trouble I have now is that the kids keep me so busy I don't have time for projects!
My kids are still too young to get involved with projects but I really hope I can do things like this with them when they get older. The trouble I have now is that the kids keep me so busy I don't have time for projects!
You're never too young to get started. I've got a picture of me somewhere in my Granpa's workshop with a saw in my hand at the age of 2 or 3 and I don't think I've ever really stopped tinkering with things since whether it be electrics, cars, bikes or any other number of things. I do wish I could have started this project sooner for him. He died a few years ago sadly but he loved working on his classic cars before he got too ill so I would have loved to have got him involved too. He at least got to see me get my license before he died.
You're never too young to get started. I've got a picture of me somewhere in my Granpa's workshop with a saw in my hand at the age of 2 or 3 and I don't think I've ever really stopped tinkering with things since whether it be electrics, cars, bikes or any other number of things. I do wish I could have started this project sooner for him. He died a few years ago sadly but he loved working on his classic cars before he got too ill so I would have loved to have got him involved too. He at least got to see me get my license before he died.
Sorry to hear about your Granpa mate, it's tough losing family. At least you know he'd enjoy knowing you were doing something he also enjoyed. My Dad loves cars but has never been into fixing them and I was never exposed to car tinkering when I grew up. I picked up the bug through mates when I was younger and have always had the no fear can do anything attitude you need to get things done. My kids do love coming out and playing with the tools while I'm working or sitting inside my classic beetle in the garage playing with that whilst I'm working. Lovely to see.
Made a start stitch welding the inside. It's not pretty but hopefully it's strong. Just a light coat of zinc primer to stop it rusting until I repaint the whole inside.
I think I'm just over a third done on the inside so another couple of days work should see it done then I'll move onto the outside. I'm working slowly partly because I'm still a total novice with the welder and also to try to keep heat out of the body. I'm not touching the tops of the strut towers yet as I'm considering welding in some reinforcement plates just as some cheap insurance. Those holes in the wheel well are from removing a bracket that was fouling on the subframe so I'll need to do something about those at some point. Even with a proper spot weld drill bit the metal is so thin compared to the brackets metal it was far too easy to drill too far. I've got a diffuser to fit too so there's going to be more holes in the wheel well when I'm done with that.
11 June 2020, 07:08 PM
