Rexanne - Gold s2 restoration project

[Steve-A]

Cheers for gate info syebba, it sounds like a plan for the spring when the cars ready to start going on test runs and stuff. Got a few months of work to put into it yet though!

Cliff, I shall be sorting some sort of rain cover, but exactly what and how is yet to be decided.

I shall let my Mum know how much internet respect she\'s getting for giving up her garden Indeed I\'m very greatfull of how supportive my parents are of my hobbies. I couldn\'t do it without them

[Hobbawobba]

Looking really good.:Thumbsup!

So tomorrow I\'m booking a trailer for next saturday and she\'s coming home !! :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Think ya should plan to have it home at around 10.30am or 7pm:yes, then I will be able to see it on the way to/from work haha!:p

[Steve-A]

Trailer is booked for tomorrow, she\'s coming home!

[A7RXY]

Good Luck...........

[Steve-A]

Progress! :D:D:D



Here she is arriving at my house on the trailer.

And here she is safe inside the garden behind the fence ready to be transformed. This was about 2pm.



At her old home she\'d been living in a fairly sheltered spot for the last few months but it is outside and under trees, so was in need of a good clean. The rain rails above the doors, and the seams ropund by the rear hatch and sun roof were all full of leaf litter.

Here she is looking a little shinier after a damn good wash



Not much time left in the day but next up I cleared out the drain holes near the hatch and sun roof to try and stop any crud collecting and causing rust.



I was too late for the rear hatch. This spot of rust and the matching hole on the other side will be my first attack point, as once she\'s water tight I can store the trim and other spares inside the car once more.

That will probably be a tomorrow morning plan!



Then as the light faded Ian arrived to have a look around, and then we decided to just line up one of my Watanabes with the front end of the car to get an idea of how that might look, couldn\'t bolt it on because wrong PCD.



Looking really good in concept, though obviously just placed vaguely in the right place so not sitting right.. I think so nice wide classic japanese wheels in satin black, possibly chrome lips, would look so good on her.


Finally for today while I was cleaning on the car I noticed the windscreen surround looked a bit poorly painted. It looks like its had black painted over chrome. Should my car have a chrome windscreen surround? Or has someone replaced the original black one at some stage and painted a chrome one so it matches the rest of the trim?

[syebba]

The windscreen trim should be all black,worn out paint is common.
Wheels look G8.

[Steve-A]

Ah thats fair enough, it really is shiny under the paint, which is what made me think some one might have painted a chrome surround! All good news though as I like the black surround and its way easier to repaint it black than it is to strip the black off and polish chrome

[CHC (RIP)]

Welcome home Rexanne - now the fun and love affair can begin.
Why is it the first job we seem to do on a car is to wash it? :InLove
One thing that can be sure, it wont stay clean.

[syebba]

I\'m looking forward to some arch flares on it,if he so decides.
Black or carbon fibre effect would look trick.

[David Nock (RIP)]

The windscreen trim should be all black,worn out paint is common.
Wheels look G8.

Yep, I think it\'s the wiper blades which touch the trim and wear the black off?

Gonna be a nice machine this one.

[CHC (RIP)]

Yep, I think it\'s the wiper blades which touch the trim and wear the black off?
 
Gonna be a nice machine this one.

Never thought of that Dave.  I\'ll bet we have all suffered from this though.

[Steve-A]

Interesting stuff about it being the wipers causing the wear!

I\'ve been a brave boy and done the first baby steps of metalwork today! :Hammer I started with the rear hatch area, as its non structural and fairly hidden from view!

This is how she spent most of the daylight hours:



Rear hatch removed, covered in tools and with metal and paint dust everywhere, totally negating the cleaning I did yesterday!

First up I rubbed back a couple of surface rust spots that were hiding under the hatch seal near the hinges at the top, and put some rust killer on them.



Then a temporary coat of black paint to keep the elements off. When I\'ve finished all the metal work I\'ll make a judgement of what to do with colour. If I\'ve only got minimal gold to respray and mostly in fairly hidden areas such as sills, door corners, hatch rim, etc then I\'ll get a local body shop to mix me up some paint and do it myself. If there are bigger areas of gold to be done I think I\'ll hand it over to a professional. The main thing for now is that rust is stopped from making holes and the metal has a protective layre over it.



Next up I started on the smallest of the three rust holes on the lower edge of the rear hatch rim. The drains were totally blocked so silt had collected and it had eventually rotten through, not cool. Here I\'ve cut out the rust and made a plate to fit.



Here it is welded in with the welds ground back



I also chucked some black on that to keep the metal fresh till it gets a skim of filler to smooth it off and some proper paint.

I then made a start on the next rust hole, but when I tried to weld the pannel in I just ended up blowing lots of holes :Grrr I think I might have feathered the edges of the pieces by accident when cleaning excess paint off as I used the grinder to remove paint rather than wire wheel, as it was faster. Lesson learnt! Next time I do some work on her (possibly tomorrow morning as I\'m free till noon) my first job it to cut the patch panel out and start again. Shouldn\'t be too bad as my third attempt That will just leave one more hole to do, though that one is in a corner so gonna test my (decidedly learner) welding to the limit!

I\'m currently using an old mx5 head lamp cover as donor steel, seems to be perfect. Once I fit my new door to my 5 I\'ll cut up the old one and have plenty of perfect metal for cannibalising for bodywork.

[Brett]

Looking good, presume it\'ll be on the road by Xmas then? :Giggle

[captainbizzaro]

Blimey I better get out to the shed and make some progress!

[CHC (RIP)]

Told you it wouldn\'t stay clean Steve - nice work mate.
I used stainless steel with JAZ as I also intend doing for any welding required on Goldie but of cause need dissimilar welding wire for this too.
Once you have cut out the required area, try dressing with a small file as it is more controllable.  I take it you are using a mig welder ?  Remember you are in control of the weld pool so don\'t be afraid to release the trigger every now and then to allow the parent metal to cool sufficiently before you restart welding - a bit like spot welding.
Keep up the good work.
:yes