My major project!

[Speedline Imports]

Nicely done Lee, very easy to do with the right tools!

[leeroy_25]

cheers guys!!

Sounds like I have found a little sideline!! a few more people like S3th and i\'ll be laughing!!

[gyles18]

nice project mate :Thumbs-up

your not to far from me actually, im down in bognor!

will be good to see it when its finished!!!

[leeroy_25]

I work in bognor!! By my reckoning you either drive a black rx7 and candy red one or a purple one?! I currently drive a white gtr and work in southern cross ind est!

Lee

[gyles18]

I work in bognor!! By my reckoning you either drive a black rx7 and candy red one or a purple one?! I currently drive a white gtr and work in southern cross ind est!

Lee

i think i may have seen you actually!coming in on the a259 maybe...?

no i drive a montego blue one with a set of ultralite nurburg\'s on....

i know the purple one you mean though, i know the guy simon who owns it, its for sale on pistonheads at the moment!

if your not upto much next sunday (9th) there is a Jap car meet up at goodwood (Hampshire Jap Cars and Sussex Jap Cars club) there are quite a few cars (around the 50 mark from what i know) and im hoping to have my rex back by friday to so come up! be good to meet another local rex owner :wave

[Paul-Tll]

Nov 2nd is Japcar day at Goodwood, The \'Breakfast club\' is only on the first Sunday of each month?
2nd March for example is for pre 72 cars?

Lee,
will have to catch up sometime see you out and about soon I hope,
your only a couple of miles down the road!
Paul..

[gyles18]

http://www.sussexjapclub.com/sjc-and-hjc-meet-sunday-9th-march-2008-goodwood-vt5104.html

[leeroy_25]

Gyles Do I need to register or can I just tunr up there? May come if I can get let out!! I have\'t seen your FD about then? There is another white GTR that goes into bognor but I think that comes accross from pagham way.. and there is a white GTS that goes to havant in the mornings! So if you have seen a white gtr then it\'s quite possibly mine!? Think there are some pics of it at the beginning of this thread? Anyway.. will let you know if I am def coming on Sunday. What happens at the meet?

Lee

[leeroy_25]

Okay time to post my weekly progress report!!

It\'s getting there guy\'s!
First order of the day was to order....!! .. some toolage! always best to have the proper gear to do a job well!! plus an excuse to spend some money and add to the tool collection!

I have always wanted an orbital mini palm sander!
Not to much required really.. Starting with a long board.. mainly for the flatish repair area i have done.. had hoped to get one you can shape but couldn\'t find one in time! A rubber sanding block with a handy curve o one side hopefully to get the arch blend nicely! A Rupes Palm sander (otehr brands also available!) and various grades of sanding pads. baper and strip!! I\'ll keep te caht brief as plenty of pictures to speak for themselves.
First job was to trim and fettle the arch blisters! The top one is the trimmed one. The bottom is how it\'s supplied.

I removed the thick edges that stopped the panels fitting up nicely and caused a big step.. then I trimmed the lip back to a minimum so it met up with  my rolled out arch. Drill them off and they are ready for fitting.
As warm up I got out the long board and attacked my filler repair on the rear corner. I Had to give the filler a second shot for some low spots and knock down a couple of high spots then it was there.. Here is a handy tip.. when you think you are nearly there with the rubbing back spray the area with primer or matt black...

.. Then go over it with a fine grade paper.. this then highlights any low spots and when it is all even and all the paint has gone you know you have a smooth flat panel!


Happy with that is was on to the arches!

I got some meaty ally rivets and positioned the panel using one rivet hole before drilling off the rest to ensure it didn\'t move.
The panel was then attached using sika flex and rivets for the first stage. Sika flex is brilliant stuff. a water proof marine adhesive that goes off under water! Great for leaks! The idea is that the sika flex will stick the panel good and proper but at the same time being slightly flexible it will elinate any vibration between the panels that might cause the top filler to crack later.




I also go under the car and went around the lip using the sika fllex a bit like a seam sealer. now no water can get betwen the panels.
Next step in my plan was to go over the joints with glass reinforced filler/chop strand/bridging filler or whatever you wish to all it.. This is to make double sure the panel is stuck fast to the body work and will never move causing the filler and paint to crack.



Finally a quick flat off and then it\'s time for the first coat of filler..



After a quick flat back and blend it\'s not looking too bad. couple more shots with the body filler and it should be there..



Thanks for keeping with me guy\'s. I can finally start feeling and end is near!!

Lee

[gyles18]

just turn up mate, join up if you want, it\'s free and would be good to have another member!
im not sure what will be happening lol, having tea and coffee and looking at some very nice cars. i know most of the guys on sussex jap club and there are some very very nice cars going down! ive counted between the two forums there will be 50+ so there will be plenty to look at.
this site will be more for you seeing as your from hampshire lol http://hampshirejapcars.co.uk/press/

good to see it coming along though mate!

[leeroy_25]

May pop down to goodwood then and give the Skybus a final outing!

Paul is right though Breakfast club was this weekend just gone. but I am sure there will still be some peachy cars there!

Lee

[gyles18]

yes, my old man goes in his car to that sometimes.

[leeroy_25]

Sorry Chaps, not much to show from this weekend.. Well nothing noticeable in pictures.. I pretty much finished blending the arches.. Have some super fine filler coming for this weekend to get rid of any pin holes from rubbing back.. Hopefully this weekend I will get some paint on it! And it will still look nice and smooth!

Also in between things I was tarting up the skyline.. The wheels were in depserate need of some TLC!! check out the difference! Sadly I only had enough paint or a pair! but polished al the lips up..

Before:


After:



And a couple more bits for \'the project\' arrived!!

I have been wanting a set of these for ages!! Now I need to hope I can fit them!!

Until next time..!

[Fats]

How did you polish the wheels up dude, mine could do with a refresh!

Andy

[leeroy_25]

luckily I have a compressor. so I bought a die grinder and a polishing kit! you could do the same with a bench top grinder but you need a flexible drill attachment to go in it. You then need to go down through the grade of wet and dry from about 400 - 2000grit to remove the old lacquer and the imperfections. then hit it with the polisher (which there are three grades to go down thorough!) and finish it off with some duraglit or very fine cutting compound and wax to protect it.. In an ideal world you might want to re-lacquer them.. But some people would disagree.. you just need to keep them clean and waxed!

Lee