Project DARE.

[markh]

Finally she's back in colour !.......



The paint isnt a bad match, but it does appear very slightly darker in the wrong light. Saying that the rest of the car is filthy, covered in dirt , dust and overspray, so i'l reserve judgment until the whole of the car has been Tcut and polished. Also new paint will rarely be a perfect match for 23 year old paint, still, it looks a hell of alot better than it was !!......



The temptation was to crack on and start refitting the trim and bumper, but i just fitted the rear light and decided to leave it at that as the paint is still soft and easily damaged. So by the morning it should be cured enough to start fitting parts back on the car...




I had intended to have the door painted too today, but i wasnt happy with the finish after it was primered, so i will prep it again and hopefully repaint it tomorrow. I really wanted to get the bulk of the paint applied today, as i think its the only dry day we're going to have in Stoke this week.
More tomorrow.

[markh]

Another busy day today, refitted the n/s boot strut and boot seal, then fitted the new rear number plates. Also while the rear trim and bumper were off i cleaned up the back panel, and decided to spray the bottom edge of the back panel,lower rear quarter and sill with underseal to give it extra protection under the body kit....








Then refitted the towbar that came with the car....



Then refitted the rear bodykit and bumper, its looking good.....



Then fitted the replacement number plate plinth, and new number plate. I was going to get some more paint and colour code the plinth, but for now, i dont think it looks bad in gloss black.....




Next up was to have another go a prepping the passenger door, and this time the results are very good, so it gets repainted and then laquered....





Refitted the body trim that covers the sill....



Now all thats left (bodywise at least)is to stick back the trim on the bottom edge of the passenger door and the wheel arch trim, then refit the rubbing strips. I hav'nt done this yet, because the paint and laquer is still curing (it takes a few days to dry totally) and as it dries it releases fumes, and these fumes can prevent the body kit adhesive form holding properly. Ive got some new black vinyl coming for the B pillars, and once thats on, the window can go back in.

So its coming together nicely, and starting to look really nice.....



Also today the front and rear brakes were bled, and all unions and pipes checked for leaks. I'l get another couple of hours on it tomorrow and post another update.

[markh]

Didnt get a lot done this morning, the weather was crap, so i had no choice but to work in the garage. Now this is ok, but it is a bit cramped. Anyway, i started off by sticking the trim back to the bottom of the passenger door, the door is looking good, im very happy with the finish.....



Then i refitted the wheel arch trim...







Also i started to clean up inside the car, i Tcut around the passenger side door to clean off the overspray, and replaced the sill trim and door seal. The interior is in desperate need of a clean out, everything is thick with dust, its going to take a good few hours to do properly, and the rear interior needs to be refitted before i can start any cleaning.





Im not sure when i can work on the car again, i may get a couple of hours in over the weekend, but il have to see.

[markh]

Got a productive couple of hours in this morning. Fitted the new vinyl to the B pillar....



Then replaced the window......



So with the window in i could start to refit the interior...







I gave the interior a quick hoover out, but it still needs a more thorough clean. I've booked a couple of nights off work on weds and thursday, and hope this will give me time to almost finish the project for the MOT.

[markh]

Ive had a couple of people asking me where i got the vinyl for the B pillar, so heres the item number for ebay---350206673912

The sheet is more than enough to do both pillars, its easy to fit and it is a very good match for the original. Also it was delivered very quickly. I know you can get the pre cut B pillar kits for Roccos, but theyre quite pricey.

[markh]

Todays efforts included cleaning up the front brakes as the n/s one was sticking due to the car standing so long. it was just down to rust holding the pads.....



Same with the other side, but also decided to replace the metal brake pipe, as it was looking a bit iffy....



Also fitted some mud flaps to the front, which id had lying around for a while. Next up was to drain the coolant, flush the rad and then refill the system using new antifreeze. Then in between the rain showers, i managed to Tcut the whole of the car, i will polish it tomorrow. Also got on with cleaning the interior, replaced the crappy original window winders with the better looking Chrome and black Audi ones, and fitted the chrome morror adjuster knobs....



So, it appears that im getting near to the finish line, and im happy with the results so far....















More tomorrow...

[markh]

Today started off by cleaning up the worst one of the P slots (you can see it in the last picture in my last post) So rubbed it down and then smoothed it with a scotch pad...



Then a few coats of silver paint, and then a couple of carefully applied coats of black Hammerite in the P slots.....



Looks pretty good, i'l just Tcut it when properly dry and then laquer it. Carried on cleaing the interior, and replaced the parcel shelf...





Gave the whole of the paintwork a coat of Meguires wax, and the black trim and bumpers were done with black trim wax.










And a quick clean up under the bonnet...




Not a huge amount to do now, it does have a habit of cutting out now and then, but im hoping a quick clean up of the carb, and then having it set up properly, will sort it out. I took it for a spin round the block, and it drives really well, and the brakes are great. i want to paint the plastic wheel arch cover on the passenger side, as it has the same crazing effect that the quarter panel had, but as id run out of paint, i just tried to flat it with wet and dry paper, which improved it but im not totally happy. So i'l get some more paint made up tomorrow and repaint it on monday, also going to touch up the few odd stone chips on the bonnet front edge and the tailgate.Tomorrow im also picking up a P slot centre cap from Volksmine, to replace the missing one. Im very happy with how the cars coming together, and providing it passes MOT, il make the August deadline.

Then it'l probably go up for sale, to make way for the MK1.

[markh]

Almost there now !!! Repainted the wheel arch trim on the passenger side, again with base coat and lacquer, and also lacquered the repainted P slot...



Then touched up some damaged paint on the drivers side sill, before....



And after...



Both of these repainted areas will be Tcut and polished once the paint is cured. One thing i almost forgot was to refit the rain strip inside the passenger door frame. I took this off to get a clean line for the new paint, rather than masking it off, so restuck it with Tigerseal and held it with tape while it dries...



Tackled the cutting out problem too today. I bought some carb cleaner, and gave it a good blast with that, and also renewed all the vacuum hoses, as most were perished. Then fitted a new air filter, and dumped a bottle of Redex in the tank, and so far so good, no cutting out !!! I checked the cam belt, which is in good shape, and fitted a new alternator belt and replaced the broken plastic dipstick guide tube with a new one.
My brother is going to check the carb settings at his garage before it goes for MOT, then engine wise, all thats left to do is an oil and filter change.
So hopefully, it will be booked in for MOT early next week. That wont be the end of the project though, as there are still some small jobs that i want to sort out before im entirely happy with the car.

[markh]

Not a huge update, i just took off the masking tape from the reattached rain strip, and Tcut the tape marks off the paint. so i thought id just put up a couple of shots of the 99.5% finished car....









I ve also touched in the stone chips on the edge of the bonnet, and a couple under the badges on the tailgate. So now she's just waited to go for the big test, and who knows, will hope fully make her debuts at Tatton and Cosford !

[markh]

And today, she passed the MOT, but only after initially failing on emmissions, and noise from the n/s rear wheel bearing ( i think the tester was being over fussy) , thanks to my brother, who weakened the mixture on the carb and changed the bearing, 30 mins later she gets a pass !!!
so tax and insurance will be sorted next week, and she's back on the road.

[markh]

I did a couple of jobs last week, but as i thought id lost the photos on my phone, i didnt update the thread. Anyway i found them again, so heres goes. The black vinyl on the drivers door pillar was pretty tatty, so i attacked it with the heat gun and stripped of the old vinyl....



Then had to clean off all the old glue...



Then fitted the new vinyl, and it looks loads better.....




I had a oil temp gauge lying around, and a gauge surround, so decided to put that in the GTS. It still needs to be wired up....





I replaced a couple of dash bulbs that were blown, and also wired up the towbar socket. Not much to do now !!

[markh]

Spot the difference......





Cheers Lewis, and for the boot liners !!!!

[markh]

Not really an update, but now we've been running DARE for about 3 weeks now and a few small jobs have come to light. Nothing serious, the main issues are when it starts on choke its running at just over 2000 rpm, so it needs adjusting, the gear linkage is a bit sloppy, so a set of replacement bushes is on the cards, it still needs an oil and filter change and the engine could use a wash down, i need to swap the radio cassette for a Kenwood cd player ive got and also wire up the oil temperature gauge.
All my projects will be on hold for the next couple of weeks while im away on holiday, so i really need to knuckle down when i get back.

[markh]

Thought it was about time i blew the cobwebs off this thread as it hasnt been updated for a while and a few things have changed. The biggest improvement being fitting the Castellettes.


Recently other changes included, a sony Cd player and new 50w Pioneer speakers all round,a new rear exhaust silencer, the GTS interior swapped for a decent GTII set up, although this is only until i can source a better GTS drivers seat, and today i finally got to ditch the unreliable Pierburg for a decent 2nd hand Weber, so hopefully that should show an improvement on reliability and economy. Theres still other jobs to sort out, but theres no massive rush at the mo.

[Funky Diver]

Looking in fine fettle there Mark. One question if I may, how's hte BMW filler neck doing? Any issues?