Engine Bay Respray

Just like the underbody this needed a really good clean up, some minor repair and then a recoat.  This time I decided to do only a very light Wurth SKS, really only to even out the finish.  I went down this path because the original coating was still largely intact.  Only needed a bit of work around the base of the shock towers and around the trailing arm mounts on the torsion tube.  Now for final cleaning of components and reaassembly – the fun part!  Cleaning up the engine bay remined me how much I really hate the grubby work.

Painted - ready for reassembly

The starting point

Clean up in progress

Bit of primer - Glasurit (expensive stuff - ouch)

Bit of Wurth SKS

Another angle of the finished job

And another

And finally this

Front Boot Restoration – Update 23/10/11 – Complete

UPDATE – 23rd October 2011

With the fuel tank in the front boot is now 99.9% finished.  I’m pretty happy with it.  The fuel tank had previously been repaired with metal patches so I smoothed the edges of the welded patches as best I could and recoated.  4 hours on the wire brush to get it back to metal was mind numbing to say the least!

UPDATE – 12th September 2011

Paint decal just got back from the printer.  I’m pretty happy with the result, not perfect but very close, certainly close enough for this application.

UPDATE – 26th August 2011

Bar the fuel tank and bonnet seal I finished off the front boot today.  I’m very happy with how it’s come together.

Here’s some pics.  Note the Y connector which is installed to allow fresh air through the a/c dash vents.

With the Rennline Blower Motor Cover (note Elephant Racing strut brace!)

Showing off the resfreshed ventilation system - including new hoses

UPDATE – 21st August 2011

Inch by inch….. Put the bonnet lid back on today.  Also have tidied up most of the wiring and the lare part of the ventilation system back in – amazing how much grime in the distributors.  Hoses have been ordered plus I found a ‘y’ connector so I can divert some fresh air into the dash vents now the A/C has gone.  It will compromise flow to pasenger side but we’ll see how it goes.  If it’s not up to standard I’ll work out another solution.

UPDATE – 11th August 2011

Not too much to report but starting to assemble the front boot.  Here’s a pic of the early stages of tidying up the wiring.

Putting back the pieces - much quicker to take it apart than re-assemble

Jack in place but will be powdercoated next time I'm getting some parts done

UPDATE – 4th August 2011

Finally got some more real progress.  Been waiting for some warmer weather to paint the front boot plus my weekends have been jam packed lately.

I’ll let the pics tell the story but in short the process was cleaning up the surface which involved removing that tar around the shock mounts.  A bit more minor repair work and then hit it with high build primer.  The front section had some SKS applied then time for colour.  I’m using Glasurit Line 55 – beautiful quality paint.

Primed and SKS'd

More SKS action

Base and clear down

Maybe a bit too glossy for the purist? Still looks good to me

Better get a close up

UPDATE – 13th June 2011

Bonnet off

Bit more prep to do, then mask and prime

Getting that tar off the shock towers.............

Made some good progress today.  Did most of the prep work, just a few more areas to cover then final clean, mask and prime.  I’ll be applying Wurth SKS around the front – just a light coat or 2.  The rest will get some light priming and then colour.  When this is done I’ll tackle the tank abd can then start assembling.  I purchased some rolls of black fsbric tape which I’ll use for the wiring – much nicer and OEM looking than PVC tape.

Before the 'before' pic (except the new carpet!)

With the suspension, brakes and rest of the underbody now under control I have diverted my attention to the front boot.  I had intentions of doing this later but I figured now that the car has been off the road for 12 months another month is fine.

Ideally I would completely remove everything but it’s just not practical for me to do this.  I am drawing the line and not removing the dash ‘bits’ including the wiring.  Instead I have removed most of the plugs, hoses, etc and will mask it all back.  I’ll try and spray so that there is no hard line so that it blends as much as possible.  The blend area will be covered by the heater components and aluminium cover anyway, plus the whole thing gets covered in carpet so it’s not really going to compromise the job.  One day I might do a complete ground up, bare metal, rotisserie resto so it can wait till then – although it will probably be on another car.

Here are some before pics plus some images of what’s been removed so far.

Pre heater bits, master cylinder, some wiring removal

LHS - to help me remember what goes where.

RHS - close up for later reference

Fuse box wiring, fuel pipes, strut tar - yuk!

Front RHS - shows bumper shock repair

Front LHS

Dash area with a few bits removed

Got to get that tank out - pity it's got 50 litres of fuel in it.....