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I didn't install the coils myself unfortunately, theres just too much to mess up! But yeah, I loved doing all the other stuff on the car, on the old car there wasn't really much you could do yourself.
Ok not quite, but tonight, I took out the rear interior. I did this for 4 reasons:
1. To install the eye bolts for my harnesses
2. To take out the rear speakers and replace them - the surround has withered away
3. To find a rattle coming from the rear drivers side.
4. To give it all a clean.
Now a quick question - The rear speakers attach using their own harness to the speaker terminals - I can just cut the harness off and solder them onto the terminals of the new speakers. However, they dont follow the normal red/black cable convention. Does anyone know the rear speaker positive and negative colours, or how to read the harness so I know which is + and which is -?
I started to clean the rear end. Needless to say it was filthy, and I used a combination of water, degreaser and car wash to get it as clean as I could.
Before:
Now, what I would REALLY love is to get ride of all those bits where the paint has chipped off, so a respray is in order. However I reckon this would be prohibitively expensive due to the need to sand all the nooks and crannies and get it REALLY clean. I got it pretty clean, but I dont think I can get it much more. Sandblasting would be an option, but that would have its own set of of problems too.
I was thinking maybe getting some CW mixed in some pressure packs, and just respraying it myself. I would love to spray all the cables etc too, so it was all just white, nice and clean looking.
So, is there a primer I can get that I can just spray on and it will stick properly withouting having to fully sand and clean the surfaces? I can clean it more with some metho, to make sure its really grease free etc, but I would really like to be able to prime the metal, then just spray CW myself, and spray over the cables etc too. Is this do-able?
The other option is just to respray the tyre well and the surrounds?
Ok So I've decided to keep the car, and make it as good as possible whilst spending as little money as possible, largely because the black one I found wasn't selling for the right price as the owner didnt want to put the stock exhaust and suspension back on etc.
I'm getting the front and rear bumper resprayed soon, and figures may as well get the bonnet and front quarter panels done too. Im also getting the ding bashed out just above the rear left tail light, so this should freshen up the exterior. Plus, getting mates rates for it.
I decided to try and respray the mirrors myself, so I got some championship white and got to work. Taking the mirrors off was easy but taking the housing off was a bit difficult as you have to undo 4 screws behind the mirror itself so it requires a bit of trickery, and a right angle screw driver.
I got some championship white mixed up in a spray can, got some primer and went for it. I'm doing one mirror at a time just to see how it turns out, so if its shit I wont bother with the other one.
I'm also fixing up the few spots of missing paint in the boot. I only need to prime the bare metal bits, so I did that, and when thats done, I will sand it all lightly, clean, then spray.
Ok mirror done. on the whole its look pretty good, and I'm happy with it. If I were to do it again, i would get 95% of the way. There are few bit of uneven coverage, but they're bits you cant really see. I applied the clearcoat nice and think to prevent orange peel and to give a smooth finish, but the side effect is that there were a few runs. Nothign too visible.
I was planning to do the other mirror aswell, but Im just gott get both done again when I get the bumper etc resprayed. If I take the mirrors off and give to the painter, should hardly cost anything. Plus Im concerned about the longevity of clearcoat from a can.
Heres a pic - its a lot shinier and real life, and is a very close match.
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