767 replies to this topic

[Jared Mk3]

Really does look neat with those arches.

[Chris1992]

arche are now tubbed  plus got a bit more welding done. its not quite as rust free as i thought.... 

[Jared Mk3]

Get those pictures up!

[Chris1992]

Get those pictures up!

 

haha, i would but my sister has nicked my camera to go to reading festival!   ... cheeky

[Jared Mk3]

Oh, cheeky indeed! Keen to see what it looks like with wheels and arches fitted again.

[Chris1992]

same here man, need to get it back down on the ground and lowered. but im gunna slap a bit of stone chip under there first 

[Jared Mk3]

Those wheels are really going to be snug with those arches, that much I know!

[Chris1992]

i hope so... stance yo! 

[Jared Mk3]

Those wheels are definitely the best decision you made - IMO 

[Chris1992]

cheers man, im so happy decided to splash the cash for them! its something different and also hard to copy since the original sprite steelies are not exactly common 

[Jared Mk3]

Steelies are the way to go!

[Chris1992]

Ive been slacking with my updates.   i promise ive been busy!  ill get some pics up when i get some free time. hopefully tomorrow

[Jared Mk3]

Come on! 

[Chris1992]

GOD DAMMIT I JUST TYPED A MASSIVE UPDATE AND PRESSED BACK IN MY BROWSER BY MISTAKE SO NOW ITS ALL GONE!!! ... RAGE QUIT... 

[Chris1992]

ok then, lets have another go at this....

 

picking up where i left off, the arches are now tubbed, and i also had some other welding done as well

 

 

ground down nice a smooth then sprayed with stone chip

 

 

i also had the holes from the old arches spot welded up, as well as the holes from the spot light bracket.

 

 

unfortunately, while all this was taking place i discovered that my car isnt quite as rust free as i first thought 

 

i was doing some poking around and pulled away a lump of seam sealer to reveal a nice little rot hole. this was the front of the passenger side rear arch. 

 

 

luckily i found this while my dads mate was still here, so i got him to weld it up for me. but then after he had left i was doing some more prodding and another one opened up next to it (although not as big). i gave it a good going over with the wire wheel and it seems solid around it, so i think i will get away with just using seam sealer.

 

 

over on the other side, this was the inside of the drivers side rear bin...

 

 

there are 2 panels there, and the first one just crumbled away, creating all that cack at the bottom. the one behind it seems to be solid though. 

 

also, during my prodding session, i managed to open up another small hole in the same place as the other one, but on the drivers side. this pic was before the hole appeared though. 

 

 

same story as the other side though. its small and solid enough for me to just use seam sealer, although it has made me a bit paranoid about what the inside of the sills might look like... i dont have the time, money, or expertise to start replacing panels so once the holes are sealed ill plaster the inside of the rear bins with waxoil. ill also pump as much as possible into the sills.

 

 

moving on, after this i (for some random reason) turned my attention to the roof... 

 

if you read this from the start then you may have noticed a pic of the roof when i bought it. it was the only part of the car that was painted, and it was done in 2k glittery black with 2 big pink glittery stars... lovely  . anyway, when i painted the roof black the lacquer reacted with my paint leaving a crackle finish in places, and i dont want this to happen again..... so i poured paint stripper all over it.

 

seemed to work pretty well. there was so much paint on the roof i just wanted to start a fresh. in order from the metal it went: original primer, original red celly (i think), 2k primer, 2k glittery pink, 2k glittery black, 2k lacquer, celly primer, celly back... it took a few coats with lots of scraping in between

 

this is after the first couple of coats

 

 

and then after one more. this is about a good as it will get, just needs to be sanded now.

 

 

burning the midnight oil 

 

 

so with that out the way, i turned back to more important things; getting the arches fitted properly. ive bolted on the front 2. pretty pleased with them, loads of clearance...

 

 

....but im not so pleased with this gap here, so i think i may modify them a bit. ive got a pretty good idea of what im going to do

 

 

i also went nuts with the wire wheel again. trying to get all the filler out the seams. annoyingly the panel is a better fit this side...

 

 

 

so now i know where the arches will go on the car, i can take the engine out (doesnt matter about ride hight now). ive been talking to a mate whos got an engine crane which he said i could borrow, but it has to be sunday. so, i got cracking with stripping the engine bay, so far ive removed a bunch of stuff, still more to go though

 

 

this is how she is looking now... very sorry for herself, but with much potential! 

 

 

oh, and to end on something positive, i discovered that the center caps from my ultralites fit nicely into the centre of my steelies, so im gunna have some custom stickers made for them 

 

 

thats all for now gents (and gent-ettes)