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Polar White and Rust - a restoration epic, can it even be done?


IanMc
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Another evening getting some small jobs done:

- stripped the old NS Cav done down to just the metal shell.

By the way @evo03 - do you still want me to cut out the lock section of this door too? - if so, I can cut it out for you at the weekend and send you both next week.

- fitted the Cavs NS mirror and front glass support runner to the replacement Manta door.

- fitted the Cavs lock cylinder and chrome outer handle to the Manta door.

- prepared and fitted the Manta’s glass seal to the Cavs chrome door top trim strip. Both of the Cavs glass seals were totally shot, but the Manta’s ones are in great condition.

Tomorrow I will probably look at adding a new flare to the OSR rigid brake line.

Enjoy your evening everyone.

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1 hour ago, ®evo03 said:

Pm sent

And replied to my friend. :thumbup

Another little fill in job done this evening. You might remember that my OSR brake line started leaking from the flare earlier in the week when me and the lad tried to bleed the brakes. Werll I am pleased ton report that this evening I made up a new line and fitted it - everything seems fine, just need to try bleeding AGAIN... now  :rolleyes: :thumbup

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Glad you got it sorted.

i have found in the past that SOME brake pipe can be a bit brittle and can crack when flared. I cant remember thou wether it was just old copper that id had a while or cunifer or even if it was just a crap flaring tool !.all i know was that it definately had a crack in it. This was on a pipe i was fitting and noticed it before fitting it.there are a lot of double flares on our cars !.

what did you see on yours ?

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That could be it !

i must admit I do find making brake pipes quite satisfying and the ones I replaced on the carlton and omega were originally green coated and the new ones were duly painted to match. I try to make them look original where I can. Pretty sure the original cav ones were a plain silver colour but it’s so long ago now !

 

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This weekend has been spent doing some boring stuff - filling, sanding, filling, sanding, filling  - you know how boring all that stuff is.

Unfortunately the amount of effort you put in is directly proportionate to the end result. I find that I have to try to force myself to be critical and stop the "oh, that will look OK when the paint is on top..." attitude.

The first panel to be attacked was the one between the rear lights that has the VAUXHALL letters pinned in position.

After some Satin Black paint:


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And with some of the letters balanced in position to see how it might look when finished:


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There is still some work to do, but I think its going to look OK.

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Some more 'itty bitty' stuff this evening - just how damn time consuming is that stuff!

1) Rubbed down and primed the two piece front spoiler. Then noticed a whole array of little pin holes, so used stopper filler then sanded again. After a while I applied some more primer from a rattle can, which as I was obviously too close, ran like hell - Aaaggghhhh!    :rolleyes:

2) Remembered that I not prepared the AUTOMATIC badge for the rear panel, so dug that out, cleaned it up and sprayed in Black:

 

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In a day r so when the paint is harder I will use a razor blade and remove the top face of each letter to reveal the Silver underneath. Assuming that goes well it will be lacquered and go back on the car.

:thumbup

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I seemed to get quite a bit done in a short space of time this evening.

First off I used a razor blade to reveal the Silver base layer on the AUTOMATIC badge. After a quick coat of lacquer we had this:

 

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Sadly a couple of the letters had sustained some damage in the past, but not too much I could do about that.

After it had dried I refitted that to the car, I think it looks pretty good really.

 

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After that I mixed up a couple of batches of filler. The first one went into the mishapen boot leading edge.

 

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And the second one went into the lower section of the rear panel. I feel this has had a bump or two over the years as the whole thing is quite 'wobbly'.

 

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Finally I gave the two parts of the front spoiler a rub down and another coat of primer. As it turns out my frustration of last nights runs was really justified as I think most of that was propellant that had just evaporated off as they dried. So all they really needed this evening was a quick flat and they were ready to cover again.

 

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Have a nice evening everyone.

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Some reasonable progress tonight.

1) Removed a layer of paint, or two from the boot lid:

 

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2) Sanded down the leading edge of the boot lid, then added another skim of filler:

 

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3) Sanded down the horrible 'wobbly' lower panel and applied another skim of filler:

 

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In fact 'skim' is a massive understatement here, I went overboard here I think...   :lol:

 

4) Took the OSR quarter back a paint layer or two and started to shape the filler in the lower corners that I had previous welded:

 

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Its pretty mind numbing work to be honest, but there you go - no pain, no gain as they say.

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My nephew was having a right laugh, piss take, at me, as i was trying to explain, working on restoring a car,is like nothing else, do it once, do it right, (never have to) do it again. Opposite of say cutting the grass, brushing leaves, chores, etc.  Enjoy the sanding, mundane but really worth the effort

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Trouble is........

these cars were designed in the era of built-in rust traps / enclosed areas/ not being looked after when new ,when lots of the later rust could have been slowed down right from the start.

lots of the areas that we repair  no matter how well we seem to protect them seem to need other bits doing to them again a few years down the line. It doesn’t matter because as classic car enthusiasts we are all used to this and most of us ( me included)are daft enough to enjoy actually doing it.!.

but yeah I see what you mean,it’s not like cutting grass,weeding or fecking shaving !. Wish we had a man pill for that one .

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Tiny update this evening.

I simply made up a longer sanding block. The one I had was only about 7-8 inches long, so I made up one that was 12 inches long instead.

This should make sanding the large, flat, straight areas much easier.

Have a good weekend everyone.

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After an early start, I got a bit more filling and sanding done this morning.

I rough sanded (120 grit) the leading edge of the boot and the very bottom of the lower panel again to give a better shape to both. This left the inevitable 'hollows' and air holes, meaning another skim of filler was required for both of those areas.

After that I turned my attention to the 'C' pillar area and screen surround 'corners' where I had recently carried out my repairs. Again rough sanded with 120 grit to give a pretty good basic starting shape.

 

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Coming a long well there Ian, just be patient with the filler i know its not the best job around but the better you can get the finish the better the car will look when painted and all fitted back up.

Edited by bris jas
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Thanks for the words of encouragement Jason, much appreciated.

I guess part of the frustration is that the filler takes so long to go off this time of year. That's a double edged sword I suppose though, you get longer to play with it, but it takes an age before you can start to sand it.

Oh well, its taken me over a year to get to this stage, so another few weeks isn't really going to hurt is it?

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A bit more shaping achieved with the very bottom of the rear panel. Its actually quite a complex shape if you look with shallow curves in three directions!

I think another session with the sanding block will see that little piece of this jigsaw sorted.

 

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Got a bit more done today.

1) A bit more shaping around the rear panel and leading edge of the boot lid. Still a bit further to go here. Added my 'dummy' panel join line to the NS with a chisel - bodger!!   :lol:  

 

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2) Made a start shaping the lower corners of the OSR quarter panel (where my repairs had taken place. Generally everything is OK, but as most of you know final shaping and smoothing takes an age.

 

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That's it from me for a day or two. I wonder what Santa is going to bring us all this year?!

 

Merry Christmas everyone!  :D  :thumbup

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With a rumbling belly and the promise of a big Christmas fry up still over 2 hours away I seriously had to find something to distract myself   :lol:

So back to the Cav it was then...

This morning I sanded down and gave a quick coat of primer to the petrol filler cap.


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