Bilbo Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 Ok spent a load more hours on Saturday, and a bit of yesterday wet sanding and polishing. Overall gone pretty well. Here's a bit of a before and after, you can see the texture in the top of the wing, and then the clearer looking paint on the bonnet: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Got all of the doors and wings done as well. Pretty long job, but same process as before. 1200 up to 2000 on the DA on low/medium speed, followed by G3 compound on machine, and finished with a final polish: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Honestly not too bad. I'm just happy it looks gloss now at least 😂 There are some areas that could do with a little more, and a couple of panels I ideally want to polish a bit more, but overall I'm fairly happy. It feels like glass to the touch which is nice. I started by doing the final polish step with a foam Finishing pad on the machine, but I was getting what are known as "holograms", I have no idea why this was occurring, but I noticed it after doing the first panel, the boot, and immediately stopped using it. Likely operator error let's be honest, I have never done this before. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So I need to refinish the boot, but luckily this isn't present anywhere else. I have been doing the final polish step entirely by hand, so my shoulder is very achey today 😂 Just need to give it a proper wash now to get rid of any residue and whatnot and it should look good Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Now I'm almost past this process I've learned a lot, the main thing being that I wish I just went for it and got a few runs putting the paint on a bit thicker than being scared of that. While I have got the worst of the texture out, there is still a fair bit of orange peel/pits all over, and in the areas I have really attacked it the paint is getting just a bit too thin to really remove it entirely. Ultimately it's fine, outdoors in the sun you can't even see it unless you're looking for it, but our unit strip lights really show up every single tiny imperfection. As I said to my painter mate when he came down the other day, I'm just glad the paint has adhered well and not reacted or just fallen off 😂 for a first time ever spraying a car I'd say this is acceptable. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 dont worry too much about the holograms they should dissapear with a final polish using a finer grade liquid . sometimes just plain water buffing or a minimal strength water/polish mix . its probably just a consequence of the soft paint which obviously cuts down and hence marrs more easily . and sometimes a DA instead of a rotary reduces the holograms too . youtube is your friend ! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 7 Author Share Posted March 7 On 04/03/2024 at 15:13, cam.in.head said: dont worry too much about the holograms they should dissapear with a final polish using a finer grade liquid . sometimes just plain water buffing or a minimal strength water/polish mix . its probably just a consequence of the soft paint which obviously cuts down and hence marrs more easily . and sometimes a DA instead of a rotary reduces the holograms too . youtube is your friend ! Cheers mate, yeah I'll have a go taking the holograms out of the boot soon. I still have a few areas to take the peel out from, but overall it's pretty good now. Looks gloss in the sun at least, so I'll take that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted March 7 Share Posted March 7 Yep, top marks. Maybe a question for your painter mate, why didn't he paint it for you 😂. No that's not it, Q, was, it takes a few weeks if not months for paint to fully harden, or so I was told. Will it affect the work you've put in, is it better to do it now, or wait. Is it harder to do when paint is fully hardened, or is it less likely to get rubbish through, or worry about paint being too thin. Car is looking excellent 🏆 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike. Posted March 8 Share Posted March 8 Excellent result, even more so being the first ever time you have painted a car, many people, myself included would not be brave enough to tackle painting a whole car or even attempt a panel or two, you should be very pleased, well worth the effort 👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 On 07/03/2024 at 22:05, ®evo03 said: Yep, top marks. Maybe a question for your painter mate, why didn't he paint it for you 😂. No that's not it, Q, was, it takes a few weeks if not months for paint to fully harden, or so I was told. Will it affect the work you've put in, is it better to do it now, or wait. Is it harder to do when paint is fully hardened, or is it less likely to get rubbish through, or worry about paint being too thin. Car is looking excellent 🏆 Haha, he would have done it very cheaply in comparison to how much it should cost, but he knew I wanted to learn 😂 Yeah I have been told it can take some time for it to fully harden, though luckily this 2K stuff seems incredibly resilient (you should see how hard it is to remove it from oversprayed areas of the floor in the unit 😂) so the correction process has been less scary than I thought it would be. On 08/03/2024 at 07:34, Mike. said: Excellent result, even more so being the first ever time you have painted a car, many people, myself included would not be brave enough to tackle painting a whole car or even attempt a panel or two, you should be very pleased, well worth the effort 👍 Cheers mate, appreciate the comments. Yeah I'm not sure if we were brave, or stupid, maybe a bit of both haha. The stupid part was definitely doing it in a ridiculous timeframe, I didn't burn the candle at both ends as much as I just threw the entire candle into a fire 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 It’s easier to go for a smooth surface before it hardens. It does still flow out and settle over this period too, but smoother it is in the working window, better it will be in a couple of months time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 Ok the car is looking well now. Needs a couple of paint touch ups in a few small areas, but overall it's looking glossy, and looks lovely when the sun comes out which is practically never since it's been done. Little bit of a polish on a couple of panels and a tiny bit of wet sand and buff in a couple of missed areas (not noticeable particularly) and it'll be good enough for me! Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. So now this process is 90 odd percent complete, I really needed some time off from paint, wet sanding, and all that. I'd never really liked the small trumpets on the ITBs. There was nothing really wrong with them as such, it was convenience more than anything as I had them lying around from my initial ITB setup on my old MX-5 and they slotted perfectly on the 750 bodies I am using now. But they're like 30 or 35mm. I ran 90mm ones on my old MX-5 and they were glorious. However me being me I don't like to drop £150+ on something before knowing if I actually want it or not, so I went about making something up of my own to try them out. So I went out and bought some pipe, ABS waste pipe to be precise. Chemical resistant and withstands temperatures much higher than say PVC, though to be honest my bay temperatures have been pretty low since I wrapped the exhaust. The trumpets only really get a little warm to the touch, even after a hard drive. Also it cost me £13 for 3m of pipe, so I couldn't really argue. We're currently sorting a new workbench at the unit, so here's how it looked: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. I found a couple of people online who had posted about flaring/bellmouthing the ends of pipe like this for various purposes, such as bass reflex tubes on custom bass speaker boxes. The main challenge was finding the right "forming tool" from what we had lying around. As you can see above, a few failed attempts occurred after trying all sorts of things. The top of bottles. top of an empty rattle can etc. They all kind of bellmouthed the end out but not very well, and then I found the perfect thing. My mate's 46mm socket: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Perfect. I cut 4 pieces of pipe down to size. Gently heated the ends with the blowtorch, and then squared each one of them up and pressed them over the socket, resulting in a pretty decent bellmouth on each of them to aid airflow. The pipe has a 50mm inner diameter, which exactly matches the inlet internal diameter of my ITBs (they taper down to 40 odd at the head end). Obviously I needed to flare the ITB end of the stacks to slot them over the ports, so again I heated this end up, and then pushed them over the port on the throttle bodies. Once cooled each trumpet was a very tight interference fit onto the throttle bodies with no attachment clip/jubilee etc. they just push fit and they stay there, much like the original ali 30mm ones did. I then took them off, gave them a little key up, and sprayed them with black plastic paint on the outside, just because the white looked a bit weird to be honest. I went a bit big with them 😂 150mm long, approx. 15mm of that is the attachment point over the ports, and lets say 5mm or so on the bellmouth end from the flaring over. So 130mm ish actual length, +/- a couple of mm. Before: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. After: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The plan is that these are temporary, obviously without dyno power runs it's impossible to really estimate what is best. General consensus seems to be short trumpets for high RPM HP, and longer trumpets for mid range torque. My mate has just acquired a TIG welder, so eventually I'd like to make these out of metal, and perhaps about 20-30mm shorter would be ideal as they're just a touch closer to the strut tower than I would really like. Good points: they don't get too hot, I really gave the car some grief on the way home and they haven't been affected, still in place, no issues with deforming or softening, they just stay there and work. They also sound ridiculous, even just cruising at low RPM, the growl from the ITBs is way more pronounced than before, and flat out they have a much deeper aggressive intake noise than before which sounds absolutely mental. Bad points: they're plastic. Let's be honest, even though they're black which is ok, they'd look far better made out of polished metal. Bit too long and a bit close to the strut tower, possibly affecting airflow. Maybe the final versions I will add a small bend to at the flange end to raise them a little. Honestly not too bad for a few quid, and they do look ridiculous at that length which I kind of love 😂 need to get my painted cam cover on now and tidy the bay a bit! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 How hard would it be to do the same with thin wall aluminium, flue type pipe. And is it up to the job? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted March 11 Share Posted March 11 (edited) Nice job. You do need a bigger rolled edge as that is where the magic begins. But you could use the alloy ones and extend them, perhaps even using some plastic tube? You can use this to figure correct length http://www.wallaceracing.com/runnertorquecalc.php Edited March 11 by Jessopia74 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 11 Author Share Posted March 11 6 hours ago, ®evo03 said: How hard would it be to do the same with thin wall aluminium, flue type pipe. And is it up to the job? Definitely, either ali or steel I wouldn't really mind either way. Ali would probably be easier if I needed to bellmouth the ends/expand the fitting end to clamp it on as it is softer. Then again I only have experience welding steel, so I could buy pipe and some bellmouths and simply make my own with steel. 4 hours ago, Jessopia74 said: Nice job. You do need a bigger rolled edge as that is where the magic begins. But you could use the alloy ones and extend them, perhaps even using some plastic tube? You can use this to figure correct length http://www.wallaceracing.com/runnertorquecalc.php For sure, the bellmouth could do with being a little more pronounced, I just wanted to see if it could be done with this pipe. That's interesting, I'll need to work out the calculation for intake runner area, and the "# of Induction Wave" as not sure what that is, but looks a useful tool, cheers. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 just out of curiosity and apologies if i missed it but are you running unfiltered ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 (edited) 19 minutes ago, cam.in.head said: just out of curiosity and apologies if i missed it but are you running unfiltered ? Yes mate, I always have done on my ITB setups. On my MX-5 I ran no filters for about 25k miles. The engine was already burning oil when I first fitted them and it just kept on going fine until I broke the car for parts, on about 193k miles (still on original engine). Some people are afraid of the idea, and I get it 100%, especially if your engine is worth a fortune. I can pick another running VVT engine up for about £150-£200, and have it swapped in under a day, so it doesn't bother me a great deal. Edited March 12 by Bilbo 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 that makes sense . although it would make me cringe to do it ! especially on dustyroads or when very rainy ?.lol 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 12 Author Share Posted March 12 16 minutes ago, cam.in.head said: that makes sense . although it would make me cringe to do it ! especially on dustyroads or when very rainy ?.lol Haha yeah, probably right, though in terms of rain I have never noticed any water going anywhere near the trumpets. I do plan to add an undertray on soon though, as currently there isn't one. I have a mk2 MX-5 one I should be able to adapt to fit I reckon. My mate runs his AE86 with open trumpets, and that 20v 4AGE is worth about 10 times what my engine costs 😂 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cam.in.head Posted March 12 Share Posted March 12 yeah i was thinking more underbody splash too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 18 Author Share Posted March 18 Right, so the plastic trumpets were a great success given their cost. Didn't deform, fall off, and they sounded great. I honestly thought I'd keep them for a bit longer but decided polished metal version are just so much better looking, so decided to get that done this weekend. Bought 4 pieces of hose connector polished ali, with a swaged end (intercooler type pipe). £9 each, same length as the plastic ones I made. Obviously the end was far too straight to be a good velocity stack, so I needed to form a bellmouth. It was going to take a bit more effort than simply heating plastic and forming them by hand, so I grabbed the blowtorch and the press and gave it a go. Started by forming the radius with a large socket. Once the ali was hot it wasn't too bad to roll the ends out slightly. Once this was done I flipped them over and pressed the end down into a flat plate a little to further flare the bellmouth. Now the radius on these ends isn't very large for a few reasons. Firstly flaring the ali further/wider would increase the chance of tearing the metal, also it's harder to form, especially as I am not skilled at metalworking at all. Also our press is pretty basic and the actual pressing part is p*ssed and a pain to work with. So I did what I could with what I have, here's my incredibly professional setup: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. As I said, small bellmouth. I did some light reading from people far more skilled than I, and yeah a large radius stack is better for airflow, but we're talking small percentages. This is a road car, I reckon it won't be noticeable either way in reality. Anyway, I cut 2 small relief slits in the throttle body side, much like my original trumpets had, and they pushed on ok: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Not too shabby. There is a small ridge on the outside of each runner, so I hammered out the ends a little bit more on each of the new stacks, and then tapped them all on to each port. Cylinder 1 and 4 stacks are sitting just a little wonky, so I need to look at the end and adjust it a little to get it sitting straight like the other 2: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. A touch too close to the strut tower for my liking, but they're not bad for under £40. Obviously a little excessive in length still, I think they'd be perfectly good about 20mm shorter than this. I think they look a lot better than the black ones, and the sound is utterly mental flat out, it's just stupid. I'll get some videos of it soon. Next up will be cleaning the bay up a bit, fitting my repainted cam cover, and sorting some leaks in the footwells I'm still having issues with. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Great effort mate, they do look the part and I bet they ‘snarl’ lovely 😎👍 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Turbo tubes 😎 Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 1 hour ago, ®evo03 said: Turbo tubes 😎 Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Those would slow the air though, but disturb it more . Guess they was after atomisation improvement or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 On 18/03/2024 at 23:35, Jessopia74 said: Great effort mate, they do look the part and I bet they ‘snarl’ lovely 😎👍 Cheers mate, yeah they sound ridiculous haha, it's great. 15 hours ago, ®evo03 said: Turbo tubes 😎 Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Ha that's funny, I saw these pop up elsewhere on Instagram or something yesterday as well. No idea on the logic behind them, guess it's some kind of "vortex" idea. But how it works in reality I'm not sure. Would be interested to see back to back dyno runs with these and conventional stacks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
®evo03 Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 Yes, would be proof in the pud 😎 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 So not too much going on, not had much spare cash for stuff for the car lately. I've quit smoking so hopefully that'll free up some car money soon 😂 Been enjoying the new trumpets and doing a few small bits here and there though. Painted the spare cam cover ages ago, but not touched it since. Bought some little syringes and decided to infill the letters red. Same red as I used on the front badge, just something I found in the cabinet. Ford Radiant Red. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Realised the photo looks weird and the red is a bit blurry/overexposed. It actually looks pretty neat in person. Not sure if I like it, it's alright, but it is definitely an improvement on the oxidised one that is currently on there. Will get that fitted with a new OE cam cover gasket soon. Also gave it it's first wash since the respray. Noticed a couple of defects in the paint in small areas, but nothing too worrying to be honest. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Looking pretty good I think. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. But I need red seats/red interior asap. I have found some red seats out of a mk3 MR2 that I think will look good. Pretty cheap and local enough, I may go get them and make them fit. Not too bulky, slight bucket seat look but not overly modern. Also they're red material, I'm not a fan of leather seats so all the red leather options I ignored. Either way the red needs to happen soon as the cream and black colour scheme isn't for me at all. I have my ticket for Sunday at Retro Rides Goodwood now, and I have applied for Players Classic too. They accepted it into concourse last year 😂 so surely I'll be accepted again this year you would think, now it has been painted and whatnot. It was a good show actually, some great stuff there. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jessopia74 Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 Good luck in the event then 💪 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted April 11 Author Share Posted April 11 Right, I like having a bucket seat, but the old Sparco has seen better days. I bought it for £60 about 7 years ago and it wasn't new then. Plus it isn't red. So I started looking around at red seat options. I thought about buying some red Sparco buckets, but I don't know, maybe just a little modern looking, and also I don't really have much cash at the moment. And the red retro seat offerings all looked uncomfortable, or too low backed for my liking (I like a headrest). So I started looking at OE seats from various cars. I discounted anything leather or bulky looking, so modern stuff with all electrical bases and stuff (i.e. very heavy and high seats). Came across red cloth MR2 seats, from the mk3 MR2. Thought they'd be a good option. Looked up the weight on some MR2 forums and they're fairly light, no electrical stuff in the base, from a small car so not going to be bulky. Then a pair popped up on Marketplace not a million miles from me for £120. Then they were £100. Then £80. I really couldn't say no, £80 for a pair of pretty good condition seats, can't argue! Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Pretty good nick, bit of a bucket style, fairly supportive, on adjustable runners, and reclinable. Also the drivers seat has a twist knob to lower the seat base down for taller drivers, ideal! So then it came to fitting them. Took the Sparco out of the driver's side, and then worked out the height difference between the mount points. The left hand rails sit on a ledge of sorts, approx. 7cm higher than the right side mounts. So I needed a way to make up a mount extension to get the seat nice and level. I took the MX-5 side mount rails I had been using for the Sparco, and these seemed ideal. I only needed the right side mount. So I cut it down to about 7cm tall, cut the feet off of the right side runner, and welded it directly to the runner frame on the MR2 seat. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. You can clearly see the height difference between the 2 sides here. I'm happy with the welding, I seam welded the entire length of the runner extension, so it is plenty strong. I may however add a little bit of lateral support to it in the form of a bracket of some kind, just for extra safety and peace of mind. Anyway with this done I needed to place it in the car. Roughly in place it sat level, so I was happy the rail was correct. The width of these runners is about 7cm wider than my previous setup, so I had to drill a couple of new floor holes for the bolts. With the Sparco I was using some large circular washers as spreader plates, but I feel these were just a little too thin material for my liking, so I've fitted some thicker spreader plates underneath for the seat bolts to bolt up to, and used Nyloc nuts to make sure they stay put: Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. 3 of the mount points use these plates now, and the rear right uses one of the original strengthening pieces that the original seats bolted through, so that's all good. Now the left side rails I kept the original MR2 feet on, I just bashed the front one flat with a big hammer so it mated nicely to the floor. The rear left foot is actually transmission tunnel mounted sideways as opposed to the other 3. So once the other 3 mount points were bolted down I got a hole drilled into the tunnel, and had a look how to bolt it down effectively. There is a bit of a gap between the tunnel and the foot, so I added a very thick spacer so that when bolted down the seat foot and the tunnel are pressed hard against each other. Obviously added a spreader on the other side to give it some strength, and it all bolted on nicely. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The seat feels super solid now it's all torqued down, I'm pretty happy with it. Removed the seat mounted belt buckle they came with as my Vauxhall seatbelts won't clip into them, and I am using my original tunnel mounted buckles. They sit at the right height so the belt feels nice and tight against you when clipped in. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. Project images are available to Club Members Only, Click to become an OMOC Member. The passenger side is slightly different as the raised floor is only on the rear right, but similar principle, so I will get that done as well this week. First piece of the red interior is done. Need to sort the rest when money allows and I find some red interior pieces. I'll get some proper photos when they're both in, I think it's going to complement the paint quite well, certainly did on my MX-5. The seat is quite nice, you don't sit as deep in it as the Sparco, which takes some getting used to, but it's still marginally lower than the OE seat when the height adjustment knob is bottomed out. It is slightly too high for my liking, but that's just because I'm used to almost sitting on the floor with any seats I fit into my cars 😂 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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