Grahams81-Leon 4wd, Big Turbo - Back in the saddle :-)

[ReDBull]

Are you going to buy some heat lamps or heaters for after it's sprayed? I hope the police aren't watching what you're taking into the garage they be thinking you're growing you're own lol.

 

[grahams81]

Definately +1 to James post.

I think I speak for most of the forum when I say I wish I was closer to lend a hand lol

Thanks Barney

Are you going to buy some heat lamps or heaters for after it's sprayed? I hope the police aren't watching what you're taking into the garage they be thinking you're growing you're own lol.

never been partial to any "home grown" herb or veg.....

Small update -

It's been a while since i updated, sorry to all been doing boring stuff lately prepping the garage further for the impending paint job.

I finally got round to painting the last wall white - not bad, it only took me about 6 years to finish that job

I've managed to have a re-arrange in the shed and clear the shelves that were down the sides of the garage.... once they were clear i took them down to give me a bit more room for painting.

I managed to get an extractor fan from e-gay - it's a bit of cheap Chinese sh*te but as long as it lasts the duration of the paint job then i'll be laughing. The auto opening and closing of the shutters didn't work so i removed the motor and installed a bit of trusty welding wire to manually pull the flaps open and shut.
I was planning on mounting it in the window but it seemed like a better idea to just take out one of the panes from the door, i couldn't decide if the fan would have been better in the top or bottom so i put it in the middle

Mounted the fan up and quickly wired it in (still got to run a permanent supply to the fan)

Took me shelves down -

The garage is looking nice and bright now (crappy phone pic makes it look a bit dull)

The garage is finished now just needs dedusting and cleaning out after all the sanding work is done.

I did some thinking about the warmth in the garage.... - i already had a small electric convection heater which took the chill off nicely but wasn't much good for getting the garage warm (which i'm gonna want to do to get the paint to fully harden / dry quicker)
So I had a trip to machine mart today and came back with a 3kw Infrared Heater -

Got too say it's excellent - actually a bit too hot on full tilt, i've been turning one of the elements off and just running on 1.
Warms the panels off nicely which drys the primer i've sprayed in about 5mins. I only turned it on once all the paint fumes had been extracted out thanks to the fan

I decided to start tackling some more of the rust around the rear lights / where the rear bumper meets the body and along just behind the rear wheel arch, it wasn't too bad just starting to bubble nicely.
The rust seems to be where the bumper has been rubbed the paint away.

Quite hard to show in the photo but this is after i cleaned it up -

I gave it a lick with some Upol Zinc 182 primer to protect it until i have a chance to put the main primer coat on.

Next up was to remove all the old sealant from around the front windscreen - i had scratched the paint to hell when i butchered the smashed screen out.
I removed all the old sealant and took it down to bare metal to be sure -

Gave it a lick of zinc primer -

So thats it for now. Tomorrows plan is to put some filler on the roof where i welded up the nasty handsfree aerial hole and do some minor filling / sanding prior to shooting the real primer.

Ohh and i've got to say big thanks to PhillC, i've now got all the Glass sorted including the Windscreen and Tailgate, also got loads of bits and pieces from him so happy days.

Thanks,

Graham.

 

[Chambers_CUPRA]

Awesome work

Wish i had a room for somert like this

 

[Matthew FR]

Good job, very interesting!

 

[joehirth]

I remember last year when I had the tent out! Great fun Looking good Graham.

 

[James23Parkin]

Awesome update as always Graham. With all the prep you're doing, and with your attention to detail, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't achieve a top finish. I bet you're looking forward to getting some paint down now hey? I think we are on your behalf...

Back to it buddy

 

[seatcupramad23]

Graham a bit far down the road but who is doing your mapping mate

 

[grahams81]

Awesome work

Wish i had a room for somert like this

Good job, very interesting!

Thanks Guys

I remember last year when I had the tent out! Great fun Looking good Graham.

Yeh i remember seeing your tent in your RR thread.... Thats actually where i got (stole ) the idea from.

Awesome update as always Graham. With all the prep you're doing, and with your attention to detail, there's absolutely no reason why you couldn't achieve a top finish. I bet you're looking forward to getting some paint down now hey? I think we are on your behalf...

Back to it buddy

Thanks as always for the kind comments James, hoping i'll get a decent finish...... It'll just take me a while as im using a SATA minijet 4 gun (touch-up gun / spot repairs really) to minimise the amount of atomised paint / overspray..... I'm painting the roof then each side individually then the removable panels.

I finished off the detail sanding / prep yesterday on the main shell then washed the car and cleaned the garage out - im ready to start masking and painting when i get back from Ireland thursday next week.

I should..... SHOULD get it fully painted before Christmas, ready for the rebuilding FINALLY

Graham a bit far down the road but who is doing your mapping mate

I bought a programmable system that uses the OEM hardware ecu etc. It's called Eurodyne Meastro. You pick a base map from loadsa different options like displacement / camshafts / TB size / turbo size etc.... I will run it in once i check AFR's are safe then do some logging and have a play about.
I've spoke to Bill about the final mapping, it's a long way away (250 Miles) but Bill has lots of experience with / BT's so i'm more than happy to let Bill work his magic on it.

 

[rich.h44]

EPIC and totally speechless!!!!
I have just spent the past 5 hours been engrossed in reading the hole thread and nearly shed a tear when you were talking about scrapping it! your attention to detail is unreal and i can't be leave you done most of this on weekends!i will look forward to seeing this finished so keep up the awesome work! also love the matte red and matte white! scene as you've got all the stuff for the matte black why not get the matte lacquer to protect?

i like many others have wanted to to do something on a smiler line! so much so iv got the rear floor pan for a mk4 4motion that was ment to go in my other cordoba vario, but due to work and 3 kids now 7,11,15 i just didn't have the time or money to it!

 

[grahams81]

EPIC and totally speechless!!!!
I have just spent the past 5 hours been engrossed in reading the hole thread and nearly shed a tear when you were talking about scrapping it! your attention to detail is unreal and i can't be leave you done most of this on weekends!i will look forward to seeing this finished so keep up the awesome work! also love the matte red and matte white! scene as you've got all the stuff for the matte black why not get the matte lacquer to protect?

i like many others have wanted to to do something on a smiler line! so much so iv got the rear floor pan for a mk4 4motion that was ment to go in my other cordoba vario, but due to work and 3 kids now 7,11,15 i just didn't have the time or money to it!

Thanks for the kind comments, much appreciated

As for the Matt Lacquer to protect the black - it doesn't need it, it's a specially designed Top coat that's scratch / weather resistant (apparently). People only use the Matt lacquer if they use a regular base coat but want the final finish to be matt.

Thanks Again.

Graham.

 

[grahams81]

Update Time.....


Well after what seemed like like a life time of rubbing and flattening i've finally managed to get some paint down.

I decided to just mask the floor of the car off to collect the overspray - i used some of the proper statically charged masking film i bought offof ebay.

All masked up

I put sheets up covering all the racking etc then got all the stuff ready -

Me looking like a total spaz -

I eventually got spraying and had issues trying to spray the Primer, it wasn't atomising well, even with the needle fully opened.
I mixed it according to the instructions which was Primer with 20% Hardener and 20-25% Thinners but it does recommend using a 1.4mm tip the biggest i have for my SATA Minijet is a 1.2mm. So i emptied the gun and mixed some more thinners in.
Once the primer was a bit thinner it flowed smashing but my next problem soon appeared.....

When i painted the wife's bike years ago the compressor was just good enough - but now painting large panels it's not man enough.

So i continued in fits and starts and got most of the shell primed, i hadn't mixed enough paint so just stopped there -

As luck would have it my mate Scotty popped round to lend my MIG welder and just mentioned he had just bought a more manly 2.5hp compressor that i could lend.

So i piped it into the supply and tried them out.... more than enough air now
So i'll rub it down again tomorrow and then paint the bits i didn't get done today and give it a second coat.

Oh and i've had a change of heart on the Matt black AGAIN

So i've decided to use a Lechler Mac 4 which is a 2K topcoat like the Matte black but just gloss finish so no need for Clearcoat but only available in solid colours.

So i was thinking of a nice solid colour and i'm gonna go and order some Porsche GT3RS Orange.

What you all think ???????.... i know i won't loose it in a car park

All in all quite pleased with todays work to finally get some paint on the car, really spurring me on now

 

[James23Parkin]

Great update Graham. It seems like the primer has gone down really evenly. A nice glossy orange with black plastics/wheels would look great IMO. There's no reason why you couldn't achieve a top quality paint finish that would last for many years to come, rather than original plans to just put some paint on to get the car moving again! Awesome work. Keep us updated

 

[cocadave]

That's going to be an epic car!!!!

 

[tom t]

really chuffed for you m8! great to see you laying down some paint. will be so much better without the matte paint. good on ya! look forward to seeing more pics and updates.

 

[grahams81]

Thanks for all the comments guys i really appreciate them all.

 

[ibizacupra]

Orange.. nice

 

[ReDBull]

Orange will suit it as will the GT3 RS theme. It's going to be a cracking car!

 

[gdjohny]

sweet. it will look great .

 

[t0m]

Awesome choice imo! GT3RS Orange will be sweeeeeeeeeeeeet

Cracking update as per mate.

 

[grahams81]

Thanks for all the comments Guys, muchos love

Well thats it..... No going back now- I just got back from John Davey's paintshop in Darlington, there really helpful in there - and they don't try and sell you stuff you don't need which is refreshing in this day and age.

I originally went in for Lechler Mac 4 2K Ultra High Solids Topcoat.... the price was shocking at £100 a litre, the guy there recommended the cheaper Mac 1 High Solids Top Coat.... slightly less coverage but again a good weather / scratch resistant / high gloss / polishable but also faster drying so better for the garage work.

I ordered up 3 litres of the Porsche Orange in Mac 1 which came to £130.
Unfortunately he didn't have enough of base paints to mix up 3 litres of the GT3 orange so i need to go and pick it up tomorrow. Hoping 3 litres will be enough.... if not he can always mix me some more up.

I got some generic 2k Gloss black for the roof / engine bay / wing mirrors / rear spoiler etc etc.... and probably wheels.

Got another Litre of Green TI filler primer as i got through it quick yesterday and i've still got loads to do.

I ordered a larger nozzle kit for my gun yesterday, a 1.4mm SR, thats the size recommended by Lechler so it should help it flow a bit easier.

Can't get anything done today as i have to go to a childs birthday party with the wife

Oh well can't complain she does let me play in the garage most of the time... gotta keep them happy i suppose.

Cheers Again for all the comments guys