It's back!!

[appletonn]

Just picked up my car from the bodyshop after its 3 week 'holiday'.

Now, before it went in, I was pretty confident that the sills were rock solid and that the only real corrosion was on the n/s lower front wing with anything else being cosmetic and preventative maintenance in stripping the sills and applying fresh stonechip paint etc.

Well the sills were solid (Phew![8D]) but they found corrosion in both front wings and some in the o/s lower rear wing, which necessitated cutting out the corrosion and fabricating fresh repair pieces etc.

They have sorted the ugly rusty scab on the driver's door ( from a stonechip at some point in the distant past) and finally have resprayed both sides of the car up to the level of the rubbing strip on the doors and I have to say that they have blended the old paint superbly with the new.

Couple of 'horror' pics below!

 

[appletonn]

Another one....!

 

[appletonn]

Another showing the rust....[&:]

 

[appletonn]

Yet more.....

 

[appletonn]

Finally, my car in unusual company...

 

[Robbo149]

Almost exactly the same repairs as mine's just had. Although my front wings were a lot worse than yours, my sills were also solid. 'tis good to have them back after a few weeks without.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
Robbo

 

[appletonn]

It was indeed a nice 20 mile drive home!

I'm desperately trying not to compare the nice side paintwork with the original, stone chipped/touched-up paintwork on its nose[8|]

Must not spend any more money.......[X(][]

 

[Robbo149]

I'm in exactly the same predicament matey! now saving up for front & rear painting [&:] (oh, and a new clutch!).

Cheers,
Robbo

 

[appletonn]

It's just the nose of mine, but I'm going for the original look at the front, otherwise i won't want to drive above 30mph and certainly won't want to do the trackdays I'm planning![]

 

[Diver944]

Nice that they managed to rescue the panels Nick [] It's so much cheaper than having to fit new ones. Keep a very close eye on the areas they have repaired, just to make sure you don't see any bubbling start to reappear in a few months.

I had the sills painted on my Turbo about 4 years ago (underneath was fine) and whilst it was there I forked out extra to have the front end done to remove the years of road rash. Within a week I had a lovely 1cm crater on the badge panel from a stone [8|]

If you drive them as intended these things will happen, such is life. Touch them in to stop rust and just enjoy driving them []

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Now it's all been declared sound or repaired, a good time to give it a proper dose of dinitrol, bilthammer, waxoyl or whatever we decided was best! [&:]

I'm seriously considering the professional treatment, as the budget for a full restoration depends on selling the house for more than the 5 lucky beans we've been offered so far.....[]

 

[appletonn]

Paul, the guys have flooded the inside of the sills and the front wings with Waxoyl and I used all new fixings and fasteners to fix the black trim pieces back on.

Agree about the old front stone chip thing too and that is why I'm sticking with the original paintwork/touched in stonechip theme![]

I am confident that these guys know what they are doing and from the pics I have, I can see where the old metal was corroded and then cut away. In their workshops during my car's holiday there were 2 E Types having full restorations, a 30s Rolls Royce, a Mk1 rally Escort being reshelled, a MK10 Jag being fully restored, an XK140 being serviced/fettled and finally a Mitsubishi Lancer (the original turbocharged rwd boxy saloon from the eighties, not the newer 4wd nutter machines) that they had fully restored for a customer. Quite an eclectic mix[]

 

[Wigeon Incognito]

Looking really good Nick, glad you finally have it back!

I had the front end quandry and had the nose panel, bonnet, headlight covers, and bumper all stripped and repainted. Now of course it shows up the stone chips on the leading edge of my wings, damn!!

 

[appletonn]

Exactly - before you know it, you will have repainted the entire car and will drive everywhere at 30mph...[]

I'm sticking with the 'patina' look....[]

 

[appletonn]

Scotty, not had chance to take any yet - will post some up later in the week.

In a way I feel like i have spent quite a bit of money and not got much in return, although I know that I no longer have any rusty bits to worry about now[8|][]

 

[Alpine]

Nick

Mine is in the body shop at the moment, having what yours has just had. I pick it up tomorrow. Aparently they have had to weld new metal in along the whole length of the front wings, behind the wheel. I've also had the metal behind the rear wheels repainted as there was just a bit of surface rust. It is costing £480 plus vat, which is a lot cheaper than new wings.

 

[Guest]

I'm in the same boat lads.... Mine went in to get both sills resprayed , a horrible roof ariel taken off and roof painted, and a bit of rust around the left hand boot catch treated..... The car was fully painted in 2001 with 2 pack Sikkens Lesonal (cheap stuff but I didnt know[:'(]) and Les found it very hard to match it in with todays water based paint. 3 attempts to get it right later and Les ended up painting the roof, bonnet, wings and half way up the doors to match it in properly.......[] Theres a paint run on the left front wing as well[] Am I a sorry boy I started at all[&:] I dont give a hoot anyway .... Silverstone or bust..... []