Discussion
Popped up to Stylehaus to see the car today, Steve reckons it will be ready to go to paint early next week and will send some pics when it does.
How it looks at the moment, ready for primer
Engine bay rubbed down
All panels are ready to be painted
Other than that we have been fitting the various bushes
Diff cradle
Diff mounts
Upper rear arms
Rear trailing arms
All the bits for the engine rebuild will be arriving on Saturday, so that should be back in one piece by Sunday evening
How it looks at the moment, ready for primer
Engine bay rubbed down
All panels are ready to be painted
Other than that we have been fitting the various bushes
Diff cradle
Diff mounts
Upper rear arms
Rear trailing arms
All the bits for the engine rebuild will be arriving on Saturday, so that should be back in one piece by Sunday evening
Just got back from the yard, after a busy day.
First off went to Stephen James in Enfiled to pick up this bag of goodies
This is everything we need to rebuild the engine
Solid steering column bush fitted
Delrin bushes fitted to brake and clutch pedals
Engine block painted black
Decided to clean up the sump as it was off
Washed and degreased
Masked up
Two coats of etch primer
Coat of silver, and good as new
Then cleaned up the gearbox
and started on the diff rebuild
Thats all for today
First off went to Stephen James in Enfiled to pick up this bag of goodies
This is everything we need to rebuild the engine
Solid steering column bush fitted
Delrin bushes fitted to brake and clutch pedals
Engine block painted black
Decided to clean up the sump as it was off
Washed and degreased
Masked up
Two coats of etch primer
Coat of silver, and good as new
Then cleaned up the gearbox
and started on the diff rebuild
Thats all for today
Sorry not updated for a while, but been busy at work last week.
Anyway bit of progress.
ARP Rod bolts and new shells fitted, and sump re-fitted.
Went to fit the rocker cover, when 3 of the threads pulled out of the head
obviously been over tightnened as some stage and explaoins why the rocker cover was weeping.
Anyway inserts were put into the 3 holes, on the last one the insert tool snapped in the hole ! Luckily it was far enough down that it doesnt affect the bolts doing up.
Then on the second attempt another thread pulled out So the tool was repaired and another insert fitted.
Finally all was back together
And i painted up the diff casing, ready for its 3.91 internals
Apparently the shell is being painted tomorrow and wednesday so i expect some pics which i will share with you.
Anyway bit of progress.
ARP Rod bolts and new shells fitted, and sump re-fitted.
Went to fit the rocker cover, when 3 of the threads pulled out of the head
obviously been over tightnened as some stage and explaoins why the rocker cover was weeping.Anyway inserts were put into the 3 holes, on the last one the insert tool snapped in the hole ! Luckily it was far enough down that it doesnt affect the bolts doing up.
Then on the second attempt another thread pulled out
So the tool was repaired and another insert fitted.Finally all was back together
And i painted up the diff casing, ready for its 3.91 internals
Apparently the shell is being painted tomorrow and wednesday so i expect some pics which i will share with you.
Sorry ive not updated for a while but been having major issues with the car, i was hoping that they would be sorted out and that i would not even mention then but they have not unfortunatly.
Car was collected from Stylehaus 2 weeks ago, Steve was not there when we went to get the car as he had to go to a wedding reception and left his 16 year apprentice to greet us, initially the car looked amazing so we pushed it out of the workshop, a cheque for £4000 was given to the apprentice so that he could get on his way.
Once we started strapping the car down we started to notice imperfections with the car first one or two then more and more.
So i call Steve... no answer, send a message to say that iam not happy with the job and could he or the apprentice pop down so that the car could be put back in the unit! no answer... try calling again ... no answer... send a message saying that i do not want to take the car away... no answer, try calling again... no answer... send a messge saying that i wont be leaving until i hear from him.
Finally after waiting over an hour i get a call saying that there is no way anybody can come back and that i would need to take the car away and bring it back the following day... bear in mind that it is 60 miles each way.
So we take the car home andf the following dday i travel to back to Stylehaus without the car, and tell Steve what iam not happy with.. i got a blank look and an explaination that it is difficult to paint a car with a roll cage??? and then i was asked what "we" were going to do with it.
I left it that he would call me and let me know what he wanted to do to rectify the issues, i then heard nothing so tried to call but go no answer, then received a message saying he had been to the cinema and would call tomorrow, guess what no call and when i tried to call no answer! this was nearly 2 weeks ago now and i have heard nothing! needless to say i have stopped the payment.
Since then we have been over the car and found at least 50 defects with the paint job, iam really dispapointed firstly that he has even let the car come out in the condition that it is in, secondly that he tried to charge me £4000 for it and lastly at the fact that he has chosen to just ignore me now. I have used Steve before and he did a cracking job, he has produced some amazing work so i really dont know what has happened.
Anyway here are some of the bits iam not happy with please bear in mind that i wanted a show car finish to match the level of attention to detail we have already gone into with the car and that is why it was taken to stylehaus in the first place.
Insde of bootlid, where it was cable tied shut the paint has just come off and you can see the original yellow paint underneath which is stil shiney!
More spots of original yellow paint on bootlid
We have later discovered that the inside of the doors and fuel cap are the same and the paint is already coming off to reveal the original colours underneath!
Number plate hole in bootlid welded up but just left with the bare weld on the inside, even has the welding wire still sticking out of it
Run on rear light recess
Boot floor has not been cleaned out before painting
Old seam sealer burnt during cage fitment just painted over
Various marks in the cage and rear quarters, looks like the airline touched the wet paint
N/S rear quarter has a hand brushed patch on it?
Runs on cage, there are about 5 in total
Marks on rear pillars as well as paint being very thin and silver showing through
Cockpit floor not cleaned before being painted, you can see a pile of dirt under the seat mounts!
All panels, boot, wings and doors have either been burnt through by the buffer on thr corners or put down on the corners, either way they have all been touched in by brush in a different shade of white and with dirt in.
Chip in the door which has been touched in
Various runs in engine bay
Dirt in engine bay painted over
Areas of engine bay with virtually no paint on
Run on front wing
Various runs of front bumper
Marks on bootlid trim panel
Hole in bulkhead underneath rollcage bar, was meant to be sealed up, only ben partially done, leaving a hole straight into the cockpit
Various marks on mirrors
How it looks from outside, looks lovely until you look closly
We have since found a few other issues, what i thought was a shadow on the back of the roll cage is in fact where it has been missed!
Anyway i have asked Finishline to come and have a look at it and see what they can do, it will need at least the inside to be redone abd try and rectify the other bits, unfortunatly he cant come over for a couple of weeks, which means the project has ground to a halt once again! Which is frustrating because i wanted to get the car out for this year and also because ive rented a unit to out the car back together in and now its just sitting there costing me money.
Car was collected from Stylehaus 2 weeks ago, Steve was not there when we went to get the car as he had to go to a wedding reception and left his 16 year apprentice to greet us, initially the car looked amazing so we pushed it out of the workshop, a cheque for £4000 was given to the apprentice so that he could get on his way.
Once we started strapping the car down we started to notice imperfections with the car first one or two then more and more.
So i call Steve... no answer, send a message to say that iam not happy with the job and could he or the apprentice pop down so that the car could be put back in the unit! no answer... try calling again ... no answer... send a message saying that i do not want to take the car away... no answer, try calling again... no answer... send a messge saying that i wont be leaving until i hear from him.
Finally after waiting over an hour i get a call saying that there is no way anybody can come back and that i would need to take the car away and bring it back the following day... bear in mind that it is 60 miles each way.
So we take the car home andf the following dday i travel to back to Stylehaus without the car, and tell Steve what iam not happy with.. i got a blank look and an explaination that it is difficult to paint a car with a roll cage??? and then i was asked what "we" were going to do with it.
I left it that he would call me and let me know what he wanted to do to rectify the issues, i then heard nothing so tried to call but go no answer, then received a message saying he had been to the cinema and would call tomorrow, guess what no call and when i tried to call no answer! this was nearly 2 weeks ago now and i have heard nothing! needless to say i have stopped the payment.
Since then we have been over the car and found at least 50 defects with the paint job, iam really dispapointed firstly that he has even let the car come out in the condition that it is in, secondly that he tried to charge me £4000 for it and lastly at the fact that he has chosen to just ignore me now. I have used Steve before and he did a cracking job, he has produced some amazing work so i really dont know what has happened.
Anyway here are some of the bits iam not happy with please bear in mind that i wanted a show car finish to match the level of attention to detail we have already gone into with the car and that is why it was taken to stylehaus in the first place.
Insde of bootlid, where it was cable tied shut the paint has just come off and you can see the original yellow paint underneath which is stil shiney!
More spots of original yellow paint on bootlid
We have later discovered that the inside of the doors and fuel cap are the same and the paint is already coming off to reveal the original colours underneath!
Number plate hole in bootlid welded up but just left with the bare weld on the inside, even has the welding wire still sticking out of it
Run on rear light recess
Boot floor has not been cleaned out before painting
Old seam sealer burnt during cage fitment just painted over
Various marks in the cage and rear quarters, looks like the airline touched the wet paint
N/S rear quarter has a hand brushed patch on it?
Runs on cage, there are about 5 in total
Marks on rear pillars as well as paint being very thin and silver showing through
Cockpit floor not cleaned before being painted, you can see a pile of dirt under the seat mounts!
All panels, boot, wings and doors have either been burnt through by the buffer on thr corners or put down on the corners, either way they have all been touched in by brush in a different shade of white and with dirt in.
Chip in the door which has been touched in
Various runs in engine bay
Dirt in engine bay painted over
Areas of engine bay with virtually no paint on
Run on front wing
Various runs of front bumper
Marks on bootlid trim panel
Hole in bulkhead underneath rollcage bar, was meant to be sealed up, only ben partially done, leaving a hole straight into the cockpit
Various marks on mirrors
How it looks from outside, looks lovely until you look closly
We have since found a few other issues, what i thought was a shadow on the back of the roll cage is in fact where it has been missed!
Anyway i have asked Finishline to come and have a look at it and see what they can do, it will need at least the inside to be redone abd try and rectify the other bits, unfortunatly he cant come over for a couple of weeks, which means the project has ground to a halt once again! Which is frustrating because i wanted to get the car out for this year and also because ive rented a unit to out the car back together in and now its just sitting there costing me money.
No the £4000 was just for painting the shell, the cage was already fitted.
Yes granted maybe I am being fussy but then again I think I should be given the effort we have put in so far, I could live with a couple of little bits yes but it's not the case unfortunately, in terms of the paint flaking off it seems that the surface was not keyed or primered
Yes granted maybe I am being fussy but then again I think I should be given the effort we have put in so far, I could live with a couple of little bits yes but it's not the case unfortunately, in terms of the paint flaking off it seems that the surface was not keyed or primered
Well after waiting 3 weeks for Chris from finishline to have a look at my car, he came tonight only to tell me he couldnt book it in until next July!!!!!!
I give up, just going to throw it together as it is now, won't ever be the car I wanted it to be but I can't keep dragging on with this now as its coming up for 2 years
I give up, just going to throw it together as it is now, won't ever be the car I wanted it to be but I can't keep dragging on with this now as its coming up for 2 years
Right, the shell is now for sale.
The only way i will ever be happy with the shell now is if i get it resprsyed again, it will be ideal for a race car but not good enough for the show car i was going to build, and i can justify spending another load of money to finish a car which i will never be happy with.
Aside from this, the project has already been going for nearly 2 years and ive lost patience with it, just want a car that i can drive rather than look at in bits!
So once the shell is sold i will now buy a nice tidy M3 Evo and gradually over the next few months fit my nice new and modified bits and just get a bolt in cage fitted.
There will be a few more bits available in time such as fire extinguisher, varlet red top 30, cartek kill switch etc which i will no longer require.
The only way i will ever be happy with the shell now is if i get it resprsyed again, it will be ideal for a race car but not good enough for the show car i was going to build, and i can justify spending another load of money to finish a car which i will never be happy with.
Aside from this, the project has already been going for nearly 2 years and ive lost patience with it, just want a car that i can drive rather than look at in bits!
So once the shell is sold i will now buy a nice tidy M3 Evo and gradually over the next few months fit my nice new and modified bits and just get a bolt in cage fitted.
There will be a few more bits available in time such as fire extinguisher, varlet red top 30, cartek kill switch etc which i will no longer require.
Well i havent been on here for a while, after trying to sell the shell but having no joy, i spent some time looking for a company who could sort out my car.
Finally i found a place in Woking called Ambassador coachworks, they are an approved bodyshop for Aston Martin and deal in high end work.
Anyway after popping down to see them and being shown the facilities etc i trailored the car down to them.
Here are some pics from last week:-
What they found was that the majority of the shell had not been primered, in fact only the outside of the doors, bootlid and bonnet had been primered, the rest had just been keyed and sprayed over!
Anyway they have removed as much of the old paint as poosible, the car will then be primered and resprayed.
I will be popping down tomorrow to see the progress and i will post some more pics then.
In the meantime i have been getting everything ready for the cars return.
All bits on racking
Engine on trolley
All powder coated bit laid out
Sterring rack and prop all cleaned and ready to go back on
Painted diff casing with 3.91 crown and pinion waiting to go in
Finally i found a place in Woking called Ambassador coachworks, they are an approved bodyshop for Aston Martin and deal in high end work.
Anyway after popping down to see them and being shown the facilities etc i trailored the car down to them.
Here are some pics from last week:-
What they found was that the majority of the shell had not been primered, in fact only the outside of the doors, bootlid and bonnet had been primered, the rest had just been keyed and sprayed over!
Anyway they have removed as much of the old paint as poosible, the car will then be primered and resprayed.
I will be popping down tomorrow to see the progress and i will post some more pics then.
In the meantime i have been getting everything ready for the cars return.
All bits on racking
Engine on trolley
All powder coated bit laid out
Sterring rack and prop all cleaned and ready to go back on
Painted diff casing with 3.91 crown and pinion waiting to go in
I quickly popped into Ambassdor coachworks yesterday to see how the shell is progressing, there are a couple of minor issues which iam not happy with and they are going to rectify but in general it is 100 times better than the original paintjob
Anyway ill let the pics do the speaking;
As you can see the finish is still nice, however i now have primer under the paint, there are no missing bits and no dirt in the paint.
Anyway ill let the pics do the speaking;
As you can see the finish is still nice, however i now have primer under the paint, there are no missing bits and no dirt in the paint.
Ok just back from my workshop, got a few jobs done.
Back in the workshop
First job was to sheet up the inside and protect the rollcage
Then put all the factory grommets back in, with the help of pics i took before they were removed.
Then started refitting parts
First installed the wiper motor and fire extinguisher nozzles/piepwork
ECU Bracket
Steering Column
Wiring Loom, using OEM style cloth tape
Rebuilt the front bumper, have new trims but waiting until the bumper is fitted before i put them in.
Back in the workshop
First job was to sheet up the inside and protect the rollcage
Then put all the factory grommets back in, with the help of pics i took before they were removed.
Then started refitting parts
First installed the wiper motor and fire extinguisher nozzles/piepwork
ECU Bracket
Steering Column
Wiring Loom, using OEM style cloth tape
Rebuilt the front bumper, have new trims but waiting until the bumper is fitted before i put them in.
Just a quick update as i popped up to the workshop for a couple of hours after work today.
Picked up a few bits from BMW
So i got them fitted, sounds easy but with all the paint that is now on the shell the side skirts grommets didnt want to go in, and as a result i now cant feel the ends of my thumbs anyway got them all in evetually.
Also picked up a couple of my replacement stickers for under the bonnet
Picked up a few bits from BMW
So i got them fitted, sounds easy but with all the paint that is now on the shell the side skirts grommets didnt want to go in, and as a result i now cant feel the ends of my thumbs
anyway got them all in evetually.Also picked up a couple of my replacement stickers for under the bonnet
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