My V8V Project - TLC for an unloved car
Discussion
So I really wanted a V8V, but being young and never owning a car like this before thought it best to try and test the water a bit first. I've taken a gamble buying a car in a (cosmetically) neglected state. It has FAMSH and the clutch was done a couple of years ago, along with 6 months of AM premium warranty from the previous owner. My plan is to try and get the car back to looking its best, enjoy not worrying about depreciation and if it all goes wrong in the near future the warranty should save my backside.
The car was used as a daily and lived in a communal car park and the paint wasn't in the best condition due to lots of road rash/stone chips. The wheels were also badly kerb damaged and the interior had a few scuffs.
The day I collected it:
One of the front wheels:
Scuffs on the leather door card (similar throughout the car)
All of these bits, the bubbling door handles and lots of road rash made the car look sorry for itself but also meant I could get an 07MY with premium audio, updated and heated seats and factory bluetooth within budget. The weather was great the weekend I got it home so I went out for an amazing drive around Derbyshire and forgot about all the little bits.
First thing I did was removing the awful front plate plinth. Mine was wonky so looked even worse.
Sills - These were wrapped in matt black 3M vinyl, which I think suits the car better than the strange original colour.
Before:
After:
Wheels - I'm not keen on the early wheels and seeing as mine were in need of an extensive refurb I decided to replace them altogether. I wanted the wider rears so went with 16MY wheels and new 285 profile tyres. Huge improvement both looks and handling wise (one of the original wheels was slightly out of round)
Interior - The leather on my binnacle and IP top panel has shrunk so both of these need to be retrimmed. I tried taking the binnacle off and heating the leather but it's too far gone. For the time being I properly cleaned and treated the leather which came up really well
Exhaust tips - These looked like they've never been cleaned. Some Autosol and wire wool made them good as new (Left vs Right):
Rear Diffuser Mesh - Another thing letting the car down was the rusting rear meshes as seen above. I tried brushing on some hammerite straight to rust but the finish was (predictably) terrible. Sanded that back off and sprayed them with satin black instead. Much better but not sure how long until the rust will come back. Big improvement for the time being though
That's it so far. Next job will be repairing the corroded wiper arms. To get rid of the road rash and door handle bubbling will require the bonnet, front bumper, front wings, doors and rear quarters to be resprayed. I'm also planning on getting some N400 sills sprayed and fitted whilst at the bodyshop.
Once all that's done and I've given it a full machine polish/detail it should be back to looking like a new car again. My total spend will also be comfortably under £34k which I think is fantastic value for what I'll have. Mileage is a little high at 60k but the car hasn't given me any major concerns so far.
The car was used as a daily and lived in a communal car park and the paint wasn't in the best condition due to lots of road rash/stone chips. The wheels were also badly kerb damaged and the interior had a few scuffs.
The day I collected it:
One of the front wheels:
Scuffs on the leather door card (similar throughout the car)
All of these bits, the bubbling door handles and lots of road rash made the car look sorry for itself but also meant I could get an 07MY with premium audio, updated and heated seats and factory bluetooth within budget. The weather was great the weekend I got it home so I went out for an amazing drive around Derbyshire and forgot about all the little bits.
First thing I did was removing the awful front plate plinth. Mine was wonky so looked even worse.
Sills - These were wrapped in matt black 3M vinyl, which I think suits the car better than the strange original colour.
Before:
After:
Wheels - I'm not keen on the early wheels and seeing as mine were in need of an extensive refurb I decided to replace them altogether. I wanted the wider rears so went with 16MY wheels and new 285 profile tyres. Huge improvement both looks and handling wise (one of the original wheels was slightly out of round)
Interior - The leather on my binnacle and IP top panel has shrunk so both of these need to be retrimmed. I tried taking the binnacle off and heating the leather but it's too far gone. For the time being I properly cleaned and treated the leather which came up really well
Exhaust tips - These looked like they've never been cleaned. Some Autosol and wire wool made them good as new (Left vs Right):
Rear Diffuser Mesh - Another thing letting the car down was the rusting rear meshes as seen above. I tried brushing on some hammerite straight to rust but the finish was (predictably) terrible. Sanded that back off and sprayed them with satin black instead. Much better but not sure how long until the rust will come back. Big improvement for the time being though
That's it so far. Next job will be repairing the corroded wiper arms. To get rid of the road rash and door handle bubbling will require the bonnet, front bumper, front wings, doors and rear quarters to be resprayed. I'm also planning on getting some N400 sills sprayed and fitted whilst at the bodyshop.
Once all that's done and I've given it a full machine polish/detail it should be back to looking like a new car again. My total spend will also be comfortably under £34k which I think is fantastic value for what I'll have. Mileage is a little high at 60k but the car hasn't given me any major concerns so far.
Edited by Shrimpvende on Thursday 10th August 19:58
Graze01 said:
well done, great write up
will be interested to see what you do with the leather scuffs
love those wheels - where did you get them
Graeme
Cheers, the wheels were an ebay find - quick phone call and cash offer then jumped straight in the car to collect them. Aston bits also has some brand new V8S wheels for around £1500...they're not really as much as I had previously thoughtwill be interested to see what you do with the leather scuffs
love those wheels - where did you get them
Graeme
Well done Shrimp. You must be getting lots of satisfaction from reviving the car. Almost everything you do has a dramatic effect on the appearance of the car. I know you are not bothered but you will certainly have put a couple of £1,000 back on to the value of the car...
Well done...
Well done...
wtdoom said:
I absolutely love stuff like this , excellent job and please keep thread updated
Agreed. There is always something that can be made a little bit better. Mine needs a front end respray but can wait until the winter after the summers hooning is out of the way
I had my sill plates powder coated, £80
My car was in a similar state when I bought mine and slowly over the years have done all the work to bring her back to the high quality she deserves. One of the things I had to check and change was the rear boot strut mounting plates as these have a tendency to fatigue over time and crack. Always easier to fix before they actually break. Quite a cheap and simple fix, but worth doing. Another one is also the boot ingress kit (couple of rubber seals fitted to the boot) which means any standing water doesn't run straight into the boot when opening. Again quite cheap and very easy to fit.
Unfortunately had some rather bad news from the dealer today. The car is in to get the intermittent starting issue sorted, along with a couple of other bits.
They found that the cats are rattling so require replacement and all 4 discs are knackered. I knew the fronts obviously were but didn't realise how bad the rears actually were too. Previous owner cheaped out at service time as the pads are fairly fresh. The dealers were quoting thousands to put this and other stuff right, however thankfully a quick call to Bamford Rose and it's all in hand.
I'm having 'pre loved' cats put on (would love to go for the uprated versions but I'm already shelling out a few grand for everything else). It's having new discs and yellow stuff pads all round - hopefully less dust and better performance at higher temps - along with their geo setup. I've had the dealer do the transaxle oil and a PAS flush due to noisy steering, airbag spring and a couple of other little bits.
So, hopefully, after all this it should finally drive the way it was always supposed to. I hadn't budgeted for replacing the cats nor rear discs/pads, but as they're low they might as well all be done. This will mean the car is in as good of a mechanical condition as possible, especially with the new wheels and tyres I've had put on. Just got to get out and enjoy it now to get my money's worth! And keep babying the clutch...
They found that the cats are rattling so require replacement and all 4 discs are knackered. I knew the fronts obviously were but didn't realise how bad the rears actually were too. Previous owner cheaped out at service time as the pads are fairly fresh. The dealers were quoting thousands to put this and other stuff right, however thankfully a quick call to Bamford Rose and it's all in hand.
I'm having 'pre loved' cats put on (would love to go for the uprated versions but I'm already shelling out a few grand for everything else). It's having new discs and yellow stuff pads all round - hopefully less dust and better performance at higher temps - along with their geo setup. I've had the dealer do the transaxle oil and a PAS flush due to noisy steering, airbag spring and a couple of other little bits.
So, hopefully, after all this it should finally drive the way it was always supposed to. I hadn't budgeted for replacing the cats nor rear discs/pads, but as they're low they might as well all be done. This will mean the car is in as good of a mechanical condition as possible, especially with the new wheels and tyres I've had put on. Just got to get out and enjoy it now to get my money's worth! And keep babying the clutch...
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