Cleggy the Spyder Man Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 might nick your idea and make up my own steering wheel spacer and dash lights :-) looking slick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s2rrr Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Dave, Noticed some of your earlier photos have gone was that something I did when I added mine. I'll get the hang of this teknolergy stuff one day. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KugaWestie Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Apart from descisions on the roof, the main next job - once the evenings get a bit lighter and warmer will be to attack the little marks in the grp that have built up over six years of use. The plan is to wet and dry where necessary and then machine polish the whole thing. Dave I have a few scratches in the grp on mine where it has been kicking around in storage for over 3 years. None are showing the fibres and are not very deep. Can you give me a steer on getting them out? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Are oops, was updating a batch of photos to Picassa this afternoon when the PC hung; thought I'd replaced all the photos, must have missed a couple. Doh I've basically just pulled together stuff from threads on here I've got an old bonnet V8 I might have a go at doing a write up on, you know, scuff it up and show the process I've used to restore it sort of thing, if there's any interest - and in the name of learning better ways of doing it! At the moment, depending on how much material needs to come off, I'm starting with either a 400, 800 or for very light marks 1200 grit wet and dry paper. Used wet, and on a sanding block. Many, many years ago was taught by an old Bodyshop hand to always sand in straight lines, (not circular scrubby motions), to work your way through the grades of paper, and never miss more than one whole grade - i.e. 400 to 800 to 1200 to 1600 to 2000, could be done as 400 to 1200 to 2000. (it's just harder work if you skip?) each time you change grades, sand in a direction 90 degrees from the one you were doing, that way it makes it easier to see when you've removed the courser sanding marks. From the 1600 to 2000 ish grade onwards, you can either carry on with finer still wet and dry, or change to quite an aggressive cutting compound like Farecla G3. G3 even by hand will get you to a very good gloss. A finer cutting compound will then get rid of any slight swirling/hologram marks from the G3, followed by a regular polish, I tend to use Autoglym Silicon Resin Polish. Be very careful with WF grp, much of it has ridiculously thick gel coat compared to a paint finish, that can be attacked quite aggressively to remove deep marks. Some though as quite a thin layer, and breaking through to the glass fibres themselves wouldn't be hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 15, 2012 Author Share Posted January 15, 2012 Dave, Noticed some of your earlier photos have gone was that something I did when I added mine. I'll get the hang of this teknolergy stuff one day. Bob Hopefully all back now, and in the right order Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 Was working up north of Manchester this morning and managed to swing by JK Composites after I'd finished, (Jordan called earlier this week with the news that my slightly narrower new passenger seat was ready). Ahh, I love the smell of resin in the morning. Great having a look round the workshop, seeing the moulds all lined up, with one sat to one side while the gelcoat cured. It really is easy to see why they're such good quality for the money, when you see the attention to detail that goes into every step. I happened to remark about having got caught in the rain, and how much easier it was bailing the grp seat out, and that even the cushions didn't seem to have been affected; so Jordan showed me how he makes them, from Neoprene sections, that are then wrapped both sides, and the vinyl stitched together. So no big open foam sections acting like a sponge as you get with conventional padding. I noticed that he seems to have refined the design a little since my N4246 was made, with edging around the waist harness slots as well now, so he cut some spare off the reel for me to fit to my existing seat so they both match. So, at long last, I've now got both new seats, just need to get my in gear and fit the passenger side, then I can get the original WF Sports Seats up for sale. More piccies as the new seat goes in Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rory's Dad Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I happened to remark about having got caught in the rain, and how much easier it was bailing the grp seat out, Neoprene hah! I just found some black plastic pipe stiffeners in B&Q, drilled through the seats and the floor and then jammed them in. Voila, self draining seats! Rory's Dad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pistol Pete Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Maybe I'll be brave enough to attack ours with wet & dry one day - those tips and setps make it seem easy . By the way, what size is that steering wheel? And how do people find seude wears compared with leather if you use it without gloves? Great car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Hi Pistol, it's a 290mm #26, I'm not a big fan of the tiny wheels, and found this a slightly better compromise than the popular 280mm. The suede seems to be wearing reasonably well, I just find it "nicer" to hold without gloves, and a little "gripier". That said, I've probably worn gloves a third of the time or so during it's life to date. (Worth remembering, you should ideally wear suede palmed gloves with a suede wheel, (I believe the leather palmed gloves do help speed up the wear). OK, been a bit busy recently, work/life getting in the way and all that. But have cracked on with a couple of jobs: Re-doing the sidescreen fasteners and fitting the new passenger seat. The first is new to me, and though I'd heard of it, had never really looked into it till I started investigating trimming to do the dash etc. My old build manual instructs you to fit the fastening strap for the doors in the rear lower corner, and this is where the original owner had put them; this is annoying enough with the Sport Seats, as the press stud on the car ends up down near your hip and is awkward to get at once buckled in. With JK's it's impossible to reach. I know a few people that have fitted them nearer the middle of the door for convenience anyway, but now I've no choice but to move them. This of course leaves a hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 So, I duly ordered a vinyl/leather repair kit from Frosts and made a start. First job, as obviously there's a hole all the way through, is to cut a small square of the supplied backing fabric and thread it into the gap between the door lining and outer shell, where it's glued into place with the supplied adhesive. Fortunately the lining on WF's sidescreens is quite soft and stretchy, so although a bit fiddly, it wasn't to hard with a jewellers screwdriver and some pliers to wiggle it in there and flatten it out. Once the glued in backing fabric has dried, nore of the glue is then added to the hole at the front to fill it up. tricky, and takes several goes, cause it shrinks quite a bit. The worst part of this I found, was trying to get anything like a level finish, partly 'cause of the shrinkage, partly 'cause of the irregular raised lip to the hole. I did manage to gingerly sand it back a little, but it was just so tricky to get at, I'm afraid I bottled sanding it more in such a visible area on the finished car. (I have tried this on a test scrap of vinyl, and it's amazing how well it does respond to a light sanding in the problem spot, BUT, it does make the area you've then got to re-colour larger!) Next step is to re-colour the filled hole to match the surrounding material. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 The kit includes half a dozen or so pots of colouring you can use to match your upholstery, but in my case, thank goodness black was all that's needed! Once applied, the colouring then needs heat to cure it. This is done with the aid of a little 2p sized smooth metal plate on a handle, you just need to hold the plate against an iron set to high, for a couple of minutes to heat it up. Because just applying heat with a smooth plate would leave you with a shiny smooth patch of new colour, the kit also provides a number of "graining papers". These are embossed with different style and shape grain patterns. The idea is that once the colour has been applied, you place the graining paper over it - being careful not to let the paper twist and smear the colour, and then apply heat through the paper to the colour by pressing the little stick tool over the repair and rotating the tip carefully - so as not to move the paper, for a minute or so. If the colour hasn't cured completely in that time, you reheat the tool on the iron for a couple of minutes and go again! Obviously, this is easier in a flatter area with the supplied tool, its a bit tricky getting in to the angle on the door, I may yet make a smaller diameter tool and have another go, try and get the repair a bit flatter and get more grain embossed in the new colour. Anyhow, the completed, for the moment , repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 The other job of the weekend was to make a start fitting the passenger side JK seat. As these are the fixed position, baseless version, the first job was to mask off and drill pilot holes in the front lip of the seat. (The vertical bits of tape are just a few layers stuck on to protect the front face of the seat, as the drill's chuck gets very close at times!) Once that's done, I then opened them up to full size, using a slow speed on the drill, and running it in reverse until through the gel coat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 The seat was then test fitted to the car, and the three front bolt positions marked up on the floor, and drilled. Obviously, when drilling though a panel like this, always check the reverse side to make sure your not about to take out a brake line, fuel line etc! The seat was then test fitted again, and bolted up so that I could measure up and layout the positions for the off-side seat back bracket. (The blue masking tape on the arch and kick strip is just to protect it them from scuffs while lifting the seat in and out.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KugaWestie Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Whats with the pipe lagging on the screen and rollbar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 Seat out time again, and mark up and drill the off-side bracket fixing holes on the rear bulkhead. (This is just lined up, position wise, with the matching bracket on the drivers seat). Next step was to mark out and centre-punch the seat attachment bolt holes on the aluminium brackets. They could then be drilled, I'm only doing a small pilot hole initial, once the bracket is bolted in the car, this will let me mark out the position of the hole I need to drill on the seat back. I can then open up the holes to the final sizes once I know everything lines up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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