first official appearance of my new BA
finally got round to cleaning it enough to brave showing it on here





previous owner got struck by a stray tyre rolling down the road



so i had to get a new number plate



and a little photo shoot when i went out to play with my power kite and board





then on the way back i nearly soiled myself as my car was buried in a herd of cows



but they were just admiring my hours of polishing



(p.s. ignore the red flecks in the middle of some of the pictures, my camera's playing up)

get in touch with parvez for the bonnet

Looks good mate, wheels need a refurb though!

nice good idea from Col

tought this color only came in 4 cil. versions
firs V6 i see.. and i've seen only one 1.8 vivid green...
long time i tought it was only 1.5..

i love this color

This colour is more common on v6's than 1.5's over here patrick. All ZXi SE's were this colour and came with cream leather

Yea the alloys are a bit knackered. I spent half an hour doing the top of 1 alloy



I was using just a green scourer thing and water

Any easy ways to do it?

Leather needs treating too. Or maybe stained a nicer colour. The cream is a bit on the yellow side...

I'd use wire wool/scotch-brite and degreaser or alloy rim cleaner. Ideally they'd then need to be resprayed but you might get away without

You have use this for your alloys

Becareful as must are acid based. Try the Megs hot rims, power washer but as Scott said above you'll need to use something to scrap off the shit, scotch bright pad etc.

Small toothbrush and neat wheel acid. Leave it one for one to the minutes and give a little scrub with the toothbrush. Wash off with a watering can and it wont go on the breaks. Should take you about 15 mintues to do all of them and cost a fiver. Mine were worst than that when I bought her.

Looking good though mate its fairly straight apart from the bonnet.

that was one of the tidier wheels. its a rear wheel so less brake dust.
i have a whole spare car so i might try welding on eyebrows and re-spraying the bonnet from that one
except metallic green isnt an easy colour to match...
i'll give the wheels a go over with some of that alloy cleaner first tho

damn LHD drivers... dont have any amount of taste...

2 out of 4 wheels kinda restored, realised i had some of that alloy cleaner hiding in the garage!
ignore the centre caps, they were stripped before, just clean now

as they were


quick scrub and wash


first application of alloy cleaner


several more applications and lots of scrubbing later

Looking a lot better - nice work

satin black them mate im doing mine this week end wheels allways look better black i think

Looking a lot better and it would be so much easier to paint the wheels now the rubbish is stripped off them.

You could also go for black with a cleaned up outer rim. These are my winter wheels

the wheels are looking so much better
that bonnet needs to be fixed too and the car will look great again

my mate's gonna be welding up the spare bonnet hopefully this weekend. give it a nice mean look, then i can fill all the dents and scratches and paint them when i paint the bonnet. i would paint the alloys but i like the look of the shiney rim on black alloys, unfortunately mines scuffed and scratched to hell. although white alloys look better on green cars... they are only temporary, until i lower it and buy new wheels

im finally happy to get me leathers oot and not be embarrassed

prev owner obviously didnt know how to look after his skin if the leathers are anything to go by.

before (just started to clean the top half):


after 3 lots of cleaning with gliptone liquid leather cleaner (GT12), conditioning with leather conditioner (GT11), another quick clean with GT12 and a wipe down with meths to degrease:


finally a few coats of perfectly matched leather dye from their website


all in all im impressed with the Gliptone Products
i used
GT12 cleaner (eBay)
GT11 conditioner (eBay)
ScuffMaster to re-dye (they already have the colour matched, just quote the car)

the leather is soft and supple, cleaned deep and fully (other leather cleaners i tried didnt touch it) and although the worst cracks can still be seen it looks nearly new.
oh an it smells like 'genuine british leather'

they're not in perfect condition
but look better now cleaned

Nice one, looking gd. Keep up with the gd work.

gotta admit it looks better in real life, but the deep cracks are always gonna be there unfortunately.
the main aim was to soften it up and clean it. hiding most of the damaged and worn areas was a bonus.
oh and i took a picture of the worst affected area so the rest is fine

thought i should probably post an update... its only been 3 years! even got a couple of pictures to add.

so lets see, since then i've....

- rebuilt and painted brake calipers
[pictures to follow]

- stripped down, and restored rear suspension mechanism with poly bushes
[pictures to follow]

- RocSpeed induction kit designed and fitted


- custom made powerflow exhaust


- started polishing spare intake manifold and throttle body




- fitted new silicone hoses
[pictures to follow]

- designed a new gear knob and got a mate at work to machine it



- failed at spraying my new bonnet (filler, primer, basecoat all went on perfectly, but the gun gave up halfway through the lacquer and when I tried rubbing it down i cut straight through to the primer). saving up to get it finished professionally - decided it was slightly too much for me to take on.
[too embarrassed for pictures]

- built up my Meguiars collection

That gearknob is awesome

Looking great mate

- and last but not least, just spent the last few weeks colour coding my new power folding wingmirrors. thought it deserved its own writeup

before


first wet sand


a few problem areas


several hours later


lost count how many layers of primer. seemed to react in places with the black manufacturers primer


colour drying off


first lumpy lacquer


a bit of sanding the lacquer


and a few more coats, ultimate compound and a quick polish



its not perfect cos i rushed the lacquer. went on too heavy and ran, then wet sanded too soon so it peeled a bit off, had a fly try to contribute and i dropped the whole thing when it was wet at some point... but overall, quite pleased. just waiting for the clear to harden and they can go back on.

cheers. got it in preparation for when i get a short shifter.

Nice work mate, and I have had the same problem with my covers and the OEM primer.

They look great tho despite all the problems. Well done