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So by the end of March-beggining of April my Dear Mr Tonks will have his hands full as usual...
this time, we have to replace the fuel lines once and for all. Fit and forget kind of thing.
The new springs will be fitted front and back after the current ones have been tested.
We have to weld my recaro seat bracket, as its broken after all the times i have been leaning on it trying to fix electrical stuff under the driver's area.
Renew brake pads all around
Fuel filter and relay for the pump
Wheels will be finally painted all in silver as the UK weather is not that forgiving for clear alloy.
And... we decided to go for the door trims and pillars in alcantara(good imitation at least). I found some fabric and got myself some adhesive. Im going to be doing some work on the pillars myself and the door trims will be a job for Super Tonks!!! Very pleased with the quality of the material, + one type has some foam backing so it should be fairly nice with some depth to it. I have gone with black alcantara on the doors and pillars, with the option of later on using more alcantara on the seats once the leather is reaching the time to be renewed and get a mixture of leather/alcantara in there.
I will try and post some photos of the process, especially if i dont mess up!!!
Well Vas's car has landed so I will be doing most of the work over the coming week.
However while Vas was here we were joined by AndyP, Bazburn and EuropeanMe...
So after the usual lets all go for test drives and drown ourself with tea it was time to crack on....
Bazburn's Audi has been developing a loud noise thought at first to be a wheel bearing so after a quick investigation nothing was found so replaced the oil in the gearbox and diff.
Onto Vas's, Vas set about removing his drivers seat and removing the leather and switchgear so that I could pin the frame and weld it all back together.
I set about removing the door cards and got stuck in to stripping off the Avant door pockets and then remove the old imitation leather.
Bazburn then sat and scrubbed off the old foam backing with a wire brush and cleaned up the rest using thinners.
After 1 failed attempt with the foam backed alcantara the second attempt didn't turn out to shabby
I will do a complete write up on the next door of how it was done if anyone is interested.....
AndyP removed one of the wheels to start taking out all the little plastic rivets from the imitation split rim wheels.
On removal we came across a great deal of play between the hub and the leg, which believe it it not the retaining nuts the nyloc has failed and was no longer remaining tight!
So the removal of all 4 bolts and replacement was done with fresh nyloc nuts.
After another test drive all appeared to be good again
Then everyone filled their faces with homemade meatballs and Greek yogurt courtesy of Vas's other half and then departed leaving me to be able to get on with trimming the B and C pillars...
Started with the C pillars...
But was done in the same process as this B Pillar.
Here is the item we are starting with.
First of all is remove 10 to 15 years of cleaning products along with dirt and grime. To do this I used an old scotch pad and thinners to make a good key for the glue to stick to.
Then I worked out which way up I wanted the material so that I can make it all match around the car as if you brush against alcantara it leaves a mark. But can be brushed out if you sweep it back in the opposite direction.
So I made the decision to make it that you sweep all parts from top to bottom to make the fibres lay flat.
Here is an arrow I have drawn with just my finger. The arrow I will have pointing towards the top of the trim panel
Here you can see how it is reset as I just swept my hand over half the arrow
So now I know which way I want the material to flow I placed my plastic trim on top and cut out a piece of material large enough to cover it.
I then applied the spray glue to the plastic trim part all over the front face.
After 15 to 20 seconds it becomes tacky and you can lay the material onto the trim.
Then carefully run you hand over the material to make sure it follows the curve of your part and there is no creases in it.
Then I flipped it over and trimmed some of the excess, sprayed a little more glue and stuck the return edge
Once this was accomplished around the entire perimeter of the trim. I cut the hole for the seatbelt and stuck the flaps on the return edge again.
As of yesterday a few more things have been done to the car.
All door cards as well as interior pillars have been dressed in fine alcantara immitation which in my eyes is one and the same. Took us quite a bitnof time but with first attempt I'd say they look pretty good.
Fuel lines were on the brink of dying so new ones were put in by Brian along with a relocation of a motorsport fuel filter.
Then my wheels where all repainted and rebalanced.
Finally we are still on the lookout for the best front spring solution as anything below 250lbs is too soft, anything above too crashy for my liking so we will be investigating making some custom progressive ones to suit my car
Yeah I've experienced some of them while in London last week. Funny thing, I read a small article in the Metro newspaper about Honda making a test track for their cars with English asphalt including potholes because the Japanese test track was too smooth
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