Just finished for the day !!
So knackered I am going straight to bed. I will put up details of what I achieved tomorrow.
Paul
So knackered I am going straight to bed. I will put up details of what I achieved tomorrow.
Paul
Shagmonkey made me cry!!!
- Thread starter Ace Melon
- Start date
OK everyone.
Sorry it's been a bit quiet for the last 2 days. I have been sooooo busy that by the time I finish for the day, the last thing I want to do is sit on my laptop. I just take a shower and go straight to bed.
OK. Not many photos and they are **** quality (I must be so tired I couldn't even see), and the reason for not many? Well a lot of the work I have been doing there isn't much to photograph. Gutting thing is, 99% of the work nobody will ever see !!!!!!!!
Alan wanted some LEDs in his headliner. Suggested a couple of strips running down each side but this just didn't look right. I therefore gave him a blue star ceiling !
Anyhow, over 10m of wires and don't ask how many joins I have had to solder. Each LED needs it's own resistor, plus live and negative feed. I also wired them up in such a fashion that if one blows, the others keep on working. All joins once tested were then covered in a blob of hot glue to make sure that with all the vibrations you get in a car, they shouldn't break free.
I started it at 3pm on Wednesday, and you can see from how dark it is when I finished and took the photo, that it took me many MANY hours !!
Sorry about the blurry picture.
The LEDs stand slightly more proud of the headliner than I would have liked, however, if I didn't have them poking through, the affect was a lot less dramatic.
They have been connected to the interior light so they come on when he open the doors and also means he can control them from the interior light switch.
Sunvisors dyed black and installed...
I also (because I am a glutton for punishment) decided to treat Alan to a small LED behind each interior door handle...
Again, apologies for the blury pic. I installed these with just the very tip showing so a) people wont catch their nails on them when using the handle, and b) so the handles are very softly lit at night. Didn't want them standing out like spotlights !
This should have been a very simple job but due to a couple of dry solders and then finding 2 resistors had in fact blown, it took the entire morning of Thursday to do......grrrrrr
Blue switches installed (yes I know I haven't done the trip computer yet - I've run out of resistors) and as you can see, because Alan went for dark blue backing on his HVAC face plate, the light isn't shining through very well. This means I need to take the whole lot out and somehow rectify this.....without any resistors left, this could be fun...
Again, because of the dark blue backing, the speedo also doesn't light up well. 3 replacement hyper bright LED bulbs are on their way which should fix this problem....Complete pain as the clocks need to come back out but hey, nothing is ever simple for me.
I also ran all the wires for the daytime running lights and earthed them etc.
That's it so far. Doesn't look much but boy oh boy do the small fiddly jobs seem to take forever !!
Today I will be sanding and polishing both headlights and fog lights. Installing the LEDs into the fogs and painting the brake calipers (Alan, your rear discs need replacing at some point in the near future). Tonight (the missus has gone away for the weekend so I can work stupidly late), I will be tackling the HVAC. Thinking of usuing a few of the left over running light LEDs......wish me luck !
Paul
Sorry it's been a bit quiet for the last 2 days. I have been sooooo busy that by the time I finish for the day, the last thing I want to do is sit on my laptop. I just take a shower and go straight to bed.
OK. Not many photos and they are **** quality (I must be so tired I couldn't even see), and the reason for not many? Well a lot of the work I have been doing there isn't much to photograph. Gutting thing is, 99% of the work nobody will ever see !!!!!!!!
Alan wanted some LEDs in his headliner. Suggested a couple of strips running down each side but this just didn't look right. I therefore gave him a blue star ceiling !
Anyhow, over 10m of wires and don't ask how many joins I have had to solder. Each LED needs it's own resistor, plus live and negative feed. I also wired them up in such a fashion that if one blows, the others keep on working. All joins once tested were then covered in a blob of hot glue to make sure that with all the vibrations you get in a car, they shouldn't break free.
I started it at 3pm on Wednesday, and you can see from how dark it is when I finished and took the photo, that it took me many MANY hours !!
Sorry about the blurry picture.
The LEDs stand slightly more proud of the headliner than I would have liked, however, if I didn't have them poking through, the affect was a lot less dramatic.
They have been connected to the interior light so they come on when he open the doors and also means he can control them from the interior light switch.
Sunvisors dyed black and installed...
I also (because I am a glutton for punishment) decided to treat Alan to a small LED behind each interior door handle...
Again, apologies for the blury pic. I installed these with just the very tip showing so a) people wont catch their nails on them when using the handle, and b) so the handles are very softly lit at night. Didn't want them standing out like spotlights !
This should have been a very simple job but due to a couple of dry solders and then finding 2 resistors had in fact blown, it took the entire morning of Thursday to do......grrrrrr
Blue switches installed (yes I know I haven't done the trip computer yet - I've run out of resistors) and as you can see, because Alan went for dark blue backing on his HVAC face plate, the light isn't shining through very well. This means I need to take the whole lot out and somehow rectify this.....without any resistors left, this could be fun...
Again, because of the dark blue backing, the speedo also doesn't light up well. 3 replacement hyper bright LED bulbs are on their way which should fix this problem....Complete pain as the clocks need to come back out but hey, nothing is ever simple for me.
I also ran all the wires for the daytime running lights and earthed them etc.
That's it so far. Doesn't look much but boy oh boy do the small fiddly jobs seem to take forever !!
Today I will be sanding and polishing both headlights and fog lights. Installing the LEDs into the fogs and painting the brake calipers (Alan, your rear discs need replacing at some point in the near future). Tonight (the missus has gone away for the weekend so I can work stupidly late), I will be tackling the HVAC. Thinking of usuing a few of the left over running light LEDs......wish me luck !
Paul
Chip Foose & West Coast Customs, eat yer hearts out, the Shagmonkey's arrived!!!
Great work Paul.
Great work Paul.
Unbeknownst to Alan, Paul has been ragging it with the Saxo's and Corsa's at McGonads car park after dark and achieved a rather splendid mpg..............
Just spent an age writing up what I have done and achieved today.....went to upload the photos and the forum wont let me. Just brings up a blank box !! ggrrrr
Right, quick summary.
Brakes now yellow (4 hours)
Passenger side headlight sanded down and polished up (4 hours)
HVAC lighting sorted (1 hour)
Parcel shelf wrapped (2 hours)
Bodwork tomorrow with the fitment of the Audi running lights in the fogs tomorrow evening when it gets too late to be machining.
Paul
Right, quick summary.
Brakes now yellow (4 hours)
Passenger side headlight sanded down and polished up (4 hours)
HVAC lighting sorted (1 hour)
Parcel shelf wrapped (2 hours)
Bodwork tomorrow with the fitment of the Audi running lights in the fogs tomorrow evening when it gets too late to be machining.
Paul
Your certainly getting value for money for your £50.00 Al
I don't need a coat it's warm but I'm outta hear>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't need a coat it's warm but I'm outta hear>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>!!!!!!!!!!!!
£50????
You mean I'm paying him as well as giving him all this fun stuff to do??? News to me fella
Great stuff there Paul, time and effort is well appreciated
Regarding the backlighting issues with the hvac etc, have you thought about using El-panels?
Al, just remember mate, when you collect your cat from Paul, it'll be the EXtremely shiny one with the magic light show..............:beer:
Regarding the backlighting issues with the hvac etc, have you thought about using El-panels?
Al, just remember mate, when you collect your cat from Paul, it'll be the EXtremely shiny one with the magic light show..............
:beer:Paul,
What product did you use to dye the sunvisors and did you use a primer before painting the interior parts black?
What product did you use to dye the sunvisors and did you use a primer before painting the interior parts black?
Wonder where Al saw LEDs in a headliner? Lmao! Mine took an age and Christ knows how many joins, I had to be awkward and have a blue and white starry roof. Did mine in sets of 4 to avoid using resistors. Also cos of my OCD they had to be in a staggered grid formation and equal distances apart etc so the roof was symmetrical. Top work Paul, question though for the door handle LEDs do you just run a wire in from the main circuit?
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This thread is great, Paul makes everything look so easy (even though we all know including himself that it isn't) I like his take on the interior, all black does go well with a black car. I'd be inclined to send my own car to him for a "once-over" as I intend to keep it till it drops, and there are some interior mods that even I scratch my head at, but he tackles so easily.
OK....time to answer some questions...
To dye the sunvisors...Liquid instant shine black boot polish !! I kid you not.
No primer as the paint does not require it....or lacquer for that matter
LEDs behind the door handles are wired direct from the electric window switches. Passenger side is Green/white for the live and black for the earth. Can't remember off the top of my head what the drivers side is, sorry.
Right, onto today.....and we wont mention the fact that the T5 dash LED bulbs I had ordered and need before I can put the entire interior back together arrived......and realised they are the wrong ones ! NOT HAPPY !!!
Jet washed the whole car and then gave it a good double wash with special cleaning shampoo that prepares the bodywork for polishing etc.
Time for one of these....
I was very suprised at how little dirt the clay bar picked up TBH. Only thing that was worrying was the fact that no matter how much lube I used on the rear bumper, because of the AWEFULL orange peel, it just kep on wanting to stick to it
Car was then jet washed again. Followed by another going over with the shampoo. Followed by yet another jet wash rinse.
First things first, when Alan warned me his paintwork was in bad shape, he wasn't kidding. His car has had so many resprays here, there and everywhere and all of them have been done badly !! The amount of overspray and orange peel in places has to be seen to be believed !
He also has a number of weird paint defects. The worst of which are through to the primer
Look at the difference in shine between the right and left side
How about this for a **** repair !!...
So work commenced....
This photo shows the differance after just 1 pass...
Now because I had soooo much to do, I didn't have time to take lots of 50/50 shots ;like the above so just some straight forward photos...
This was the passenger side door before being polished with Black Hole glaze and DoDo Juice wax.....oh...and before people think I am swearing and report me...the reason for raising my middle finger can be seen in the photo below it :angel:
Don't try and catch a soldering iron when it falls off the table...
Rear bumper will be tackled tomorrow and tbh, I'm not looking forward to it
You can still see the rippled effect of the paint on the rear quarter panel even after all my cutting and polishing!!
Now look VERy closely at this picture and you will see a wavy line going down the middle. This looks like old lacquer and new lacquer. The new stuff going ever so slightly milky compared to the OE stuff....
You can also see it again on this photo. No amount of cutting can remove this as it is the actual lacquer that has "turned".
Anyhow, I battled on and was still very happy with the overal results...
Wing not yet done in this picture..
This is the bonnet before wax...
The bumper was resprayed quite recently but the finish is still slightly orange peely, but still came up a treat...
Engine bay given a quick going over.
Before...
After...(bad lighting)
Extrior plastics...
Can anyone say DULL !!!!
Door jams and door sills were then cleaned....no photos....and so was the jams around the rear hatch.
Time was getting on so I packed up and started sanding down 1 of the fog lights ready to be machine polished in the morning. When I post this, I shall be going back outside onto the decking to sand down the other one !!!
I was also going to be covering the underside of the parcel shelf tonight but I can barely keep my eyes open tbh, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.
To dye the sunvisors...Liquid instant shine black boot polish !! I kid you not.
No primer as the paint does not require it....or lacquer for that matter
LEDs behind the door handles are wired direct from the electric window switches. Passenger side is Green/white for the live and black for the earth. Can't remember off the top of my head what the drivers side is, sorry.
Right, onto today.....and we wont mention the fact that the T5 dash LED bulbs I had ordered and need before I can put the entire interior back together arrived......and realised they are the wrong ones !
NOT HAPPY !!!Jet washed the whole car and then gave it a good double wash with special cleaning shampoo that prepares the bodywork for polishing etc.
Time for one of these....
I was very suprised at how little dirt the clay bar picked up TBH. Only thing that was worrying was the fact that no matter how much lube I used on the rear bumper, because of the AWEFULL orange peel, it just kep on wanting to stick to it
Car was then jet washed again. Followed by another going over with the shampoo. Followed by yet another jet wash rinse.
First things first, when Alan warned me his paintwork was in bad shape, he wasn't kidding. His car has had so many resprays here, there and everywhere and all of them have been done badly !! The amount of overspray and orange peel in places has to be seen to be believed !
He also has a number of weird paint defects. The worst of which are through to the primer
Look at the difference in shine between the right and left side
How about this for a **** repair !!...
So work commenced....
This photo shows the differance after just 1 pass...
Now because I had soooo much to do, I didn't have time to take lots of 50/50 shots ;like the above so just some straight forward photos...
This was the passenger side door before being polished with Black Hole glaze and DoDo Juice wax.....oh...and before people think I am swearing and report me...the reason for raising my middle finger can be seen in the photo below it :angel:
Don't try and catch a soldering iron when it falls off the table...
Rear bumper will be tackled tomorrow and tbh, I'm not looking forward to it
You can still see the rippled effect of the paint on the rear quarter panel even after all my cutting and polishing!!
Now look VERy closely at this picture and you will see a wavy line going down the middle. This looks like old lacquer and new lacquer. The new stuff going ever so slightly milky compared to the OE stuff....
You can also see it again on this photo. No amount of cutting can remove this as it is the actual lacquer that has "turned".
Anyhow, I battled on and was still very happy with the overal results...
Wing not yet done in this picture..
This is the bonnet before wax...
The bumper was resprayed quite recently but the finish is still slightly orange peely, but still came up a treat...
Engine bay given a quick going over.
Before...
After...(bad lighting)
Extrior plastics...
Can anyone say DULL !!!!
Door jams and door sills were then cleaned....no photos....and so was the jams around the rear hatch.
Time was getting on so I packed up and started sanding down 1 of the fog lights ready to be machine polished in the morning. When I post this, I shall be going back outside onto the decking to sand down the other one !!!
I was also going to be covering the underside of the parcel shelf tonight but I can barely keep my eyes open tbh, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.
Unbelievable the amount of work you've done on this car mate and it's such an improvement. It makes me wonder how mine would look after all this care and attention. Fantastic job and i cant wait to see the end result
Top effort Paul really do wish i had the patience and time to do this!. I tend to bump my car when it needs a good polish not cost effective i know but it's the only time it gets done
Thanks for the comments guys.
Right, well today was another very busy day. So busy I am currently watching the GP I recorded as I didn't have time to stop and watch it.
More cutting and polishing but also lots more paint defects found.
Take a look at these photos to see the difference between the front wing and the door...Both have been cut and polished the same!
More orange peel...
Some damage under the drivers side mirror...
Anyhow....time for some relection shots to cheer Alan up before he kills himself (or me)...
Wheels were put back on. Still not 100% happy with the finish of the calipers, but just not enought hours in the day...
Oh, and BTW, the wheels were only given a quick once over as Alan has some nice new shiny rims to go on the car soon , so no point wasting time, money and products on these.
I then moved onto the rear bumper (shudder). Look at these photos...
Now clearly cutting compound was never going to be enough to remove this horrible finish.....so out with the wet and dry......gulp.
After a couple of mins and a heavy polish, I got this result...
Fantastic I thought, only at least 60% of the rear bumpoer left to do......I carried on but just as I thought, whoever the numpty was that sprayed the rear bumper didn't do ANY prep. They must have scuffed the bumper and then with no rubbing down, no primer and no lacquer, they simply rattle canned over the top. The scuff, was ever so slightly begining to come through this **** repair !!
I therefore had to leave well alone. The whole rear bumper needs rubbing down and spraying properly I'm afraid.
Anyhow, she is still looking good !
Right.....................remember those crappy foglights??
Well after yet MORE sanding and polishing.....
The scratch has actualy caused lots of tiny stress cracks right through the plastic which wont polish out...but still a million times better than before.
No idea why I didn't take a piccie of the other fog light. Doh!!
Fog complete with running lights installed...
Gutted that both LED strips...the last 2 LEDs don't work !!
To be fair however, you have to get up very close and look hard to notice. When driving, nobody is going to notice/spot it. Shame none the less.
While working at the kitchen table..
I also fixed the problem with dash brightness switch not lighting up...and also cracked it open to fit a new blue LED (not fitted in the photo..
The gutting thing is, his headlight height adjustment switch doesn't light up ! Very odd, so I removed my centre console and gave him my switch.......but that still didn't work in his car. Tried it back in mine and it works fine...tried it again in Alans and nothing. I don't have the time to investigate this annoying gremlin.
Well that's it. Just waiting on some hyper bright dash bulbs and then the dashboard can be put back together.
Headlights - I want to do some more sanding...sigh
Come Wednesday (the day Alan is due to come and collect the car), I will jet wash and shampoo the whole car again, before applying some pre delivery wax.
Car should then look great.
OK...I'm off for a shower and bed.............Jeez I need my bed!
Right, well today was another very busy day. So busy I am currently watching the GP I recorded as I didn't have time to stop and watch it.
More cutting and polishing but also lots more paint defects found.
Take a look at these photos to see the difference between the front wing and the door...Both have been cut and polished the same!
More orange peel...
Some damage under the drivers side mirror...
Anyhow....time for some relection shots to cheer Alan up before he kills himself (or me)...
Wheels were put back on. Still not 100% happy with the finish of the calipers, but just not enought hours in the day...
Oh, and BTW, the wheels were only given a quick once over as Alan has some nice new shiny rims to go on the car soon , so no point wasting time, money and products on these.
I then moved onto the rear bumper (shudder). Look at these photos...
Now clearly cutting compound was never going to be enough to remove this horrible finish.....so out with the wet and dry......gulp.
After a couple of mins and a heavy polish, I got this result...
Fantastic I thought, only at least 60% of the rear bumpoer left to do......I carried on but just as I thought, whoever the numpty was that sprayed the rear bumper didn't do ANY prep. They must have scuffed the bumper and then with no rubbing down, no primer and no lacquer, they simply rattle canned over the top. The scuff, was ever so slightly begining to come through this **** repair !!
I therefore had to leave well alone. The whole rear bumper needs rubbing down and spraying properly I'm afraid.
Anyhow, she is still looking good !
Right.....................remember those crappy foglights??
Well after yet MORE sanding and polishing.....
The scratch has actualy caused lots of tiny stress cracks right through the plastic which wont polish out...but still a million times better than before.
No idea why I didn't take a piccie of the other fog light. Doh!!
Fog complete with running lights installed...
Gutted that both LED strips...the last 2 LEDs don't work !!
To be fair however, you have to get up very close and look hard to notice. When driving, nobody is going to notice/spot it. Shame none the less.
While working at the kitchen table..
I also fixed the problem with dash brightness switch not lighting up...and also cracked it open to fit a new blue LED (not fitted in the photo..
The gutting thing is, his headlight height adjustment switch doesn't light up ! Very odd, so I removed my centre console and gave him my switch.......but that still didn't work in his car. Tried it back in mine and it works fine...tried it again in Alans and nothing. I don't have the time to investigate this annoying gremlin.
Well that's it. Just waiting on some hyper bright dash bulbs and then the dashboard can be put back together.
Headlights - I want to do some more sanding...sigh
Come Wednesday (the day Alan is due to come and collect the car), I will jet wash and shampoo the whole car again, before applying some pre delivery wax.
Car should then look great.
OK...I'm off for a shower and bed.............Jeez I need my bed!