No thats 80 grit lol, had to do a BAe146 landing light starting with 80 due to the erosion on the lens, customer was well happy, even tho i'd spent 12 hours on it!!!!!!!!!! (New lens is @ £6k)
Shagmonkey made me cry!!!
- Thread starter Ace Melon
- Start date
Well I kinda got distracted and everytime I looked at the headlight, I shuddered and did something else! 
I mean, look at it
After some SERIOUS sanding...
Very deep stone chip. Can't sand it out as too deep...
Where the topcoat had been missing for so long, even after sanding you can still faintly see a mark. Lets see what it looks like after polishing...
Anyhow, hoovered out the interior and the dash (it's amazing the **** you find behind panels etc) and got rid of all the pieces of broken glass.
Weirdest thing...and I don't know if there is something you want to tell us Alan, but I found 3 toenails
As you can see in the above piccie, there are a couple of lines of grease/oil in the side of the carpet. I treated these with a strong solution of Meguirs APC and after a fair bit of scrubbing, I got most of it out. See below...
I then hoovered the floor mats (he only has front ones) and noticed the drivers side was also covered in oil/grease....
This was treated again and goven a good scrubbing. Didn't want to have to dig the vax out of the shed and tbh from seeing the results, I think it looks plenty good enough. I mean, it's a floor mat (It's still wet in the photo BTW)
Leather seats were given a clean.....again.......using Zymol.
Managed to get rid of the paint marks Alan
Dash was wiped down with Aerospace 303 (no piccies)
I then keyed all the plastics and gave them a good scrub with white spirit, before attacking them with black satin paint.
I even fitted the rear glass plastics. Let them dry in the car and free up some room on my kitchen table
I then did the headlight switch cover...
Started the HVAC unit but ran our of time as needed to settle down and watch something with my other half at 9pm...
All in all a very succesfull day I would say.
Tomorrow will be handbrake console and C pillar covers. Will finish the HVAC unit and fit everything back onto the dash. I will then jack up the car and after putting the needles on, I will start cleaning and painting the brake calipers.
Headliner will be done in the evening.
Right...off to bed
I mean, look at it
After some SERIOUS sanding...
Very deep stone chip. Can't sand it out as too deep...
Where the topcoat had been missing for so long, even after sanding you can still faintly see a mark. Lets see what it looks like after polishing...
Anyhow, hoovered out the interior and the dash (it's amazing the **** you find behind panels etc) and got rid of all the pieces of broken glass.
Weirdest thing...and I don't know if there is something you want to tell us Alan, but I found 3 toenails
As you can see in the above piccie, there are a couple of lines of grease/oil in the side of the carpet. I treated these with a strong solution of Meguirs APC and after a fair bit of scrubbing, I got most of it out. See below...
I then hoovered the floor mats (he only has front ones) and noticed the drivers side was also covered in oil/grease....
This was treated again and goven a good scrubbing. Didn't want to have to dig the vax out of the shed and tbh from seeing the results, I think it looks plenty good enough. I mean, it's a floor mat
(It's still wet in the photo BTW)
Leather seats were given a clean.....again....
...using Zymol.Managed to get rid of the paint marks Alan
Dash was wiped down with Aerospace 303 (no piccies)
I then keyed all the plastics and gave them a good scrub with white spirit, before attacking them with black satin paint.
I even fitted the rear glass plastics. Let them dry in the car and free up some room on my kitchen table
I then did the headlight switch cover...
Started the HVAC unit but ran our of time as needed to settle down and watch something with my other half at 9pm...
All in all a very succesfull day I would say.
Tomorrow will be handbrake console and C pillar covers. Will finish the HVAC unit and fit everything back onto the dash. I will then jack up the car and after putting the needles on, I will start cleaning and painting the brake calipers.
Headliner will be done in the evening.
Right...off to bed
looking good paul, the satin black looks great on the dash parts, Is this just from halfords?? awaiting more pics of finished job,
Fantastic work there Paul, you sure don't do anything by half measures do ya fella........................I look forwards to seeing your progress towards the end result....................I'm afraid you are deffo a total perfectionist & there's no known cure to medical science!
, you sure don't do anything by half measures do ya fella........................I look forwards to seeing your progress towards the end result....................I'm afraid you are deffo a total perfectionist & there's no known cure to medical science!
Your attention to detail is exceptional Paul I only wish i had the patience to undertake something like this. I would envisage the end result to be spectacular. How far are you away from Bolton mate?
Cheers everyone !
Well todays effort feels to me a lot less than yesterday.
Spent 3 hours sanding the headlight and have got up to 1200 grit. My hand and fingers were numb by this point so I moved onto something else...
I fitted my HVAC kit. This isn't hard, but it does take time to do.
Also fitted the headlight switch surround. Think it all looks great against the satin black finish.
I then got the needles fitted and started to put the dash back together. Stereo not pushed fully in just yet.
I cleaned up the handbrake console and got it ready for paint, but forgot to take photos. Will take some tomorrow.
I then got the car up onto axle stands and removed ll the wheels in prep for sanding down the calipers and painting them.
I then did the headliner. Don't worry about the white you can see through the dots. This is just the glue which when dry "should" dry clear.....ruddy well hope so anyway!!!
I also haven't yet wrapped it behind the sides and hot glued it. I prefer to wait till the fabric glue has fully cured before I do this, so don't worry about the floppy sides.
Well that's it. Wont be much to update tomorrow as Wednesdays is the day I spend looking after Elise. During her afternoon nap, I will be soldering up loads of LED's and resistors ready for Thursday which is when I hope to get the whole of the interior 100% finished, along with both headlights and both fog lights.
Paul
Well todays effort feels to me a lot less than yesterday.
Spent 3 hours sanding the headlight and have got up to 1200 grit. My hand and fingers were numb by this point so I moved onto something else...
I fitted my HVAC kit. This isn't hard, but it does take time to do.
Also fitted the headlight switch surround. Think it all looks great against the satin black finish.
I then got the needles fitted and started to put the dash back together. Stereo not pushed fully in just yet.
I cleaned up the handbrake console and got it ready for paint, but forgot to take photos. Will take some tomorrow.
I then got the car up onto axle stands and removed ll the wheels in prep for sanding down the calipers and painting them.
I then did the headliner. Don't worry about the white you can see through the dots. This is just the glue which when dry "should" dry clear.....ruddy well hope so anyway!!!
I also haven't yet wrapped it behind the sides and hot glued it. I prefer to wait till the fabric glue has fully cured before I do this, so don't worry about the floppy sides.
Well that's it. Wont be much to update tomorrow as Wednesdays is the day I spend looking after Elise. During her afternoon nap, I will be soldering up loads of LED's and resistors ready for Thursday which is when I hope to get the whole of the interior 100% finished, along with both headlights and both fog lights.
Paul
After a pleasant blat down the A46 and M1 from Market Rasen to Hemel Hempstead Me and Merlin (My lift home) met up with John jmc123 to collect some bits for Paul (Shagmonkey).
A very pleasant breakfast was had and as usual when Cougar owners with stuff get together some deals were instigated!! Then off we toddled for the second leg
Outside the Cafe. Mines in the middle
I think i passed you guys in Hemel and gave the thumbs up - either that or there was an incredible amount of cougars in hemel Saturday (there was a red one in the marlowes centre)
looking great mate, might let you have a go at my lights though i think they are beyond even your sanding prowess I also am enjoying watching the updates on this thread
I also am enjoying watching the updates on this thread 
Im enjoying this thread a lot!!, at this rate i think paul may have a few more cats heading his way lol
hi paul, my headlights are worse than them, bought some more from local scrap (£60 for the pair) yard which were a lot better but would love to get the originals back upto scatch unless anybody wants to make me an offer for them