Small (or maybe not) project. 91 elan

[Piperman]

Hi mate a22 sunset yellow the a68 is pacific blue ,your camel yellow will be darker shade re off roader / f1 cars personally i would use single pack acrillic primer /paint you may/ maynot need laquer depending on paint ,single pack is good to spray follow paint instrutions ,if you go wrong let it dry start again practice/is the key Derek

[basher]

Hi Tuga,

I believe that two pack can be nasty on the skin too, so if that's what your using, make sure you use gloves and have other exposed skin covered too.
I have so far sprayed the bumper and the light pods. The results are mixed, I've tried to get plenty of paint on so that I can wet flat it back to what I'm looking for. Pods have come out better. I think that you and Piperman are correct though, spraying is a real skill and you will be extremely lucky if you get it right first time and the likelihood is that it will take a couple of goes to perfect.
Mole grips might help you grip the bolt if you can't get a socket on, try tightening it a bit before backing it off, otherwise cutting it off as suggested will work.
Mask looks like the sort of thing I used.

[Tuga2112]

Today's progress:

well the day started great with Dave's tip working with flying colours. the front bumper is now out.

Then i turned to the lights on order to flip them like in this post which i really loved. both the flipping looks better in my opinion as also the LEDs give the car a more 21st century look.

I am not going to make the LED modification at the moment but the flipping seemed like the right moment... HOWEVER my biggest elan nemesis returned to haunt me.



so, i went to screwfix and got the drill bits i was thinking of yesterday.
the good news is that i did get one of the light compartments out... the problem is that the screws are still there. and worse, is the fact that one of the drill bits broke inside the hole.
some picks of the part, i dont think you can see much from then, so you just trust my description of the events





im thinking that to solve the problem maybe i should drill out the whole hole and replace the screw with a stainless steel bolt. i didn't do it today because in the process of the initial drilling both batteries of my drill died, so i took the rest of the day off.
also the weather is crap, which makes it impossible to take the car out of the garage to be able to sand the missing parts

assuming the weather tomorow is as expected. (sunny morning) i will be digging out the compressor and paint tools and do a practice run putting primer on the light pods. following an afternoon of drilling the holes. and some more sanding.

[Tuga2112]

i think i better explaij, when i said i wanna drill the whole hole, i mean the thread also. (reason why replace with a bolt)

as a separate note.
thanks for the input basher & piperman, i will probably come back to the paint subject soon, but for the moment i dont have any questions.
this first paint is gonna be a practice run. lets see how it comes out. hopefully i will have the car ready for the 10 of next month (thats when the insurance policy starts) and with a bit of luck i can join the 25th year elan commemoration event. in here, assuming it will go forward which doesnt seem very likely

[Tuga2112]

Today, got family coming over and good weather.

so started putting primer in some parts (rear bumper, light pods and boot lid. lid?)

turns out the "light grey" primer the paint shop guy gave me... is green, in fact army camo green, a beatifull color none the less, however how will that help make the mustard yellow come out i am not sure.

part of the painting "fun" included learning how to paint. meaning that only the rear bumper is (maybe) ready for a second coat. the rest probably needs to get sand down again

ill upload picts tomorow with tomorow's progress. im too tired today to get the car out of the garage again for pics.

during the week after work i intend to sand back the parts that are crap and bleed the brakes. (time to research again how to do it lol)

[Piperman]

Hi if its any consulatiion ive been doing bits of spraying over the years ,have to relearn every time ,total reprays are good all paint matches ,pro srayers can tone and blened paint .try and befriend local sml spray shop or one man band their tips and sometime short cuts are good cheers Derek

[Tuga2112]

its been a while since my last post. in fact there was not much to talk about till today.

started painting yesterday with my Dad's help.

here's the result after going through everything. Enjoy (i know i did)

now, whats missing...
the doors need to be finished. there are some areas of the paint where i need to sand a bit and maybe do a bit of touch up (possibily tcut ?)















now i'm gonna wait for a week or 2 before putting the bits together, probably during this week im going to finanlly bleed the brakes.

[Rice crispy]

Looks good from here

[Steve A]

Changing the colour is always a brave move and so much more work, I hope it passes scrutineering

[Tuga2112]

:? Changing the colour is always a brave move and so much more work, I hope it passes scrutineering

afraid it doesnt. but i am still happy about it. considering how badly it could have gone. i will take come close up pictures of the flawed areas after i reassemble the parts (which is going to be interesting cus i cant remember how i took them off anymore lol)

I am planning to join (assuming the car will be ready) the next meeting the guys in west midlands do so i can get a second opinion and hopefully learn a bit about the car while having some nice banter.

i understand changing colour is not something for most people, i am the first person to admit the job is far from perfect, the engine of the car is all still blue, there's no way i have the skill, courage and tools to paint that area. but for the parts that are more exposed (wheel arches, doors, inner side of the hood cover, fuel tank and boot) i have (or will in the case of the doors) put some effort into making sure they are yellow.
in the end, as i have refered previously, this is the very first attempt at painting, and i never expected much, next time i will have more knowledge and hopefully more/better resources so it should go down better.

[Piperman]

Hi looks good for first go ,when i painted my piper in cellulose i rubbed it down lost my finger prints ! cheers Derek (ps good shine though)

[Tuga2112]

its been a while since the last update.

you guys probably think i stopped work, well not yet just had a hickup with the grounding of the radiator fans which caused a pipe burst and heater valve needs replacing because it rusted away.
the odyssey is all described Here incase anyone is curious (which i doubt)
so here goes a bit of an update that is not related to the cooling system.

before proceeding
if there is anyone that knows how to add spoiler tags into the forum posts please let me know. so i can put the pics in spoilers as everytime i put pictures theres a hell of a lot to scroll.

so these pics are mostly of the paint work. starting by the things that could have been better and still need some kind of work.
and at the end a few pictures of the car in the ramps (after bleeding the radiator) with all the bits assembled.
as a side note. NEVER i mean NEVER!!!!! use halfrauds spray cans to match your paint. i took the risk because i assumed the issue with their paint was the fact the color match would only apply when the paint was new, it turns out they just CANT match a color even when given the exact code (in my case A64)
I have to repaint the rear bumper next weekend because of that experiment.

at the end of the list there is the door card and seat and other bits which i am considering covering/replacing with leather, (not decided if real or fake leather, but decided the color needs to be British racing green) your opinions are welcome as usual.

to the people reading this that helped solving the cooling problem another big thank you guys.
















and here the leather contestants.

[Tuga2112]

this weekend i went to newcastle (geordie propa y aye man) for a test drive over long period.
the car has no issues watsoverer while running on the motorway.

when arrived at newcastle ended in a queue over one of the bridges dial goes up and steam comes out......

cutting the story short.
i forgot to put the lid on the water reservoir. the water came out and the aftermarket alarm (which i was told was diactivated) blocked the engine start.
after refilling water and doing what i know best with computers (reboot) the car started.
next day car woulndt start after battery reboot. so had to call for reinforcements.

the aa fellow was an expert in locks and eletrics so he got me running. at the moment everytime i start the car i need to put in some connectors and remove others so the indicators work.

the aftermarket alarm fitted is an obsolete cobra alarm (ill find exact model when im home) so i need this removed.
does anyone know if such job is doable by a joe average diyer? or even what kind of rates and timings are expected for a proffecional to do such job?

im afraid this problem has killed off the plan of a road trip to portugal now

on a side note, and back to the leather interior topic. any toughts referign real vs fake leather for seats and side pannels?

[Tuga2112]

so after my week trip to Portugal (which i didn't take the car because of the immobilizer issue. came back to find the leather delivered at work.

went to pound shop looking for something with a good consistency to make that spongy effect behind the leather.
bought 3 "non slip mats" piece of plywood from B&Q, stapling gun and contact glue

after a couple of hours cutting (and mostly "grinding" with the file) the plywood i got it in the right shape and size.
then started putting a few layers of the antislip map in the plywood with glue. results in first picture

it was a pain to get all the previous glue out. in the end there was some left over. it took a while and a reasonable amount of acetone but im happy with the results, sadly again they dont look up to professional grade... but a hell lot better than before again

[Tuga2112]

Got weather strips now. (quite a hit on the bank account for 100 quid)

managed to take the window off following the information in here

now that i have a clear view of the fitting of the old weather strip i see the screws are extremely rusted, these will definatly not come off with a screwdriver.

i am a bit conserned with drilling out these screws as im assuming it will be very easy to pierce through the fibreglass.

Has anyone got any ideas or previous experiences in this issue that can give me some pointers. ??

[dapinky]

Joao,

I got mine out by using a screwdriver for about 6 of them, and a dremmell for the other 14.

You need to take the glass out first, but then a dremmel will fit down the gap and cut away at the screw heads..... (I actually found it easiest to use 2 cutting discs together on the shank to make more of a grinding disc)

.... the actual threaded bit isn't tight into the fibreglass, and can be undone with a pair of pliers (I used a pipe wrench) - you just need to brak the rusty seals between the rubber strip and the screwhead.

(You'll need 20 1/2" #8 screws to fit the new ones!)

[Tuga2112]

Joao,

I got mine out by using a screwdriver for about 6 of them, and a dremmell for the other 14.

You need to take the glass out first, but then a dremmel will fit down the gap and cut away at the screw heads..... (I actually found it easiest to use 2 cutting discs together on the shank to make more of a grinding disc)

.... the actual threaded bit isn't tight into the fibreglass, and can be undone with a pair of pliers (I used a pipe wrench) - you just need to brak the rusty seals between the rubber strip and the screwhead.

(You'll need 20 1/2" #8 screws to fit the new ones!)

thanks for the quick reply dave.

the glass is already out (broke buttlefly clip in the process as from my understanding is pretty common, replacement already ordered)
your suggesting using the dremel in order to create new ridges so a screw can pull them out
or use the dremel to remove the heads so after the weather strip is out i can twist the screws out with pliers ?

either way i am now 100% sure i will not be able to escape the expense of buying a dremel, i managed to dodge it previously by using the grinder. back to ebay...

[dapinky]

If you can get a nice groove to get a flat screwdriver in, then that is good - but if not, then removal of the whole head may be necessary. I think I did about half and half, really it's just a case of breaking the rust seal between the head of the screw and the strip.

Once I'd got some of the rusty bits out of the way I used a set of pipe wrenches to move the threaded bit, and then a pair of wire cutters to turn them out. It's fiddly, but straightforward enough.

[Tuga2112]

thanks dave.

just got a dremel alternative from maplins,

i'll update here progress on the weekend when i have another go at it.

[Tuga2112]

one done

a hell of a lot of work to get it there, and it doesnt look very good at the edge.
I had issues refering taking out the screws from the previous instalation. in fact they just wouldnt come out, so i just flattened then in order to be able to put the new weather strip.

on a note, the weather strip needed some cutting in order to fit in, also the spacing betwen the metal areas was not correct, i ended up fitting it with only 3 screws because i cant make holes in the fibreglass on the other areas



on a separate note i got this magic product from ebay, in the hope the rear window would be restored to a standard where i can use the rear mirror to reverse and generally see whats going on.

heres the preliminary result, after doing half and leaving the other half.

seems promising, however i havent had the change to check it during daytime driving if there is any difference. yet.


if everything goes according to plan i should be able to take the elan to the xmas party.