Saturday, February 25, 2012

Consolidating Colours

After quite a lull in activity, I decided to finally pull my finger out of my ass and do something to Stacey... it's been way too long since I've spent some decent time on the car, and to be perfectly honest, I miss it!

One thing thats been on my to do list ever since I got the car was to consolidate the colours, so that the whole car is the one colour.  I did it to some degree back at the start of the year, but it was time to finish the job.

Before I get too far into it though, here's a reminder of what I'm starting with:


Although the car is now 2 colours (or you could argue 5 if you count the different shades of white), it's still too many...


I also wanted to get rid of these indicators... They were put in due to a confusion with legalities from the previous owner, but after figuring out they weren't needed, they were left in simply to fill the hole.  They don't house any bulbs in them, so there's no point in keeping them. Given what I was wanting to achieve this weekend, figured it would be a great opportunity to get rid of them.


Took this photo while I was in the process of pulling things apart... reckon she looks pretty good with the hood off :)


This is whats left after you pull off all the panels... the bonnet, the front fenders, the pods and the front bumper, all gone.  Makes you appreciate the purpose of this car - its business and not a lot else... Everything that's there serves a purpose, with not much care for aesthetics.


Kim you smart ass!!!!


Prepping the panels for painting... I didn't see any point in going right back to bare metal, given that this isn't a professional job by any means.  Just needed to rough up the paint enough so the new paint would stick.  Bought an orbital sander specifically for the job... WHY DIDN'T I GET ONE SOONER!!!! Seriously, it made sanding so easy!


The bonnet and the front bar prepped... I had to take the front bar back a fair bit further though, as there was quite a bit of wear and tear on it.  It may look like I haven't done anything to the bonnet in comparison, but the lack of shine is proof that I've taken a good coat or 2 off of it.


The crude spray painting booth in our garage =P  Front bar was quite tough to paint evenly though because there's simply that many curves, edges and angles on it.  Its not easy to get to some of the surfaces either, but I got there after quite a few cramped fingers.


Also time to see what that Nissan badge looks like on!!  This will be glued on at a later stage after I've sorted everything else out.  


Front bar test fitted... I personally think it looks great!  Need opinions though, Should I leave it at this finish or top it off with a clear coat to match the rest of the body?  I personally would love to do the rest of the car in such a finish, but it means that the whole car will be done as a rattle can job, and won't hold up anywhere near as long as a proper paint job.


Also started patching the holes from the indicators... Fibreglassing them was the first thing I did today, as the resin takes 12 hours to dry.

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow with part 2 of all these shenanigans :)  I really can't wait to see how it looks when its all back together!!

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