kevs 172

[S23]

Awesome! You've done a lot of nice things to your car to make it stand out, and I like them. You've got some mad skills on that fiberglass! You've got some vision for it too, cause fiberglass always looks really rough right up until the final product. And yours looks seemless. Those thumb grips look OEM, and that sub box looks awesome!

Loving the polishing too, a bit of shiny shiny is always gud. :approve:

Gud work mate, enjoyed reading that

 

[kevin.s]

cheers for the comments guys. bit of an update...
ive got this week off work and the missis has gone away with her sister so i thought it would be an ideal time to do a few bits that ive wanted to do for ages so i started today.
firstly i started on painting the calipers and decided that whilst the wheels were off i might as well do the blow ins on them to get rid of the kirbing marks and clean the insides as well. heres some pics.

then whilst they were drying i did the wheels.

also not sure if i mentioned it before but ive put a caf on too just for a little more white detail

tomorrow the detailing session starts so i should have more pics lol.

 

[Rob]

Never seen this thread before, gotta say your skills are awesome. The scratch removal right at the start is what I need to do on a few of mine, just havent got the balls. I've done it on my mates old fiesta because he doesnt care about it, just seems scary sanding my own

Love the car mate, sub box is wicked, thumb grips are wicked, wheels look great in white too.

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate.

 

[Lee-182]

Wow nice work!!

Need some better Alloy cleaner, And make sure you seal your alloys with something, they will clean up easier.

 

[kevin.s]

another up date lol. gave it a bit of a detailing and pc session today and that s**t is hard work. started it at about 10:30 this morning and didnt finish till 7:40 lol so needless to say, im knackard. anyway heres the pics.

firstly washed it with some duragloss 901 and it didnt look too bad after washing it so i though i wouldnt be too hard to do.

then masked it up ready for a mopping after i had clayed it.

i then started claying it and you dont realise how much crap is still on your paint untill you do this. i was well suprised.
this was just from half the roof

this is how it was looking so fa after claying it.

now onto the mopping.

once mopped there were still a few deeper scratches that needed a bit of a wet flat to get rid of them.

bit of 2000 followed by some 3000

now out with the polish

how it looks after a polish

then 2 coats of wax later and we are done.

and a few swurl free paint pics lol

and one of the bonnet

and here is all the stuff i used to do it. just need to do the inside now haha.

after all that hard work i think this was well deserved lol.

 

[Ben]

Awesome read this buddy. Stunning car and you've got some very very handy skills. Keep it up.

 

[kevin.s]

cheers matey

 

[kevin.s]

Wow nice work!!

Need some better Alloy cleaner, And make sure you seal your alloys with something, they will clean up easier.

yeah i know what you mean mate. ive been using the auto glym stuff but like you say, it aint the best but ive run out now so im gonna do a search to see which stuff is the best.

 

[clio_luke]

christ, your handy with the filler mate! good work!
reading that is making me want to spray a few more things on my car now... dash strips maybe.

 

[@rt]

Looove your clio mate, it's awesome! any more plans for it?

I've got one or two little scratches I need sorting, and both my side skirts need respraying cos of stone chips, recon you could give me a price at the go-karting meet?

 

[Andy.]

Dont know how I missed this one before. You have some serious talent & the car is looking awesome. 10/10.

 

[oli313]

very nice work. I love the bassbox you made. very impressive

 

[kevin.s]

Looove your clio mate, it's awesome! any more plans for it?

I've got one or two little scratches I need sorting, and both my side skirts need respraying cos of stone chips, recon you could give me a price at the go-karting meet?

yeah mate no probs if they are just light scratches on you body work i could just do them out side my house but ill ask at work for you about the skirts.

got a few more plans for it yeah. i want to paint my skirts too as the are a bit scratced and chipped along with the front bumper again as tht has got a few chips in it again, and i also want an rs tuner for it if not a remap. just not sure if they are worth doing till the exhaust falls off and i replace it with an after market one lol. but other than that im running out of ideas.

 

[polishdon@hotmail.com]

Mate i aint a boff on the cleaning scene and wanted to ask what did ou mean by "mopping" what did you use to do this and what does it involve ? Car looks shweeet by the way, props to ya.

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate. mopping is when you use a high speed rotary polishing machine with a polishing compound that contains little grains in it to cut out the marks in paint. its used in bodyshops once the car has been painted.
when its dry, the laquer is flatted with a variaty of very fine grade flatting papers finishing with about 3000 grade. then you use this tecnique to bring back the shine to the laquer and if done properly, it makes it look like glass.
you do have to be really carefull though as it is quite easy to burn through the paint, especially on old paint work as you dont know how thick it is. if you do burn through then its a repaint joby so not many people attempt it and those that do, dont do it very often.
not really recommended to people who havent done it before so if you want a bash at it then i would practice on an old wing or a car that the owner dosnt care about. thatway you can build up enough confidence to do it to your own.

 

[polishdon@hotmail.com]

cheers mate. mopping is when you use a high speed rotary polishing machine with a polishing compound that contains little grains in it to cut out the marks in paint. its used in bodyshops once the car has been painted.
when its dry, the laquer is flatted with a variaty of very fine grade flatting papers finishing with about 3000 grade. then you use this tecnique to bring back the shine to the laquer and if done properly, it makes it look like glass.
you do have to be really carefull though as it is quite easy to burn through the paint, especially on old paint work as you dont know how thick it is. if you do burn through then its a repaint joby so not many people attempt it and those that do, dont do it very often.
not really recommended to people who havent done it before so if you want a bash at it then i would practice on an old wing or a car that the owner dosnt care about. thatway you can build up enough confidence to do it to your own.

Ayay, cheers mate ... appreciate the help

 

[quik99]

this car looks stupidly good.

I seriously admire your effort for doing it all yourself and what a good job you have done!

Keep it going, looks sweet.

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate. next on the list is a new tyre as one of them is barely legal so save up som pennies for that and i think the ns rear shock is leaking too.
it never ends lol.

 

[Rob249]

i have not even bought my clio yet and already i want those thumb grips, sets the steering wheel off superbly!!! you got some serious skills there!!!!

engine bay looks mint aswell

 

[Ad172UK]

cheers mate. mopping is when you use a high speed rotary polishing machine with a polishing compound that contains little grains in it to cut out the marks in paint. its used in bodyshops once the car has been painted.
when its dry, the laquer is flatted with a variaty of very fine grade flatting papers finishing with about 3000 grade. then you use this tecnique to bring back the shine to the laquer and if done properly, it makes it look like glass.
you do have to be really carefull though as it is quite easy to burn through the paint, especially on old paint work as you dont know how thick it is. if you do burn through then its a repaint joby so not many people attempt it and those that do, dont do it very often.
not really recommended to people who havent done it before so if you want a bash at it then i would practice on an old wing or a car that the owner dosnt care about. thatway you can build up enough confidence to do it to your own.

You should see the state of my Mrs' 206. That could do with a decent mopping :rasp:

You've just reminded me my front & rear bumpers need respraying and a tad of filling here and there.

I've gotta stop coming on here cause i keep spending money like you mentioned in your OP!

Love the CS.net sticker on the front bumper. Little touches like that you don't really notice until you take the time to have a look over a thread like this one!

 

[kevin.s]

cheers for all the comments. its nice to know that people like it.
well i didnt have to wait long for the exhaust to fall apart did i lol. the centre section baffles are rattleing like a bag of nails and its blowing like a cheap h**ker so ive got a cat back system and a silenced decat in the pipeline. ill get the pics up when its all sorted.

 

[jays]

The fiberglass sub box you made was bloody brilliant. Well actually everything you've done to it has been brilliant.

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate. went to see about my exhaust and decat today so hopefully by the end of next week, it should all be done. fingers crossed.

 

[kevin.s]

this came today woohoo,

looked abit tatty but its ammazing what a bit of satin black can do lol.

it will come off with the heat but it looks good at the mo.
just gotta get the rest of the exhaust sorted now. ill see about that tomorrow.

 

[kevin.s]

was sposed to get the de cat fitted today as the guys at the place where im getting my exhaust done said that it was quite a fiddly job and that it would probly be cheaper for me to take it it a kwickfit round the corner. so off i went and they said that they would do it for £30. "sound" i said, "ill drop it in to you in the morning". so i dropped it off there this morning then when i went to pick it up after work, they hadnt done it and said that it was a bigger job than they had anticipated and that they had been too busy today to do it and that the price was going to be more like £50+. i thought that £30 was a brilliant price which is why i was paying to have it done but now im thinking twice about it.
but needless to say, im not in the best of moods. is it really such a hard job that no one wants to do it. i would do it myself but i havent got the tools for the job or the time and could really do without the hasstle i would get from the missis.
but im going to have a word with my boss and see if he knows anyone that would do it for me.
i hate cars lol.

 

[Gray]

You live in Birmingham.... BTM Performance (near the airport)!

Job done

 

[kevin.s]

yeah was thinking of asking fred if i dont get it done at work.

 

[stuart1989]

all impressive stuff, well played mate

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate.

 

[brownale01]

mate decats are piece of piss to do, just make sure you put the new cat to manifold kit on it, i did it with a rachet set, lockable pliers to put the decat to the mani while you bolt it up, a couple screwdrivers to prize the circular clamp at the other end away while you swap it back, some duck oil and obv jack and axel stands. I have just read through this whole thread and I am very impressed with what you have done, lovely job sir and really think you will be able to do the decat yourself. Saves 30 quid at the end of the day.

Alex

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate. lukily i have access to ramps at work so that will make it a bit easyer. i could have done it myself its just having the time to do it (im being lazy really) and i had heard that they were a bit of a pain in the ass to do so thought its worth £30 just to have it done whilst im at work and have it ready for when im going home lol. didnt quite work out that way in the end though.

 

[brownale01]

haha fair enough i can understand that, you have got a lovely motor mate btw, wish i had the talent to do some of the stuff you do. Im fairly lucky that my old man used to be a professional car painter, did it for 30 odd years and was frigging good tbh but he is soo busy all the time i have to wait for winter to get things sorted lol, i hate cleaning my car i always fine new bits where people have bashed it with things....grrr

 

[DannoTheGreat]

f**kin fair play- you've got the skills to pay the bills!

 

[greglesueur]

wow impressive stuff..alot of time has gone into that..nice1

 

[kevin.s]

cheers for the comments guys. cars going in to have the decat fitted tommorow at a mates unit then its goin in for the exhuast next wednesday. strait through 2.5" pipe with stelth back box custom jobbie lol. cant wait and it should sound lovley.
ill get some pics of it when its all done.

 

[Jordi17]

nice project coming along very nicely !!!

 

[kevin.s]

cheers bud.
decat went on today woohoo (finally lol)

opened it up a little on the way home and normal driving there isnt a difference really just throttle responce is a bit better but when you open it up, its alot smoother and dosent feel like its being held back if you know what i mean. no sign of an engine management light neither so thats all good too lol.
just cant wait to get the cat back on now.

 

[brownale01]

looking good mate, cant wait to get my decat back on, does make a nice difference. Whats next for you buddy?

 

[kevin.s]

cheers mate. next up is a new tyre as im on the limit at the mo` then the cat back is being done on wednesday then it will be time to start saving for an rs tuner me thinks lol. although xmas isnt that far away so i might ask the missis to get it for me. that will save me a few quid. then after that ill hit the drawing board again although somthing is bound to go wrong with it between now and then lol.