I’ve admitted defeat with the buckle buttons. I tried a few different ways of cleaning up the Laguna ones and nothing is perfect. I cleaned them up and I have used a red marker, some red paint and also tried putting some lacquer on top of the red paint. The paint was applied using a touchup brush and it’s not ideal. So, I had a look today at taking apart one of the buckles that is currently on the car, one of the original ones. The parts look almost identical but given the position it’s in, in the car, I’m not confident of removing it and not damaging anything within the mechanism. So, defeat admitted and if I want to make these buttons look better I will have to do them whilst they are on the car. I can take the button surround off very easily, but it’s obviously going to be a little awkward working on it where it is. There’s a few hours worth of work involved and to be honest if I want them to look any good I would have to use some spray paint. I think this is going to be a job when I have plenty of free time on my hands so this is on the back burner for next year. Let’s face it, it’s not really the biggest issue that I have.
The car is at Birchdown this week to have the new springs and engine mount fitted. I have also sourced some new pedal covers and I’m just debating whether I buy a decent hand riveter to do these myself as it’s fairly easy job. I didn’t notice but the brake pedal cover is also showing signs of somebody having a go at it with a grinder.
I had a look at the driver seat today as there is loose play in it and it’s obviously just wear and tear.Having a look underneath, I knew I would find two broken welds and guess what? I found two broken welds. I think this is a common fault on all cars as I remember my old 205’s and XR3’s had the same problem. It just needs a touch with a welder to sort this, but that’s obviously a seat out job and getting it to someone with a welder. It can be done where it is with a MIG welder but the biggest problem is just general wear on the mechanism under the seat. Has anybody tackled this themselves or am I looking at getting a whole new seat base, including runners?
I’m slowly working my way through eliminating rattles and I’ve just tackled one on the dash. I think when next summer comes, I’ll be taking off some of the trim to clean it up on the outside and I’ll have a look at the outside door strips as I’m sure one of them is causing a slight rattle.
