The Petrol Blue Project continued

[MLB]

Bit more polishing done today, bit cold outside but good to start to see results when the sun appeared!

Bumper scratches

Overspray

Always nice to have a clean license plate light

Going to polish the front bumper tomorrow and take both front and rear bumpers off for a good clean behind them and to get to the exhaust.

To be continued..

 

[Big_Steve_T]

Beautiful work @MLB

subscribed!!

 

[MLB]

Thank you! Lots more to do, just making the best of this lock down situation!

It does allow me to get all the little jobs done, ready for CSF altough I don't see that going ahead to be honest..

 

[Big_Steve_T]

Thank you! Lots more to do, just making the best of this lock down situation!

It does allow me to get all the little jobs done, ready for CSF altough I don't see that going ahead to be honest..

I know how you feel sir!!

I’ve still got a HEAP of work to do on my Rebuild, but I’m confident I could get it ready for the National Day.. got my tickets and everything ready to go... but also think it’s chances of going ahead as-is are declining... 😕

 

[Optimista]

Don't know how i missed this on the forums!
I love it, the paint, attention to detail.. Perfect!

 

[MLB]

I know how you feel sir!!

I’ve still got a HEAP of work to do on my Rebuild, but I’m confident I could get it ready for the National Day.. got my tickets and everything ready to go... but also think it’s chances of going ahead as-is are declining... 😕

Wow just been reading through your build thread, some brilliant motors and quite daring to buy a car without engine haha!

Don't know how i missed this on the forums!
I love it, the paint, attention to detail.. Perfect!

Thank you! It's nice to have the time now, makes it easier to focus on the details. And those details are what makes the difference to me!

Today was day five of the Clio cleaning project.

Finally got the rear bumper off, ordered new stainless bolts and then got on with removing, cleaning and coating the plastic bits, polish the exhaust and I've decided that the wheel arch trims are coming out for a good cleaning as well.

On to the pictures!

Exhaust, done! So satisfying

Cleaning of all the trim bits

Polished

And back on the car!

Details

Dirty and grey looking arch trim...

Much better!

Front bumper tomorrow, almost ready for a final wash and wax!

 

[frayz]

You’re doing such a beautiful job on this mate. So satisfying to watch. 😍

 

[Stefan.]

Lovely work

What you using to polish/pad combo?

 

[Christopher.]

Great Work Mike. So glad its gone to someone who is looking after it so well. I am sorry your finding all my bodges tho

Need you to come back down here and sort the paintwork on my Jag now

 

[MLB]

You’re doing such a beautiful job on this mate. So satisfying to watch. 😍

Glad you're liking it, the car deserves it!

Lovely work

What you using to polish/pad combo?

A couple of different combinations.
For most deeper scratches I've used blue Lake Country HD orbital cutting pads with Scholl S17+ on the Vertool 21mm and Rupes Mini then finish it off with the orange LC HD orbital pad and Scholl S30 on the vertool or a yellow rupes pad with Scholl S30 on the Rupes Mini.

For the more intricate stuff I've used a Rupes Ibrid Nano, yellow rupes pad and Sonax EX 04-06 as I find that cuts well but doesn't need another step most of the time as it finishes quite well.

Great Work Mike. So glad its gone to someone who is looking after it so well. I am sorry your finding all my bodges tho

Need you to come back down here and sort the paintwork on my Jag now

Haha, not found many bodges so far, but all I've done is clean..

It's a great car, such a shame I won't be able to track it now everything is shut and possibly not even be able to go to CSF!

As for the Jag, I thought you had a machine polisher yourself?? Big old beast that though!

 

[MLB]

Not much to update today, cleaned the back of the front bumper, took the splitter off and coated the lower grille (Gyeon Trim) which took me most of the day, let's hope the coating will hold up well so I don't have to do this again soon!

50/50

I don't know why, but these stones were really annoying me!

Also took the headlights out, ready to be polished, so took the opportunity to clean behind behind them.

 

[frayz]

I’m loving the lockdowns impact on this thread. 😅👌🏼

 

[MLB]

Haha and it's not even (nearly?) finished yet!

A shame I don't have paint (or know which paint to use) otherwise I'd probably start some corrosion treatment after it's all been cleaned.

Might get some inspiration from @Big_Steve_T, altough I run the risk of taking even more things apart and it still not looking as good as that RB

 

[frayz]

As for protecting areas from corrosion, check the products from Bilt Hamber. That’s what I use and have done for years.

Deox gel - Heavy rust remover
Hydrate 80 - Light rust converter
Electrox - Very high zinc content anti corrosive primer.
Dynax UB - Dark brown calcium wax underseal that never fully dries or flakes.
Dynax UC - Similar to UB but transparent and lighter duty.

Check their products out along with some ACF50. Highly corrosion resistant oil you can brush on any metal parts to keep them protected and new looking.

🙂👍🏼

 

[Big_Steve_T]

check the products from Bilt Hamber

Totally agree, give the rust on that crossmember a quick rub down to remove the loose bits, then cover it with DEOX and it’ll stop it getting worse

 

[MLB]

Thank you @frayz and @Big_Steve_T.

I've got Bilt Hamber Deox C (the powder), Hydrate 80 and S50.

I thought rust treatment, primer and then actual paint gives better protection, but would hydrate 80 on the crossmember be sufficient or need more protection after that?

I'm happy with how the first steps work, but unsure how to decide what product to use after the rust treatment step!

Would that be paint AND UB/UC or would that be two different options?

I assume everything undercarriage treated with UB and the rest with UC, like the crossmember?

 

[MLB]

Totally agree, give the rust on that crossmember a quick rub down to remove the loose bits, then cover it with DEOX and it’ll stop it getting worse

Would Hydrate 80 work as well or is that not up to the job?

Also found some good info on Bilt Hambers own website!

What is the differences between dynax UB, UC and S-50?

dynax UB, dynax UC and dynax S-50 are wax-like coatings to provide protection from corrosion in areas such as the underside of your car and box sections. UB is a dark coating, while UC is for use in visible areas where a darker coating would detr...

bilt-hamber.freshdesk.com

 

[George@RTR_Parts]

Big thank you to @George@RTR_Parts for advice and being still open to order new discs!

No worries, happy to help with the brake parts and get your car back on the road. Keep up the great work, really clean this and a brilliant colour the petrol blue. A rare sight on the roads

 

[MLB]

I wasn't planning on working on the Clio today as I had some jobs in the house to finish and it was meant to rain.

But the weather cleared up by five o'clock and I didn't want to dissapoint @frayz or ruin my streak so decided to polish the headlights.

Used Rupes x-cut discs on the Rupes Mini, 2000 grit, then 3000 grit for sanding.
Then to refine Lake Country HD orbital cutting pad with Scholl S3, same blue pad with Ex 06-04, then Rupes yellow pad with Scholl S30 to finish it off.

Did the sides by hand with 2000 grit paper and refined with the Rupes Ibrid Nano, rotary backing plate, blue pad/S3 and yellow pad/S30.

Result!

1&2 Quite a lot of scratches and damage before.
3 Rotary and the open cell structure of the blue Rupes pad can be messy..
4 While at it I gave the tow eye a quick polish with Mother's Mag&aluminium polish.

Some final shots

 

[frayz]

Just for me. Im feeling the love ❤️❤
Superb job on those lamps chap. 👍🏼

 

[MLB]

Well we'll need all the love and help we can get in the world so why not start here on the forum. One of my only interactions with human beings at the moment!

And thank you, I was surprised myself of how well they've turned out, didn't think I'd get as much of the road rash out as I did.

 

[MLB]

Update time!

Done a couple of things of the weekend, but was mainly waiting for parts. Finally started putting things back together again and should be able to finish the exterior side of things on Wednesday.

First the scuttle panel, cleaning and coating.

Before and after and resoldered rear license plate wiring and wrapped in heat shrink.

BMW headlight parts arrived, what a fiddly job that was.. The plastic was so brittle I had to crush the ball and take the pieces out.. All working now!

Wing mirror plastic coated

All back together

Also removed the front arch liners and done some weight saving Will remove the side skirts soon as I think there's more dirt trapped behind them.

And while they were out I've treated the arch liners themselves

 

[Big_Steve_T]

Beautiful work @MLB 💙

 

[MLB]

And while it's up in the air I thought I'd change the gearbox oil as well. Didn't look too bad, but can't hurt to change, got to protect that LSD!

 

[davo172]

Awesome work mate 👍😎

 

[frayz]

Lovely job on that scuttle dude. Looks almost familiar. 😅👌🏼

 

[MLB]

Thanks guys!

@frayz Hmm how could that be.. Now you mention mention it though I do recall reading some some really inspirational stuff on the forum here recently..

 

[Ash J]

Lovely work mate 👌

Scuttle area is the next job to do on mine.

Made a start on my arch liners this weekend, but seemed a real struggle trying to remove the front ones (all clips are off) so I left it and will tackle again this weekend. Were yours hard to remove?

And what coating are you using?

 

[MLB]

Thank you! Makes such a big difference to have a clean scuttle area, also good to keep those drains clean to avoid leaks.

I did find them a bit tricky to remove and refit today, they don't bend the way you'd expect them to bend.

Bit difficult to describe but these two 'handle' areas seem to 'unclip' from the main body of the car. You can pull them back and then sort of shimmy the whole arch liner away from the edge of the panel where it's wedged in.

Forgive me my awful phone paint skills

As for the coating, I'm using Gyeon Trim. Clean thoroughly with APC, then Gyeon Prep and let dry. Then I apply Trim with Gyeon suede applicator cloths and lots of cotton buds! Those two panels took me about three hours in total I think.

For all the exterior plastics I used about 75% of a 30ml bottle.

 

[MLB]

Just reading through my previous post and it might sound like I've coated the arch liners as well, I haven't, I meant it took me three hours to do the scuttle panels.

All arch liners have been treated with Chemical Guys Bare Bones.

Exterior plastics coated with 75% of a Gyeon Trim bottle:
Front bumper lower grille
Front bumper upper grille
Both headlights
Fog light surrounds
Scuttle panel
Side mirror plastics
Antenna
Rear wiper arm and panel
Boot lock button
Rear bumper trim insert

 

[MLB]

Finally managed to get back to the UK so time to start putting things back together again!

Put the front bumper back together again today and put the new Fabia splitter on, bit fiddly and not a great fit because of the shape but can't complain for 15 quid. Tempted by an original one but I know I'll scrape it and then regret paying a fortune for it.

Noticed the headlight washers were leaking so put one way non return valves in the lines. Seems to have solved it for now.

Saw last week the bonnet had marring from one of the cloths, so polished it again and washed, soaked and rewashed the cloths. Hopefully it's the cloths and not the paint being super soft.

Quite a bit of dirt came out!

New rear discs are on, new sliders kits and rubber seals installed and while I had it apart I gave the left caliper a quick clean and bit of paint. Also bled the front and rear, fluid was still nice and clean.

Just need to wash it one more time, wax it and then it can get back on its wheels!

 

[frayz]

I’ve just taken off my Genuine cup splitter for a Fabia one before I break it. Don’t waste your money on genuine. It’s really not worth it

 

[MLB]

I know and it's never going to be a museum piece, I like it to be clean and tidy but I bought it mainly to drive it!

 

[Louis]

Buy a carbon splitter if you're worried about breaking the cup ones. Look nearly identical and are much stronger, I've had mine on for years and still not broken it. Needs another lacquer but that's it

 

[MLB]

Like the K-TEC one? I would have, but they're no longer available are they?

 

[davo172]

I’ve just taken off my Genuine cup splitter for a Fabia one before I break it. Don’t waste your money on genuine. It’s really not worth it

Is it for sale?

 

[Louis]

Like the K-TEC one? I would have, but they're no longer available are they?

You can pick them up fairly regularly on fb. Believe ktec were also bringing them back

 

[MLB]

Ah cool, I'll keep an eye out, thanks!

 

[MLB]

Short day today, bolts arrived so bolted the rear bumper back up. While doing that I realized that this might work well with rivnuts as well? I know it's not technically a hole but it more a slot, anyone that can advise?

Bumper has to come off again for anti rust treatment, but it's these bolts:

Then cleaned the drivers side door rubbers, took everything off, gave it a good clean with APC , then removed the white residue with BLACK WOW PRE WOW (best name for a product?). Not sure what it is but that stuff is amazing.

Gave the painted surfaces a quick clean and then polished with Mitchell & King Pure.

All in all a very satisfying job as the result is so good with minimal effort.

On the right, annoying white residue, on the left, nice and clean rubber

Before

After

Then it was finally time to get it back on its wheels!

Still not washed it as it looks like rain tomorrow morning, after that it'll get its wash and wax.

Did get some pics to see the results of the hub spacers though, quite a big difference and it looks so much wider from the rear!

See how it looks now, but still think something like 12mm on the front would look a bit more balanced.

 

[MLB]

Exterior is 'finished'!

First a good foam with Kenotek Snow Foam Shampoo. Then washed with Dodojuice Born to be Mild shampoo.

Dried off and decided it was time to get the posh wax out of the fridge (managed to keep it in there even in these harsh hoarding times! ).

One of the only waxes I've used that actually 'adds something' to the looks when layered two or three times so it will get a couple more coats over the next couple of days.

Headlights, coated plastics and new splitter

All plastics coated here as well

Ready for CSF?!

I can remove this one now I guess?