It looks like it in that pic Mike, but it's hust the angle it creating an illusion, the wheels are definitely straight


cuprum, yup, same as... actually, just after we picked up the half shell earlier this year, Mr Bean's mini was parked outside our house:




Currently sitting outside my house is something a bit different:




The Flintstones car is off for a wedding tomorrow for a TV show over here (Marrying Mum and Dad or something I think the fella said).



Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Sat 21 Mar 2015, 17:43.

After deciding that the half Mini shell I posted about previously was going to be too much work without dedicated facilities, Clare and myself went on a hunt to find another donor car for our project.

We found one on ebay.. so I took a trip to Croydon to hire a trailer and then we both, along with lil Charlie (our 3 year old lad) took a trip to Warwickshire to have a look with the prospect of returning home with it.

It didn't disappoint.. we got a few hundred quid off and paid £1,450 for it, loaded it up on the trailer and away we went. What was it? A 1983 Austin Mini Mayfair 998cc Automatic!



After getting it home, I parked it in the driveway at my ol' man's with the other 2 (well, 1 and a half) Minis:



With the London to Brighton run looming in may, we decided we'd better do something. The plan at this stage is get it roadworthy, MOT'd and do the run.. simple as that for now. We're the 3rd owners, with 55018 genuine miles on the clock and it's been off the road doing nothing for the past 12 or more months.. so decided the best bet would be to put it in for an MOT to get a list of the problems that needed addressing... and being a 32 year old Austin Mini, I expected there to be a fair few of them, especially as there's multiple patches of surface rust in various places.

We get a call from the MOT garage saying the car's ready for collection... we get there and joked that "it passed!?", to which we got the expected answer of "hahah no"... but there was a grin and a "but!".... uhoh!

It did fail, it failed 3 minor things!! These were:

• Rear tyre below legal limit
  
• Front number plate had peeled apart
  
• Unsecured CV gaiter
  

WTF!? Was that really it!? Bingo! (Not sure many cars these days would stand up to that after being 32 years old).

Back to my ol' man's and quickly swap the 10" steel wheels over for the 12" Supalite alloys sitting on the white one... tyres.. job done!

Down to the local car shop with the logbook... £12.50 for a new front plate.
While I'm there, grab a stainless steel cable tie long enough for the CV boot.

From my ol' man's back to mine (4 miles away.. phew!).. parked up ready for the morning.

Next morning.. thought the CV boot would be simple just like most others... alas, the CV is pushed deep into the hub, so top & bottom suspension joints disconnected along with trackrod end... thankfully, none of the nuts nor the joints themselves gave me any problems. Stainless cable tie strapped up and (good job I bought 2).. broke the first one.. they're a royal PITFA without the proper tensioning tool.. but managed it with the second one using some long-nosed pliers and some patience. Push the hub back on, reconnect the joints.. ready for the drum (yes, it's got drum brakes front and rear, and no brake servo... makes for an interesting drive being an automatic, especially when the choke's on!).



Drum back on, wheel on... job done, ready for MOT re-test on Monday.



Clare bolted the number plate on later that day.. so now truly ready!

Sunday... Alfie, my step-lad, who's desperate to learn about cars and has already been helping me strip some bits off the white Mini.. wanted to give it a clean out.. so worked his magic with the hoover and some Aerospace 303 Protectant on the plastics





Monday comes.. back to the MOT station.. leave it with them and off home to do some actual work(!). Call from the garage an hour later, car's ready... result: it passed!

Car brought back home.. and Clare takes it around the block for a quick test with Charlie as he seems to love it too



Happy Days!!




Next stage of the plan... a service and a temp repair on the sump / sump plug as there's a nasty oil leak from there. I suspect someone's overtightened the plug previously.. so as the engine's going in favour of the 1293cc tuned engine currently sitting in the white one, not wasting time / money on the auto.. so hopefully some PTFE tape will hold out better than the silicon(!) that someone has applied before.

Once we're back from the London to Brighton run, it'll be off the road again over the summer and stripped completely for a bare metal respray, engine rebuild and then fully rebuilt as a show car.. as clean underneath as on top.



Cheers..

Ian

Second car in a week... although this one will need a bit more TLC





Cheers..

Ian

The Focus RS is off sometime within the next 2 weeks in P/X for something a little more comfy...

58-plate RRS HST 3.6 TDV8. Wheels being refurbed by dealer amongst other things, including DVD screens / players in front headrests for our young lads to entertain themselves with on the family holidays. Heated front & rear seats, sunroof, fridge / coolbox in front centre arm rest.. definitely a different beast to the RS, but looking forward to the comfort










A whole lot more to detail than the RS though.. should be a fun couple of weekends



Cheers..

Ian

Pick this up in about 5 days time..











Cheers..

Ian

Quote from lukelfs :

Great work, how much do you charge for that? I really need that done to my Suzuki (it's not as bad but has swirls and holograms).

Suzuki as in Swift? or something larger Luke? A swift, for a full correction (including the above listed washing / prep process) would be £250



Cheers..

Ian

Went back to finish the paint correction on the Fiesta.. here's some 'before' side shots..

Doors


Front wing


Rear passenger door


Door fixed!




Some quick phone snaps of end result after a layer of Collinite wax too. Better pics to be taken later this week.









19 hours all in for the machining.. but happy with the results



Cheers..

Ian

Quote from Omar1 :

What's your process? my sister has a black 1999 fiesta and i'm planning to use it to practice swirl removal on :P

That'll be a good starter as the Ford paint is relatively soft (BMW paint is like polishing ceramic!)..

My usual process is:

• Snow foam
  
• Wash
  
• Tardis around the bottom to remove any tar contaminates
  
• Claybar
  
• Wash
  
• Dry
  
• Polish*
  
• IPA wipedown
  
• Wash
  
• Dry
  
• 2 layers of wax
  
• Layer of quick detail

My preferred washing solution is Optimum No Rinse. Wash and dry a panel at a time.. it's great!

* The polishing stage with this I started with a Lake Country orange hydro pad with Menzerna PF2300 polish, but then swapped this to a Lake COuntry blue hydro pad and Menz FG400 as I needed more cutting power. This was all done with a DAS6 Pro DA polisher (this is what you'll want to start with... and if I was starting again, the kit I'd get as it comes with pads and polish too).

Once I'd removed the swirls and was happy, it was then refined with a Lake Country red hydro pad and PF4500 finishing pad and polish.

Wax-wise, if you want a big bang for your buck, FinishKare 1000P.. great longevity, easy to apply also works great on wheels, and £18 for a tin.. I still have 1/4 left in mine and have had it for ~18 months and it gets used regularly.

I've started usin Sonax Xtreme Shine Detailer for the quick detail spray. This stuff's amazing.. repels water really well and helps give a great deep shine.

The important thing is to take your time, enjoy what you're doing and the results will happen.. and like many things, the preparation is key.. to get the "ultimate shine" at the end of the job, the hard work is in the pre-polish and polishing stages rather than the sealants or waxes your put on after.. and if the paint's looked after once it's been machined, then all you need to do is wash it (with 2 buckets!) regularly and I just top it up with the quick detailer and then re-wax it once a month.

Hope this is useful



Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Sun 28 Sep 2014, 06:24.

Quote from Omar1 :

Gave the corsa a final cleanup before it goes tomorrow



Never tried cleaning in there on any car, really happy with how it came out

voi-la

You've got it easy!.. this is a 50/50 of the bonnet of a Fiesta I got asked to detail before it goes up for sale:



Thankfully not all panels are quite this bad (although most aren't good), but I'm 10 hours in on the machining alone and have only done one side, bonnet, front bumper and roof!



Cheers..

Ian

You need to click on the small 'NEW' text next to the thread title to view unread posts (see attachment).



Cheers..

Ian

Haven't posted in relation to LFS itself on here in a long time I don't think.. but hats off to Vic and everyone involved with the new site(s).

The main LFS is a very nice, much needed redevelopment.. and the forum in general is nice too (less the lack of responsiveness, but won't comment too much on that as it's planned, although IMO from experience, it's easier to add this at the start rather than "retro-fit" ).

My only comments regarding the forum is that the threads view looks cluttered. Maybe the boldness of the thread titles, lack of vertical "white space" between thread content elements, not sure exactly without seeing some alternatives.. but to me, it's very heavy and uneasy to read.

My other comment would be the quick reply box. Seems short in height compared to the large default font. I know I can resize this box in Firefox, but from a UX PoV, not having to do that with the mouse would be handy

Anyway.. as said, I think all in all, it's a great move in the right direction for LFS moving forward as a complete product. Well done lads



Cheers..

Ian

A few more from the same event...


Cheers..

Ian

Just replaced my trusty D60 with a D5200 (figured I didn't need the WiFi and GPS and there didn't seem much else to warrant the extra £100?) and very happy with the results. The D60 is going to our young lad (laying down next to our youngest in first pic with my Nikon Coolpix) as he seems to be really enjoying photography at the moment.

Here's a few that were taken yesterday with standard 18-55 kit lens at Dagenham Ford in Essex for the 2014 Frankie's Car Fest in aid of Frankie's Hospice.



Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Mon 1 Sep 2014, 13:56.

Sunday before last.... Ford Fair 2014.. a great show for blue oval people. A couple of us, along with my ol' man and his camcorder, organised a convoy from the South East & Essex area from the Focus RS Owners Club... I think we managed 35 RSes and a few STs tagged along too.

A great event.. and a great convoy we all had heading from South Mimms to Silverstone.

convoy video for anyone interested... and a still from the gathering before the video drive-by




Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Tue 12 Aug 2014, 14:45.

Some pics taken from the Queens Birthday fly-past (shame the short time that they were airbourne it was mainly overcast)














Some random shots taken from a stunt show we took one of our lads to see









Cheers..

Ian

Quote from Omar1 :

it's Autoglym tyre dressing, says it can be used as an engine dressing too, so gave it a try, shiny

Get some 303 Aerospace Protectant. Much better than using tyre dressing under the bonnet (if you want lasting shiny, spray the bits with plastic primer and gloss black). It's great for all plastics, and will also bring the dash up a treat too.

I spray it onto a microfibre cloth.. wipe it over and immediately buff it off.

Shiny bits sprayed with Ford Panther Black (the rest to do followed up with blue hoses)




Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Mon 9 Jun 2014, 09:29.

Mongoose 3" decat for the RS..


Personal plate for my other half for her new VW Golf when it gets delivered..




Happy New Year all



Cheers..

Ian

Always wanted one of these for some reason... decided why not.....

Also 5m rolls of vinyl in blue, green, white, black and silver and 100m of application tape.





Cheers..

Ian

My fiancée was chatting to one of the neighbours while the neighbour was washing her car. Only using one bucket.. but I guess she's not looking to do it properly... but I wander over and

there she is, with a scouring pad trying to get tree sap off of the roof!! After a cleanup with some claybar.. this was the main result witn some further patches on the spoiler too...






Arrrrgh!!!


About 45 mins or so with the DA polisher, various menzerna polishes and lake country pads, and a topping with finishkare 1000P wax thankfully got it looking better again (probably better than it's ever looked as it probably only ever sees a car wash or "the illegals™" round the corner)...






Not sure how, or what would make you think that using a scouring pad on your car would ever be anything close to a good idea!



Cheers..

Ian

Last edited by Ian.H, Mon 9 Sep 2013, 20:16.

Quote from BigPeBe :

Had my first trackday ever last weekend. Was loads of fun and car ran like clockwork (well apart from one of the two alternator belts flying away during the last track session). Also highlighted some much needed improvements for the car that need accessing before I go to the track next time. Hopefully with them next time I'll be able to get more laps in too and improve more on my driving too.

Random shots:

That Mk1 is lovely!! :lovies3d::lovies3d::lovies3d:



Cheers..

Ian

Quote from Jakg :

My journey to work is all country roads, and I wanted the 3L one - so I don't think I'll get be getting 40MPG!

When I traded my E46 330i vert in for my RS... the average MPG on the OBC was reading 17.1mpg. OK, I've got quite a heavy right foot, but you're not, ever, going to get anywhere near 40mpg.. even on constant motorway driving (I think the best I had there was ~26mpg).



Cheers..

Ian

Quote from R34GTR :

Will try remember to have a nosey around there

Cool. Pop over and say ello



Cheers..

Ian

Quote from BlueFlame :

Ford Fair? Why would anyone wanna stare at ugly fords? Although I'm sure teh jumblesale is the biggest attraction of course, I mean, we all need a windscreen washer pump for a Mk2 Cortina...

Cortina!? I'm hoping to find used, but good condition brake shoes for an Edsel!



Cheers..

Ian

Quote from R34GTR :

I'll be there! In my Audi Are you on a club stand?

Yup, car will be on the Focus RS Owners Club stand



Cheers..

Ian

In preparation for Ford Fair next Sunday... a 16 hour paint correction detail on the body. Swirl marks weren't horrific, but they were present.

7-8 hours left probably on the wheels, engine bay and interior. Hopefully it don't rain Saturday!

Not everyone's idea of "fun" I'm sure but.............



Cheers..

Ian