5 April 2017 - Putting the front back together. Pt. 1

Table of Contents

A couple of other small things.

I cleaned up the wishbone shims. I only wish we had had our brand new stainless ones at the time. Doing it again I would use these:

Only took pics of the rear ones, the fronts were in marginally better shape but not by much!

And after....Using Hydrate80 again.

One was a touch frilly....but it held.

And I sorted out the filler flap. We picked this one as a replacement for the original as it had minimal rust on the inside. I didn't get any before or during pics but you can just see on the photos of the side of the car that the flap was odorado grey and had a big rusty scab on it, with two smaller ones. One on the edge.

I de-rusted it in a bath of rust remover dip for around a week, Hydrate80 on the newly shiny bits, knifing putty in the dips (it was a bit old, so I'm blaming that on the fact I didn't get a perfectly smooth finish and can still just see the dip through the paint), lots of primer and rubbing down and I ended up with this...

And having a new-found skill (!) with the spray-gun, I did this....

I got in a bit of a flap (arf, arf!!) and the lacquer didn't go on quite as smoothly as I would have liked. Any tips for polishing it up? The metallic bit came out well though and the colour match is excellent, so all in all I'm pleased with it.

That's it for now. Putting stuff back together is the next job...

Bit more done on the 'taking things apart' side. Including an awkward xxxx of a ball joint! It fell apart, all there was inside was rusty dust The nylon in the socket was melted out when we warmed it up a wee bit...

The damp looking bit is penetrating oil...




The method for removal includes plenty of penetrating spray, heat, cold, hacksaw, ball joing splitter, big bar, big hammer, bolt grip, and plenty of swearing!! 

Today's job is a bit of tailgate wiring, if we get around to it!