Getting Ready for the NEC

["mgutkowski@xxxx" <webmaster@xxxx>]

Hi All

Over the past 4 weekends, Verity and I have been working hard on getting
the D ready for the NEC! Here's a list of the tasks we set ourselves:

Repaint fascias, front spoiler and grille (the fake one - mine had all been
scorched slightly brown by the sun)
Replace washer bottle pump (again)
fit new exhaust tips (devise a way)
remove interior quarter panels, fix driver's side one
soak headliners in fibreglass resin, back buggered bits with fibreglass,
and re-cover
replace rear speakers
remove rear back-board and centre console and apply Dynamat (extreme) to
all areas to deaden road noise.
Remove all rear carpeting to clean
replace outer door seals with the stuff form Woolies.

PHEW! That little lot isn't a small amount of work!

Anyway here are a few notes based on these tasks. Currently we have to
finish painting the rear fascia, re-do the coloured bits of the front one,
drill a bigger hole in the bottom of the washer bottle cowling so this pump
doesn't get flooded, fix the interior quarter (a couple of washers and
rivets will fix this), replace the outer seals... and put the whole lot
back together.

Halfords Plastic Bumper Paint (black) together with their plastic primer
created a fantastic finish on all the "black bits". You MUST prime though,
otherwise it just soaks in and disappears. This is a strange effect to
witness!
Bought a new washer bottle pump in Halfords, p/n HWP17 for £16. It can be
bought at half this price elsewhere. 

New exhaust tips really look the part, but good luck finding a set :-)
They're off an Aston Martin DB7 and retail at £120 each. I had to hack the
back ends off (the old clamps - meant for a 65mm pipe), and mount using a
pair of rivnuts in each.

Removing the rear interior quarters can be achieved with the use of a heat
gun, though replacing is going to be fun as all the old vinyl is now
twisted and set in a funny shape. You now have access to the rear speakers.
They are mounted to a bracket which attaches to the inside of the pontoon
via 3 screws, and hold the speakers by their magnets and a jubilee clip.
The OEM speakers are 4x10" and mount right next to the wheel arch. By
drilling 2 more holes in the brackets, I was able to lift the mount high
enough to fit a JBL 5" bass driver - one half of a component pair.
Unfortunately either the acoustics (lack of cabinet) or the amp in the
Kenwood head unit result in a poor bass response.

The 3M spray74 glue is absolutely fantastic stuff. Never before have I been
able to accidentally stick newspaper to my hands and not be able to get it
off... Unfortuneltely I did not heed Dave's advice to have a large bag of
sand handy and my door liners look a little "pock-marked" from all my
knuckles :-( Still, I discovered the original colour was actually the dark
shade, and the new car has the lighter liners, so I'll recover those ones
with the benefit of my new experience, and swap them. I advise anyone with
old sagging headliners with soggy backs to attempt a bit of fibreglassing -
the kit I bought was £10 from Halfords and was plenty to do both outside
edges. It's nasty stuff and don't do what I did and glue yourself to the
kitchen floor, but on the plus side even with the open back door only 3
feet away, Verity and I were decidedly merry from the fumes, and my
Landlady smelled it through three closed doors.

I can't comment on the effect of the Dynamat (yet), but Verity cut out the
old stuff on the centre bit on the parcel shelf, and replaced with two
layers of Dynamat Extreme and one of Dynamat original ('cos it's black).
All the inside of the rear quarters and the back board are covered as well
as the rear 2/3rds of the centre console, and the rear firewall (the wooden
thingy behind the seats).

To cut a long story short, we've been having fun and are really looking
forward to showing #1458 at the NEC

Martin

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