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- 13 Apr 2010
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- Sunny Sussex
Performance upgrade.
What have you done to your car today?
- Thread starter mattyprice4004
- Start date
For the guys asking about my respray, I've had everything but the roof done now, he did the back bumper due to the "inconvenience" when I rejected it the first time around.
When I went in for my quote he was insistent that £1200 would involve windows out, sideskirts off etc and down to bare metal which would be needed to rid it of microblisters. In reality he's done none of that, which I can live with if the blisters weren't there and it was a decent job because it was a mess before.
But the front wings, bonnet etc are OK this time on the microblisters score, it's the doors and rear 1/4's where they are faintly coming through and it's so badly finished/polished I am fuming with how it looks in the sun. I am too embarassed to post a pic.
I did offer him to give me 700 back and I will go away and get it done elsewhere or just fix it properly, to which he says he will do...
Stern words were exchanged and his rep will depend on it so he needs to paint it well and then get someone who can actually machine polish a car in to sort that bit out IMO. But like Fox says I can't expect too much for £1200. I just wanted what we agreed on and to pick my car up looking far better than it was. But it looks no different currently, well it's not too bad in the shade!
At least the wheels are good for the £1200 spent
When I went in for my quote he was insistent that £1200 would involve windows out, sideskirts off etc and down to bare metal which would be needed to rid it of microblisters. In reality he's done none of that, which I can live with if the blisters weren't there and it was a decent job because it was a mess before.
But the front wings, bonnet etc are OK this time on the microblisters score, it's the doors and rear 1/4's where they are faintly coming through and it's so badly finished/polished I am fuming with how it looks in the sun. I am too embarassed to post a pic.
I did offer him to give me 700 back and I will go away and get it done elsewhere or just fix it properly, to which he says he will do...
Stern words were exchanged and his rep will depend on it so he needs to paint it well and then get someone who can actually machine polish a car in to sort that bit out IMO. But like Fox says I can't expect too much for £1200. I just wanted what we agreed on and to pick my car up looking far better than it was. But it looks no different currently, well it's not too bad in the shade!
At least the wheels are good for the £1200 spent
When the Supra was first imported to the UK, it had a really ugly rear fog light inserted onto the rear bumper.
I kept it on for it's MOT and was always a job "I was gonna get round too" but I finally got rid of it.
Fiberglassing the hole + filer afterwards
How it looks now
Whilst the paintwork needs touching up by a proper painter, it will do for now.
I've relocated the fog light to use one of the brake lights at the hit of a switch on the dash now.
I kept it on for it's MOT and was always a job "I was gonna get round too" but I finally got rid of it.
Fiberglassing the hole + filer afterwards
How it looks now
Whilst the paintwork needs touching up by a proper painter, it will do for now.
I've relocated the fog light to use one of the brake lights at the hit of a switch on the dash now.
Put £15 of Nitro+ in it because the regular Unleaded was out of order and I couldn't be bothered to wait for another pump. 
Also Shell stations are fancy! I didn't know any petrol stations still had pump attendants in uniform?
Also Shell stations are fancy! I didn't know any petrol stations still had pump attendants in uniform?
Soldato
- Joined
- 18 Mar 2012
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- 5,489
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- Eastbourne
Went for it's MOT and failed because there is a massive hole in the bottom of my car! Not quite sure how I missed it when it was up on the ramp the other day. Oh well..
Jabbed away all the rusty bit so it was close to decent metal.
Then marked where I wanted to cut
And went at it, also went to bare metal ready for welding.
All ready for when I get the welder for this weekend. Then the old girl will pass!
Jabbed away all the rusty bit so it was close to decent metal.
Then marked where I wanted to cut
And went at it, also went to bare metal ready for welding.
All ready for when I get the welder for this weekend. Then the old girl will pass!
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Aug 2003
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- 9,817
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- West Midlands
I went back to ATS today.
Sure enough a lot of the gas had gone out of the air con. However the guy mentioned that there was no oil in the system as he would have expected. He said it "could have been" the last technician forgetting to do that part when filling up on Friday...
Anyway I questioned the leak test process to which he said he would change the test from 4min pressure testing to 10min to ensure it was leak free. Then refilling and ensuring that the oil was put in as required.
It passed all the tests and is now filled again. Output from the machine below:
Hopefully it lasts now! We'll see...
Sure enough a lot of the gas had gone out of the air con. However the guy mentioned that there was no oil in the system as he would have expected. He said it "could have been" the last technician forgetting to do that part when filling up on Friday...
Anyway I questioned the leak test process to which he said he would change the test from 4min pressure testing to 10min to ensure it was leak free. Then refilling and ensuring that the oil was put in as required.
It passed all the tests and is now filled again. Output from the machine below:
Hopefully it lasts now! We'll see...
nice work looks much better, loving the TRD spoiler looks far better than the failside
Soldato
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- 27 Aug 2003
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- 9,817
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- West Midlands
Well that was short lived. Blowing warm again. How can a system think that there is no pressure leak when tested, yet lose the gas so quickly afterwards? Could it be that they are not doing something back up properly..?
O well, the guy at ATS said I would get a full refund if it leaked out again.
O well, the guy at ATS said I would get a full refund if it leaked out again.
They test it under vac not pressure so it won't find all kinds of leak, and 5 or 10 mins is not enough it needs to be longer.
The vac isn't strictly a leak test anyway, it's part of the recharging process but obviously if it can't pull down a good vacuum then that indicates a leak.
The vac isn't strictly a leak test anyway, it's part of the recharging process but obviously if it can't pull down a good vacuum then that indicates a leak.
As above really.
Our aircon machine at work is similar. It will vacuum the system for 20 minutes, then hold the vacuum for 5 minutes to check for leaks. Then it will fill with gas.
Only issue with a vacuum test is it can 'pull' a leak closed where the pressure of the gas would blow it open. If I recharge a vehicle with started off with no or very little gas and it passes the leak test, then I'll let it run for a bit and go round everything I can see with a UV light so see if there's any sign of a leak.
The best, and arguably the proper way to leak test it, is to fill the system with nitrogen to check for leaks.
Our aircon machine at work is similar. It will vacuum the system for 20 minutes, then hold the vacuum for 5 minutes to check for leaks. Then it will fill with gas.
Only issue with a vacuum test is it can 'pull' a leak closed where the pressure of the gas would blow it open. If I recharge a vehicle with started off with no or very little gas and it passes the leak test, then I'll let it run for a bit and go round everything I can see with a UV light so see if there's any sign of a leak.
The best, and arguably the proper way to leak test it, is to fill the system with nitrogen to check for leaks.
Soldato
- Joined
- 27 Aug 2003
- Posts
- 9,817
- Location
- West Midlands
Thanks. Think I'll get the refund and worry about troubleshooting another day!
Is that even legal?
Yes, I wired the S15 that way because I didn't want a crap looking bolt on light, that has 2 bulbs per side though and the fog only takes over one of them, not sure if it would work if you only had 1.
I'm still gutted that my eyes are in line with the windscreen surround, or I'd have a VX220 sitting on my drive at this very moment...
Booked the SLK55 in for resonator and secondary CAT delete
Video when done please!
Replaced the old skinny shiny bus wheel with a new one courtesy of Royal Steering wheels, really impressed with it . Fairly straightforward job to replace on this car as well, done inside an hour and thats leaving half of that time with the battery disconnected....
Gone for a thickened wheel (stock Mk3 MX5 one is too thin IMO), with thumb grips, perforated leather at sides and a red strip at the top (because race car), excuse the potato pic...
Really happy with it, looks much fresher and feels nicer in the hand. This and the heavyweight gear knob from TWM are so much nicer than the stock wheel and shift knob.
. Fairly straightforward job to replace on this car as well, done inside an hour and thats leaving half of that time with the battery disconnected....Gone for a thickened wheel (stock Mk3 MX5 one is too thin IMO), with thumb grips, perforated leather at sides and a red strip at the top (because race car
), excuse the potato pic...Really happy with it, looks much fresher and feels nicer in the hand. This and the heavyweight gear knob from TWM are so much nicer than the stock wheel and shift knob.
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