Some gentle guidence and not too much piff taking

[383 stroker]

Ok so sva passed and dvla inspection occured last week, now what should be a load of easy questions.

1) The paint is fresh (not road tarnished and about 4 months old) what is the best way to prepare/protect prior to getting frisky with the wax? Should i hard glaze then wax polish? ( and no karate kid wax on wax off jokes)

2) The jag fly off handbrake is still giving me grief(hence the 2 by 4 in one of my photo's!) in its operation so i am thinking of changing to a normal handbrake operation am i going to have any problems with the retrofit?

3) Another water leak from the top hose/manifold, i think i've fixed it as no leak today, just gave the 2 allen bolts an extra 1/8 turn tweek.

4) Grr now a slow (3 drops overnight) oil leak from the front of the sump!

5) Carpet edges are slowly peeling away as is the body roll leather, and yes i did use that damm spray on kr4p! Of to the diy store for proper evilstick tommorrow oops this morning.

6) The dashboard....hmmmm....as can be seen from the pics the dial colours and bezel colour i chose (cream dial and brass bezel) were originally for a magnolia leather and red carpet combo which i decided against at the last minute and went for traditional black with a grey carpet so i will just have to correct the colour of the guages luckily i have a spare dash and replacement guages have arrived with black faces and chrome bezels, so if anyone needs a complete dashboard with guages and switches let me know.

7) Now my biggest bug, the piffed stripes. Maybe not obvious from pics but the white stripes have a pregnant belly on the scoop and considering how much i paid for the paint i am truly miffed (and i only noticed it on the weekend), so as soon as my registration appears and plates are on the car i'm off to give give him a piece of my piffing mind... rant over feel better (almost) now.

[383 stroker]

Oops got timed out and had to relogin! Note to self pull your finger out and type faster.

pics follow:

[383 stroker]

Almost forgot.

I will tidy up the engine bay now that i have time and get rid of those tie wraps and properly route the ht leads... promise.

[Lloyd Barnes]

Looks pretty damned good to me Andy. Congrats :-)

[britbits]

nice looking car. well done that man. Dave B.

[Bigblock]

On the wax/polish paint issue, just get on with it. No doubt it is a 2k system, either water based or traditional, it will be long cured by now.

Any decent wax/polish will do, everyone has their favs so use what you are happy with.

[craggle]

Just give it a good go with Wax polish. I use This (http://www.frost.co.uk/item_Detail.asp?productID=8040&frostProductName=Blitz%20Wax%20(283g)&catID=15&frostCat=Car%20Care&frostSubCat=One%20grand&subCatID=24) from Frosts but there are plenty available in Halfords.

I assume you mean the slight bulge in the stripes over the scoop. I think it looks OK as probably only noticeable if you look head onto the car. At least it is just the bonnet that needs doing though if you decide to get it repainted.

The Jag handbrake is a good bit of kit and will be out the way when you try to get in and out the car. What is the problem with it?

Oil leaks are fairly standard issue. It may be the front seal bedding in or the sump gasket. Just clean it occasionally and do something if it gets worse.

Spray glue is indeed crap. Use the brush on stuff with loads of health warnings on the can.

Craig.

[andicole0]

Very nice Andy :D Love the colour.

This (http://www.screwfix.com/prods/42076/Sealants-Adhesives/Adhesives/Contact-Adhesives/Evo-Stik-528-Industrial-Contact-Adhesive-2-5Ltr) is the contact adhesive I used, where I wanted a bit more strength.

As for the stripes, once you've seen something you don't like it is going to bug you I'm afraid. It does depend on what angle you look at the bonnet though, they look more pronounced on the lower photo.

Andi.

[Ian 46]

Looks pretty perfect to me! I'd be well satisfied with the results. Perhaps you are being a little hard on yourself. Fantastic colour by the way.
Ian

[Big Dai]

That looks great!!!!! What's the colour?:cool:8)

[383 stroker]

Thanks guys,
The paint is House of Kolors Candy red. The stripes were painted first in white then masked then a black base coat then 2 layers of candy.

The bulge in the scoop stripe is definately winding me up day by day so i guess i can't live it so it will be sorted out in a couple of weeks when i will be otherwise engaged so i won't miss her (sob). She does have to go back to the painters for final mopping and polish so i have been told not to polish it at all until they are done.

I can't wait for the reg to arrive so i can put some miles on and sort out the little leaks, and try to figure out why the diff clunks on deceleration , maybe clunk is too much of a mechanical description but its close it also sounds as if it is not meshing correctly.. another niggle to sort out.

I don't have confidence in the fly off handbrake as it tried to roll off my drive the other day and there is a high kerb, brick wall and lamp post directly opposite my drive and i only just saved it! But it passed sva with flying colours so its not the holding ability but rather the confidence in actuation which is a gripe for me. At least with a traditional handbrake when its up you know its actuated. A length of 2 by 4 will do for now together with leaving it in gear.

Thanks for the nice comments guys and thanks Andi for the evilstick pointer i'm collecting a can tommorrow as well as 11 ton of concrete!(not for the cob).

Well i'm either knackered or just old i've dug out 5 ton of earth and approx 12 ton of rocks,broken bricks and paving slabsand remnants of spoiled cement and assorted builders kr4p from the back of the garden since sunday and my back is feeling it... aaahhh a radox bath and a swedish masseuse or two (i'm greedy like that) that's what i need ..oh well the bath will have to do.