My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

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Jasonmarie
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

What are people like it’s lucky you have the knowlage and place to do the work , look forward to the pictures when it’s done . :beer:
Ford Capri 2.0 Laser 1987 Mercury Grey ....... :beer:
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Jasonmarie wrote:What are people like it’s lucky you have the knowlage and place to do the work , look forward to the pictures when it’s done . :beer:
I know, right?
Thankfully my dad has got a new workshop otherwise I wouldn't be able to do this as when it actually happened he didn't have one.
I'll make updates as I go along, can't wait to get that front spoiler on! :D (finally)
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pbar
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by pbar »

Interested to see how your repair comes along. The previous bodywork repairs you have done have looked superb.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

pbar wrote:Interested to see how your repair comes along. The previous bodywork repairs you have done have looked superb.
Thank you. We're trying our best to get it back to the same standard as before. Progress is just slow and I wont be able to work on it again until Monday.
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

SLOOOOOWWW progress.
I have the dings ironed out of the wing and door, somehow they look straighter now than before so I dunno how I managed that lol.
Also FINALLY got my RGA front spoiler fitted! (only took me a year)
This took A LOT of fiddling and cutting and modifying to get it to fit right, which considering this fibre glass replica my dad made was based off an original spoiler (he made a mould so that we could make more of these if people wanted them but that backfired when there was little to no interest) is quite outrageous, as you'd expect something made by the "official" channels would to be of better quality (especially considering how much they are still charging for them!).

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(New headlights fitted also, over the moon with how bright they are too!)

He even had to redesign the front left corner pod because it fitted so poorly!
The new "design" fits much better now, and I love how it looks. I just need to buy some nice stainless steel hardware to put everything back together once everything is painted, as I only had some old self tappers to use for the mock up stage (which is what you see here).
Decided to just drill holes into the bodywork to hold the corner sections on, as the front piece is held on by the same hardware that holds the small grille sections on under the bumper so no need to modify that.
I didn't like the idea of drilling holes into my wings, but considering I will never take this off and the bumper end cap hides the join line anyway I decided not to worry about it.
Next up: Turbo Tail! Though that will have to wait until the rest of the bodywork is done...speaking of which, I had some paint blistering down on the passenger side sill near the arch....this hurt to see, especially because I had to peel off the S stripe I spent so much time stressing over to apply back in early 2017:

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As always it gets worse the more you dig....

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Luckily this is no match for my dad's welding skills and its looking much better now. He's got the convex to concave shape down perfectly as well as the line through the middle where the sill meets the quarter panel.
Though I didnt get a chance to take photos before we were done for the day so that will have to wait until tomorrow, which by the time I'm up and awake he'll probably have this finished lol.

Hoping to have everything in paint by Friday so fingers crossed.
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Jasonmarie
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

Looking like all is coming together also great you have fitted the spoiler on but OMG what was hiding there .
When all done get some pictures up mate .
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

So thankfully the metal cancer hadn't spread too far, so in the end we made the best out of a bad situation, and I'm happy with the results thanks to my dads welding. One thin skin of filler and some sanding later and I'm pretty happy:
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Tomorrow paint!
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by andyd »

Looking good :D

Luckily your Dad is good at bodywork and able to help you and save some £££ on labour etc

:goodluck:
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

andyd wrote:Looking good :D

Luckily your Dad is good at bodywork and able to help you and save some £££ on labour etc

:goodluck:
Exactly, otherwise this car would probably fall into disrepair. I can do bodywork I just can't weld. I really ought to learn how some day.
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Arya2.0S
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Paint done. I'm going to give this a few days to fully cure and harden before i wet sand everything down and polish it. Here's hoping the match is close as I have no idea what it looks like in natural light yet, but i'm feeling pretty confident it will be good enough.

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Here's hoping it will last longer than a few months before some muppet ruins it again. :banghead:
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

:applaud: :applaud: just love how have sorted your bits this quick well done and thanks for sharing .
This next bit with wet sand and polish I get confused on and have made mistakes . I know me and andrew have touch base on this process and trust me he is a lot better then he says .
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Jasonmarie wrote::applaud: :applaud: just love how have sorted your bits this quick well done and thanks for sharing .
This next bit with wet sand and polish I get confused on and have made mistakes . I know me and andrew have touch base on this process and trust me he is a lot better then he says .
Thanks. Yeah no time to mess around really since it's my only daily so turn around needs to be quick. As it is I already feel like it's taken too long lol.
What part of the wet sanding process do you have trouble with?
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

So you wet sand with a grad of sand paper then it’s the polish bit that I hate as I could never find the right sponge or grade and I went really wrong on a mondeo many years ago . So have always been scared to touch a car again . I should get panel and have a play really . You should do a you tube and put it up . Then I might get a old car panel and have a play .

But I take my hat of to you .
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Jasonmarie wrote:So you wet sand with a grad of sand paper then it’s the polish bit that I hate as I could never find the right sponge or grade and I went really wrong on a mondeo many years ago . So have always been scared to touch a car again . I should get panel and have a play really . You should do a you tube and put it up . Then I might get a old car panel and have a play .

But I take my hat of to you .
I always wet sand with either 1500 or 2000, depends on how bad the "orange peel" is from the gun finish, and that's after giving the lacquer a good few days to fully cure obviously.
Don't go too heavy, or you run the risk of sanding through the lacquer and into the paint underneath, easy to do on sharp edges and corners, bit harder to do on flat panels though. Basically you want the surface to be an even and smooth matte finish once you've finished wet sanding. Obviously the thicker your lacquer the safer this process is, and with thicker lacquer to work with the smoother you can get it.
Then you polish it. Now apart from using the right compounds and buffing head (the one I've got is pretty old, but I think it's a medium softness one. Bit like a washing up sponge really) this process can be simple, with one major thing to be careful of and that is burning the paint.
You can avoid this by not applying too much pressure with the buffer, I find just using slightly less than the weight of the buffing mop itself to be enough (this might depend on how heavy your mop is, mines pretty heavy lol). Be VERY careful on edges and panel lines. You can always go over a section a couple of times if you don't feel like it's shiny enough, whereas if you burn through its a lot more effort to put right!
I use a couple of different grades of polishing compound too, I can't remember exactly which ones off the top of my head, but I think I use G6, G4 and G10. But last time I mopped something I got away with just using G6.
Ideally you want to start with the coursest compound first and work your way to the finest which is usually a finishing compound.
I'd also recommend keeping the surface wet as you mop it, as this helps keep the heat from building up (which is what burns the paint) and going through, definitely safer if you're less experienced, but if you're a "pro" like me you don't have to worry XD.
Other than that there's not much to it. If you're happy with the results just wash the car to get rid of the fallout from the rubbing compound (the stuff goes everywhere especially if you're using water), then apply your favourite wax and bobs your uncle.
Obviously it's easier to understand if someone can show you or if you can watch a video about it, but it's definitely not something to be afraid of.
Technique and confidence grows with experience, so I'd recommend practicing on something first if you're worried, but once you get it it's super easy and very satisfying as it's one of those jobs that gives immediate results and finally makes all the hard work with the painting process worth it!
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

That’s a great write up as I might get a panel and have another go not that my car needs it but I think if you make a mistake it gives you a knock so I did throw the towel in back then . I guess I went to heavy in places which as you say burnt the paint and then it’s hard to recover .
Small jobs fine but something like your doing is not for the faint hearted .

But thanks for that I might have a play with a old panel .

Don’t forget photos up when you are done . :beer:
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

No problem. I used to be worried about it too but after I did it a few times I soon picked it up now it doesn't worry me so much.
I'll be sure to update the thread once I'm done, especially once I get the front spoiler back on after the paint dries.
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Pretty much all done. I still need to wet sand everything down and polish it, but thats going to have to wait a few days. Dodgy car salesman photos incoming (it was raining so everything is wet, hiding all the flaws lol):

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Its not a perfect match, but it was never going to be.
Under certain light you can tell theres a difference between the wing and the bonnet, but obviously the paint on the bonnet has been under direct UV (and especially during this scorching summer, direct heat for months and months on end) for over a year now, so theres obviously a minor difference but I can live with it as im thinking of repainting the bonnet matte black anyhow.
The door seems to match much better with the rear quarter however, and once i get a new S stripe fitted i dont think anyone will be able to notice a difference.
So yeah, not perfect but the best of a sub-optimal situation in the end i think.

Snapped this one just because i liked the angle. #MK2grille4life
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I also got the RGA spoiler painted and lacquered, this will be fitted Monday hopefully. Don't think ive seen one of these in Cobalt Blue before:
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I'll post another picture once i have it fitted.
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Andrew 2.8i »

Very nice job, well done.
Arya2.0S wrote: im thinking of repainting the bonnet matte black anyhow.
It's difficult to tell how that would look until it's done.
With that in mind, it might be a better idea to wrap the bonnet instead of painting it. That way, if you change your mind it's much easier to go back to how it is now..

Andrew.
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Arya2.0S »

Andrew 2.8i wrote:Very nice job, well done.
Arya2.0S wrote: im thinking of repainting the bonnet matte black anyhow.
It's difficult to tell how that would look until it's done.
With that in mind, it might be a better idea to wrap the bonnet instead of painting it. That way, if you change your mind it's much easier to go back to how it is now..

Andrew.
I had thought about doing that, however it's very expensive and I can't afford it so pretty much rules it out. Much cheaper to paint it, especially since I can do it myself at very little cost and effort.
I don't think they'll be any issues with how it looks, as I'm a big fan of the black bonnet look and have always wanted to do it.
Reminds me of those old American muscle cars and hot rods.
Ideally I'd replace the bonnet entirely with a fibreglass one to shed weight but fat chance of finding one of those that's affordable lol.
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Re: My first capri, A-REG 2.0 S restoration

Post by Jasonmarie »

:applaud: love it and it looks spot on but as you say the rain hides so much , looking forward to seeing the front all done .
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