[harkins77]

I made a start on the alloys today to refurbish them and yes I know many don't like them but I'm going to try and change that thought by changing the color of them when I get round to painting them.

I started off by washing the wheels with soap and water and then dried off the area. I then started rubbing back where the scuff marks were (which on this wheel was nearly all of it) down to the primer using instructions I found on a website about refurbishing alloys.

I then used some of the metalik from Halfords to fill in the scuff and kerbed markes on the edges of the wheel and the spokes that also had marks on it.



I did make the beginners mistake of applying too much to which I found out was going to become a right pain in the rear end later once it had gone off.

As I say once the metalik had gone off after 20 mins or so I rubbed it back with 800 wet and dry so the area with the filler had been placed was smooth to the touch.

I does still look a little rough but it is smooth to the touch round the edge and on the spokes and I guess it won't look ok until I get my first coat of primer on the wheel. The marks you can see at the front of the wheel is actually filler and although it doesn't look it it is smooth and will be fine when it's primed.



I then once I was happy gave the wheel another wash down and placed it in the shed as you can see from the picture to dry. 3 more to prep for primer to go. I think I'll leave them though for today.

[Fatdave]

800, i would have gone for a coarser grade to start with. must have taken ages and left you with numb fingers.

[harkins77]

800, i would have gone for a coarser grade to start with. must have taken ages and left you with numb fingers.

Err yeah numb fingers it is I think I might have overdone it as my thumb is red raw from rubbing the paper. I did use 120 at one point to get rid of the really large amounts I put on with the trowel. Still considering this was the worst wheel out of the 4 I should have the job perfected by the time I get to the 4th wheel :

[harkins77]

Big day has finally arrived and Homer arrived home being towed by the sick Zafira. Managed to get it home ok. And fired up after a quick jump start and after releasing it from the A frame I backed it up onto the land between the drive and house where it will have minor work carried out on it until I can get the sump seen to.







I won't be able to do anything to it for the rest of the day as I'm working for the next 2 nights but I'm glad it's home at least. Let the work commence.

[harkins77]

Work commenced this afternoon on a typical lovely rainy day and I managed to fit the stebtech throttle body bracket. Not a 20 min job as first thought and not only that I've also located a bit more work for me to do.



The battery box looks totally rotten so I think one of the stainless replacements will be fitted shortly.



Throttle body off and gave it a wipe before heading off down to halfords for the bolts.
I ended up buying a mixed box set of different sized hex head bolts in black and a nice set of round end allen key set as well.

So back to the car and quickly realised that on one corner I couldn't get the bolts in the hole as the throttle cable part of the throttle body was blocking my way so I had to remove half of it to be able to access the top right bolt. Needless to say all went well fitting the bracket in place and then once it was in place I then had the problem of fitting the half of the throttle body I had removed. It took a little time due to the ABS box and pipes being in the way but I did manage sort it in the end I managed it





Looks nice shame that the throttle body itself is a bit grubby but I will remove it on another day and clean it up nicely so it doesn't spoil the look of the bracket.

Whilst I was in Halfords I did make an enquiry about a K&N induction kit so that I could remove and get rid of the airbox but at £78.99 I'll have to wait for a few weeks.

[Fatdave]

i wouldnt bother with a k&n filter, i had one on my coupe and thought it was rubbish. over priced, small and to far back in the bay. i had a custom jobbie made up for less than halfrauds want just for a cone filter. you'll be able to get some thing from ebay for much less money.

[harkins77]

Where did you get yours made and how much was it if you don't mind. I would prefer something with a metal tube for the cold air feed with their being very spaces to clip the flexible hosing to.

[Fatdave]

i had it made by a local stainless exhaust builder but any powerflow or similar will be able to make one up for you. is this something like your after.



think i paid about £60 for this. ideally i could do with some sort of heat shield but even without that i noticed a difference between this and the k&n.

[harkins77]

Looks nice and yeah that's what I'm looking for but 60.00 just for a stainless pipe is a bit steep.

[harkins77]

I've seen this on ebay which doesn't seem that bad for the price

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 1216wt_754