I haven't posted on here for quite some time but I always show an interest in older cars that need a little work and restoring.
We were in need of a second car for me to take the daughter to nursery and had been looking at all sorts of small hatchbacks. I only stumbled across the T-jet, I didn't realise they did a Turbo. I viewed a couple and quite liked the styling etc. This one appearred on gumtree, i called the guy and arranged a viewing, fortunately the trader selling it had a ramp in his workshop and insisted he raise it up for me to have a good look before I even made any offers.
He had already replaced the front discs and pads, also OSF coil sring and track rod end rear discs and pads had also been changed recently too. When raised up I also noticed one of the exhaust front pipe hangers had sheared off, he replaced the full front pipe as part of the deal.
On viewing the car I noticed that all of the paintwork was original from what i could tell. There is a small amount of flaking paint on the front arch lip on both sides but not too badly rusted so I will sand, treat and paint that soon before the roads get salt on them.
3 of the wheels had been kerbed, 1 was quite bad. The steering wheel coating had also started to peel which is very common on the Fiat/Abarth/Alfas which I knew I could sort no problem.
It is on a 57 plate with 77000 miles. I am the third owner and the previous owner went by the name of Albert so I don't think it has been driven hard at all.
Some photos
Some of the issues
There was actually no history with the vehicle say that the timing belt had ever been changed so that was the first thing to get done before using the car. On inspection I think the picture gives the proof. Timing belt kit and new water pump now all done.
Steering Wheel refurb
I spent a couple of hours removing the old paint from the leather covering on the steering wheel, this consisted of simply picking the coating off and also wiping Leather Prep on a cloth over the paint which softened it up quite a bit. After lightly sanding the steering wheel to remove any rough areas I also gave another going over with the Leather Prep that I purchased from the Furniture clinic.
Before
After the colourant was applied. Satin finish coat to be applied later when fully finished as it still needs a couple more coats and waiting for a new bottle to arrive.
NSF Wheel refurb
I removed the wheel and took inside after a quick clean down. I cleaned the damage with some soapy water and dried thoroughly, keyed the area to be filled before mixing up some Isopon Wheel Filler and applied to the damaged areas. This was left for 24 hours till the next day before starting to flatten back.
Flattened back using mix of Aluminium oxide paper and 1200 wet & dry paper on a small rubbing block.
Area masked up and keyed with a couple of coats of high build primer
After the primer I smoothed off the edges ready for the colour coat, again masking the rest of the area to reduce over spray.
Finally moving the masked area further back to apply the top coat. I will leave this for a week or two for polishing to allow the paint and top coat to fully harden. Not a bad effort for a diy job I think. I have done a few wheels over the years so think I have got my technique to a good standard now. Not a bad match in colour either considering it is a smart repair using rattle cans.
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We were in need of a second car for me to take the daughter to nursery and had been looking at all sorts of small hatchbacks. I only stumbled across the T-jet, I didn't realise they did a Turbo. I viewed a couple and quite liked the styling etc. This one appearred on gumtree, i called the guy and arranged a viewing, fortunately the trader selling it had a ramp in his workshop and insisted he raise it up for me to have a good look before I even made any offers.
He had already replaced the front discs and pads, also OSF coil sring and track rod end rear discs and pads had also been changed recently too. When raised up I also noticed one of the exhaust front pipe hangers had sheared off, he replaced the full front pipe as part of the deal.
On viewing the car I noticed that all of the paintwork was original from what i could tell. There is a small amount of flaking paint on the front arch lip on both sides but not too badly rusted so I will sand, treat and paint that soon before the roads get salt on them.
3 of the wheels had been kerbed, 1 was quite bad. The steering wheel coating had also started to peel which is very common on the Fiat/Abarth/Alfas which I knew I could sort no problem.
It is on a 57 plate with 77000 miles. I am the third owner and the previous owner went by the name of Albert so I don't think it has been driven hard at all.
Some photos
Some of the issues
There was actually no history with the vehicle say that the timing belt had ever been changed so that was the first thing to get done before using the car. On inspection I think the picture gives the proof. Timing belt kit and new water pump now all done.
Steering Wheel refurb
I spent a couple of hours removing the old paint from the leather covering on the steering wheel, this consisted of simply picking the coating off and also wiping Leather Prep on a cloth over the paint which softened it up quite a bit. After lightly sanding the steering wheel to remove any rough areas I also gave another going over with the Leather Prep that I purchased from the Furniture clinic.
Before
After the colourant was applied. Satin finish coat to be applied later when fully finished as it still needs a couple more coats and waiting for a new bottle to arrive.
NSF Wheel refurb
I removed the wheel and took inside after a quick clean down. I cleaned the damage with some soapy water and dried thoroughly, keyed the area to be filled before mixing up some Isopon Wheel Filler and applied to the damaged areas. This was left for 24 hours till the next day before starting to flatten back.
Flattened back using mix of Aluminium oxide paper and 1200 wet & dry paper on a small rubbing block.
Area masked up and keyed with a couple of coats of high build primer
After the primer I smoothed off the edges ready for the colour coat, again masking the rest of the area to reduce over spray.
Finally moving the masked area further back to apply the top coat. I will leave this for a week or two for polishing to allow the paint and top coat to fully harden. Not a bad effort for a diy job I think. I have done a few wheels over the years so think I have got my technique to a good standard now. Not a bad match in colour either considering it is a smart repair using rattle cans.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk