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Grande Punto Sporting 1.4 T-Jet

10K views 21 replies 13 participants last post by  bannan 
#1 · (Edited)
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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#10 ·
It's been a long time since I've seen a sporting model. Looks like you've tackled a nice couple of jobs. I did like these when they were new and had planned to lease one way back in 2009, iirc there was a really long lead time on them and so I ended up getting the then new model Fiesta Zetec S instead.
 
#14 ·
A little update on what I have carried out in the past week. There was a slight knock o the osf suspension and a bit movement on the top strut mount and some play on the gearbox mount so got the parts ordered and had them fitted and now no knocks or play.

Old gearbox mount/dogbone! You can see the split in the rubber.

NSR wheel removed, sanded, filled, primered, painted then laquered. Will flatten back and polish up in a few weeks when fully hardened.

The rear tailgate badge was showing some fading so removed and stripped the existing red coating and sprayed up using some red plasticote and stuck back on using Mammoth tape.


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#16 ·
I had a spare few hours today while my wife took my daughter to a party. Since the weather wasn't too bad I thought I would give the Grande Punto a quick wash and see how bad the paint is looking. Just a basic jet wash off and some cheapo shampoo today. Nothing too bad for a 10 year old car with original paintwork. As i didn't have much time I decided to concentrate just on the rear bumper and rear quarter panels today.

First I clayed using a Farcela Clay mitt, straight away you could feel all of the tar and contaminants in the paint. Once all wiped down again I flattened back a few small scratches using 2000 grit then followed up with Sonax Perfect finish on an orange hexlogic pad which brought the paint up amazing! It renoved the majority of the swirls and imperfections out of the paint. Once I have got most of the major marring out of the paint I will go over the whole car on a white hexlogic pad.



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#18 ·
Quite a bit of a while since an update due to stuff going on with my family but getting there slowing to bring the GP upto standard.

There was a patch of rust on the rear hatch that needed sorting which I have completed myself over a few weeks. Taken back to bare metal. Filled with body filler, flatted back, then Isopon Zinc 182 flattened back. Tailgate masked off just before the crease line and the repaired area flatted with the existing paitwork to acheive a level surface. 2 coats of colour topcoat applied and left to dry for a few hours then masked area was moved closer to the crease and finally 2 coats of HB Body clear coat. Left for a few weeks to cure and then finally the clear coat edge was flattened back with 2000grit to blend with the existing clear coat, then machined with Sonax perfect finish. A decent finish for a rattle can job but I have played about for a few years. They say practice makes perfect.

Quite inpressed with the HB body clear 2k even though it isn't true 2k, but rather an acrylic it still gives a good finish. Hovever it doesn't harden as quick as standard rattle can clear coats like UPOL.



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