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[Bigt]

So a few little jobs tackled this week making use of the nice light evenings we have had -

 

I bought some LED number plate bulbs as the lighting of the rear plate was pretty poor, removing the bulb holders I think I worked out why -

 

 

 

Pretty ropey! So with a good soak in AS G101 and a good scrub they came up like new, as I had bought new LED bulbs I though I may as well fit them - 

 

 

 

So whilst round at the rear I removed the plate, as from previous experience its a place that dirt and grime builds up so benefits from a good clean - can often reveal horror stories from peoples previous attempts to mount plates but this wasn't too bad - 

 

 

A good degrease with G101 and rinse off it was looking much better and seemed an ideal opportunity to fit my plate - 

 

 

So that then prompted the same treatment at the front although less grimey the stock plate was catching now and again so on with a reduced size plate i ran on my NA. It looks really small on the workbench but when on the car its relative and never caused me a problem before - 

 

 

Whilst round at the front I needed to remove the lights, I wanted to throughly clean and degrease in behind the headlights and also replace the bulbs with LED variants (sidelight and indicator) I also had an HID kit to fit which is in, but now having second thoughts after reading peoples experiences with fires/melting/earthing etc. it currently looks like this awaiting its eyes to be refitted - 

 

 

Whilst doing the lights i found the drivers side unit had a hole cut in it, not really sure why, it was covered over with thick black tape??

 

 

So thats where I am for now, remains to be seen if the HID kit remains in place or I switch back to standard bulbs. Whilst the headlights were out I had the lenses cut/polished and they look much better, looking forward to getting them back on the car and will post some more pics soon.

 

Si

 

 

[Bigt]

So last night I had a bit of a nightmare, I think I mentioned somewhere about the PPF that had been on the car for around 9 years and was looking pretty ropey coupled with 9 years ago PPF was pretty chunky stuff unlike the almost invisible products around now so it had to come off. I took advice from several people about the best way to do it and for some bizarre reason decided last night that it was time!

 

So one of the corners of the film on the wings was lifting so I started to peel it back, having watched a video on YouTube I knew to pull at 90 degrees to break the adhesive and remove almost all the 'sticky' from the car, as oppose to pulling at an angle which leaves most of the 'sticky' behind. I worked from the nearside to the middle of the car and it went well, I then went from the offside towards the middle and that too went really well.

 

The last section I had to remove was the centre piece, as I started to pull it went 'BANG!" and the film came straight off, knowing something wasn't quite right I looked down and saw this -

 

 

Absolutely gutted! Its literally pulled the top layer of lacquer straight off the car so now it looks proper ropey, the adhesive has also left a 'marring' on the paintwork which I am going to try and polish out tomorrow so at least it looks half respectable. The annoying thing is I am off to Wilton on Sunday and it was the first show in the VX and now its really taken the shine off it for me. I spent some time tidying the edges and polishing it and did improve it slightly - 

 

 

So will be into bodyshop on Monday to get a price for full repaint on front clam. I also need to do the bumper and bonnet grills but have read that removing them is a pig, whether I can mask up and repaint in situ before the clam goes in for paint and that way if there is an issue with the masking then it can be rectified.

 

In other news I bottled it with my HID kit and removed it all this evening, I was put off by the scare stories of fires and earthing to lamps etc. I bought a cheap chinese kit and cant afford to risk the car melting on me. I may spend more and buy a decent kit but that will take a back seat for the moment now the paint needs sorting. 

 

Si