Third Brake light

September 2022

Fitted additional third brake light (3BL) inside rear screen. 

Soldered on bullet connectors to live and earth wires supplied with light as they are very short.

Added extension wires from there to nearside rear lights. Connectors just pushed behind rear roof lining finisher and wires run behind trim all the way down to rear brake light.

Replaced existing single bullet connector, live feed to rear brake light, with double and connected 3BL live feed wire plus rear brake light wire. Added crimped on spade terminal to 3BL earth wire and fastened to bolt on light fitting. See photo.

Did have to modify the 3BL end housing to allow the lamp to swivel more to make 3BL show better from behind the car. (not 360 degrees rotation as stated.) Just filed a slot in the plastic end cap so the wires allowed more movement.

All seems good.

Light OFF, below

Light ON

Bumper Restore

 April 2022

Decided to remove chrome strip and varnish finish on front and rear bumpers and get back closer to original bumper condition.

However brushed on yacht varnish was more difficult to remove than expected, but eventually remove with scraper and 800 grit wet & dry.

Then applied 'adhesion promoter' from spray can. This tended to form droplets rather than a fine even coat. Overcame this by doing a small section at a time and brushing using an half inch artists brush to get a smooth covering.

Then a couple of coats of black primer suitable for plastics. Lightly rubbed down with 2000 grade before wiping with a tack cloth and a then couple of coats of gloss black vinyl to finish.

Result looks good so far!

 

Spring Clean

 20 March 2021

Gave engine bay and exterior a good clean and polish ready for some outings, hopefully!

Had a few miles run to check all was still good.

Boot -floor rails

 5 November 2020 Update

Added a flush fitting lifting eye to help lift the boot floor. See photos below.

14 November 2020

After seeing other floor rails I decided to look around as to whether I could do it myself.

Found the following 'rub rail' section on eBay, from alum-droitwich. Various lengths can be ordered. Described as Aluminium Herzim Rub rail with PVC insert, 1 inch wide.

The rail is a highly polished aluminium extrusion, 25mm wide and 5mm high with a PVC rubber insert that when in place makes the rail 7mm high. The rail came with a white protective cover that is easily removed.

Measured up and ordered 6 metres of rail. Actually only needed 5 metres but had 3 x 2metre lengths just in case of error. Rail was delivered taped to a thick piece of wood and well packaged. Each rail for the  floor and including the back of the seat needs about 950mm each.

Fixing it was pretty straight forward.

Drilled and countersunk 4 holes on the floor rails and 2 on the back rails. Just need to get the holes central in the extrusion and deep enough to take the screw head. Used 3.5mm diameter x 20mm long S/S Posi drive countersunk fully threaded chipboard woodscrews.

Spaced rails at 180mm apart, centre to centre. Started with the centre rail and worked outwards both sides.

Used masking tape initially to mark out the rail positions as the length of the floor rails varies. Did need to remove the carpet press stud fastenings on the floor as the carpet on mine was not held centrally. The made sure the carpet was central prior to fixing rails. Ran length of rails between the floor and back mat edging tape. Cut the rails, polished the cut ends, and screwed to floor and back. Used a 155mm length of wood as a spacer between the rails as I went along fastening them down. No need to drill the floor as screws made their own holes.

Found it best to heat up the PVC insert with a hair dryer and press in with thumbs. Still got sore thumbs!

Here is the finished job.

Total cost was £80 for delivered rub rail plus the screws and I do have a metre of rail left over! 

Now a Bum lift!

7th June 2020

Added 15mm chrome stripe, same material as front, to rear bumper. Side chrome aligned with top line of side decal and top of wrap around rubber bumper then continued across bumper to the other side.

Also added a rubber bumper protector to the top of the bumper.

All in all it looks ...different...time will tell.

Face Lift!

28 April 2020

Decided to try and change the front of my rubber bumper by adding a finer mesh grille, chrome strip, moving number plate to bumper and some glossy clear varnish!

Here is the result, like it or lump it.....at least it is different! Let's hope there is still plenty of cooling air for the radiator/oil cooler!

Overall effect

Aluminium mesh grille - 3.5 a 5mm mesh - slid behind bumper bracket plate and secured with a single new bracket. 

Moved number plate to bumper and added grille to cover air intakes usually masked by number plate. Brackets fastened to number plate bracket mounting holes on rear of bumper. Number plate screwed directly to rubber bumper.

Photos -February 2020

07 February 2020
A few snap shots while the weather is not too wet!