JohnnyB's 'lude

[bennyboy]

Nice.
I NEED to see this lude back on the road, it's a link to the past!

[JohnnyB]

haha cheers guys. I popped by the body shop after work today and have booked her in on 13th June to have the offside rear arch and sill chopped out and replaced. £350 for the arch replacement plus a bit more for the sill but they reckon it won't be much over £400 all in The nearside isn't quite as bad, it'll wait until later in the year when I've saved a few more pennies up anyway

[wurlycorner]

Great stuff always pleased to see progress on this Lude - shows that life-long Lude love

Carbon sunroofs are very rare

[JohnnyB]

Great stuff always pleased to see progress on this Lude - shows that life-long Lude love

Carbon sunroofs are very rare

I've owned her for about 13 years now When I think back at the hours and cash spent working on her I can't believe I've let her get so bad Oh well, onward and upward!

I didn't realise carbon sunroof's were rare, I got mine brand new as part of a group buy several years ago. The mould must still be about I would have thought? Wish I could remember where I got it from now! I suspect my carbon door handles are slightly more rare, although they are basically standard handles that someone has laid carbon weave over the top of... They also need some attention but its some pretty fiddly sanding and spraying so I'll leave them for now I think..!

[bennyboy]

I honestly remember following all your work on this on Honda Revs like it yesterday FFS!

Glad there's a few of us that stuck it out.

[JohnnyB]

I honestly remember following all your work on this on Honda Revs like it yesterday FFS!

Glad there's a few of us that stuck it out.

Honda Revs - that was a while back!! I just spent longer than I intended looking through Nigella's profile - lovely looking 'lude you've got there chap I wish I'd put half as much effort into keeping mine in that sort of condition as you have, it would be paying dividends now

Anyway, I got some parcels delivered today I'm now the proud owner of 6 cans of clearcoat, 1 can of VHT wrinkle paint (for a later project - the engine bay looks terrible lol) and these...



Obviously I dropped what I was doing and ran to the garage to find my Dremel The plan is by the end of the weekend to have cleaned, sanded and sprayed the bonnet and fitted the new bonnet pins. Seeing as I did a jobby job with photos on the sunroof refurb I figured I better do better this time around so this is what I achieved this evening starting with a few pictures of the bonnet and it's main faults...

Before work started, this is what a carbon bonnet looks like after a few short years if you don't look after it:



Closeup of the awesome super-rusty bonnet pins:



Average condition of the carbon - the sunroof was very similar to this:



A lovely crack in the front of the bonnet. I did this about 4 days after I fitted it from new. I swore, loudly and repeatedly... I'm over it now, but will be interested to see what it looks like after some work:



Random unhealthy patch of carbon:



Another random unhealthy patch of carbon:



Phase one - Fit the aerocatches! They come with all the gubbins you need including nuts bolts washers and a very handy template to mark out where to cut. No matter how many times I cut into carbon fibre it never gets less daunting but knowing someone brighter than you has made a template makes it that little bit easier

First hole cut:



I obviously then got carried away, as the next photo I took was of the first catch fitted



Next hole cut:



Both catches fitted:



Bonnet closed:



Yes, I really do need to finish the front bumper and fit it properly

Tomorrow afternoon I plan to fit the pins to the slam panel then take it all to bits again and start sanding... I'll try and take more pics

[mercutio]

Great work buddy

[JohnnyB]

Bonnet progress has been good so far today. I've spent a good few hours sanding and spraying, results look promising so far but I'm still waiting to see what it looks like once the lacquer has dried...

I started by taking the washer jets and bonnet pins out and then wet sanding with P800 while the bonnet was still on the car...



Once I'd gone over the whole thing I removed it and lent it again the fence to dry, at which point it looked like this...



Another hour or so of wet sanding later, this time with P1200, and it looked like this...



and dry...



So in to the garage and out with the rattle cans... This is after the first coat of clearcoat...



Not much more to show just yet but I'll try and update this a little later when the lacquer has gone off and I can reassemble the bits, if I get time before the pub calls

Oh, and if you've ever wondered what it would look like if you snow-foamed your engine bay, wonder no longer..



I shouldn't be allowed near pressure washers. Or most tools to be fair... It did come up nice though



I wonder if it all still works...

[JohnnyB]

Finished product:



To be honest its not as good in real life, the photo is hiding a few nasties But overall I'm really pleased with the result - whilst not perfect it is certainly a significant improvement

I'll have to do the carbon lip next, its even worse than the bonnet was

[mercutio]

i am sure it will buff up quite well