M@dds BB1/BB4 Lude

[M@dds]

Hi all,

I have, as some of you know bought UbernoobZA’s lude, which was once owned by Gayno for a long time and before that it was owned by Confused,
So this lude has had a lot of work done and care given to it.

I bought this in the hope to enjoy and look after, but it looks like I have another project on my hands.

She is needing the rear aches doing on both sides and the sills will need to be done too.
She needs matching paint work on the rear arches and in the boot, where the catch sits, a new piece of steel to be cut to shape and welded in place.

She also has a crack in the alternator housing and is loosing coolant from somewhere. I Believe the loss of water to be due to a leak from one of the radiator hoses as after topping up with coolant and treatment I noticed sticky coloured residue on one of the radiator coolant pipes.

I seen a Aston Martin authorised body work repair centre (as it just down the road and the have good press)

They have pointed out my fears, the sills and the arches are not the best of jobs as rust is setting in behind the paint work where spot welds where used to join the arch metal to one another but wasn’t seem welded over and most metal work it would seem was patched over with plate.

I love this car already and I’m going to try and not let this car rot into oblivion!

I have another project car a Nissan Skyline that I have stripped and welded the strut tops myself and was going to start tearing down the engine for a forged setup, but now I’m probably not going to do that and instead put the money into the lude and leave the forging of the Nissan, possibly never to bother doing it ever now.

Then engine in the lude is strong and plus well and I’ve looked into the bored and they and the pistons look clean and scratch less.

I will chuck some photos up soon as my Photobucket account seems to be pants now and need to find another solution.

[vanzep]

good work - try image bb for hosting your photos - once uploaded click on full bb codes and copy and paste them

[ATR84]

Shame about the rust and bodywork but not that surprising I guess. It is really important that when these repairs happen, they are done properly, the amount of times I have seen Preludes with mis matching rear quarters and rust coming back that was supposedly repaired just months before. For this sort of work, you usually get what you pay for, but any decent painter should be able to blend in the door to the rear quarter

Glad to hear you plan on restoring it though

[M@dds]

good work - try image bb for hosting your photos - once uploaded click on full bb codes and copy and paste them

Cheers Vanzep, I’ll have a look at that not had too much time free atm, but appreciate that thanks.

Shame about the rust and bodywork but not that surprising I guess. It is really important that when these repairs happen, they are done properly, the amount of times I have seen Preludes with mis matching rear quarters and rust coming back that was supposedly repaired just months before. For this sort of work, you usually get what you pay for, but any decent painter should be able to blend in the door to the rear quarter

Glad to hear you plan on restoring it though

Thanks ATR84,

Yeah, it really is, I’d tackle it myself but I’m not too confident with body work, It’s a different ball game to welding strut tops, the metall is a lot thicker on struts, and I’m worried it could warp but who knows I might give it ago and do as best a job I possibly can but I’d really prefer not too.

Definitely worth having it done properly it’s just £3500 to 4K isn’t exactly easy to come by atm lol.

[ATR84]

It shouldn't cost £4000 unless the car is having a full respray at the same time, even then you might be able to get some better quotes. I would get the arches done properly and have them blended into the existing paint, I reckon that should be no more than £1000 from someone who knows what they are doing

[Gayno]

They have pointed out my fears, the sills and the arches are not the best of jobs as rust is setting in behind the paint work where spot welds where used to join the arch metal to one another but wasn’t seem welded over and most metal work it would seem was patched over with plate.

I paid £1800 IIRC for the original arch and sill repair in 2011, then in 2015 found the sills had gone again and had a trusted friend repair them. He pointed out at the time that the previous repair was just metal tacked over the original still rusty metal and then covered in sealant

I was shocked again when Ubernoob had to have the sills done again earlier this year, seems that this chassis really does need a complete strip to bring it back.

The none matching paint was another "feature" from the bodyshop which did the original £1800 repair, something which irritated me a lot but was told it was the closest match he could get.

[uberNoobZA]

The none matching paint was another "feature" from the bodyshop which did the original £1800 repair, something which irritated me a lot but was told it was the closest match he could get.

I tried telling people the 4 shades of Arctic White on her was due to a chameleon effect, but no-one believed me. Dunno why.....

I'm gutted to hear the state she's in, as I never noticed any of this the few times I had her on the lift and had a look underneath. Guess a deeper check was required. Glad that M@dds is going to keep her going

[Gayno]

Arctic White

Frost White

[Confused]

Arctic White

Frost White

NH-538P

(And, for some strange reason, I knew that off the top of my head...)

[Confused]

I seem to remember the bodyshop I used said they gave it a clearcoat too, to add some extra shine - this may be why others have struggled to colour match it!