Big-ish update incoming.
.
it's been an emotional few days to be honest, after deciding to farm out the painting of my toms kit to a local bodyshop that came highly recommended
(had to go back to work so time was against me) I was nervous all last week.
.
other peoples work is very rarely up to my standards and I was scared that despite stressing that quality was a much higher priority than cost that the job would leave me deflated.
.
over the last couple of days I've had quite a bit of dummy-spitting and much contemplating selling the car!!
To be honest, the actual paint finish is quite good, it's a gun finish so not perfectly flat as if it had been wet sanded but still, not bad, and in keeping with the rest of the car.
To be honest I'm a little disappointed with the fit of the kit, especially for a genuine one, it's on now and lines up nicely but getting it there was far from straight forward.
.
as I collected it from the bodyshop
here's the front bumper rested in place
the original trim piece from the passenger side of the car was damaged so I got a replacement and painted it up myself
and removed the back bumper.
.
perfectly straight and zero rust as usual.
.
the back bumper was the worst to fit, I think the bodyshop must have baked it on gas mark ten
it's on now though, we'll get to that later
and the old skirts off.
.
this is the drivers sill
(obviously), a little dirty but rock solid, not a spot of the brown stuff.
.
while I had the interior trim panels out I grabbed the sponge pads from inside the sills which both looked like this:
and the inside of the sill looked like this
- dusty but perfect, you may be jealous if you need to!
while I was at it I decided to fit the bucket seat I've had kicking about the house for ages, it's mounted on a fixed Rouge side mount
(yes I know it needs to have a slider for the MOT) which gets it nice and low.
I'm hoping I can find an MOT station with a liberal interpretation on
"adjustable" because it was super fiddly to get the seat in
the lap straps are mounted using these Takata snap on adaptors fixed to the original belt buckle and lap belt mounting points
and the shoulder belts secured with eye bolts and spreader plates through the rear bulkhead, with nice neat holes in the bulkhead carpet
I cant find a pic of the front but it's an eye bolt through a slit in the carpet.
.
.
I'm sure you can use your imagination!
the seat totally changes the driving experience for the better, obviously so much more supportive than the standard armchairs you don't need to brace yourself under hard cornering as the seat and harness hold you still.
.
.
maybe not a good choice in a daily driver though.
I also knocked up a new badge for the wheel.
.
one was missing when I bought them so I bought a sheet of 0.9mm brass, cut it to size and polished it up
anyway, here's a few of it
"finished"
I'd by lying if I said I was perfectly happy with it, but I never am with anything.
I'm a total pessimist and always look for faults.
cars really shaping up to be a good one.
