My little AX runabout - If carlsberg made 1.1i's

[Jessop]

Not much of a 'project' thread for this car, however just thought i'd make a thread during the 'cleandown' i'll be doing on this car. Will just be used as a daily,

Purchased it off ebay for £266, picked it up from hampshire, drove it back up to Redcar , around 298 miles on the way back, the needle has just got past half way on the gauge so pretty good on fuel, It may be a 40 litre tank mind compared to my old diesel which was a 30 litre (which used to get around 480 miles to a tank i may add).

Reason i've decided to get a forte is because my diesel blew a head gasket, needed new tyres, and MOT and tax, the shell is completely rotten and mainly filled with expanding foam It only cost me £200, and would cost more to get it through a test and back on the road than it would to just replace it.. Plus this forte was cheap enough.

the 3 Door AX's are far better on a run also, with the windows down on the 5 door AX's i found i got air in my face, where as on the 3 Doors the air was entering the car behind me so i didnt need to squint while driving due to air moving diractly into my eyes >_<
Electric windows, Remote central locking, a GT kit which is pretty cool..


Anyway, I will be polishing this on Sunday, plans are: Claybar, borrow a machine polisher and give it a good polish and use a good wax on it - product brand yet to be decided on!

The paintwork is very dull, however the actual bodywork has the be one of the BEST ax's i have ever seen. Even if it wasnt may car - i would be saying the same thing.

The arches are immaculate, all the GT kit is all original and looks as though its never been off.
The wishbones look brand new, bumper mounts are all absolutley pristine.

Took a few pictures earlier, sorry for the poor quality, just thought i'd share while im on here.. Ill take some better pictures on Sunday hopefully.



Front Bumper mount.. There is absolutley no rust, just dried up mud/road crap.



Wishbones look brand new after running a finger over them to clean crap off.




.. Back arches are the same, no rust at all - just road crap! All the kit mounts are mint too!




The bits that stick out at the end of the sills are pristine too!



.. Rear bumper mount..






I'll get them cleaned out and take some pictures just for reference.


Shame to use it as a runabout really as it really has to be one of the best base shells to start a VTS conversion with! Absolutley mint.


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Started cleaning the engine bay down today.

Is rather crying out for my spare 16v engine i have in the garage haha. Fuel econemy will provail this time though

Some pictures anyway, sorry for poor light. Will get some better ones tomorrow or by next weekend.

On axle stands so i can clean arches and get to the bulkhead easier as well as change driveshafts (one is knackered), possibly a wheel bearing too will have to see.









better shot of those bumper mounts i was talking about







Will probably paint one or two bits in the bay for the crack as they are a little too rough for my liking. Shouldnt take long.

New plugs, leads, oil, filter, coolant etc coming up too.

On the way home it was running a little too hot for my liking (but holding temp). The rad was unbelieveably caked up with crap inside. Took ages to flush it out with so it looked clean. Should be fine now, will check the thermostat make sure thats not sticking open, possibly renew it anyway as they are only cheap.

[Jessop]

The AX is out the front now with some Kurust in certain places.
That rust patch on the passenger side in the pictures from my previous post is actually now a gaping hole. The shell overall is so good i didnt want to start bodging and just painting over what is basically a rust hole so ive poked it through, probably about a 10p piece size hole. Ill have a go plating it up with the mig welder in a bit once the Kurust has set. Purchased some U-POL etch primer earlier, some white primer & paint also but will have to see what it looks like after ive put a lick of paint on the various places i wasnt happy with that were a little brown in the bay.

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Rust hole welded up, poor picture though. No the best weld in the world but its solid and it wont leak. Ive seen a lot worse and its all practise. Its my first 'hole' or 'patch' replacement with the mig welder Was pretty chuffed anyway.




Engine bay with Kurust on it. Wasnt happy with some bits of the brown stuff on the chassis legs. Was far from bad - but i'd rather make sure it doesnt get worse. once its done its done. Used 60 and 100 grit paper bare to bare metal then some 800 quickly. Im not building a concourse car here, just needs to be clean and rust free to preserve what is a very good shell.



U-POL etch primer.. good stuff from a can - ideal for painting onto bare metal as a good base.



Etch primer on repaired areas.







Hmmmm.. Morrettes ?





I did try a little to grind it down, but cant really get the grinder with flapper wheel in there tbh. Was touching areas that i didnt want to be grinding before the wheel was touching the weld. Managed to grind a groove/hole in one of the washer bottle tubes too - d'oh! Fortunatley it was for the rear which i'll never use anyway & will de-wiper when i have the time.

The metal repair patch is actually under the original metal anyway, so could skim over with filler to make it a little more presentable i guess. Will have to see.


Also Took the struts apart earlier for the crack..

Both of the dampers are completely shagged.

Will be replacing them before they go back on the car.

Also not 100% happy with one of the wheel bearings, theres a slightly movement which i can make with just my hand. May be replacing that but will see what its like when its on the car with hub nut on tight!


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lol Chubba, by next summer i'll be doing paint correction & detailing services - hopefully :mrgreen:

Small update anyway, pretty time consuming stuff this paint lark.

Moved it to my lockup.



Skimmed over with some filler [work in progress]



Seam sealed all round the underside of repaired areas to prevent any water getting back in and doing damage.





Masked up for paint..



After skilling filler down and so forth, wanted to get rid of any potential scratch marks so out came the high build primer filler.





One White primer coat applied, ran out of paint at this point as i picked up grey primer instead of white the other day.. d'oh!




More to come on this.






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Been a long day mind, but wasnt happy with the full finish so went over it again and did the top mounts too this time as could see the masking line from new/old paint.

Finished it anyway and its back together. Snapped a top mount thread in the process too (wasnt even tight!) so thats a job for tomorrow, shouldnt take long.

Anyway - here you go. Not 100% happy with it, but i'd have to take everything out of the bay and do it in 2K with a gun to be 100%. For now, this is a whole lot better than it was before, needs flatting down though with 3G or equivelent to get a shiny finish but need to leave it to set hard first, job for another day :roll:







both at home.. (although outside for the moment lol..)



Exterior needs a lot of work now. Probably machine polish type of work as it really is chalkboard flat.

Engine bay has a lot of dust from the white paint, and from sanding too so need to go over that at some point, then try out some 303 Aerospace Protectant on it, get it looking really mint & protected for the winter. I'll take some snaps when thats been detailed.

[Jessop]

UPDATE
Take one set of Compomotive MO's in need of a refurb..
Spend a few hours with some Gunk and a jetwash to degrease them..


Scratches are pretty deep here mind to the touch!!


Start work with some 60 grit to work out the deep scratches..


After the 60 comes the 100, 180, 240, 400 then finally the 800 until its real smooth..


Since were working up from bare alloy here, its always good practise to use a good etch primer! This U-POL stuff is ideal and helps prevent future corrosion.


Once that sets, work over 2 to 3 coats of Grey primer.. [or White/Yellow depending on your chosen basecoat colour]


.. Leave to set for a day before applying basecoat metallic [or chosen colour]




I would do white on white, but i was worried i wouldnt get a good paint match to the bodywork as it would look a bit 'off'. IMHO anyway.
Anyway..
Apply 2 coats of chosen Metallic paint to be greeted with a lovely finish prior to Lacquer.




What colour center caps do you folks think?



The options i have lol
I dont think im going to bother with the stickers again either, dont think theyll look right on the dark colour.



Now lacquered... Look pretty good. not 100% like a proper powder coated jobby would be but only a fraction of the price i guess. =]

Close up..

[Os8472]

Looking good dude

[Matt Cole]

Awesome squire! Jessop you have become a valuable member of our fine club!!

[Maxwell]

i know you from ssc and saxp jessop lol

hows it going??? nice project mate

[Jessop]

lol Maxwell - well aye. Im pretty much a member of all the sister clubs although i havent posted this thread up everywhere.

Wheels are now done though..

Cooking infront of the fireplace last night





perks of having the folks away for the weekend - can leave car parts all over the house haha.

[Junglist]

lol they do look cosy

[Jessop]

meh, ok Gav lol.

Some initial washing with tesco's finest daisy APC , CG orange degreaser, various brushes etc. ValetPro neutral pH snow foam via karcher jetwash & CYC lance. Dodo juice supernatural shampoo via 2 bucket wash method & sheepskin wash mitt. Zaino claybar with megs last touch as a lubricant.
Ive spent probably around 4 to 5 hours with the DA on the roof alone today as i need to try some Menz 100S polish as i dont think this 3.02 is abrasive enough tbh - not when im having to hit a 12"x12" area 4 to 5 times to get rid of RDS :shock:

Looks shiny when its done , but im not 100% with it so i'll do it again some time next summer.














Door shuts cleaned..





Underside of doors done..



Cleaned inside sunroof shut area.. Was incredibly messy and had all sorts of things growing in there!



Foam fun!





Dodo SN shampoo..








Zaino Claybar..



Funnily enough hardly anything came off it!!




.. The roof had a LOT of etching marks on it from crap that had sat for a long time on the paintwork!!






Menz 'power finish' 3.02 polish with Sonus SFX-1 pad..



about 5 hours work on the roof.. You can make out on the bottom left the area that hasnt yet been worked.







Just for the hell of it i did two sets on the top quarter of the door to see what condition the paintwork was in, its not as bad as the roof but does have quite a lot of RDS which'll need really working with some more intensive polish, either that my a better technique than mine haha :lol:
Massive learning curve but is rewarding when you get it right.

Im sure the saxo will be a lot easier considering its a more modern paint and probably not as hard, and doesnt have loads of reall deep scratches, just lots of swirl marks from previous washing methods which should come out easy and leave me with a gleaming finish :mrgreen: .. for now though this white AX is the practise toy :wink:


Ill update it when its done.

Ive still got a coat of PoorBoys White Diamond to apply with a black Sonus SFX-4 finishing pad which should leave a good finish in preparation for my victoria concourse wax. Ill take some beadage shots when done too :mrgreen: =P~

[Kris M]

gleaming !!

[c7borg]

Mmm I'm not familiar with this form of car washing.. mine normally gets a bucket of hot soapy water once a month and when the sun shines a drop of autoglym

That said mine looks nowhere near as shiny as your AX

[TrixNFlix]

Feck me you have alot of time on your hands, having said that you get out what you put in and I can help but admire your work.

[Jessop]

I wouldnt say i have a lot of time on my hands, lol but your right about getting out what you put into it.
I think i spent about 10 hours on brigsy's alternator on the van and it came out great, better than a 5 minute whirl with a wire wheel on a drill for example. I'd never get the paintwork on the car this flat this side of christmas if i was to do it by hand lol.

[Bigfoot]

I think i spent about 10 hours on brigsy's alternator on the van

its just an alternator, having a very clean one dont make it charge better

[Jessop]

Totally - but i wanted to have my best mate's engine bay looking as clean as it could be. Brigsy always nails the mechanicals so i offered to input into the shinyness under the bonnet

Horses for courses of course. But i like the look of a very clean car & engine bay regardless if its a citroen, renault or a ferrari. Something rather rewarding about people commenting on your hard work so what the hell lol

[Duncan Grier]

Great stuff feel free if you ever want to do my diesel of doom or vx220 as I have not washed either for some time :P

In fact never cleaned the engine bay EVER - if there is a clean bit formed I know where the problem is

[Jessop]

lol Duncan - maybe one day if im feeling generious

For the moment, this may make you want to get out and give it a good clean!

http://www.detailingworld.co.uk/foru...ighlight=vx220

[Duncan Grier]

mine has never been that clean lol - mine needs painting to get it back to that condition.

Turbo's go faster and that is the reason it is all chipped :P

Maybe one day it will get the treatment....................................maybe

[Jessop]

lol youd be suprised what can be done by somewho who knows what they are doing!

Ive seen what looked to be a scratch down to primer on a lambo come out as if it was never there! Cant say it would be cheap for a full paint correction though lol. Its usually over £500 for a wetsand detail on a small car lol

[Duncan Grier]

The front clam is past repair with a mop lol - getting reversed into in Dijon seen to that (cracks etc) and the glue left from removing the oe rear spoiler is also past repair but tbh the resrt of the body work is not that bad. Stone chips are the worse on ears / sills etc.

Insurance paid £5k to fix the front clam and based on the fact I know the cars inside out I can get it repaired / replace for a lot cheaper :P maybe then I would take car of her?

Seems you either accept the need for a blow over every couple of years or pay a load of cash for the film protection stuff that never looks as good imho

DG

[Jessop]

Aye the film protection stuff looks good - the stuff that comes coloured so you can change the colour of your car without effecting the oriignal paintwork is pretty cool but hella expensive from what ive seen - for a good job. More durable than paintwork and gives you piece of mind you can pull it off and restore the car to its factory paintwork

As a track car though it serves a purpose- i do like the look of balls out track cars with battle scars - Usually only on actual ex/race cars though

[Shane P]

Fantastic little car, great work

[Jessop]

Well unfortunatley ive not got around to borring a decent camera im afraid so no good 'action' pictures however i've some pictures off my phone after i went round witht he DA with the menz polish, Poorboys White Diamond glaze then applied some victoria concours wax which seems pretty good although it was a NIGHTMARE to buff off [and i mean - very hard work!] as i left it on too long before buffing off so it set like concrete however i got it off in the end lol.
No decent outdoor photo's yet im afraid as the wheel nuts seem to have threaded with the mo's [they came off the steelies and are correct tapered ones etc?] which is highly frustrating as it can just sit there at the mo until friday when i can raid scrappy for some more then investigate to make sure the threads in the hubs are ok. Maybe the bolts are too short or something who knows ?
Some pics..

Before wax is applied..




Wax applied. [my first attempt using a 'proper' wax so i think i applied it 1) too thick and 2) left it so set too long so was hard as hell to buff!]


Beadage shots as it rained after lol..




Ive got some dodo juice red mist to try out too so when its not raining i'll apply some of that as it should give it that extra 'depth' so pretty cool - When Brigsy pops round in ths 5 with the DSLR will probably take some snaps with his new lense

[wrightygtt]

Very well done

[Jessop]

Managed to source some new wheel bolts from a pug 306 which are slightly different as they dont have a big recess round them. They arent shiny like the ones on the car at the moment but hey - its not something that i want to go wrong! [-X

Lowered the rear beam too - piece of piss the bars just popped straight out after 2 hits. =D>

Here's some pics. Unfortunatley in the dark when we finished so i'll have to take some more in the light over next few days if weathers nice.








Fitted the new dampers too to match the adjustable fronts , Just need to fit a GT front ARB and its all good.

[Jessop]

Been using the car for work for the last week so cleaned it this weekend [just a shampoo - used some dodo juice red mist after as a top up spray detailer - smells soo nice lol]

Some pics as i left work earlier this evening & stopped by at tesco to pick up some supplies for t so took some pics. Weather is pretty miserable but car is a doddle to clean now its got good protection on it. The shine, for a white car is fantastic. Looking forward to see how the Saxo turns out once ive done that. =]

Pics...






















Too dark outside to get any decent pics of the engine bay but you get the idea. Is pretty clean under there for a little 1.1 lol. Im yet to polish & wax the underside of the bonnet mind but i'll do that as and when.

[Jessop]

*removed double post*

[Kenobi]

OMG what an awesome thread. Ive really enjoyed reading through that (I really must do some work at some point)

Can guests view threads as ive got a matre that would love this project thread?

[Jessop]

It should if you direct link the URL i believe.
If that fails its on SSC..

http://www.saxosportsclub.com/Forums...c/t=49511.html


Glad you enjoyed the read

Im looking forward to writing in some rather cool stuff on my turbo ax project eventually when ive some money for new bits.

[Jessop]

Just a few teasers of the car now..

Does need another full going over, which i plan on doing befroe National day.. Afraid i havent had chance to have the engine pay properly painted - bodyshop had a 3 week wait to fit me in and i was on a tight timescale!

Some pics,

See you at Mallory

[Alastair]

That looks awesome mate! I can't beleive how solid the shell is !

I love the wheels too, are they 4x100pcd .... Should be flying round Mallory Park with the new motor, sticky tyres and decent suspension !

Hopefully someone will have a decent camera and take some pics of you on track would be good to see!

[Rob@Backyardracing]

Lovin this car....

[benj88]

Great work jessop! And I thought I was a detailing pervert! Is this the one that's been in the unit for a while wen mine was in?

[Jessop]

No mate, this is my daily.. been plodding in the saxo.

The one in the lockup is the one I'm turboing.

You coming national day ?

[benj88]

Ideal mate, that'll be sneaky! Have you seen the video of the supercharged ax lashing evos on track, I'm not goin as of yet but we'l see mate

[xenon]

superb work to realize on your AX!!!

you would have them bonds of various produces that you have to use?!
to make a comparison with certain French product

[Trevhib]

I like both sets of wheels but the preference is the Compomotives for me. Assuming the steels are Citroen wheels?

Looks like a cracking engine conversion btw.

Do you know the weight difference between your AX in this guise and the OE Saxo VTS?

[Jessop]

About 100kg lighter, something like that anyway, its certainly quicker in real life when in a straight line.

The wheels are 14" 6J off a 106 Rallye, the Mo's are nice but pretty heavy..

tempted by a set of hispec ultralite 4pots which will save me about 3kg of unsprung weight per side which would be nice, on top of the weight saving steelies

[Jessop]

No doubt a few of you spotted me at mallory/national day this year.. or at trax & USC.

Still running fine, no issues and great fun to drive.

If i can make it, shall be doing the ring trip in 2 weeks with some of you too.




National day:










From Trax:









See you guys soon =]

[Jessop]

Thought I'd post up a quick update on this after returning back from LeMans on Monday..

Didn't take any tools or have breakdown cover.. again, no issues to report fortunately



Arrival at Circuit de la sarthe



..fitting in well




Took her for a blast over the moors too Yesterday afternoon .. Friend of mine managed to take a rather rally'esque water splash picture through a ford which I'll post up when I can.