What have you done to your car today?

[nobuffalo]

Serviced the driver's side door handle, latch, and lock cylinder and it now feels like new, especially the lock. Passenger side tomorrow as well as fixing the wiring for my trailer hookup. I also tightened down the soft top bolts which seemed to alleviate a lot of the rattles I've been complaining about. I forgot I had only got them started a few threads by hand, whoops!

 

[nobuffalo]

^Did the same for the passenger side and it feels just as good. Also installed some more interior bits in the silver one. Also adjusted the clutch free play, there was about an inch and a half of free play which I think was a result of replacing the slave and master cylinder, one or the other.

Been having some grinding coming from the brakes on the red one and it appeared the front pads were pretty low so I purchased a new set. Once I pulled the wheel off I discovered the pads still had plenty of life and out of curiosity I pushed the piston in a bit and low and behold fluid started dripping out. A call to the auto parts store and I can get remanufactured calipers for around 30 bucks each but after thinking about it a bit I think I'll just try to rebuild them. At $5 bucks a kit I can do all four, flush the fluid and still have money to spare.

 

[DKX]

Started to strip down the 92 so I can finally scrap that shell.

As it sits the entire front end is off, the headunit is out, door panel is out, sunvisors are off, gauge cluster is out..

All thats left basically is the spoiler, taillights (spares), seats, 3 door panels, carpet, (may just try to find some nicer stuff), headliner, dashboard, wheels, engine/trans/crossmember.

 

[Jet Badger]

Attempted to repair the bonnet rust using fiberglass and an array of spray cans. It turned out I have two left hands How is it even possible to screw things up like that

 

[Dragonthing]

Had a blow out, and my spare tyre was one of the victims of a fairly large burnout...

Luckily a friend picked up the spare wheel and got it swapped for a £20 part worn.

Also, there's a hole in the bumper now, just behind the arch

 

[Minty]

20% tint all around, nothing on the windshield:

And a comparison shot from April:

 

[kikie]

Trying to repair my rear bumper.

 

[XS]

Heater core ...


Does anybody know what this is? It was zip tied to the HVAC housing and spliced into the OBD port. I can't see any meaningful markings on it, and it was definitely a hack job. They didn't even use cloth tape, just electrical tape.

 

[Takumi Fujiwara]

Washed my dad's S2000 and was going to wax it but discovered that apparently they've never waxed it in like six years of ownership and the paint is full of contaminants. I'm gonna take it in for a real detail in the next few days. It's dawned on me in the last few days that the car's going to end up in my hands sooner or later considering my dad's almost 70 and it's getting to be too much trouble for him to drive much, and I'd rather not have to do a restoration when it becomes mine.

I'm gonna try and get my E30 in for some work tomorrow (fuel pump and some other issues), and my Mazda2 is currently out of commission after I screwed up and let the reservoir go dry while doing a brake bleed, so I need to have a pro fix my mistake. Hopefully I'll have two running cars by the end of the week. I also just upgraded my AAA plan to give me 100mi of free towing instead of the basic 7mi, which makes me feel a whole lot better about taking the E30 to the canyons or track since if it breaks down I don't have to pay $300 to get it home.

 

[Punknoodle]

Just took the car cover off it and plugged my laptop in to clear the ECUs datalog memory. I have a track day on Thursday so I want to make sure it's clear for that. Tomorrow I'll wash it, check tire pressures, fluid levels and pack all the tools and spare fluids etc I may need for Thursday.

 

[kikie]

Finished repairing my bumper today. Still need to spray paint it though.

Before




After

My very first time I tried something like this. I'm pretty pleased with the result.
​

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Looks good. I have 2 questions.
1. How did you repair the crack?
2. Are you going to basecoat / clear coat the bumper to match your car? Or acrylic enamel?

 

[kikie]

1) with THIS
Making the cracks bigger by cutting in de plastic bumper besides the cracks making a V-shape incision. Then melting the cracks with a soldering iron, melt the plastic rods inside the cracks and hope for the best. Afterwards I put some plastic filler over the plastic melted inside the cracks. The first time I used THIS but from a different brand but I din't work as it should have.

This is a photo after the cracks were repaired on the inside of the bumper. The black stuff is the plastic rods melted inside the cracks.




Put some plastic filler over the repaired plastic with the plastic rods.



The outside was and entirely other matter. I couldn't seem to get the cracks filled with plastic flex filler, so I started all over again (outside of the bumper) and this is what I did.

First attempt​

Cracks were repaired on the inside of the bumper but not on the outside of the bumper, not yet.




Very first attempt with filler.






It doesn't show on the photo but you could clearly see the cracks coming through the primer/filler. So I had to start all over again and try something else.

Other thing I tried​

I was guessing and didn't know what I was doing but I tried and it worked out just fine.

Sorry for the Dutch tekst but I did it to explain what was going on.
Also on the front side, I cut V-shape incission (sort off ) along the cracks.



Melted the plastic of the bumper and the plastic rods with a soldering bolt.




Sanded the plastic as good as possible which isn't easy.



Had to cut a piece of the bumper because it was always sticking out.




Also repaired a crack from 4 years ago which was very poorly repaired by a professional car body workshop.










I had to repair cracks he didn't repair 4 years ago.





Final result







2) I already put, locally, a primer/filler from Finixa on the bumper. I'm going to basecoat (with the correct colour) and clear coat it. I still haven't figured out how though. I don't have a descent spray gun and compressor. And, I have never used a spray gun to paint a part of a car.

I have googled to look up acryic enamel. I never heard of it. I don't know what kind of paint I should use. Although I'm against it, people say I should use solvent base paint instead of water based paint.From what I have just read on google, acrylic enamel is outdated and doesn't give the same result as basecoat/ clear coat.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

^ Turned out great. Fiberglass can be quite easy to work with and very strong. Working with plastic is nowhere near as easy as working with metal IMO. Cant wait to see the final results. Hopefully the color they give you matches. Make sure you have the proper number codes from your car before you go in. Some of the codes are by the master cylinder, some are on the door, some are on the door jam. Depends on the car. But make sure you get the proper number or the paint might not match.

Basecoat clear coat is a dull base coat with the color. Then you spray clear coat over the base coat.
Acrylic enamel is the easiest to apply and is VERY similar to what you spray out of cans or get in containers. This is the cheapest process. And as you said, it isn't as good as basecoat clear coat. But it can still turn out really really good. I have painted many cars with both and visually once its wet sanded and buffed, most people cant tell the difference.

 

[kikie]

Ford is special. No colour code.

I get my materials and paint at a wholesaler where car body workshop buy their stuff. Colour of my car has to be matched by name of the colour.

Can you spray acrylic enamel with a spray gun? Do I need something to bake of dry the paint?

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

Ford is special. No colour code.

I get my materials and paint at a wholesaler where car body workshop buy their stuff. Colour of my car has to be matched by name of the colour.

Can you spray acrylic enamel with a spray gun? Do I need something to bake of dry the paint?

Didn't know that Ford doesn't have paint codes.

Yes you can spray acrylic enamel with a spray gun. I usually set it to about 30-45 psi depending on the gun. It sprays just like any other enamel. Exactly like you spray with any can of paint since its basically the same paint. Once you spray a few coats, that's it. No clear to apply or anything. What you see is what you get. I recommend at least 2-3 light coats. Then after a few days wet sanding with 2,000 grit then buff out. It will look like glass when you are finished.

 

[kikie]

Going to look into this acrylic enamel. It has to match the colour of the car though.

 

[Thatman]

I took out my sub box so that Im lighter for Auto X.

 

[Slash]

Ford is special. No colour code.

I get my materials and paint at a wholesaler where car body workshop buy their stuff. Colour of my car has to be matched by name of the colour.

Can you spray acrylic enamel with a spray gun? Do I need something to bake of dry the paint?

Wrong. My truck has an exterior code of 133 which is the paint code for light canyon red clear coat.

 

[ildd]

I was taking my backpack out of my rear seat and apparently there was a very....very sharp edge on it. I'm not sure how. Or where. Still haven't found it.
But I have a foot long cut on the back seat of my 2002 c240...I mean, on the good side of things you can only put a couple 4 year olds back there, but on the downside...theres a giant cut on this fake-leather thing.

 

[kikie]

Wrong. My truck has an exterior code of 133 which is the paint code for light canyon red clear coat.

Wrong.

I should have said that my car doens't have a colour code. Every single time a profissional body shop had to repaint my car, the never found a colour code and had to go on the name of the colour. I searched for it myself and couldn't find it.
I checked it, again, a few minutes ago and there is no colour code.

 

[Slash]

Wrong.

I should have said that my car doens't have a colour code. Every single time a profissional body shop had to repaint my car, the never found a colour code and had to go on the name of the colour. I searched for it myself and couldn't find it.
I checked it, again, a few minutes ago and there is no colour code.

Could be your car then. My focus has one, my escape has one, my bronco II had one and my truck has one. At the bottom left corner of the door jam sticker should be a paint code called "ext", "ext pnt", or "exterior". It is equipped on all model vehicles right from the factory, so there is no reason why it shouldn't be there unless it was removed by someone.

Just for proof...check out the very bottom left hand corner. "Exterior: 133"

 

[kikie]

I believe you but you don't seem to believe me, entirely.

There is no colour code on the identification thing. Other Fords (younger and/or other models) have identification codes but not mine. Maybe it's because it's a typical Silver for the Mondeo ST220 only?

 

[SRV2LOW4ME]

Seems odd that it wouldn't have a color code, although I've seen funnier things from Ford. Is the paint available on any other vehicles from Fords line up in those model years? Might be worth while to check to see if they show a color code for your color.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I also found it odd when kikie said Fords didnt have a paint color. I completely forgot I painted my wifes dads Ford truck about 3-4 years ago with the original color. Had to replace a bunch of rust and metal then blend in the paint. It had a paint code. Forgot all about that. Yes all vehicles have paint codes. Maybe kikie's is just missing on that car.

Yes kikie they can match acrylic enamel or basecoat clear coat to that car. Well most paint shops can. Not sure about yours.

 

[Slash]

I also found it odd when he said Fords didnt have a paint color. I completely forgot I painted my wifes dads Ford truck about 3 years ago with the original color. It had a paint code. Its the ONLY vehicle I ever painted the ORIGINAL color. Forgot all about that. Yes all vehicles have paint codes. Maybe his is just missing on that car.

That's why I said possibly it got torn off. The vin number itself might tell him if he punches it in on Fords website. They have an official decoder there that will give you options and everything.

 

[kikie]

Well it seems that I was misinformed by the so called professionals. It seems that you can't seem to trust the "knowledge" of professionals. The sales man of the whole sale told me that there was no colour code for Ford. It's probably better to find another store to get my paint.

Halfords Ford 'Stardust Silver' car spray paint

The Halfords Ford 'Stardust Silver' car spray paint is an exact match for the Ford codes: 6 & 2724C.
It provides a tough, durable protective finish on metal, glass fibre or rigid plastic panels and the advanced acrylic based formulation, which is compatible with virtually all types of automotive paint finishes, including cellulose.
Preparation is always the key to a successful project, take your time to clean, treat any rust, rub down and mask the area. You will need to purchase a grey primer and apply at least two coats of the primer to ensure optimum adhesion and to give the best finish.
When you are ready to apply the paint, build up the colour with several thin coats, rubbing down with wet and dry sandpaper in between coats to ensure a professional finish. For metallic and pearlescent colours it is essential to purchase a lacquer, which will give a high gloss finish to solid colours.
Features & Benefits of Ford car spray paint

• Quality can nozzle provides an even spray pattern & superior finish
• Touch dry in approx 10 minutes
• Ford manufacturers codes: 6 & 2724C
• Provides a tough, durable protective finish on metal, glass fibre or rigid plastic panels
• Advanced acrylic based formulation
• Compatible with virtually all types of automotive paint finishes, including cellulose
• Compatible with the Ford Galaxy, Granada, Mondeo, S-Max & Transit from 1993 to 2004

Click

Ford code is 2724 en Mondeo code is 6: see page 5

Thank you for making me search for a colour code for my car and for bursting my bubble, kind of.
This will make it easier to find the correct paint for my bumper.

​

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

^ Its no problem. At least you were open minded about it and now you know. 👍
And yes sounds like you should find another paint shop for sure.

 

[kikie]

So, am I forgiven?

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

None of us had anything against you. Just a simple error. But yes I guess that thumbs up could indicated you are forgiven, if you thought you weren't.