Update time!

Here's some of the last couple of days progress.

I got down to work by getting the car jacked up and popped a few axle stands underneath before cracking on.

Couple of pics showing the state of the underside...





Flaking paint, cack, rust, general 10-year-old saxo crap.
You know how it is.

Whipped out a bottle of CG heavy-duty citrus degreaser made up to a strong dilution to shift the worst muck,
and gave the underside a hose down and left to soak in for a bit...









Whipped down the whole underside and then gave everything another hit with more degreaser combined with a scouring pad, cloths, rags and then some wire wool to smooth back most of the rust.

Sanding back 10 years of muck and crap is grim and takes ages to do properly.
I decided to take the time and do it right first time so the underside keeps a good finish and the rust wont return.
Hopefully or at least anywhere near as bad!

From this....



This was the worst spot on the whole underside.
Wasn't happy tbh lol.

To this....





Most of the paint is smooth as a babies...
Absolute mission to get the underside back to metal in some parts and half-decent for some hammerite action but we got there!

I've already got some black paint but decided to stick to smooth silver as it looks better tbh...



How the car is looking after one coat of paint.



Need to add another couple of coats at least until the underside is up to a standard im happy with :p

Some other parts and the engine bay could also do with being touched up with the gloss black paint so i'll be busy after i finish adding extra heat-wrap to the manifold and zorst system.

Thanks to Mike (Mj1) for sorting out the fooked driveshaft by offering two complete new struts from his mint VTS along with everything and uprated suspension so the car will be ready for Rockingham next week :D

Gonna be a busy weekend getting as much stuff sorted as possible so all i have to do is give the car a good detail later on in the week with new Menzerna products and pads and try out some Collinite Double layer wax.

Detailing thread will be up later on next week with the results ;)

Red

my car comes home wednesday mate, if you not happy id seperate it and do it again you dont wanna be redo it again down the line tbh, best to get it perfect first time :y:

also the underside looks sweet wanna do that to mine to make sure it looks sexual.

Doesn't look sweet atm....but thanks mate.

More progress up this weekend then i'll be happy with the finish :)

I know a few people will say this is a bit mechaphilish, a bit far like.
But if its gonna keep the car mint for another 5/10 years at least then its a fair cop tbh.

Your sexual euro porsche-stylee beast will be home next week and ready for FCS!? Woop! Good to hear finally man :hug:

If you wanna pay for petrol i'd happily pop over the night before FCS and sort out yours for ya.

underside looks much better mate, will have to pop over soon still havent seen it properly since the new buckets and exhaust.

tbh mate this is correct " if its gonna keep the car mint for another 5/10 years at least then its a fair cop tbh." id rather save 10 years on the car than know the boot floor will rust through 2moz.

yea its finally coming home and not at a better time tbh dude :), i get the car back wednesday and im off wednesday thursday friday, i know you just wanna come down for a sneak peak tbh before fcs dont ya :P

Bit more since then dude ;)

Yeah been long time no see since i last went out with you and Mike in Burgess mate.

Lemme know if you're around next week and i might be able to come down before FCS.
Are you coming btw as i havnt seen your name on the FCS thread list?

i wont know what i am working till sunday so ill give you a buzz monday or something, dont think i can make fcs unless some kind of miricle happens with the rota lol

looks similar to someone elses ;)

You guessed it lol.
Aint far to nuneaton from here i guess :p

Really cant wait to see yours at FCS after everything mate :y:

Shame to hear that dude!

Off some of next week when i'll be detailing and a few mates are popping over for a BBQ and a few beers so il drop you a text bud :)

Hows the S express?
Arial all sorted lol :D

Haha!
Silver looks so much better than black i thought...
Your car has given a few people inspiration i think mate ;)

I've still got a few more coats of paint to go on the rear tommorow before i crack on with painting a few bits gloss black and sorting the engine bay.

If i get time this week after the front suspension struts are replaced with a new setup, i might do the whole front underside in smooth silver aswell :ponder:

good job with the de greasing im impressed

First Sam now you. I really feel left out.

Know you wanna join the club Rushy babes :homme: :p

If you dont mind getting covered in cack when your at it underneath the car then its well worth it.

Few more pics up tonight of a few things i've been working on over the last couple of days like finishing heat-wrapping the whole system, underside and a couple of other points.

New suspension setup will be sorted thurs and then the bay gets looked at when i detail the car for FCS Fri/Sat. Cutting it fine but all good lol :)

Will be done eventually. Ideally though Id like to all the bodywork sorted in one big go
but wont hurt to clean it up for now.
Really admire the work put into yours though.

Cheers Lavo :A:

Getting the underside clean, with most of the rust and shitty paint spots sanded back so they're smooth for the first bit of paint to go on is a huge pain in the gooch!

Just had a quick looky at yours and it looks good big boy!
Lots going on to get the GTiiiiiii ready for this weekend :y:

Love the detailing work done on yours awswell matey, looks the danglies with all those swirls gone on the 'soft, delicate paint' :p

Righty hoes!

Plan of action for the next couple of days before FCS...

* Finish cleaning up and painting the front underside
* Clean up and paint some of the bay
* Fit new plates
* Fit new front suspension setup
* Double-check the car over to make sure everything is tip-top
* Give the car a huge whoring session Fri/Sat

Sit back and admire all the hard work with a huge BBQ and a few cold beers lol :cool:

Got a few pics to upload tonight.

Red

Car's really coming together now :y:

Its looking great. I'm impressed with the amount of work thats gone into it all... should look minted when your done.

I'm interested in this sealing the underside of the car.
What did you do with the rust patches, did you sand them back then apply an anti rust coating before sealing it with hammerite?

Looks smokin' ;)

Looks like you've done a good job of masking the rust but the dreaded metal cancer will just eat your car from the inside out. You really need to get that bad patch cut out and welded

Tar buddy!

Almost there now.
With the underside i degreased, scrubbed and cleaned everything down until it was spotless. I had to attack the worst spots of rust with wire wool and wet + dry in places to smooth them back to a decent finish before paint went on and that took ages but really makes a difference.

Some patches saw a bit of Kurust i had lying around but the paint i used also had rust coating mixed in and is made to paint straight on to most surfaces so i didnt really need to.

The rust was bad in a couple of places dude so they were smoothed back like i said above (didnt get pics of the after) and that cleaned it up a treat!

One step ahead Craigy lol...
I've got plans to seam-weld and add in some reinforcing plates in places later on when i sort the suspension so most of the car will be welded and most proabably re-sprayed/painted underneath again ;)

Meshed the foggies last night and started on the rest of the front underside.

Found out the fanifold needs a bit of welding as the Supersprint's have a reputation for blowing harder than desperate crack whores sometimes because of the way the 2-piece system is put together :homme: so i've just booked the car in for a few touch-ups at the garage tommorow!

Exhaust is fully heat-wrapped from the manifold to backbox now which looks mint but i hardly drive the car that much atm so still need to go out for a test-drive :A:

Hopefully have time to get a few proper updates with pics up later.

good job mate

and you look to have done it to a high standard too

i did something similar on my old fiesta

its really worth it for the piece of mind

Thanks Rich.

Yeah i thought so too mate as saxo's are made like tin can's and all :p
plus it looks much better and will keep the rust away for a bit at least lol.

Garage is in for a treat when i bring the car in tommorow :afro: