Its been quite a productive few weeks since my last update.
I finished off painting around the windscreen on the offside, which had been repaired but not yet painted.
The headrests were very thin, so a while ago I purchased some new foams from a Rimmers sale. Quite a straightforward job to replace the foams and I was amazed at the lack of foam remaining...most of it was dust!
The interior is now back in too, just cleaned up and replaced. I fitted some additional sound proofing pads around the transmission tunnel - 'Silentcoat' pads were used as the base covering with some of their sound proofing matting over the top.
The interior is in good shape really, one of the saving graces of the car. The only downside was the front door cards, which had been cut quite poorly for speakers - of which don't exist! I've been looking for some decent replacements for the duration of this project. Luckily Steve 'Carledo' had a good nearside one at TDCIR last year, and a regular at our Oxfordshire club meet Chris came up trumps last week with a drivers side one, so these are now fitted.
Other jobs have included polishing up the faded paintwork with my D.A polisher and a mixture of compounds - mostly Meguires Ultimate Compound. I am delighted how the car has responded - the doors, boot and bonnet I haven't really touched repair wise, so I am pleased how they have responded. I did think a respray would be the order of the day initially, but it will be fine 'as is' for now, although the boot is covered with microblisters which is a shame.
I also recovered the 'D' post vinyl. Years ago I replaced one side on OPD - my 1500HL. I'm sure I managed to fit the replacement in one piece using a heatgun and Evostik. Whether this vinyl I used is more heavy duty I don't know, but I struggled to mould around the door shut and had to make a few slits in the vinyl to get it to fit - It looks ok though and i've managed to cover up the little gaps fairly well.
My father in law Richard Old visited us last week. He is always keen to help and so kindly repaired the nearside indicator wiring. This had been cut at somepoint and crudely repaired without proper connections - just wrapped round with electrical tape. Richard had the correct male and female connectors, so spent a good time preparing and reconnecting it all up - great job done.
So, I'm nearly there now. A few bits of trim to fit - guttering etc and headlamps to adjust. Richard also noted excessive play in the steering rack, so the rack bushes will be replaced with poly ones before I take the car for an MOT!