The Price Of Perfection

[colm_mcm]

This story sounds strangely familiar, but the fto was red last time.

Hope it works out

[goz_83]

Another annoying twist. Today I got the tracking number from camskill, so the disc shields and new pads will be delivered shortly. I will likely be collecting the car and will then arrive home to my parcel.

I want to get one of those 2-way viper alarms installed at mds ireland in D20. Does anyone know if the thing includes a boot opener? My boot has been de-locked, so this function might come in handy if they have it.

[Myfeckin FTO]

....... I told him that the car was needed on Thursday the latest for a wedding on Friday. I was told not to worry that it will be ready on Wednesday for collection on Thursday. I will take him at his word and hope it comes true. .........

If the FTO is still in the same state as pictured previously I can't see them having it ready for Thursday unless they really take the finger out. I presume this bodyshop has an oven?

[goz_83]

....... I told him that the car was needed on Thursday the latest for a wedding on Friday. I was told not to worry that it will be ready on Wednesday for collection on Thursday. I will take him at his word and hope it comes true. .........

If the FTO is still in the same state as pictured previously I can't see them having it ready for Thursday unless they really take the finger out. I presume this bodyshop has an oven?

No it's not in the same condition. The main shell has been done. I think the bonnet and boot are also done. I only saw the unpainted, but ready to paint doors. I am not sure if they have an oven. A spray booth yes, but I paid very little attention what equipment they had. I would presume they don't have an oven, which is why the turn around is much slower when they are busy, having to leave the work in the garage for much longer, rather than turning up the heat and getting the paint to harden quickly. They had at least four other cars in there with spray work needing done when I popped in. Two were full resprays.

[goz_83]

Big surprise. My dust shields arrived at 4pm today with my green stuff pads from Camskill. I jumped into the car and drove straight up to the body shop, trying to phone and text to check closing time. I got there in at 4:30 and the number 2 was in the middle of putting on the leather trims. The wheels were done too and the calipers are being done aswell. George (the owner) was in the spray booth, so i just left him to it. I presume he was spraying my doors, because they were nowhere to be seen. I'm chuffed that the parts arrived earlier than expected, because I would hate to have brought the car back in to have the parts fitted after collecting it. The plenum still needs to be done and the tints too. Again, I was assured it would be ready, so I was gone quickly.

15 minutes after I left, George texts me to say he is staying late at the shop and to drop the parts up

[Chris_Heilong]

so things are looking up are you also getting the calipers painted then?

[goz_83]

so things are looking up are you also getting the calipers painted then?

Indeed I am.

[gt94]

im looking forward to see the end result

[goz_83]

OK. So the car is ready. Well...it was ready enough to collect. I was ready to raise my voice until I saw the smooth, shiny body in the background. They were in the process of rinsing it off when I walked in just after 7pm. I could have taken it there and then, but it needs a few more hours. The plenum still needs painting and they want to give it another polish/wax/polish job. They will also be tinting the rear lights in black for me, because the fly-eyes has been coming away from it, so I am happy with that. The seats look goooood! They are not skin tight, but I am am quite happy with them and there won't be any ripping from them being bulled to tight, like the last time. I have a photo here, but I think I will wait until I collect it on Saturday.

I didn't need it for the wedding in the end, because someone else is picking up the best man.

[goz_83]

Today I collected the car. It's not yet 100% done, but I just had to take it and will bring back monday. There is an unexplained off colour mark on the hood. It's the size of a rain drop but is noticeable, so the boot needs spraying agan. The hood also needs redoing, because there are pin sized indents in the clear coat i'm really not happy about, so this too is getting redone. This aside, the car looks great! Take a look.




And Bare Ass



I couldn't get any decent interior pics as it started to lash rain again, but the real leathers are great. I will be taking the fly-eyes off the lights too, because they have gone tatty after all the work. I am getting the guys to polish them up when I return on Monday.

[Chris_Heilong]

looks well, are the alloys done? they look really smooth in the pictures. I know its the same colour but it almost looks darker than before. The boot looks good without the spoiler.

[goz_83]

Yes the wheels are done a little darker. The plenum is painted too, but tbh, it's not worth the effort of taking a photo. It's silver. Maybe i'm just tired and a bit disappointed that not everything is done yet. Overall, i'm happy. If I didn't have the use of the zafira, it would be a different story. The paint is really cool. It has a two toned effect and can look purple depending n the direction the sunlight hits it. It's subtle and I like it alot.

[technikhaus]

Looks awesome!

[Wagalini]

Great thread Goz. She looks amazing! A credit to you.

[goz_83]

Today I dropped up to GVD Autos to have the freshly painted bootlid installed. I have a new mitsubishi chrome style badge and the replacement GPX decals on her now. The other lid needs a bit of a polish on the vertical slope, but I didn't want to leave the whole car in again, so George was good enough to do a whole new lid for me, debadged and painted FOC. The other lid will be polished and the OE spoiler will be installed on it (unless someone has a HKS spoiler they want rid of). I'm pleased with the results now. There's very little else I want done. I have a blue slam panel ordered from ftooc and my new gps tracker should be arriving soon too. A couple of engine bay cosmetic touches and in my eyes, she will be the finest example on Irish roads.

Also I saw Gerry's gpx up there. Should have taken a snap. Should have nicked the alloys too

[Gerry]

Good stuff, your fto looks cool.
Ya must be coming close to the end of that to do list now!!

Cant wait to get mine back, getting full respray (same colour) and also getting alloys refurbed.
My MR2 is my daily driver now, knew it would come in handy someday!

[goz_83]

Yeah we were actually saying they (alloys) could do with some tlc. Good to hear.

The only thing left on my "to do" list for sure is an engine bay tidy up. Customs are holding my new gprs tracker, so i expect to get that before the week is out. I will get a remote start alarm when I have some spare cash and aside from that, there is nothing else. I would like vertical doors, but i'm not really that pushed and would want a good kit, so that's not really on my list.

I just finished building their website. I have a bit more work to do, but here it is http://www.gvdautos.ie

don't be surprised if you see a snap of yours on there at some stage

[Chris_Heilong]

Thats great Goz, I may use them to refurb my wheels.

[goz_83]

Well, i'm waiting 2 weeks for my slam panel from ftooc, so i've written to ask why my order is still "processing". This happened when I ordered my HID lights last year from them. I put on the new alloy caps and badges yesterday and gave the car a quick rinse. I put that black restorer stuff on the plastic trim at the bottom of the windscreen and it looks much better than the worn grey look. Some updated pics taken today. It was a bit over cast, but you can't have it every way.







You gotta love the wheel badges




The seats are really settling in now.


My blue mats and dvd player

[Chris_Heilong]

Car looks great Gary, especially the real Leather. Roll on the October meet.

[friar241]

Car looks absolutely gorgeous buddy and those seats are spot on

Luke

[goz_83]

Cheers lads. The one (small) thing that's been annoying are the side repeaters. They are original FTO repeaters tinted black. I don't know what it is but I thing they just look cheap. I am thinking of getting the mx5 clear repeaters and tinting those. What modification is needed for them to fit?

[jayod12b]

I heated a small piece of stainless sheet steel 15x20x1mm thick and pressed it into the inside plastic bit of the mx5 repeater,then bend it back so when you push it into the hole it locks in place never moved once in 6 years

[goz_83]

Drove to Nenagh, Tip, for a weekend away. Came out of the hotel after a long nights rest and as I walk to the car, I noticed one of the exhaust restraint bars was hanging low. On closer inspection I noticed the weld had snapped away from the back box. Disappointed, but it looked ok and was holding strong from the other side. I happened to pass by the local fast fit so I dropped in to see if they could sort it. 10 minutes and €10 later my exhaust was sorted. Very happy, but it doesn't remove the car park ding that happened over night at the driver door some people are just plain thick!

[goz_83]

Slam pane arrived after 7 weeks. Thats a very long time to wait, but the blue matches very well. Haven't put it on yet. I now have a cold air induction pipe ordered and will hopefulygt installed before the meet.