The "Today I did something to my car" thread

CianRyan

Your dedication amazes me.

eringobragh

CianRyan wrote: »

Your dedication amazes me.

haha :pac: Cheers though I could be single at the end of all this!

Seriously that took a couple of hours to do:eek:.. its painstaking stuff but I'm starting to see progress :cool:

Compton

I agree. Sickening not having a garage and the weather changing every 5 mins. Went out to wash the car the other day and its started absolutely pissin half way through - whats the point :L

MetzgerMeister

Compton wrote: »

I agree. Sickening not having a garage and the weather changing every 5 mins. Went out to wash the car the other day and its started absolutely pissin half way through - whats the point :L

Having it rain while washing it isn't a bad thing. At least you won't have to worry about the shampoo drying up. It's when you're trying to wax it or something like that, that you have to worry about the rain.

superstoner90

eringobragh wrote: »

haha :pac: Cheers though I could be single at the end of all this!

Seriously that took a couple of hours to do:eek:.. its painstaking stuff but I'm starting to see progress :cool:

how does it work though? It comes out like new. :cool:

Compton

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Having it rain while washing it isn't a bad thing. At least you won't have to worry about the shampoo drying up. It's when you're trying to wax it or something like that, that you have to worry about the rain.

I don't like getting rained on Was polishing it a while ago and it was really sunny and the polish kept getting absolutely baked on really quickly giving a crap enough result. That's why I'd love a garage

eringobragh

superstoner90 wrote: »

how does it work though? It comes out like new. :cool:

cutting compound with gloss Menzerna medium cut to bet..in laymans terms it cuts a small bit off the clear coat...

Compton

Are you sealing each section as you go along?

MetzgerMeister

Compton wrote: »

I don't like getting rained on Was polishing it a while ago and it was really sunny and the polish kept getting absolutely baked on really quickly giving a crap enough result. That's why I'd love a garage

Applying a polish or a wax should always be done in the shade on a cool surface

eringobragh

Compton wrote: »

Are you sealing each section as you go along?

nope...another days work just getting the correction work out of the way...its permanent...no fillers in the menzerna

Compton

Kind of worded that wrong. It wasn't sunny when I began

eringobragh

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Applying a polish or a wax should always be done in the shade on a cool surface

mine was caking on abit as well at times today - it wasnt cool bt wasnt boiling either..

MetzgerMeister

Compton wrote: »

Kind of worded that wrong. It wasn't sunny when I began

That's why it's also a good idea to do a panel at a time.

eringobragh wrote: »

mine was caking on abit as well at times today - it wasnt cool bt wasnt boiling either..

Did you apply too much maybe?

superstoner90

eringobragh wrote: »

cutting compound with gloss Menzerna medium cut to bet..in laymans terms it cuts a small bit off the clear coat...

Ah, cool. Keep up the good work. :cool:

eringobragh

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

That's why it's also a good idea to do a panel at a time.



Did you apply too much maybe?

probably :P

166man

I remember waxing the Alfa 166 one day, it began to rain, in my dedication(stupidity) to the job, out came an umbrella and went at it. It took so long but luckily it was back in the day when I had a leaving cert to do, and had to procrastinate..:pac:

Compton

you had a 166 for the leaving cert? 17/18? impressive!

166man

Compton wrote: »

you had a 166 for the leaving cert? 17/18? impressive!

Nope unfortunately not, it was the fathers but with some of the ninja editors around here, I didn't want to post ''I remember waxing the fathers....''

It just didn't look right...

This does look right however:



:pac:

dgt

Compton wrote: »

you had a 166 for the leaving cert? 17/18? impressive!

Some of us here are fortunate to have big cars at young ages... :cool:

eringobragh

Met E39MSport earlier today hes a lovely 8er...paint work is like new. Nice chatting to him and cheers for the snow foam :cool:

Followed by fitting a Full HD dash camera (Blackvue DR400G) today...

E39MSport

That MR2 is going to be a cracker when you're done.

The panels you've worked on look brilliant in sunlight.

Compton

dgt wrote: »

Some of us here are fortunate to have big cars at young ages... :cool:

The problem isn't getting the car - it's getting insurance.

dgt

I got all the bulbs that needed replacing replaced


Fitted a new aerial too



Replaced some broken fuses then this happened... :mad:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmZes4iClno

Sorted for now, out with the fuses I had just put in! :rolleyes:

Mycroft H

I washed the clio. Hoovered the inside and applied rainx to the windscreen.

Started it up and on comes the battery light again. Applied the multimeter and the alternator is dead. Feck.

delly

So, while all you guys where having the craic in Portlaois, I eventually got to put the new regulator into my E46.

From looking at the number of DIY instructions on the net, it looked like a fairly straight forward job and on a technical level it is. But there is quite a bit of awkward messy bits that not many people mentioned whilst doing it.

The first pic shows the 5 screw points to get the door off. You'll notice the sun visor window suckers at the bottom of the glass. These worked well in keeping it in place for the last few weeks.


The DIY guides mention disconnecting the speaker cables from the door, but I could not get at them without removing the whole panel, so just let it sit on the side. It didn't cause any problems.


This shows the moisture barrier that has to be removed next. I had to take off the airbag while pealing the barrier off, then hang it backup when done.


With the bbarrier off, it shows the guts of the door. First point is the three screws for the motor, then we have to put the window in the right spot to loosen the mounts on the glass. The inner one was grand, but the outer one was a PITA. I wasn't aware that the glass actually has a hole in it, so tottally different to the one on the inside. This took me a bit to figure out, and even longer to figure out when putting it back in, as a piece had fallen down into the corner and I wasn't even looking for it. After that, its the five screws for the regulator itself.


And here is everything out.


Old and new. You can see the rust discolouration where it snapped. The water barrier wasn't secure so I reckon this led to the problem possibly.


All back in and working (to a point).


So, the good news is the window is in the perfect position, and goes down fine. The problem however is that when I got it all hooked up I presumed all else would be grand as it was going up and down. Now that it all sealed back up however, going up is pretty sluggish.
I'm not really sure why its straining on the way up, but it will stop after a third, or maybe halfway, then I go again. I know there is a pinch reset, but this is different, I can actually hear and see it straining while on the up.
I suppose I'll half to crack it open again and have a look, but I'm not sure what to actually look for, as it appears to be placed right. I'll just have to wait and see.

langdang

Look under the bottom of the door, is there 2 nuts/screws/sockets? You may need to align the window (ie angle it so the top is closer or farther from the car). That was the case for her MINI. In that case the way to do it was so that a sheet of paper could be pulled between the rubber and the top of the glass without too much or too little resistance. Too far out and you may have too much road noise and a problem at car washes, angled too far in puts strain on the window motor.

MetzgerMeister

Looks like tedious work Delly! Next time you're at the meet, I'll bring stuff to resotre the trim on your wing mirrors. Just remind me when you'll be at one.

L-M

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Looks like tedious work Delly! Next time you're at the meet, I'll bring stuff to resotre the trim on your wing mirrors. Just remind me when you'll be at one.

What do you use?

MetzgerMeister

Limerick man wrote: »

What do you use?

Gtechniq permanent trim restorer. It's expensive and comes in a 15ml bottle but it's excellent stuff and lasts 2 years per application.

langdang

Direct from gtechnic or is there somewhere local-ish selling it?