First successful lower mold done, The green one, it was set under 50psi and left for 3 days. The pink mold had no pressure to set it under, and a fast curing silicone did not help my cause either the second half was a fairly easy one to make, and it didn't need to be pressurised like the part will be. last but certainly not least, I will need to have the last one drilled everytime I make a part. The drain tube did not go quite as planned, I may still just make another one, not sure yet.


This skirt/lip s what failed on the last mold, it also use a slow drying silicone, and was pressurised so the silicone got into everything. For me; this mold has worked out good.

As you can see that lip did not form on my first mold attempt.

This mold as you can see has all of the parts needed to make a proper fit, this one was also using a slow setting silicone, where as the pink was a fast setting silicone and it started going off as I was pouring it into the plug.

This mold is the upper one, or top which ever you prefer. I will have to drill a couple of holes so the silicone can get into all of the nooks and crannies

 

I have liked the looks of flutes in the guards/ fenders/ wings. in Australia we call them guards. I have 2 options here at the moment, the BMW flutes were originally bought for my wife's BMW 318i but she didn't want them so they sat in the cupboard for a few years. The VZ Commodore ones are a fairly large item, but they look really nice, these 2 guards are both rusted out pretty badly, so it isn't like I wasted 2 good guards to see how things look.



BMW style of flutes don't look too bad, I think I mounted it a little too low, but this is option 1 for me right now.

VZ styles flutes, not painted doesn't really do it any favours for deciding. this is my second option. I will decide later on in the day. I have a mountain of work to do before any of these are needed.

 

Either look good.

 

Go the commodore - in my opinion

Cheers
Steve

 

Today was a do it before the rain comes, we are expecting some rain today so I had better get this done and into the storage shed before it all goes pearshaped.



Starting to add a bit of colour, I know it doesn't look the best behing the bumper recess, but I feel that it will be behind the bumper, so it will not be quite as noticeable.
.

The other thing to remember is this is the basecoat and so it will get a light sand with 2000 grit wet and dry before the clearcoat goes on and a little bit of pinstriping to go around the flute and double gold pinstrip along the body lines, You will see when it is done.

 

Well with the pinstriping done time to seal it all in.



. Here we can see what I was talking about with the twin gold pinstripes, and the one around the flutes.

. Starting to look a little like a real part.

. Let us hope it looks as good on the vehicle. this is only the first coat so far, I won't bore you all with the same pics on each layer, especially the clearcoats.

 

Well today in sunny Queensland it turned the heat up into the uncomfortable levels, but I had nothing better to do with my time so I attacked the bonnet, this will be painted green on the outsides, and a small piece in the front and a bit just behind the scoop, hard to describe for me so you will have to just wait and see..



Started glassing the bonnet scoop into place today, the bloody heat was certainly not my friend I can tell you.

Not exactly the best light for this pic but it is only the start, waiting for the electrician to come and wire up the shed before I can use it.

 

This is an interesting thread, and you have done a great job.

How did you remove the rear window?

 

The rear window was the easy part, just like the windscreen, I have a tool to get them out, but the 2 side windows were a bit of a challenge, A lot of heat onto the metal frames, and gently pry them away. It takes a bit of time but don't rush them, then use a long bladed knife and cut the glue all the way around doing the same thing as the metal surrounds patience is the most important part.

 

Ok, thanks.

 

Well today was not the best of days for painting, So I took the information I have learned and this will give you an idea about the green border, so everywhere you see grey now, it will be painted green, and the rest will be back doon rnough.


I don't think that today was a good day for painting.

 

I must admit, I am not at all happy with the top of this scoop, it appears to have sagged, and is not nice and flat. I liked it before the gloss black, but that is one colour that is not forgiving. I have purchased another one from a different supplier and it looks a lot better, it has a gloss gelcoat finish and therefore I can see it is a much better product, so I will have to remove this one and start from scratch again. These things happen from time to time, no big deal really.

The gloss black shows thius scoop is a much better quality item.

The lines on this scoop are much better to me at least, so now I have to cut the other one off to install this one.

 

Well today has been a rather nice one for a change, We have had a few days of rain and a couple of storms, and a few half days of fine weather, but today was a day I felt confident in picking up the spray gun and having a crack at finishing my side skirts.

I finally got a chance to finish the colour, and seal it the put on the stripes. I decided to put XJ40 rather than XJ6 because I am putting a Ford V8 into it, the Ford side skirts did not reach all the way to the front of the car, I had to add about 3 inches to them, but all done now. There is a gold insert that has to be fitted to these when the clear has been sanded and cut.

 

Hi guys, I have been a bit quiet for a while, things move slowly when you have to wait on the weather. Anyway I did get a couple of things done over the last couple of days, I managed to get a bootlid from Derek, huge thanks for that, so the coat of green was put on, and later that afternoon I put the black on to it as well.

Don't panic like I did. I saw the greyish patches on the bootlid and thought I had stuffed the paint, it turned to be reflections of clouds.

I thought I would put a black insert into the rear of the bootlid, then what is starting to be a trend for me on this build; Gold pinstriping. Especially when the black appears.

Then the next thing that needed attention was the Air dam as I have labelled it, I didn't keep the black along the bottom as it appeared to be by Jaguar, but I did put some gloss black around the grille then gave it a gold pinstripe to match the rest of the car.

I decided not to follow Jaguars idea and have the bottom done in black, rather just highlight the grille section in gloss black and the pinstripe to finish it off.
I will have to get back into doing the bonnet, I keep looking at it and not do anything with it, the other front guard also has the same problem, Nothing wrong with them I just seem to find something else to do instead.

 

Well today wasn't that productive, removing wiring harnesses without wrecking them takes a lot lore time than I had allowed, so at the end of the morning I had pulled the wiring from the engine bay.

For a car not meant to have a V8 engine fitted, this seems to have a lot of room, I think I am going to have very little trouble getting that Windsor engine in there.

Now the electrics are out of the way maybe I can get rid of the rest of the stuff in there so I can get it all cleaned up and relocate some rust holes and give it all a lick of paint.
Get rid of the other things I am keeping and get it all ready for the pressure cleaner, I think there is about 5 years of rodent life in there.

 

I have put the bootlid in place for now, I almost kicked it over a couple of times now, so I figured for now I will put it where it belongs for now.

Almost looks the same as the original colour, the new colour has metal flake and pearl in it, so it pops a bit in the sunlight.

The sun gave a bit of glare when I took this shot, maybe I will try again later on to get a better shot.

 

Today is a rather pleasant day, no rain forecast for today, but will remain overcast. so I have taken to my bonnet again, this time with a scoop that looks pretty good. sometimes things just don't go according to plan.

While a number of people have the crome leaping cat, I decided to have mine not quite so bold, I have had more than my fair share of other taking my bonnet emblems and breaking antenna. All 3 of my cars had a chrome cat, and 2 of them the bonnet had suffere a bit of damage, and so I opted for the flush mount and hopefully no one will try and take it from this time.

The gold pinstripe will appear on most of the panels, it is a pity that the sun is not suppose to come out today, you really cannot see how good this green is just yet.

 

I know there are a few blemmishes in the clear, but they will be sanded later on, then cut and polished.

I am aware that a lot of the things I am doing will not sit well with some. My green and black colour scheme is the only thing I could not see properly until the damage was done so to speak. Things are slowly taking shape, and I am keen to see the finished product.

One of the things I can say are truly amazing is how well the vehicle looks as I get closer to having the body work done.

 

Me personally - I look forward to your updates, keep it up

Cheers
Steve

 

They will keep coming unless 1 of 3 things happen. 1 I drop dead overnight. 2 The car gets taken somehow. 3 I actually get it finished.