When you are polishing near the chrome anything do you avoid it or just polish it as part of it?
If its not fragile / loose or risks damage from the polishing mop then it can be polished at the same time - providing you are just giving the vehicle a general polish - Things like badges / motifs I would remove prior to polishing - However, its all too easy to get carried away with a machine polisher and place it in the wrong area and the mop can dig into trim / edges / panel flanges and very quickly damage the mop / trim / paint or all 3 - its not a process that I would recommend on new paint either
Chris - Are you going to have to take a couple of polished parts to the paint factors to be analysed for colour matching or can you still just get the paint mixed to the body paint code?
Vehicle manufactures colour codes are ok for a guide to what the colour is but I would never rely upon on them due to the fact there's too many other factors that effect the colour - anything from the fact that the vehicle may have been repainted at some stage or due to the fact that many colours have various shades / variants of the same name & colour (i.e. standard / light / dark / yellow tint / blue tint etc versions of the same colour) - UV light & ageing of the paint can also effect the colour along with which manufacture supplied the paint / paint tinters in the first place - Hence I always match to the physical paint on the car and not a code - Its a process that can be very difficult to achieve especially with metallic / pearlescent finishes - Spectrometers are now commonplace for taking colour readings and when referenced with continually updated factory paint formula databases can be very efficient in the right hands - I'm going to use the word 'However' again - colour reference & formulas for older vehicles is not that reliable - I have a full set of colour references & formulas for the Jowett range of vehicles from 1946 - 1954 which are useless because the tinters required to mix the paint stopped being produced in the late 1960's
The Zephyr doesn't have any of the cream panels that are easily removed so its a trip up my paint factors with the car itself
Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 19, 2021 20:07:55 GMT
Up on stands & wheels removed
Now although there is still a load of tread on these tyres
I find it impossible to understand why someone would want run around on tyres that are:
A - Several decades old
B - Has hard as concrete
C - Have the sidewalls cracked in several places
Fresh new radials to replace the well past the sell by date crossplys that were previously fitted (the blue is a protective film over the white wall band)
Fitted - blue film protection washed off and tyres that both now look & act the part
With the offside front wheel off I noticed some flaking underseal - this was where brake fluid had leaked from the master cylinder - the area was cleaned back & treated
Once cured the effected area was primed and again once cured a black underbody wax applied
Several other checks & minor jobs completed
Lights checked for operation, whilst the car was on the stands the levels were checked & topped up on the gearbox & rear axle, the hood received a good clean & wash off - just the paint to touch in tomorrow prior to its delivery up to Yorkshire
Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 21, 2021 20:47:09 GMT
Its taken ages to get the wipers to work to any degree - Now these aren't your normal electric motor wipers - these are operated by vacuum - the vacuum is drawn from the intake manifold and then travels to a vacuum pump that is part of the mechanical fuel pump - then up to the vacuum motor that should produce the rotation to the wiper rack / wiper boxes - I could get the boxes / spindles to turn without the wiper arms fitted but once the arms are fitted everything ground to a halt - after tracing several minor vacuum leaks - adjusting the spring tension on the wiper arms and providing the windscreen is wet (therefore lubricating the wiper blades) then you will obtain some lethargic wiping action from them - Its not brilliant but its has good as its going to get - I have the same problem with my Javelin even though that's electric motor driven - Rainex application to the screen really helps has the water tends to bead & roll off rather than having to rely on the wipers
I had the colours closely matched and then touched any paint chips in
And the car is now really looking how it should - Its a nice car with the hood up but like most convertibles looks much better with the roof down
One problem that has come to light since topping the rear axle oil up is that the pinion seal is in a poor condition and just leaving the car parked for a few hours results in a good puddle of oil on the floor - I've located & ordered a new seal which should be with me in a few days
Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 28, 2021 18:49:12 GMT
Pinion seal now in stock
So with the car raised
Off came the propshaft
Then the pinion spigot
Which in turn left access to remove the old seal
Then replace the seal
Refit the pinion spigot
Then the propshaft - refilled the axle with oil and I now just need to road test the car then look for a suitable day next week for delivery up to Yorkshire
Very nice work, just enjoyed catching up on that. Probably too late now but I restored a Mk2 Zodiac for a friend 20 years ago (he has owned it since 1981) The Zodiac still looks amazing. But he has many used spares that he has collected over the years. based in Leeds so if the owner needs any parts let me know. Know a few other Mk2 'fans' in the Leeds/Yorkshire area.
Cracking job. A good base that needed a magic touch - looks great, and lots of jobs done that add to the pleasure of using it, as well as the value I would imagine. Great work!
