Que Sera Sera ... serviced and normalising.

[Fabergé Greggs]

[skattrd]

There's a Sera fb group which I have just joined. In the 30 mins since I joined I've been offered a pair of beige door cards and may have some leads on other bits from friendly owners - yay!

[320touring]

There's a Sera fb group which I have just joined. In the 30 mins since I joined I've been offered a pair of beige door cards and may have some leads on other bits from friendly owners - yay!

I hope you'll offer up your dash scrapings!

[skattrd]

Quick question: turps substitute, is this likely to damage the dash/door plastics or not?

[MarvinsMom]

i think these are amazing, daft, but amazing.

 

i was very nearly tempted into buying one that i think was listed over on the blue forum maybe a year or so ago, but the thought of getting parts for a JDM grey import scared me off.

 

which is a shame as these things look ace.

 

i take it that they are mostly toyo corolla underneath, or are they something completely different?

[MarvinsMom]

double post...... bugger.

[2MB]

I would also suggest brake/clutch cleaner. We get through litres of it at work cleaning mechanical deals and it doesn't seem to have any effect on plastics themselves, but will lift paint off plastics no problem. Can be bought in 2l tins rather than aerosol sprays and applied by rag

[Uncle Jimmy]

 

I would be inclined to flock the interior -

Surely any Oriental person would tell you that it's flocked already?

Sorry....

[Honey Badger]

Probably Toluene which can be quite nasty if it gets on your skin for too long.

[skattrd]

Minor fettlings this morning, steering wheel replaced with a very nice sporty one courtesy of Baz_Shitpez (A1 seller, wud use again)

 

 

It does have a bit of dish though, which brings it a bit too far out, so it might not be staying long term, but for now it's a billionty times better than the stormtrooper steering wheel.

 

As recommended by Vulgalour I tried brake cleaner on some of the painted trim.

 

 

 

Brake cleaner it is for the job then, I'm not sure if it'll work on all the painted trim, but it did work on the areas I tested it on.

 

The wipers were then adjusted and the crappy rear spoiler removed.

Without the additional spoiler the tailgate now holds up on the struts, yay.

 

 

I will start working on paint removal later on this weekend, but I expect it to be a slow and tedious task.

[stillOrange]

That is another sweet wheel

 

So where is the old one? How much do you want for it?

I would fit it in Purplebargeken's Dolomite

[Bear]

You removed the roof spoiler? What state was it in?

 

Keeping an eye on this one, I want another Sera

[skattrd]

You removed the roof spoiler? What state was it in?

 

Keeping an eye on this one, I want another Sera

 

No, the roof spoiler is still there, it's fine.

I removed the secondary, knackered, rear spoiler that was drilled through the stock rear spoiler. It was also held in place with double sided tape and had an aerosol can lid as center support. I'll grab some pics of that later.

[Bear]

I  missed there being a spoiler on the spoiler! My first Sera had a G5 kit, with a wraparound rear spoiler that made opening the hatch bloody annoying.

[Jim Bell]

JDM drift spec! notMuggen notRallyart notRwd notBad.

 

Looks better by far. 

 

How bad is the rust when you look up close?

[skattrd]

How bad is the rust when you look up close?

 

I've been trying not to look too closely at the rust.

That said, a cursory glance and the rust on nsf wing hasn't gone through yet, so clean and paint should sort that. The osf arch is a little worse, but by no means too far gone.

Apart from the arches, the only rust I've noticed is surface rust on the door window frames and a couple of little spots on the bonnet edges. It doesn't seem too bad, but I haven't looked hard for rusty bits or been under the car yet.

 

I'm trying to convince myself that once the cosmetics are done that'll be it for this car ... realistically I doubt that will be true. I'll try to get it on the lift next week for a good look around.

 

Mechanically it seems pretty good.

 

The temp gauge not working was a loose connection (I love free fixes) but now it's working it looks like the thermostat is not working. With the liquid in the expansion tank looking somewhat like water changing the 'stat will be a good opportunity to change the coolant.

I'll probably change the oil as well if I get the car on the lift.

[skattrd]

 

Progress, well sort of. That took me 3 hours to achieve using brake cleaner and it's not brilliant. At this rate it's going to take me around 10hrs per door card, more for the dash and other bits still in the car. I need to find something better/quicker/easier than the brake cleaner or find replacement panels.

[purplebargeken]

 

 

So where is the old one? How much do you want for it?

I would fit it in Purplebargeken's Dolomite   

 

Oh no you bloody won't. Swine.

[LC Torana]

IMG_20150802_093421.jpg

 

Progress, well sort of. That took me 3 hours to achieve using brake cleaner and it's not brilliant. At this rate it's going to take me around 10hrs per door card, more for the dash and other bits still in the car. I need to find something better/quicker/easier than the brake cleaner or find replacement panels.

Test the other suggestions mentioned in this thread (turps, sugar soap, etc) on the back of the door card.

[skattrd]

The only others I have at hand are sugar soap and turps, which I have tried and aren't as good as the brake cleaner.

I think I'll order some Xylene and give that a try next ... feel free to keep making suggestions.

[vulgalour]

It does take an age to get paint off plastics, super tedious stuff but worth the effort if you're tight and/or cursed with difficult to get panels.  I'd be interested to learn of a quicker alternative for future reference.

[trigger]

Get yourself some Graffiti remover, that's what I used to remove the paint of my seats and it worked a treat, it was recommended by a friend who does interiors for living as it doesn't damage plastics. I used some gell stuff called De-Solv-it which was good but I also think Halfords and B&Q stock the stuff too.

[Bear]

I remember seeing the seat renovation, that was astounding.

[320touring]

I'd just spray it, but I'm lazy like that

[skattrd]

Nice one Trigger, that sounds like it's worth a go.

[skattrd]

Trigger - this stuff?  http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181783147481

[purplebargeken]

The more I look at the car the more the shape appeals. Such a shame about the bloody stupid stuff on the trim.

[skattrd]

It is a cute little thing Ken.

[trigger]

Trigger - this stuff? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/181783147481

Mine was in a larger plastic container I believe rather than aerosol but I'm sure it will do the same job.

[skattrd]

Look what I did:

 

 

I was going to say I spent all week scrubbing the paint off the door cards, but in reality I bought replacements and spent less than half an hour swapping them over. I did strip the paint off the plastic trim below the doors though, these were painted black.

The bad thing is now the dash looks even worse, I'll be trying some graffiti remover on that at the weekend

 

Old vs new ... the old ones really are shocking