Mazda Fiesta rides again

[Soundwave]

By the time you're done with this, it'll be the best remaining example of the Mazda/Fiesta bastard lovechild in the world! Top stuff.

[Ben_O]

17 minutes ago, Soundwave said:

By the time you're done with this, it'll be the best remaining example of the Mazda/Fiesta bastard lovechild in the world! Top stuff.

Well on one side anyway!

[Kringle]

Mazda UK might* want this for their collection. Top work!

[phil_lihp]

This is quite brilliant, more of this please.

[mk2_craig]

Swift progress!!  What are you doing for door rubbing strips - managed to get a matched pair or just leaving them off entirely?

Also - straying off topic - is that the PINK Mini you were cracking on with a while back?

[Ben_O]

1 hour ago, mk2_craig said:

Swift progress!!  What are you doing for door rubbing strips - managed to get a matched pair or just leaving them off entirely?

Also - straying off topic - is that the PINK Mini you were cracking on with a while back?

The door rubbing strip on the front door is correct. The rear door is a replacement off a fiesta at skme point in the past.

The front one will go again but not sure where to get a replacement rear? They will stay off for the time being.

And yes  that is the pink mini under all the junk lol

[Ben_O]

Whilst waiting for the primer, I stripped the front bumper and slugged some stopper in the worst bits. I'm not going for perfection with this as the plastic is all crazed so will never ever look great. Nothing can be done about it.

Hey ho.

Then I flatted the primer 

Then did the last little bit of sealing up

Ready to paint on Monday!

[HMC]

Brilliant stuff, and so speedy!!

It feels like the AS equivalent of a box set binge with all the “episodes” at once. 

[Ben_O]

All painted

I didn't order quite enough paint to do the rear bumper bit it's not damaged from the smack so I'll just polish it up.

Cheers

Ben

[Soundwave]

Amazing! And so quick too, at this point I'd probably still be trying to get the door trim off...

[BL Bloke]

Great work and quick too.

[UltraWomble]

Great work, and so quick too.

[Ben_O]

Still a few bits to finish on this but I have just run out of time and it's in the way.

Bits left to do:

Fit the awful door lock (just struggling with that)

Finish building up the front door

Stone chip rear inner arch and fit liner

Clean up and stonechip around the rear axle mounts on inner sills

Not sure when that will be so it's banished to the compound till I find the time

[Billy - Medhurst]

11 hours ago, Ben_O said:

Looks a lot better / smoother without the rubbing strips.

[sierraman]

Excellent work there mate. 

[Ian_Fearn]

@Ben_O this looks fantastic! What sort of seam sealer do you use? Whenever I apply this stuff it looks like a child has thrown it on.

[Ben_O]

51 minutes ago, Ian_Fearn said:

@Ben_O this looks fantastic! What sort of seam sealer do you use? Whenever I apply this stuff it looks like a child has thrown it on.

Cheers!

 

I always avoid silaflex type sealers on body seams as they are too thick and don't real creep.

I also avoid brush on type sealers in the tin for the same reason.

The product I use is by wurth and is called dichtfix. Its a PU spray able sealer that comes in a tube and can be applied with a caulking gun. It's quite a runny texture so forces well into gaps and clean up is a doddle with some panel wipe and a cloth. It brushes on nicely too and I have a spray applicator too which reproduces factory sealer appearance. That can be seen on the pictures I showed of sealing up the inner arch. 

Wurth is only really available to the trade but if you search PU spray able sealers, you will find something the same.

Cheers

Ben

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, Ben_O said:

Wurth is only really available to the trade but if you search PU spray able sealers, you will find something the same.

Seem to be a few sellers on the bay who are looking to make a profit, but will relieve you of some readies for it.

Looks like there were previous sellers, particularly in Eastern Europe, who will send to the UK, but these days the tax and shipping will make it not viable.

 

So when you say you use a caulking gun but it's sprayable, how do you spray it? I mean, I've got a compressor and paint spray equipment, but this would be far too thick to put in a gun.

If I was to be putting a bodykit on a car (well, moving from one to another), would the wurth bond (klibt and dichtet) be a better option? I've always used sika (Always used it on my boat too when I had that), but it's messy and as Ian said, it looks like a child did it.

 

By the way, to bring back to the OP, this is a fine job. I'm really impressed. The fact that you have access to a paint spraying booth means that this was a viable job. For those that don't have £2k+ hanging around to respray our vehicles (before the cost of having panels fixed), it would have been an instant write-off, or at least a very amateur looking job.

[Ben_O]

1 hour ago, TheOtherStu said:

Seem to be a few sellers on the bay who are looking to make a profit, but will relieve you of some readies for it.

Looks like there were previous sellers, particularly in Eastern Europe, who will send to the UK, but these days the tax and shipping will make it not viable.

 

So when you say you use a caulking gun but it's sprayable, how do you spray it? I mean, I've got a compressor and paint spray equipment, but this would be far too thick to put in a gun.

If I was to be putting a bodykit on a car (well, moving from one to another), would the wurth bond (klibt and dichtet) be a better option? I've always used sika (Always used it on my boat too when I had that), but it's messy and as Ian said, it looks like a child did it.

 

I did notice some on amazon a while ago by Soudal. I use their PU adhesive.

So the dichtfix is a PU sealer and is not an adhesive. It can't be used to stick a bodykit on but could be used to seal the edges after it was glued on.

It comes in these tubes

and in a caulking gun, just pumps out like sikaflex etc but just faster and easier as it's much runnier. It doesn't like working upside down unless you are very careful.

When i say it can be sprayed on, I didn't mean with a conventional spray gun. The tube goes into a special cartridge gun. This is it

There is a different end to go on the sealer tube

and then we can adjust the flow rate and texture to spray it over seams to replicate the factory stuff like this

hope that helps

[UltraWomble]

18 hours ago, Billy - Medhurst said:

Looks a lot better / smoother without the rubbing strips.

Just thinking exactly the same thing.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

@Ben_O Excellent progress and great to see the Fordza back looking straight and shiny again. 

Surely it's worth paying a fella to sort the few outstanding bits though? Seems such a shame to get so far in such a short space of time and then leave it sit for the foreseeable. Don't let it be another pink Mini! 

[TheOtherStu]

3 hours ago, Ben_O said:

I did notice some on amazon a while ago by Soudal. I use their PU adhesive.

So the dichtfix is a PU sealer and is not an adhesive. It can't be used to stick a bodykit on but could be used to seal the edges after it was glued on.

It comes in these tubes

and in a caulking gun, just pumps out like sikaflex etc but just faster and easier as it's much runnier. It doesn't like working upside down unless you are very careful.

When i say it can be sprayed on, I didn't mean with a conventional spray gun. The tube goes into a special cartridge gun. This is it

There is a different end to go on the sealer tube

and then we can adjust the flow rate and texture to spray it over seams to replicate the factory stuff like this

hope that helps

Thank you An excellent appraisal.
I'll continue my search for a decent adhesive.

[Ben_O]

5 hours ago, Dick Longbridge said:

@Ben_O Excellent progress and great to see the Fordza back looking straight and shiny again. 

Surely it's worth paying a fella to sort the few outstanding bits though? Seems such a shame to get so far in such a short space of time and then leave it sit for the foreseeable. Don't let it be another pink Mini! 

Cheers.

I didn't mean to give the impression this was going to be forgotten about. FIL wants it back ASAP so I won't get away with it lol.

I just meant that I wouldn't be able to get it finished right away and incidentally, I am planning to finish it tomorrow evening. 

Had lots of pressing work to finish up the latter part of this week so it had to be shoved out the way unfortunately.

Cheers

Ben

[Dick Cheeseburger]

10 hours ago, Ben_O said:

Cheers.

I didn't mean to give the impression this was going to be forgotten about. FIL wants it back ASAP so I won't get away with it lol.

I just meant that I wouldn't be able to get it finished right away and incidentally, I am planning to finish it tomorrow evening. 

Had lots of pressing work to finish up the latter part of this week so it had to be shoved out the way unfortunately.

Cheers

Ben

Excellent! I think we've all enjoyed seeing an almost unicorn status car come back from the brink. 

[Ben_O]

Right, the doors are back together now

thats an interior thora herd would be proud of

I even treated it to a full compliment of new wiper blades

the other day when I put the washer bottle back, I couldn't get any water at the screen. I was dreading fault finding that issue but it was a miracle and now works without any intervention.

Woo how

Under side next

[Ben_O]

It's remarkably solid under there.

Lots of flaky bits but no holes or thin spots

same the other side.

I'm running out of patience now and want to go home so I scraped it, wire brushed it and applied some zinc

and then stoneware

better than nothing.

just needs a wash and a hoover now

cheers

Ben 

[Ben_O]

I've removed the strips from the other side in the end. Looks better

And then scrubbed the absolute fuck out of it.

Looks half presentable now

 

Thanks for looking in but that's it for this little car now.

cheers

Ben

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Excellent work! The unicorn rides again! I bet your FIL (or is it father?) is chuffed to bits!

[rob88h]

What a result! That little Fiesta Mazda won the Lottery.

[Ben_O]

29 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Excellent work! The unicorn rides again! I bet your FIL (or is it father?) is chuffed to bits!

He hasn't seen it yet. He will have it back Monday

I showed him (father in law btw) photos and he is pleased with it.

 

Cheers

Ben