A lick of colour

With the car successfully back at my dad’s, I left him the fun task of playing with the bodywork.

The initial coat of primer was put on before the trip to the Ace Cafe so that it was mostly one colour, and to cover the remaining bare metal.

My dad then continued to prepare the primer for paint for a few days, with lots of late nights – I did have to remind him at one point that the colour was only supposed to be temporary (and that I was taking it home soon!), he stopped with the preparation of the primer, and started laying down some colour.

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With that done, next was to add a bit of detail:

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And after yet another very late night, a few coats of lacquer were added:

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While this was taking place, I was busy at home giving a spare set of wheels a quick refurbishment:

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With it all together, I was finally, after many years, able to take it back home with me.

The radiator still needs to be replaced with something better, but I have now been able to begin sorting some of the small niggles, and do little bits and pieces that weren’t suitable to do during the limited time when visiting my dad.

The fuel gauge was being intermittent, so I have now investigated that, and found that the earth to the sender unit was not making full contact, so I have created a better earthing point on the sender body.

The Check Engine light had been on whilst driving, and when I had previously retrieved the error codes, it pointed towards the Crank Position sensor. Upon spending a little more time reading the codes, I had actually mis-counted the flashes, and it was the Barometric Pressure sensor. Upon investigation, I noticed that the MAP-ECU was not configured to output the Baro signal (on the original car, it was an additional sensor in the MAF, but that has been removed, so the MAP-ECU steps in again to perform this duty) – simply ticking a box in the setup for the MAP-ECU has switched off the Check Engine light!

I have also finally got rid of the remainder of the red paint from the inlet manifold – something I hated from the day I picked up the donor car!

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My tinkering will continue – I plan to tidy up the interior – painting the dash/doors, fitting carpet, door cards, rear seats etc, as well of course as replacing the radiator.